Wellington vs Tasman
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http://www.wellingtonlions.co.nz/news/taufale-named-to-lead-lions-against-tasman/
15 Ben Lam (Tawa)
14 Losi Filipo (Petone)
13 Wes Goosen (Old Boys University)
12 Billy Proctor (Marist St Pats)
11 Malo Tuitama (Oriental-Rongotai)
10 Jackson Garden-Bachop (Northern United)
9 Kemara Hauiti-Parapara (Tawa)
8 Teariki Ben-Nicholas (Old Boys University)
7 Du'Plessis Kirifi (Northern United)
6 Galu Taufale (Poneke) (c)
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)16 James O'Reilly (Hutt Old Boys Marist)
17 Tolu Fahamokioa (Tawa)
18 Joel Hintz (Old Boys University)
19 Will Mangos (Old Boys University)
20 Mateaki Kafatolu (Petone)
21 Carlos Price (Petone)
22 Thomas Umaga-Jensen (Wainuiomata)
23 Trent Renata (Oriental-Rongotai)
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Will Jordan, Tima Faingaanuku, Levi Aumua, David Havili (c), Solomon Alaimalo, Mitch Hunt, Finlay Christie, Taina Fox-Matamua, Ethan Blackadder, Paripari Parkinson, Quinten Strange, Tyrel Lomax, Andrew Makalio, Wyatt Crockett
Reserves: Ray Niuia, Ryan Coxon, Isaac Salmon, John Akau’ola-Laula, Te Ahiwaru Cirikidaveta, Jack Grooby, Timothy O’Malley, Alex Nankivell
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Great team try from Christie. Apart from that, there's not much between these teams at the moment.
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@stargazer Loving the contest. The Naki-Harbour games was a non-event where defence was optional.
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Lovely breakout try to Welly, bad mistake by Tasman - made to pay for leaving the ball unprotected at the back of the ruck
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Entertaining first half. Great to finally see a game where teams know how to defend.
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For me Makalio offers more than either Asafo Aumua or Coltman, both in general play and scrummaging
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@shadowtrooper Yes, agree 100%. Should be on the EYOT, but as we all know, the ABs selectors always find it very hard to drop players, even if they are very average.
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So far, so good from Tasman - playing into the wind.
Most things going well and mainly playing with some patience, which has been a problem in previous weeks - too many miracle balls.
Only thing that really annoyed me was the obstruction penalty on Blackadder when we had formed for the lineout drive. Really? Is someone going to be penalised every time the lifter is upstream from the jumper? Great scoring chance and Tasman gets pinged for something that happens all the time and is almost never called.
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Lol, Levi Aumua steamrolling one player after the other.
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@stargazer Yes Chiefs connections; Aumua L, and Alaimalo working pretty well together
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I'm hoping the Chiefs can attract Levi Aumua back next season, but this time give him some decent game time
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So much can change in a year. 12 months ago Asafo Aumua was the talk of the comp. A long way off that now.
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Like that fulla Mangos as well - no matter how you say his nmea
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Tragedy! Loan player from Auckland scores for he Makos!
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Great try from the Mako. Wellington not playing as well as in the first half, but full credit to Tasman. Ball handling is great. Hunt struggling with the wind.
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Deserved win from Tasman but totally shit for my tipping. Another pick I got wrong.
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Good effort by Tasman.
Dominant in most parts of the game, but a couple of errors got punished with points and Mitch Hunt had a bit of a dog kicking at goal.
Left the door open for Wellington, but the last couple of minutes replicated Otago last night and shut them out.
Hope Jordan's ankle is something that only needs a few days to come right.
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Really enjoyable game after the 2 blow outs today,Crockett,Lorax and Makaleo outstanding,scrum dominance plYed a huge part in the 2nd half, my MOM was Makaleo..what’s happened to Asafo Amua..?was supposed to be next big thing..!..congratulations to Tasman..,Wellington nowhere near their best but you always felt they were never gonna go away
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Good game
But its shows that Wellington's scrum is not quite good enough. And I don't really see what they can do to fix it.
If Fifita returns the lineout will be much better (if not they have an issue here too) but the scrum will cost Wellington any chance of winning the NPC.
Umaga-Jenson needs to work on his defense. He's a good player otherwise. Billy Proctor showed why he's rated so highly.
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@steven-harris Yeah - Lomax has come on in leaps and bounds. He'd be a reasonable apprentice pick for the EOYT.
Makalio gets great go forward at this level. I can see why people are mentioning him as an AB prospect, but I wonder whether he'd be able to play at AB pace. He's a big unit and doesn't have a lot of speed.
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@chris-b great value out of your bench as well,Ray Niua played up in Harbour and he was always deadly off the bench..!
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Steven Harris said:
what’s happened to Asafo Amua..?was supposed to be next big thing..!.
Aumua had a game he will want to forget. But he's still young and will take time to adjust to a different type of rugby where he won't set the world on fire almost every game as he did when younger
Isaia Walker-Leawere is quick. Blackwell was missed when he went off. Just too short for a lock though
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@steven-harris Yeah - that run Niuia made when he bumped off three players was hugely valuable.
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ShadowTrooper said:
I'm hoping the Chiefs can attract Levi Aumua back next season, but this time give him some decent game time
He's a bit like Bastareaud.
Not got a lot of pace, but a bloody big unit and hard to stop him getting over the advantage line.
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I was at the game last night, one of very few that braved the chilly wind. It was an interesting match to view as a neutral with an equal dislike for both sides. The rugby on display was quite satisfying with the home side seeming to try to play at a higher pace than Tasman, something which did not always come off. Tasman looked to be well drilled and coached and seldom risked anything likely to cause defensive problems ie weighing up the options and taking the least risky one. Finlay Christie takes a fair bit of scorn on here but to me he looked to be an industrious guy last night always being behind his pack early ready to make the next move well in advance of the ball being made available to him. He also made a couple of jinky semi breaks, committing an extra tackler thus opening up a bit more space for Mitchell Scott. His pass and clearance times though could still do with a bit more speed. He looked quite a different player to the one I saw a couple of times turning out for Poneke during the club season.
David Havili looked to be a useful player at second five, once firing out a pass so quick it almost resulted in a sonic boom, well done to his centre for catching it. He seemed to have the ability to judge the pce of his pass and adjusted it nicely according to the situation. Eventually finished the match at fullback after his side suffered from a large number of injury changes (blood HIA etc). Disappointed the full back Will Jordan did not get much chance to show of his undoubted skills for me to witness first hand, he eventually went off with some sort of leg injury midway through the second half. Tasman seemed to have rather tallish players in most positions, something which I had not noticed in the past watching them on Sky. All their players looked to do their core roles without too much fanfare and seldom looked like making errors. Their scrum pulverized the Wellington one a few times which would have had Grumpy Muir wringing his hands if he was sitting in the stands wearing his Wellington hat but nodding admiringly if he was wearing his scrumming coaching hat.
Having said that I was quite impressed with Xavier Numia almost always being the first forward to reach the restart area be it scrums or lineout, running to get there rather than just ambling like a lot of others do. Without knowing exactly what the problem was he was part of an embarrassed scrum so obviously a bit of work to do to get a more stable scrum setting together with the remainder of his forwards.
I wish I could have got onto the field to kick Isaia Walker-Leawere to get him really angry and rark him up as a guy that size would be unstoppable if he was in that sort of mood, he was not last night. That could well have been because of solid tackling by Tasman, but the thought of him running at full speed and power must be really scary if you are lined up as the only one available to tackle him.
Not sure what was happening to the Wellington defensive line in the inner midfield inside and outside where the first five would be but Tasman did rip through there a couple of times to telling effect. Whether it was JGB or recent 5 year Hurricanes contracted Billy Procter, a lack of cover by loose forwards, a combination of those or something else it must be concerning to the Wellington coaching staff.
Ben Lam had a quiet match at fullback and that might not be his best position if last night was anything to go by. Malo Tuitama looked to be nicely skilled with a nice step and hip swerve but whether he has the overall size to make it to the next level is a big question. He arrived on the opposite wing in cover defence a few times which earned him a big tick from me. I like the way he plays.
Te Ariki Ben-Nicholas also looked to be a competent player that might be capable of stepping up to the next level. Not a headline grabbing type of player but did the basics well and seldom makes errors if last nights display is anything to go by. Took the right options at the right time, last night anyway. Also liked the way Tasman hooker Makalio hit the defensive line with good aggression always putting great pressure on the tackle to pull off a solid tackle or risk injury if they didn't!
All in all an enjoyable night.
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@shadowtrooper said in Wellington vs Tasman:
I'm hoping the Chiefs can attract Levi Aumua back next season, but this time give him some decent game time
It would be good to know what happened this season. He's a big unit so perhaps fitness was an issue.
