Northland Club Rugby
-
Went along to watch Old Boys Marist (beaten finalist last year) v Kamo today (beaten semi-finalist last year)
OBM took the lollies 21-5.
Kamo will struggle this season if they cant get any taller players for thier lineout, Tamati Tua is thier tallest player and he was not playing lock, I think they lost pretty much all thier lineouts.
On Tua, had some nice touches, but doesnt dominate at this level like he should, picked up a YC for a shoulder charge in the final 10 mins.
Sam Caird for OBM looks to have packed on a bit of size this year, which could be good for him going forward, still gets about and always fairly strong in the contact.
OBM were up 15-0 with 25 or so to go and basically spent the rest of the game inside Kamo's 22 but some staunch defence and these new rules having an influence on things.
Kamo's only points came from a 90m intercept in the last minutes to Jayden Laupepe
But for me, the best on the park was Kamo's Kane Jacobson at 7 (elder brother of Luke Jacobson) who missed pretty much the last season and a bit with concussion, was into everything, powerful in the contact on both sides, a nuisance at the breakdown, just a real presence out there, hope he stays fit.
Scratchy game really, continuity a real struggle particularly for Kamo, both scrums were solid, but as above, OBM lineout was superior (although they struggled with not straights in the final quarter)
But club footy, yea boi!
-
@taniwharugby Thanks TR😀👍
-
Some interesting first up results ..
Looks like it might be more of a learning year for newly promoted team Ngāti Hine Moerewa/Uk..apparently they have lost Justin Davies,Warren Dunn and Paora Allen to HoraHora which is a bit of a shame but great news for HH who have also gained Kara Pryor who will pack down in the back row with Jacob Matiu and the very promising rangy loose forward Tiaki Smith ...HH could be a bit of a dark horse if they can keep everyone in the paddock ..hard to know how good Western Sharks were given whom they were up against ..
Just chatting to a contact that was at the KeriKeri v Mid Northern game , a good tight contest that saw a very big crowd from up..
Some good news for Taniwha supporters with Wiseguy Faiane deciding to put his head down ,and a genuine crack at the Northland Taniwha team , has returned to Waipu ..
Wellsford had a very good team on paper against Waipu , but according to reports , tried to go wide without getting right up front first ..
An interesting newcomer to OBM will be big number , Isileli Manu, younger brother of Pauliasi Manu ..very sizeable human being.
