Manawatu v Wellington
-
Manawatu:
15 Te Rangatira Waitokia, 14 Rob Thompson 13 Lifeimi Mafi, 12 Hamish Northcott, 11 James Tofa, 10 Otere Black, 9 Kayne Hammington, 8 Brad Tucker, 7 Adrian Wyrill, 6 Liam Mitchell, 5 Liam Hallam-Eames, 4 Nick Crosswell (c), 3 Sean Paranihi, 2 Sam Stewart, 1 Faalelei Sione.
Reserves: 16 Gene Syminton, 17 Fraser Armstrong, 18 Michael Alaalatoa, 19 Samuel Slade, 20 Brice Henderson, 21 Kayne Hammington, 22 Sam Malcolm, 23 Ben Werthmuller.
Wing Ben Werthmuller and hooker Gene Syminton will both have a chance for their first games if coach Jeremy Cotter turns to his bench in the contest for the Coronation Cup. The duo are among a host of changes for the Turbos including lock Nick Crosswell being handed the captaincy duties with Antonio Kiri Kiri being rested. Faalelei Sione will get his first start at prop and is joined in the front row by Sam Stewart and Sean Paranihi. Blindside flanker Liam Mitchell is back after a match off and is joined on the side of the scrum by Adrian Wyrill, with Brad Tucker remaining at No 8. Kayne Hammington comes in at halfback with Otere Black named to start for the first time since he was injured last year. Hamish Northcott, paying his 50th match for Manawatu, is joined in the midfield by Lifieimi Mafi with Rob Thompson and James Tofa on the wing. Te Rangatira Waitokia takes the place of fullback Junior Laloifi who is out with a concussion.https://www.turbosrugby.co.nz/news/two-debutants-on-bench-for-turbos
Just like Tim Cadwallader, Gene Syminton is a Lindisfarne College product.
-
Wellington
15 Wes Goosen (Old Boys University)
14 Losi Filipo (Petone)
13 Matt Proctor (Oriental-Rongotai) (c)
12 Thomas Umaga-Jensen (Wainuiomata)
11 Ben Lam (Tawa)
10 Jackson Garden-Bachop (Northern United)
9 Kemara Hauiti-Parapara (Tawa)
8 Thomas Waldrom (Avalon)
7 Mateaki Kafatolu (Petone)
6 Galu Taufale (Poneke)
5 Isaia Walker-Leawere (Poneke)
4 James Blackwell (Petone)
3 Jeff To'omaga-Allen (Marist St Pats)
2 Asafo Aumua (Avalon)
1 Tolu Fahamokioa (Tawa)Reserves
16 James O'Reilly (Hutt Old Boys Marist)
17 Xavier Numia (Oriental-Rongotai)
18 Joel Hintz (Old Boys University)
19 Will Mangos (Old Boys University)
20 Greg Foe (Poneke)
21 Sheridan Rangihuna (Hutt Old Boys Marist)
22 Peter Umaga-Jensen (Wainuiomata)
23 Trent Renata (Oriental-Rongotai)Gibbes has made five changes to the starting XV which helped the Lions to a convincing 53-12 win over Counties Manukau in Pukekohe last round. Flanker Vaea Fifita was originally selected to start but has been called into the All Blacks for their tour of Argentina and South Africa. He has been replaced by Galu Taufale while there are two more changes in the pack. The tight five remains largely the same, the exception coming at loosehead prop where Tolu Fahamokioa returns with the promising Xavier Numia moving to the bench. The experienced Thomas Waldrom returns to the starting side in the only other change to the pack. Wing Losi Filipo has been given an opportunity to start on the right wing which sees Ben Lam switch to the left while Thomas Umaga-Jensen comes into the midfield in the only changes to the backline that functioned well in Pukekohe.http://www.wellingtonlions.co.nz/news/wellington-lions-named-to-face-manawatu/
-
Looks to be a typically breezy day in Palmy this afternoon, nice and sunny though. That Wellington loose trio must the oldest in the entire Mitre10 Cup. Might they be lacking a bit in pace around the field??? Only time will tell I suppose. A bit hard to watch a match involving two of my most disliked teams so I guess I can support the referee!
-
-
@stargazer It is quite a strong wind he has to contend with, so cut him a little slack, something I don't normally do for Wellington players.
-
Higgins said:
@stargazer It is quite a strong wind he has to contend with, so cut him a little slack, something I don't normally do for Wellington players.
Wellington players should be used to quite a bit of wind though.
6 missed kicks now. -
It's not as if he will be getting much game time for the Hurricanes anyway. At best he would be ranked number four behind B Barrett, J Marshall, and T Va'a and they have probably got some other wonder kid or two they are paying money to (mostly not to play!)floating round in schoolboy rugby somewhere like Scots College. Maybe even J Barrett might be rated at number four 1st five ahead of JGB. There is also a position they have to find to justify continuing employing J Blackwell so he might even slot in there at first five number five at a pinch.
-
Stargazer said:
Manawatu:
15 Te Rangatira Waitokia, 14 Rob Thompson 13 Lifeimi Mafi, 12 Hamish Northcott, 11 James Tofa, 10 Otere Black, 9 Kayne Hammington, 8 Brad Tucker, 7 Adrian Wyrill, 6 Liam Mitchell, 5 Liam Hallam-Eames, 4 Nick Crosswell (c), 3 Sean Paranihi, 2 Sam Stewart, 1 Faalelei Sione.
Reserves: 16 Gene Syminton, 17 Fraser Armstrong, 18 Michael Alaalatoa, 19 Samuel Slade, 20 Brice Henderson, *** 21 Kayne Hammington *** 22 Sam Malcolm, 23 Ben Werthmuller.
BUsy arvo for Hammington...
-
I have been very impressed by Isaia Walker-Leawere. He has been everywhere tonight and has shown immense strength in negating almost anything the Manawatu forward pack has thrown at us.
-
But Va'a still has as Hurricanes contract from memory. Even if he doesn't they will almost certainly find a way of squirming him in there somewhere. Think the last time I saw him play was when he came on as a replacement for Fa'atonu Fili in the Wellington Samoans game against HB B out at the Hutt Rec a a week or so ago.
Incidentally Matt Peni also played that game. Not sure why he has fallen so far off the radar since his NZ Under 20 days (possibly injury related as he has not had a huge amount of club rugby under his belt these last few years either) but he was the standout Samoan forward that day so looks to still have something to offer, albeit at a considerably lower level even than Mitre10 Cup at this stage.
EDIT: Just checked and Va'a was not listed in the team. The guy I was thinking about was Carlos Price who started at halfback for the Samoans. Easy error as I was fully concentrating on supporting the Bay who won very well, even allowing for buttoning off in the second half letting the locals sore most of their points in the last 15 minutes. -
He had a two year contract and finished that up last year. I can't see him being signed again without playing any ITM Cup.
One player the Canes need to sign is loosehead prop Xavier Numia. He has shown exactly why he was ranked the no1 school boy a couple of years ago with his cameo appearances off the bench this year. Very strong at scrum time and very mobile around the park.
In Tim Farrell and Xavier, the Canes could have the makings of two very good long term prop options.
-
@canes4life Is that the guy who plays at Ories? Watched Marcel Renata get comfortably held by the HOBM front row early on in the club season (he got subbed off not long after half time). Whetu Henry was the other Ories prop that day so Numia must have been on the bench at best that day. Maybe he was injured as I don't recall him playing much early in the season.
Who's spot are you thinking Numia should take? Renata and Ben May must be gone but think they have signed up a prop from Manawatu (Fraser Armstrong?) and not sure about Chris Eves. No doubt Stargazer will be able to give us a heads up on who is in and who is out, front row wise, at this stage. -
@higgins If the Canes are serious about winning another title soon, a guy like May shouldn't be anywhere near the picture. It might be a little too soon for Xavier to get a contract but they need to start building a long term tight five that can do the business year in and year out. Imo they should have thrown a bit more dosh at Loni Uhila to keep him in NZ. What is the point in having a Beaudy if he is always going backwards. Goodes has been a bigger loss to us than I first thought he would be.
-
Canes4life said:
He had a two year contract and finished that up last year. I can't see him being signed again without playing any ITM Cup.
One player the Canes need to sign is loosehead prop Xavier Numia. He has shown exactly why he was ranked the no1 school boy a couple of years ago with his cameo appearances off the bench this year. Very strong at scrum time and very mobile around the park.
In Tim Farrell and Xavier, the Canes could have the makings of two very good long term prop options.
Numia started for Wellington the last 2 weeks. But he's still only 19 so sign him but let him learn the ropes during 2019
Xavier Numia
29th Nov 1998 1.89m/111kg Loosehead PropThe Wellington Lions squad to meet Counties Manukau is:
8 Teariki Ben-Nicholas (Old Boys University)
7 Mateaki Kafatolu (Petone)
6 Vaea Fifita (Wellington)
5 Isaia Walker-Leawere (Poneke)
4 James Blackwell (Petone)
3 Jeff To'omaga-Allen (Marist St Pats)
2 Asafo Aumua (Avalon)
1 Xavier Numia (Oriental-Rongotai) -
Canes4life said:
@higgins If the Canes are serious about winning another title soon, a guy like May shouldn't be anywhere near the picture. It might be a little too soon for Xavier to get a contract but they need to start building a long term tight five that can do the business year in and year out. Imo they should have thrown a bit more dosh at Loni Uhila to keep him in NZ. What is the point in having a Beaudy if he is always going backwards. Goodes has been a bigger loss to us than I first thought he would be.
Uhila was a bit injury prone though. But agree when fit he was great. He made a big diff to the pack when he was fully fit. And agree Canes now need two good props. But maybe Fidow will make the grade exp as an impact prop next year.
The issue with the Canes this year is they lost all of their dynamic forwards to injury. 2 hookers (Coles and Aumua). One prop (Fidow). One lock (Isaia Walker-Leawere). And Savea. So they were left with good players but more workhorse type players. It was an unbalanced pack and no punch from impact players. And along with a poorly coached back line. Unsure what Spencer can do but Holland is overrated as an attack coach. The Canes attack has slowly but surely gone to the pack with him in charge.
I hoping with Plumtree as boss they might right the ship next year. I have doubts about Spencer though. And Holland and Watt.
But will watch with interest to how the attack is with Wellington. It needs a lot of work so will see what Jane can do.
Re May. He's an Ok player to have as backup.
