North Harbour vs Otago
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Otago
Vilimoni Koroi, Mitchell Scott, Matt Faddes, Tei Walden, Sio Tomkinson, Fletcher Smith, Josh Renton, Sione Teu, James Lentjes, Dillon Hunt, Tom Rowe, Blair Tweed, Donald Brighouse, Sam AndersonHeather (captain), Aki Seiuli
Reserves: Sekonaia Pole, Craig Millar, Giorgio Bower, Josh Dickson, Adam Knight, Jonathan Ruru, Josh Ioane, Jona Nareki.
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North Harbour
1 Chris Eves, 2. James Parsons (cc), 3. Mike Tamoaieta, 4. Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, 5. Jarrad Hoeata, 6. Glenn Preston, 7. Connor Collett, 8. Murphy Taramai
9 Chris Smylie, 10. Bryn Gatland, 11. Tevita Li, 12. Dan Hilton-Jones, 13. Matt Vaega, 14. Matt Duffie (cc), 15. Shaun StevensonReserves:
16 Adrian Smith, 17. Mark Royal, 18. Sione Mafileo, 19. Brandon Nansen, 20. Josh Tyrell, 21. Lewis Gjaltema, 22. Mark Telea, 23. Ben Volavola -
Will be an interesting game to open it all up tonight and we might get some idea of where Harbour are at.
Harbour team missing Bryn Hall (assuming rested after long super rugby campaign?). Backs looks ok, forwards a bet meh but always are..
Otago - I have no real idea as I dont recognise too many if those names......
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Interesting to see Mike Tamoaieta get the start.
I think he played for Grammar TEC this year? So he's moved across the bridge and gets a start ahead of a SR contracted player
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I'm really glad the NPC is back, it just means so much more to me. In this game the most attacking play seems to be the lofted bomb, particularly by North Harbour. Hopefully things will revert to more open rugby with the ball being sent flying out along the backlines.
20 minutes gone and it is North Harbour 06 - 00 Otago
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Typical first game of the season. Most players looking quite rusty, making lots of mistakes. Harbour deserving its 6 point lead.
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Oh, now I can see why there is so much kicking, its really teaming down as Bryn Gatland kicks his third penalty, all from about the ten yard mark about six metres off centre. 27 minutes gone North Harbour 09 - 00 Otago
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I am enjoying seeing the North Harbour tighthead - he has the good old type prop's physique.
Still bucketing down as it gets almost to half time with a try under the posts to Harour making the score currently North Harbour 16 - 00
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Very, very small crowd. The weather is not helping, off course. Hope it will get better over the next few weeks. It will be interesting to see the crowd numbers at other games this weekend.
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@Stargazer I hate the Thursday games, not at all conducive to getting fans along for a 1930 kick off, 1800 kick off would make it more appealing.
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Hardly any hype around this Comp. I don't even think there was a preview for tonight's game in the herald today
Harbour looking pretty well drilled so far tonight.
Tevita Li and Duffie causing a few problems for Otago too -
@taniwharugby Yes, I agree. The kick-off times on weekdays are clearly picked with tv viewers in mind.
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@JK was one on the Mitre10 Cup website...I not been on Herald or Stuff today for fear of being bombarded with another story.
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You can see why people don't care so much. This game has not been great quality with Otago particularly poor.
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@taniwharugby great competition, but with way too much rugby, poor promotion, busy family lives, game attendances are not great
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@taniwharugby said in North Harbour vs Otago:
@JK was one on the Mitre10 Cup website...I not been on Herald or Stuff today for fear of being bombarded with another story.
That story is there. Avoid it
But yeah I always read the actual paper when having one of my many meal breaks at work. Not a mention of this game in there
Otago scored. Harbour at real risk of letting them back in
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@kev said in North Harbour vs Otago:
@taniwharugby great competition, but with way too much rugby, poor promotion, busy family lives, game attendances are not great
Way too much rugby? Maybe in the main centres, but most smaller provinces haven't had any rugby games to go to other than club or school rugby since October last year.
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@hydro11 that line gets pulled out every year. Don't agree. A lot of S15 rugby ( whole seasons on the Blues ) is very average. There is just too much rugby.
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Yep there it is
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@Stargazer just wish the NZRFU would do more to promote it....
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Otago in again with Jonathon Ruru scoring his second, Stargazer will be going orgasmic!
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Thank Fuk for that
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No they are not, the TMO picks up a knock on.
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Mitchell Scott does not take long to bring the score back to what it would have been but for the TMO. A young fresh faced kid converts from the right hand sideline
North Harbour 19 - 17 Otago after 68 minutes
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@kev said in North Harbour vs Otago:
@hydro11 that line gets pulled out every year. Don't agree. A lot of S15 rugby ( whole seasons on the Blues ) is very average. There is just too much rugby.
There isn't that much rugby though. The Super Rugby teams only play 15 regular season games and the Mitre Ten Cup is only 10 games. You really can't have less rugby.
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@kev Yeah, I've seen regular ads on Sky for the last month or so, and they have only just started posting little - what I call - prank videos on FB (for ex, video "Waikato fans" wrapping Yarrow Stadium in a Waikato flag with a post saying "look what Waikato fans did to our stadium"; it's a matter of taste, but I don't find them very good). Some provinces have been more actively promoting their first home game on social media than others. I have seen some bill boards in town. I guess it's harder for teams in the main centres where their home games have to compete with many other events (not just rugby, or other sports).
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Stevenson ... Come on ...
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Off the crossbar! Ain't seen that for a while
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harbour almost managed to lose from 19 nil up.
This season already feels all too familiar
Final score 19-17
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That was close in the end. Good comeback from Otago, but too little, too late. Some of their bench players should start next week. If I'd watched only the second half, I would have thought it was a good game.
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North Harbour made that very hard for themselves but still got the job done. Otago finally decided to wake up once they got that penalty goal.
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@Stargazer Ioane and Ruru made a big difference. Hope to see more of them.
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@Duluth What did you think of the new tighthead prop, Tamoaieta?
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He looked promising didn't he? It will be interesting to see how his fitness holds up in a dry game with less kicking.
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@Duluth Yeah, he has a bit of a Ben Tameifuna physique. Could be good 30 minute player.
