v Wellington
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So, fate is in our hands.
Those last 10 minutes to NH & Manawatu will likely be our undoing.
Win, we get a home semi, lose with 2 BPs and we are in the top 4, lose with 1 point and we may still make it, lose with nothing and we rely on other results to fall our way...or a high scoring draw gives us 3 and poss home semi (how does it work if 3 teams are tied?)
Otago 21 - have SOuthland in Dunedin, so 26
Man 22 - have naki on Wednesday, then HB Sunday, both away. Decent chance they get 5/6 points from 2 games, up to 27/28
BOP 23 - Waikato home, Waikato showed enough on Saturday to give them a glimmer of hope, but they have been pants away, so it is more likely whether BOP get 4 or 5, so assume they get 5, they go to 28.So...
BOP 28
Man 28
Otago 26Northland...25 (lose, no BP) 26 (lose 1 BP) 27 (2 BP, or low draw...) 28 (high draw) or 29...
Easiest route is to win.
My team:
Wright, Moulds, Rinakama
Josh G, Bond
Douglas, Matich, D Pryor
Nock, Breen
Jack G, Tua
Macilai, Alaimalo, Ranger
Olsen, Kite, Apoua, Ram, Matiu, Pittman, Hawkins, HYland -
team named:
Wright, Moulds, Rinakama
Josh G, Bond
Douglas, Matich, Pryor
Nock, Hawkins
Jack G, Ranger
Macilai, Alaimalo, Hyland
Olsen, Kite, Apoua, Ram, K Pryor, Pittman, Breen, TuaSo swaps for Hawkins/Breen and Macilai comes back at the expense of Matt Wright, while Ram takes his place on the bench.
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strong Wellington team named:
Wellington: Trent Renata, Julian Savea, Wes Goosen, Thomas Umaga-Jensen, Ben Lam, Jackson Garden-Bachop, Kemara Hauiti-Parapara, Brad Shields (captain), Mateaki Kafatolu, Vaea Fifita, James Blackwell, Sam Lousi, Alex Fidow, Sitiveni Paongo, Tolu Fahamokioa. Reserves: Asafo Aumua, Vince Sakaria, Joe Apikotoa, Will Mangos, James Tuiatua, Carlos Price, Regan Verney, Malo Tuitama.​ -
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Basically a quarter final for us. On paper Wellington should get home comfortably, but we have proved in the past that we can beat stacked teams on their home turf (Auckland 01 & 08).
I think this is an exciting opportunity for the guys to test themselves and step up here. If Otago nearly beat them at home, there's no reason we can't. Just got to play a full 80 with minimal errors. Can't give these guys any leeway, they'll capitalise in more ways than one!
Hopefully the boys are drawing every bit of motivation they can for this one. I'll be heading down to it, I think there's a crew of Northlanders going, so we'll make plenty of noise!! Get up blue!!!
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Was that Jeremy Thrush with his kids in the crowd shot while Ian Smith was doing his intro?
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@stargazer said in v Wellington:
Ridiculous call. No way was that a try.
Meh, had a few go against us this year so we'll take it.
Ref missed a couple of forward passes leading to good field position for Wellington
Need one of our good second halves instead of the poor ones we have been having.
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@J77 get off your phone...
Sit with Morunga and you been on tv loads
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Shit Bond don't look good.
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Head/neck to Aumuas shoulder.
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Our locking issues go from bad to worse.
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Could have been the losing of the game that lineout
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Lineout gone to shit losing 2 locks
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Errors at crucial times is the story of this season for us.
:::
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@taniwharugby Ta. In London so seldom see games.
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That would be carried back wouldn't it?
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Gah we've dropped our bundle.
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It is ok to go to the deck with the ball
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Been a couple of shoulder charges from Fifita tonight, not bad but Def penalties
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Small glimmer of hope...
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Another average 2nd spell, unfortunately punctuated by the serious looking injury to Bond and the injury to Douglas 😓
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So much to be happy about from this season but like the Northland boys I expect they will be extremely disappointed with how that ended and being unable to make the top 4 I know we are still a chance but can't see it)
What could have been....
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@taniwharugby I think the tactics for this game were poor. You don't beat Wellington by kicking penalties. We wanted 1 point from this game from 4 tries. We should have looked to play the line right from the start or even take the scrums where we had a clear advantage. Instead we took penalties. Really poor.
The loss of two locks hurt us but should use front of the line out as an option more. Also we used the game plan we have used all season which has been based around forwards rolling over advantage line. Wellington out muscled us and with no go forward we had no room for backs. Some variation was needed.
On the backs, neither Breem or Hawkins has a decent punt so Nock should always clear from base with protection. Someone with a decent punt should take the penalties. Passing back to 1st five guarantees a poor exit. I would like our plays from ruck phases to be quicker. Often Nock is waiting - for players to organise, for ....? Then a couple of times his passes didn't find the target.
Disappointed that we didn't start the game with an attacking 4 try mindset. Scrum was one phase where we had dominance, we should have scrummed the life our of them...
But still think Waikato will save us with a victory over BOP and Auckland will be championship fodder next year.
If we get the chance we can learn from tonight esp. if play Wellington again....
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Up the Mooloos, up the Stags, and up the Magpies!! Three last chances for us.
Gutted we didn't capitalise on that opportunity. Wellington weren't exactly on fire tonight, but they took all their chances with two hands.
Structurally we kind of lost our way in the second 40, that obviously wasnt helped when Bond and Douglas went off.
Thought Matich, Jack G, and Dan Pryor were our best. Hyland wasn't too bad either.
On a side note, the Wellington fans were so bloody quiet the whole match. Hell, there was only 20-30 of us and we out did them hands down! What is it with these big city teams? No one turns up! It was like being at a club match..
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@j77 Now we wait.
Like TR says so much to be happy with this season. We have a team that can win games, great scrum, attacking options across the field. Improved game management in last 20 minutes to close games out, get bonus points, stop others getting bonus points would be an area of improvement but if we largely keep the squad together we should expect that will come.😀
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Think we missed a trick by not playing Tua since he recovered from Injury, this kid is the goods, seems to have grown massively in both physicality and mentally.
As good as Hyland has been on the front foot, he has struggled going back and we have given up a lot down his side (not all his fault, but teams have targeted his wing)
Think what has been noticeable is our lack of patience at crucial times, we look panicked and throw wobbly passes or offload one we don't need to simply putting ourselves under more pressure.
That game was for the taking, particularly the first 40.
What strikes me is that with our strike power how we have struggled to get the ball over the line more. After getting ourselves into so many scoring positions in most games but failing to capitalise.
I guess the positive from this game is that IF we do make the top 4 we know we had the measure of wellington for about 60 so shouldn't be fazed by facing them again.
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@kev said in v Wellington:
@j77 Now we wait.
I guess the nervy thing is we have to rely on three out of form teams. Good thing is, we only need one of them to do the business..
The way I've worked it out is if one of those three teams win, we're off to Wellington again. If HB and Waikato win we're off to Dunedin. If the Stags win, as well as the others we are at home..
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2/3 are possible, albeit slim but no way can I see the Banjos rolling Otago...
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@taniwharugby has Hyland really been exposed that often? I only recall the Otago game where he got found out a few times (and one of those was only because the officials missed Koroi in front of the kicker). I reckon he has been a bit of a revelation this season. I wasn't expecting much but he has been surprisingly good for me. Has been strong in the tackle and a dangerous ball carrier. Tua is definitely a talent and will be very important in the midfield next year but not sure he has done enough to squeeze Hyland out.
We should have kept our composure and scored just after halftime and it may have been a different game. As TR mentioned we weren't patient enough and made mistakes under pressure. We got away with that against teams like HB but not going to against Wellington.
I've been a big fan of Sam Nock this season but thought his passing was very wayward during this game and that's normally his strength.
If we make the semis I would like to see Breen come back in, Hawkins was way too deep this morning and looked a bit gun shy in contact after injury. Hopefully Tim Bond is ok because I think he's quite important in the pack - playing a bit like Marty Veale did for us a few years ago. Both him and Douglas out would be a big blow.
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@taniwharugby said in v Wellington:
2/3 are possible, albeit slim but no way can I see the Banjos rolling Otago...
If Southland win it'll be a miracle, they'd struggle in most club competitions at the moment..
The other two are good possibilities, more so Waikato over BoP.
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@chiefy07 reckon he struggled since the Otago game going back.
As I said, I think he has been excellent going forward and in d except when he has had to turn and chase, but for my mind the best way for us would have been to move Tua to 13 and push Ranger to the wing.
