v Auckland

[Steven Harris]

Many of the guys that have been given an opportunity by way of a contract,but have got to take their opportunity..
Mac Sykes playing for the Dev team in the last 2 weeks has been superb,along with Sam MacNamara and Boyd Wiggins..also a good performance from Renata Roberts Tenana has just reminded the head coaches why he has been signed..

The big Fijian from Waipu Temo needs to get a bit more involved,Blundell has been ok but butchered an opportunity for the Dev Team to put the game away,but kicked and lost possession which CM ran back and created the winning score.
Faiane at his best looks a much better player,his took breaks were classy..
I would have taken Gadeisuva ahead of Levi Clark,Gadeisuva is a very physical player,is inclined to fall off the odd tackle,but seems to have real game awareness.

Clark’s attempted tackle on the big CM winger Sione Fifita was abysmal,went high on a big man,and got pushed off like he was’nt there ,and that was the winning try..not what I expected from a contracted winger,especially when you had the pace to nail him..

Which brings me to Tamati Tua,sure the kid is young,but it’s time for him to stand up..6 missed tackles is not good enough..personally I would Scott Gregory a run at centre,and send Tua back to either the bench or the Dev squad

[taniwharugby]

@j77 yeah we have had 2 good halves of rugby so far, and 2 poor ones, hopefully we can put together 2 good halves in a single game, as naki look to have been stung into action form the loss to BOP, although they fell off the last 20 v Manawatu so are def beatable, especially as they have Counties tomorrow and look to have named a full strength team for them, maybe looking at resting a few for us, but we will need to be on top of our game.

I dont see many, if any changes for us, as much as I think Tua needs a shake up, we need to remember it is only game 2 and he has spent most of the year injured.

Our scrum looked rock solid throughout, even after the subs came on, which is good, so my pick is, assuming no injuries, we will have the same 23 again, probably same starting line up.

One thing that is frustrating, is we sub our captain off early as we did last weekend, ideally you want your captain playing 70+ minutes, and for me it just doesnt sit well subbing your captain off around 55-60mins.

[J77]

I dont see many, if any changes for us, as much as I think Tua needs a shake up, we need to remember it is only game 2 and he has spent most of the year injured.

Which leads me to how he got injured! If what I hear is correct thats part of his problem I think... needs to pull his head in.

[kev]

@j77 I think we all agree that Tua needs a shakeup. He should get some support re tackling, and a clear indication that he will get dragged and not play if the effort is not there. Gregory is really young so coaches would best know if he is ready. I like Ranger on the wing. So for me Hyland would be next cab off the rank in midfield.