v North Harbour
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@steven-harris Francisco is Chilean.
Was a pretty handy prop in his playing days, played a season for Mid Western in about 2008 or 9, I believe was offered a contract by Northland but he went with another opportunity.
He came back to coach Mid Western last season, and we all know how that went, which doesnt reflect his ability as a coach at all. He’s actually a pretty good coach IMO, a straight shooter. Despite MW being rubbish last year, he got the best out of the players he had and still had one of the best packs going around, so he deserves credit for that.
He also had the Northland scrum humming last year, and I believe had an interview for the Blues set piece/scrum coach job but lost out to Afeaki. -
@steven-harris I know not many Aucklanders rated Isi, so werent bothered with him leaving, am hoping we might be able to get the best out of him thoguh...
We'd have had Bond back if he wanted though woudlnt we?...that said, Tom Robinson stamping his mark already, great to see!! I know the Blues liked what they saw of him in the time he was with them last year in the Dev side (set the record for the Blues 'bronco' test)
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@taniwharugby said in v North Harbour:
I know not many Aucklanders rated Isi, so werent bothered with him leaving, am hoping we might be able to get the best out of him thoguh...
He's young so it's possible. It was strange how he kept getting selected for Auckland after spending most of the club season on the bench. I assume he signed a 3 year deal on potential and in the last couple of years did not earn selection
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Ropate Rinakama rolled his ankle last night,but it was fine today,so should be good to go next Sunday..
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Forgot how much I love watching Northland play. Can’t wait for the rest of the season.
Those that talk negatively about NZ provincial rugby ( and individual teams ) don’t understand how great this competition continues to be for NZ rugby - the jewel in the crown. The talent on display is amazing.
But a bit tired of reading articles from hack journalists and listening to ex rugby players acting as commentators who don’t know the players from the opposition team and have no passion for the game they are watching. The comments about Northland before, and after the game on the radio and in print lack any insight into our team.
I guess that’s why this forum is great 😀.
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That was a good first up performance, think both teams were a bit rusty and will get better as the season goes on.
Once again proves how good a coach Derren Witcombe is at this level - marked improvement on the rubbish we had under Harris and McLeod despite losing 4 of our best players since last season. Also good to see a coach have the balls to make the tighthead prop change - so often see coaches scared to make such an early change but that was one that needed making.
As usual under Witcombe the forwards worked bloody hard and really lead the defence with good speed and physicality. Pryor and Robinson were probably the most noticeable but I thought Moulds, Wright, Goodhue, Douglas and Matiu all made good contirbutions too.
I thought both Sam Nock and Jono Kitto were good - Nock is a lot more confident away from the Blues set up. Debreczeni made a big difference, big guy who can tackle with a long punt with a good pass. Seems so casual at times!
Hohaia and Tua were ok as a combo, both had some good moments but don't think they're going to worry too many defences - definitely not to anywhere near the extent Ranger and Goodhue did last year. I wonder if we might be better off defending Tua on the wing and Ranger in the midfield - Tua grabbed at jerseys a few times during the game and would also give Ranger more opportunities to get over the ball at the breakdown.
Probably the biggest worry from the game is that it seems like a big drop off from Rinakama and Wright to Straker and Tu'ungafasi especially at scrum time. Hopefully those guys were just a bit off the pace because it was the first game. I also wonder if we would be better off swapping Robinson and Douglas around. Minor adjustment but I think Robinson would just be a bit more dynamic at 6. Also Matich is probably the better starting option at 8 for me
One thing I thought was interesting during warm up was that Scott Gregory was also practicing goalkicking - seemed pretty good too.
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@steven-harris I wouldn't call that a hospital pass mate. It's not like those guys didn't have the cattle to work with, they inherited a squad that was largely in tact from the year before when we made the semis and had 5-6 months to whip them into shape but didn't. Anyway I was more wanting to acknowledge Witcombes good work than stick the boot in. Both his stints as coach we have had a mostly solid scrum, aggressive defence and a typical Northland throw the ball around attack. The team looks well drilled and work their butts off - if you compared the NH team on paper to Northland last Thursday, NH would've been red hot favourites. The good structures and hard working attitudes were what almost got us the win.
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@chiefy07 fair call,I’m probably guilty of being a bit to close Richie and Dale,and to be fair to Derrin I can see incremental improvements,actually had a chat to him after the Harbour game and seemed quite relaxed,while a tad disappointed with the final result.
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@steven-harris Steve, Good articles on the B’s and the U19s game. Well done. And great to see Northland is building depth.
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