Taranaki v Auckland
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Auckland
1 Alex Hodgman (Suburbs, 9 caps)
2 Leni Apisai (Loaned, 9)
3 Marcel Renata (University, 41)
4 Jamie Lane (Ponsonby, 14)
5 Scott Scrafton (Grammar TEC, 27)
6 Dalton Papalii (Pakuranga, 16)
7 Adrian Choat (Waitemata, 10)
8 Waimana Riedlinger-Kapa (Ponsonby, 10)
9 Jonathan Ruru (University, 20)
10 Harry Plummer (Grammar TEC, 21)
11 Salesi Rayasi (Marist, 20)
12 TJ Faiane – C (Pakuranga, 37)
13 Tumua Manu (College Rifles, 21)
14 AJ Lam (Grammar TEC, 3)
15 Jordan Trainor (Ponsonby, 22)16 Robbie Abel (College Rifles, 16)
17 Jarred Adams (Suburbs, 15)
18 Marco Fepulea’i (Ponsonby, 16)
19 Lyndon Dunshea (University, 3)
20 Akira Ioane (Ponsonby, 45)
21 Danny Tusitala (Ponsonby, 9)
22 Daniel Kirkpatrick (University, 9)
23 Kurt Heatherley (Loaned, 6)Unavailable due to injury: Cameron Suafoa (shoulder), Blake Gibson (knee), Peter-Chanel Tagaloa (head), Marcelle Barnard (ankle), Jack Whetton (ankle), Tanielu Tele’a (head)
All to play for in the ‘Naki
Victory on Friday night means Auckland have an opportunity to sneak into a semi-final spot if North Harbour...
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Clarke is a huge loss. Tele'a is also a big step up from Lam.
I'm not too sure why Apisai is continuing to get starts ahead of Abel.
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1 Chris Gawler, 2 Ricky Riccitelli, 3 Donald Brighouse, 4 Tupou Vaa’i, 5 Josh Lord, 6 Heiden Bedwell-Curtis, 7 Kaylum Boshier, 8 Pita-Gus Sowakula, 9 Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, 10 Stephen Perofeta, 11 Jayson Potroz, 12 Teihorangi Walden, 13 Sean Wainui, 14 Waisake Naholo, 15 Daniel Waite.
Reserves: 16 Bradley Slater, 17 Jared Proffit, 18 Kyle Stewart, 19 Tom Florence, 20 Lachlan Boshier, 21 Lisata Milo-Harris, 22 Matthew McKenzie, 23 Liam Blyde
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Two kids at lock for the Naki. They have 3 players out with concussion in that position.
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that's a pretty handy Naki XV. I reckon they will take this one.
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@KiwiMurph said in Taranaki v Auckland:
that's a pretty handy Naki XV. I reckon they will take this one.
Less experienced than the team Waikato beat last Sunday. Taranaki have been very disappointing this season.
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@Bovidae Auckland have also been very disappointing. I take your point though.
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Taranaki was quite dominant during the first 13 minutes of the game, but the momentum seems to shift to Auckland now.
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Great defence from Taranaki. Relentless, but energy sucking. How long can they keep on doing that?
Apisai failed his HIA.
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Auckland seriously lacking ball carriers in their pack.
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Gee that was stunning defence from the Naki .cant coach that..though Auckland should be looking to Rayasi in space
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@Steven-Harris Yeah, a lot of heart in that defence!
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Riccitelli scores off the line-out maul. So hard to defend against that.
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@Stargazer There is something heartwarming seeing a bunch of real kiwi country blokes man handling and outmuscling a pack of city slingers back over their own line for a beautiful try!
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Apparently this kid Josh Lord is only 18,6’8 ..gee he looks a talent..
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@Higgins If only those kiwi country blokes could scrum....
Ruru is a lucky man.
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Ruru is lucky we scored. We could've just kept putting pressure on their scrum and worked for a yellow card.
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@Steven-Harris Did TJ say earlier that his dad's Matt Lord (former North Harbour lock)?
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@Higgins said in Taranaki v Auckland:
@Stargazer There is something heartwarming seeing a bunch of real kiwi country blokes man handling and outmuscling a pack of city slingers back over their own line for a beautiful try!
TBH, I wonder how many of those blokes are actually country blokes.
Tony Johnson's differing pitches of voice when the Naki scored and then when Auckland scored certainly adds weight to Blues fans accusations of bias when he's commenting their games. When Naki scored he was so excited I assumed that I was watching the Tasman Invitational Baabaas XV or the Crusaders. When Auckland scored I assumed someone told him his Nana just died.
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Suprised Taranaki are going for the shot here with their rolling maul going so well.
Nicke kick from Perofeta having said that.
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Perofeta has been a bit hot and cold in this game, but that was a nice intercept. Too bad he lost the ball immediately after.
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@African-Monkey Agreed, their scrum is looking a bit dodgy. Wonder why Taranaki have stopped producing the good number of decent props they did for a fair while until a couple of years ago?
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Awesome clearance kick.
Has Naholo touched the ball, yet?
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@Higgins Taranaki are missing Ruben O’Neil and Mitchell Graham who are both injured , 2 of their corner stone props .throw in an 18 year old and 19 year old in the middle row who probably have not developed physically against a pretty solid Auckland tight 5..your gonna struggle ..
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@Steven-Harris I like the look of that number 4 for the 'Naki. I see he is out of Wesley College so presume he must be originally from Auckland (via Tonga?) befere landing in Taranaki last year after making the Schools Baabaas in 2016 and the Schools Team itself in 2017. Just a shame Ken LAban is missing when we need to be filled in on important details like who was his mother's next door neighbour, which NRL side he was linked with etc etc to fill in the missing information.
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@Higgins a couple good young guys putting theirs hands up ,really impressed with AJ Lam..seriously hard to put down..
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Some great hands in that try.
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Great hands from Manu there taking a near impossible offload.
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@African-Monkey said in Taranaki v Auckland:
Great hands from Manu there taking a near impossible offload.
that was tremendous, great work
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@African-Monkey said in Taranaki v Auckland:
@Steven-Harris Did TJ say earlier that his dad's Matt Lord (former North Harbour lock)?
Yes, I didn't know that. I watched Lord play a lot at Ham BHS. He will be a good prospect when he adds some bulk to his frame.
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@Bovidae Time really does fly haha. It doesn't feel like long ago that his dad was a young prospect himself.
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Is it raining or both team nervous , seeing that small scoreline?
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@nakosi Both sides muscling up on defence.
For all of Papali'i's good stuff, He really needs to learn to play to the ref's interpretations. He tends to play to what he thinks is right instead of what the ref sees as right.
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That is some good defence right there, well done Auckland
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Naholo looks SLOW
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Renata matching Waisake for pace..lol
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@Bovidae The run of a man who can't be arsed anymore haha.
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@Bovidae I've had the impression all season that Naholo isn't giving it 100% anymore. It wasn't much different during Super Rugby. Maybe he's already mentally switched off, ready to move to England.
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@Bovidae said in Taranaki v Auckland:
Naholo looks SLOW
seeing some of his games from 4-5 years ago, he used to be absolutely electric. Has really dropped off the pace unfortunately
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I made the comment that Naholo looked disinterested last Sunday vs Waikato.
He'll probably tear them apart up north.
