Auckland v Counties Manukau
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Counties Manukau
1 Howard Sililoto, 2. Joseph Royal, 3. Kalolo Tuiloma or Coree Te Whata-Colley, 4. Viliame Rarasea, 5. Matiaha Martin, 6. Mike McKee, 7. Fotu Lokotui, 8. Sam Henwood ©; 9. Te Aihe Toma, 10. Latiume Fosita, 11. Tevita Nabura, 12. Orbyn Leger, 13. Nigel Ah Wong, 14. Sione Molia, 15. Kalione Hala.
Reserves: 16. Gafatasi Su’a, 17. Mark Royal, 18. Coree Te Whata Colley or Abraham Falani, 19. Sikeli Nabou, 20. Matt Vaai, 21 Liam Daniela, 22. Cardiff Vaega, 23. Sam Furniss.
Not considered because of injury: Sean Bagshaw (hamstring), Luteru Laulala (knee), Toni Pulu (rib), Suetena Asomua (calf), Sione Fifita (calf), Daymon Leasuasu (shoulder), Dan Hyatt (hip), Jonathan Taumateine (season), Etene Nanai-Seturo (hamstring).
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Don’t you hate it when you see your teams squad name at the start of the season, get excited, then reality comes a running when the first team is named?
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@crucial I thought it was a Heartland team...
Not sure why it's taking so long to name our Heartland team though.
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@dice Probably still find a way to beat us.
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Hey...that's not the lock pairing I had in mind.
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Plummer starting - good. Prattley not starting - good.
Olmstead/Sotutu covering lock I guess.
Tight 5 question marks but that would have to be the best loose forward trio in the comp (til one of/both Gibson and Papali'i get injured).
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Seven debutants on the bench, nine in the team. Completely new tight five from last year. Interesting!
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Counties come to town to kick-off the Mitre 10 season (plus programme)
Blake Gibson to Captain Auckland for the first time Ten potential debutants set to make their mark...
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Notable omissions/unavailability's? Clarke, Ravouvou, Tele'a, Seu, Tuipolotu, Fatialofa, Renata. They will need some of those guys back if they are to trouble the top teams. Concern that Sosene has not played any preseason (named but pulled out of the last game) so his combination with his locks under pressure could be a worry.
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Tight 5 is the biggest worry for me. I didn't realize we'd be missing Tuipulotu, Fatialofa and Renata for this game.
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Just realized Gibson is captain. The last time he was captain was in school when Tai Lavea was his coach.
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Both teams are seriously under strength. It will be interesting to see how all these newbies fare.
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Of course its TJ on comms....
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Auckland concede the ball, a penalty and a try. This feels familiar...
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...and give another penalty....
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Rayasi!
Beautiful try - great pass Akira, Manu hits the gap and a great chip kick and Rayasi has enough pace to score.
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Auckland scrum in trouble already.
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Now Auckland smashed in a lineout drive. Again....familiar...
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My god, three Blues loosies just watching on.
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Much better play from Auckland. Probing runs from a lot of players.
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Backs look slick so far. Good balance in the backline.
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@dice Agreed. Refreshing.
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Manu is a gun. Looks at home in midfield.
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@kiwimurph Even our kicking game has been good. Tai Lavea might be a masterstroke signing.
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Solid defence. Auckland actually playing like they care this year.
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Fukofuka looking good.
Think this season will come down to tight five performance, and the team's composure under pressure.
Looking forward to seeing more of Manu in the midfield.
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Pretty light weight second row, which might weaken the scrum.
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Lots of promising signs there. We look like we are close to scoring every time we go wide.
They have the scrum, but Akira is cleaning up the mess at the back well to negate some of that. Counties lineout is abysmal, glad to see us kicking up the field to attack it.
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I'mpressed with Trainor so far after a dismal 2017. Tight 5 still a concern for me.
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@african-monkey said in Auckland v Counties Manukau:
I'mpressed with Trainor so far after a dismal 2017. Tight 5 still a concern for me.
Yeah, looks elusive and super quick. Shouldn’t have passed deep in the 22 though!
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I just noticed that Counties have their player numbers on the front like they did in the old days,
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@tim said in Auckland v Counties Manukau:
Pretty light weight second row, which might weaken the scrum.
But their lineout work has been great
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Poor captaincy from Gibson. Take the 3.
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Counties have improved since the break.
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@stargazer helps when the opposition turn down points...
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What does good maul defense look like? They're foreign to me.
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@kiwimurph Has nothing to do with that. Counties line-outs and scrums are better than Auckland's. Auckland better score soon, because this score is stuffing up my tipping.
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@stargazer has everything to do with it. Would have been 23-14 Auckland...
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@kiwimurph I was talking about Counties playing better, not Auckland playing worse.
