Disappointing game from Hotham. Poor passes, terrible box kicks and shitty option tacking. He seemed to panic when under even moderate pressure

Weber was considerably better

MOTM poll v Tasman...I know it was a bit average, but at least vote, are certainly a few players deserving!

https://www.forum.thesilverfern.com/topic/5597/northland-motm-v-tasman

@KiwiMurph said in Auckland v Tasman:

Not rolling away nearly cost Auckland another game.

Gibson and Choat take a bow.

Choat was my MOTM, but Gibson probably made the two plays of the game.

@Crazy-Horse said in Tasman v Wellington:

It's crazy that the decision wasn't/couldn't be changed once the TMO allegedly realised his mistake. It was before the restart so it wouldn't have changed anything.

I am absolutely baffled by that whole situation. Amateur hour all round.

@Rapido Quinten's had no luck with injuries. In Super rugby, he's behind Whitelock and SBarrett - but, every time one of them gets injured it seems Quin gets hurt immediately after.

Picked for the ABs in 2020 and then got injured in camp, before he played. I think that might have opened the door for Vaa'i.

I reckon he's still a decent prospect as a test lock (though he's not a fern favourite). He's not massively tall - slightly more than SBarrett according to the stats, but he's mobile and does most things well.

As Nisbo noted last night, the Mako are much better when he plays - quite noticeable last year when he got hurt and then came back.- got us back on track.

Pleased I wasn't around to watch this! 🙂

@Chris-B said in North Harbour v Tasman:

Meant to say earlier - that Jed Melvin looks promising.

He's very promising, although in this game I thought he faded a little bit. He'd be worth getting into a SR squad now and see how much he improves with pro training

I like the physicality, a similar style to Cane/Papali'i etc

@Crucial Jokes can and will be killed! 🙂

It was a cool atmosphere too.

$9 a can opened up the ole wallet a bit but who cares in that situation. Was a very fun evening.

Book ended the game with beers at the Eastside which I haven't been to in a very long time.

@old-samurai-jack said in Hawke's Bay v Tasman (Premiership Semi-final):

Friggen brilliant! Didn't expect that at all!
As a side note, why is Ennor on tour with the ABs and a certain Tasman centre is not?

I agree, I reckon the magpies would have won if he was up there.

@chris-b sorry I was being sarcastic with that comment I’m saying we are absolute choke artists.

Just saw this photo on Facebook. Hugh Renton getting a bit of banter from his former team mates haha.

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@yeetyaah I don't think you can describe Hames as a commentator of Tasman games, more a cheerleader

Not perfect but all we ever want is performance with some heart and skill. Wins will come but so much better.

@dice said in Tasman v Auckland:

@gt12 said in Tasman v Auckland:

@chris-b said in Tasman v Auckland:

@antipodean said in Tasman v Auckland:

@number9 said in Tasman v Auckland:

Tactically fucked after half time. Pathetic passes and poor kicking options, together with Rayasis brain facts.

He's lucky he has athleticism because he has no skill.

He doesn't seem to be a natural footballer.

I said earlier that Foster should pick him as a project, but I'm going to recant on that.

I agree, although I also I think that shows the big difference between being an attacking winger who is serviceable under the high ball, and an outright fullback. He may be the first but he certainly isn’t the second.

He's always been pretty iffy at fullback. Can probably get away with being there against weaker teams, but not against a team like Tasman.

He has relatively good hands when the ball is coming from above his head, which makes sense given his b-ball history, but yeah Tasman made him work pretty hard today.

My biggest gripe is that he looks so casual that I cant tell whether that is just what he looks like or that he’s a bit lazy/not really 100% there.

Leroy carter had awesome game too even though was on wing

@akan004 said in Frizell assaults woman:

Hopefully the UK won't let him in. Don't want him to be on tour with the ABs.

UK will, he doesn't have a criminal record does he?

@Dice said in Premiership Final - Auckland v Tasman (Free entry):

Congrats Tasman and @Chris-B . Probably would've won by more if Christie's service wasn't so slow.

He probably had his worst game for the season in the final.

@Cpt-Kumera Good commitment!

@Daffy-Jaffy said in Otago v Tasman:

@Kiwiwomble Grapevine (S. Harris) says that Gatland is off to the Chiefs.

Yeah, heard that too, we also have koroi who is capable which is all we need as third choice

@Higgins said in Wellington v Tasman:

All in all Tasman looked well coached, Wellington did not.

This may be an area look at after the season finishes. New head coach and all. The team should be doing better with the players they have

Someone once said something about a game of two halves (and then they said it again..).

This was that.

First half, Tasman seemed a mix of casual, butter-fingered, overly-anxious hunguses determined to keep Southland in the game.

Second half they came out much more focused, accurate and playing for each-other and eventually broke the Southland shackles.

Not sure whether playing with the wind was responsible for some pretty dire catching and passing. Tbh Southland played the first half like there was a heavy mid-afternoon dew , as well.

Anyway, ended up pretty comfortable.

Much better from just about everyone compared to last week's debacle - at least in the 2nd half. David Havili back to being a talisman. Fox-Matamua went well at 8. Ross improved the lineout. Renton probably had his best game of the season.

Once we stopped dropping the ball Big Leicester and Fetu Paea started to look good. Fonotia was decent and Mark Talea had his moments.

Nice cameo from Segner with one blockbusting run and a little catch and pass to set up a try. Worth another run next week, IMO.

Biggest problem was Isaac Salmon at tighthead - we went from having a dominant scrum with Matenga, to getting beaten up. That suggest that Matenga might be worth a look from a Super team.

Pleasing effort in the loose from Sam Moli. I'm not sure whether he threw to the linout, but I'd stick with him for next week as well.

@Duluth Not as bad as it looked...

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/provincial/123167928/wanted-for-attempted-murder-jack-whettons-hilarious-shot-at-teammates-over-frightening-lineout-fall

Much better effort from Tasman this week, with everyone contributing.

Christie especially looked like he'd shaken off some rust and things flowed better from there.

However, as above, the forward packs seemed reasonably evenly matched. The Tasman backs just had more firepower and played with more adventure.

I think it will be a lot better for TTT to stay in NZ and play some rugby rather than sitting in an Australian grandstand watching the ABs. On that performance, I wouldn't want Otere Black very near an AB jersey either.

@Dice said in North Harbour v Tasman:

@Chris-B said in North Harbour v Tasman:

Tasman's worst half of the season, so far.

They've turned Havili's counter-attack over several times, so far and the handful of promising opportunities have been stymied by clumsy play.

Need to improve markedly in the 2nd 40.

Harbour pack apparently 100kgs heavier than Tasman's!!!

I was surprised by the numbers, but I think it's wrong. No way are Harbour averaging 121kg per man.

Yeah - that would be a massive test pack. Maybe the Boks have put out a pack that big, but I doubt the ABs ever have.

And, on the other hand, I'm doubtful that Tasman are only 109kgs per man. Andrew Makalio is billed at 128kgs on his own. Isi Tuungafasi is 120 kgs.

@Yeetyaah said in Tasman v Waikato:

@Machpants so any player can disrupt the ball in a pass as long as it's flicked back?

Of course. You're not offside and you're not in any way deliberately knocking it forward.

@taniwharugby Fair comment - some times in games that is very much the case. That said, Leilua has impressed me this year with his physicality.

@Bovidae said in Counties v Tasman:

Read has some conditions from his Japanese club around playing time. He was only allowed to play 40 mins last night and won't be playing against Hawke's next round, along with missing some other away games.

Ah stink, it would have been good to have him start in the kind of form he was in last year. 😉

Although, to be serious, it would have been goof for Flanders to have had a run against him.

@mariner4life said in Ultimate NPC: Round 1 Otaaaaaago v Tasman:

How did @Chris-B vote twice?

Cash.

I was going to ask you where Kahu Marfell fits into your thinking? As in how many injuries required before he makes the 23?

I'm looking forward to seeing Parata in action. Seems like yonks ago we were discussing the merits of the Crusaders supposedly bringing him back from NSW.

@Bovidae Nice try, Ron.

Probably had Richard Pearse playing first five! 🙂

Tough loss. Watched the game again and the team put in a great effort, especially the starters. It's too bad that our subs came on and added very little. Outside of Adams, most of the subs had a negative impact on the game, especially Abel. If you watch the last 20 minutes, almost all the missed tackles and mistakes during that time were by our bench players. Their bench was much better and made key plays at the end of the game, which was probably the difference.

I think both packs canceled each other out for the most part. I think our pack struggled to get much go forward for most of the game, but despite that, our backs were pretty dangerous throughout the match. We definitely made a mistake not having Sotutu somewhere in the 23 though.

The way we corrected things in the last few weeks, I'm hopeful of next season. We were just a totally different team late in the season.

Haha

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