Wellington v Magpies
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Wellington:
1 Tolu Fahamakioa
2 Asafo Aumua
3 Alex Fidow
4 Isaia Walker-Leawere
5 James Blackwell (c)
6 Galu Taufale
7 Du'Plessis Kirifi
8 Teariki Ben-Nicholas
9 Sheridan Rangihuna
10 Jackson Garden-Bachop
11 Ben Lam
12 Thomas Umaga-Jensen
13 Wes Goosen
14 Julian Savea
15 A WellsReserves:
16 Sitiveni Paongo, 17 Vince Sakaria, 18 Joe Apikotoa, 19 Will Mangos, 20 James Tuiatoa, 21 Kemara Hauiti-Parapara, 22 Dan Kirkpatrick, 23 Malo Tuitama -
Magpies
1 Mark Braidwood
2 Jacob Devery
3 Jarvy Aoake
4 Nick Palmer
5 Geoff Cridge
6 Lucas Goodin
7 Hugh Renton
8 Tony Lamborn
9 Brad Weber (c)
10 Tiaan Falcon
11 Sam McNicol
12 Cardiff Vaega
13 Hayden Hann
14 Jonah Lowe
15 Richard BuckmanReserves:
16 Jorian Tangaere
17 Jason Long (vc)
18 Pouri Rakete-Stones
19 Josh Eden-Whaitiri
20 Fa'alemiga Selesele
21 Ricky Hayes
22 Chris Eaton
23 Dan Snee -
It looks like we are fielding a Hawke's Bay Saracens plus team. Did Canterbury already kill most of our squad on Friday and is Wellington going to bury the rest? Geez, I'll hardly dare to watch tomorrow night.
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Personally would prefer Lowe in the midfield.
A more logical selection at fullback.
Tiaan Falcon in his best position.
6-2 split on the bench.
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@Number-10 Yes, and a seriously weakened forward pack.
We're missing Dixon, May, Allardice, Mikaele-Tu'u and Evans in the forwards, and West and Emerson in the backs.
And our bench ... -
I like giving the locals a chance to prove themselves, but Hann at centre??!!??
Just because Wellington are playing a wing at centre, why do we need to?
Hann is 83kg. Ihaia West is 4cm shorter and is heavier. Goosen has 10kg on Hann. Umaga-Jensen is over 20kg heavier.
I think I know where Wellington will try to smash through our backline all night.
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@Stockcar86 I like giving the locals a chance, too, but not all at the same time.
I also don't get why they didn't move Lowe to centre. Aumua, Lam, Goosen and Savea are going to have a field day.
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At least we are being spared Marvin Karawana, or, perish the thought, Luke Rooney. Come to think of it you could also include the big guy (whose name escapes me at the moment) that came down from Auckland for a couple of seasons before being offloaded to BoP. Who is this guy Ricky Hayes? My source of complimentary tickets can't deliver tomorrow night so it is going to be torture having to fork out to witness live what has the looking of another fifty point pounding written all over it.
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@Higgins Hayes is a flanker playing for NOBM. 19 years old (per June 2017)
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby/news/article.cfm?c_id=80&objectid=11870717
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Thanks. Poor sod what a game to make you debut in. Are we so short of backs that we only have two that can find a position on the bench, Chris Eaton must be more versatile than we have seen to date!?
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I have a bad feeling about this...
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Leni Apisai takes place on the Wellington bench.
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A couple of late unexpected events (took an age to find my eftpos card and missed the last bus that would have got me to the ground in time) has put a spanner in the works and I could not get to the ground in time so am sentenced to watching it in my lounge. Just like what looks to be about 7831 thousand other missing spectators.
Sitiveni Paongo has always played loosehead prop (saw him absolutely cream Alex Fidow when playing for Wellington College about three years ago) so that leaves a bit of an opening to exploit. I'm clutching at straws here obviously.
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Right the Magpies are up three nil after eight minutes. Time to create an all in brawl that forces the referee to abandon the match with the score at the time still standing?
The TAB odd drastically shortening on HB to win now being $4.25
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And those odds now out to a juicy and more realistic $8.00 after C Vaenga manages to be spectacularly sat on his arse whilst attempting to stop J Savea from scoring a try which J Garden Bachop managed to convert.
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Anyone fancying $10.00 for the Bay to win? That's what they are paying after Paongo scores a try and as I write that Alex Fidow scoots in under the posts in what is really looking like nothing more than an opposed training run. The $10.00 suddenly becomes $18.00 for an away win.
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The Magpies finally manage to win something even if it is only a penalty being awarded right on their own goal line. I'm considering doing a lap of honour in recognition of the achievement.
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Goodness, that was a mysterious no try decision by the TMO.
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Christ an obvious clear try again being referred to the TMO. I won't be holding my breath after the last episode.
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The allowing, eventually, of the try to C Vaenga has the effect of seriously reducing the HB win odds to $7.00 as halftime comes up at Wellington 19 - 08 Hawkes Bay
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It looks like Cridge hasn't returned to the field? Must have failed his concussion test. Another one on the injury list. #14
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The halftime stats have just been published and my guys are putting a serious effort in at least winning the missed tackles award tonight by holding a comfortable 18 - 06 lead half time advantage - aaaaargh.
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That was an intriguing new play invented by The Barracuda, a defensive pop kick bomb on his own line to prevent the opposition from being able to tackle him. Sadly the ensuing play sees another Wellington converted try.
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HB are not looking quite so bad in the second half as they monopolise possession. Sadly there is not much penetration there but at least having most of the ball is stopping Wellington adding to their side of the scoreboard. Ten minutes still to go and it stands at Wellington 33 - 13 after Jason Long rumbles over for the second HB try.
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A burst of scoring sees both teams scoring rather nice converted tries taking the score to Wellington 40 - 20 HB five minutes left
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Goodness, Chris Eaton almost in for a most unexpected try. J Tangaere in from the ensuing lineout and the Magpies take a bonus point for four tries.
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And also go close to getting a second for the close loss but lose the ball when looking dangerous after the hooter had sounded.
Final Score: Wellington 40 - 27 Hawkes BayIt wasn't anywhere near as awful on the scoreboard as I dreaded so there is a glimmer of hope that all might not be lost. Seriously though it looks like Wellington have more to be concerned about given that we had been defending like of cop on points duty in previous fixtures. There as quite a bit of heart shown by HB in the second half although there were still an alarming number of missed tackles. In summary - It could have been worse.
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The HB players need to buy Nutbrown a beer with his 13-4 penalty count for them.
Savea looks like he's spent time in the gym rather than at the hairdressers. It reflecting in his performance too.
HB when they get their injured players back will be a much better side. And hopefully wellington never have Nutbrown reffing another game
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There were a few calls that went against HB as well that annoyed me so it just wasn't all one way traffic. A lot of the penalties against Wellington looked justified so even though there was a total of thirteen penalties how many of them are you disputing as unwarranted?
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@Winger Are you kidding? Wellington deserved all those penalties & Nutbrown got it so wrong when he went to the TMO for the first disallowed try from the Magpies. Devery definitely scored a try there! Wellington has nothing to complain about the ref.
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And even the Selesele no try looked like he dropped it straight down and not in the required forward direction need to be ruled a knock on. I'm not disputing it though as it is ruled that way almost every time it happens. Similarly the Barracuda fluffed high ball he spilled, it came off his chest with no hands involved but those have also always been ruled knock ons so can't grumble about that.
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The Magpies seemed to be getting a bit more confidence in the second half. Like they had flipped a switch.
McNicol seemed to be getting better & better. Buckman is definitely the man who should be at fullback. Defensively, he's much stronger than Falcon and his experience and better reading of the game is showing. Falcon still has lots to learn and I'd prefer him to do that at 12 (when West is back). That would give him a bit more self confidence, too.
One thing I also noticed is that Jonah Lowe - although not nearly getting enough ball - had a very good game. Defensively strong; should definitely play centre once Emerson/TJ Vaega are fit again! If only our midfielders had passed the ball to him a bit more instead of trying to break the opposition defence without much success! He has also noticeably bulked up quite a bit!
I'm not sold on Devery yet; Tangaere was playing much better and is physically significantly stronger.
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Josh Eden-Whaitiri also had his moments and looked ok in the lineouts (admittedly most of his wins were uncontested) and the odd good run as well.
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Magpies:
100 tackles made
34 missed tacklesThe worst tacklers:
Hayden Hann: 10 tackles made, 5 missed
Tiaan Falcon: 9 tackles made, 4 missed
Nick Palmer: 12 tackles made, 4 missed
Sam McNicol: 1 tackles made, 3 missed
Brad Weber: 5 tackles made, 3 missedSurprised Jacob Devery only made 1 tackle (and missed 2).
Josh Eden-Whaitiri had a good shift, having to play 58 minutes after Cridge had to come off early. Made 9 tackles, missed none. 5 line-out wins
Most metres run: Jonah Lowe (78)
Most carries: Nick Palmer (12)
Most defenders beaten: Sam McNicol (4)
Most clean breaks: Sam McNicol (3)
Try assists: Richard Buckman (2)
Most turnovers won: Lucas Goodin (3) -
@Stargazer said in Wellington v Magpies:
@Winger Are you kidding? Wellington deserved all those penalties & Nutbrown got it so wrong when he went to the TMO for the first disallowed try from the Magpies. Devery definitely scored a try there! Wellington has nothing to complain about the ref.
Nutbrown was only reffing one side = a 13-4 penalty count. Head high tackle. Missed. Player on the ground knocking the ball out of the hands. missed Holding onto the ball missed. There are some refs that I hate reffing wellington matches and Nutbrown can go into thsi category
and the try was held up. I just accept refs are often poor but as long as it evens out fair enough. This game didn't
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@Winger Nonsense. A 13-4 penalty count doesn't necessarily mean the officiating was one-sided. In this game, Wellington just offended much more often than the Bay. It wasn't clear and obvious that the ball was held-up. It looked like it was grounded and the ref asked the TMO the wrong question.
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@Stargazer said in Wellington v Magpies:
@Winger Nonsense. A 13-4 penalty count doesn't necessarily mean the officiating was one-sided. In this game, Wellington just offended much more often than the Bay. It wasn't clear and obvious that the ball was held-up. It looked like it was grounded and the ref asked the TMO the wrong question.
It was a poor reffing performance. Some of the Wellington penalties were silly (the third for example. even Smith commented on it. And Im not a scrum expert but the first scrum penalty I will ask my scrum expert mate about). And Nutbrown missed 4 against HB that I can remember. including a tip tackle that should have been a yellow card. Where the HB players lifted the wellingtons props (Fahamakioa) leg so he was driven head first into the turf. Right in front of Nutbrown that just happened to ignore it
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Sadly, I think Nutbrown is destined to be the new Glen Jackson. The poster boy for players turned refs and will be promoted along despite quality issues.
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A link to my photos if you're keen -
http://www.chainsawphotos.co.nz/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=568
