Manawatū v Hawke's Bay
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1 Jason Long, 2 Kianu Kereru-Symes, 3 Joel Hintz, 4 Geoff Cridge, 5 Tom Parsons (c), 6 Josh Kaifa, 7 Solomone Funaki, 8 Gareth Evans, 9 Ereatara Enari, 10 Lincoln McClutchie, 11 Anzelo Tuitavuki, 12 Kienan Higgins, 13 Neria Fomai, 14 Ollie Sapsford, 15 Lolagi Visinia.Reserves: 16 Jacob Devery, 17 Pouri Rakete-Stones, 18 Namatahi Waa, 19 Bryn Evans, 20 Devan Flanders, 21 Danny Tusitala, 22 Caleb Makene, 23 Dennon Robinson-Bartlett.
Lots of changes, hopefully not too many, although that first spot on the table is already in the bag. -
Very B squad look. Surprised they rested MMT and not Flanders, Flanders has looked out of sorts, by his high standards, in the last couple of games.
Thought it might have been a good chance to give Makene 60 minutes as well. I forgot Robinson-Bartlett was in the squad.
Hope they don't lose this one, might ruin the whole season for me.
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@nepia Flanders looks to be there as injury cover for the loose forward/lock spots. The loose trio are all very good players in their own right and have not had all that much game time so hopefully they can all go the entire 80 minutes and allow D Flanders' services not to be called upon.
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@nepia I have the impression that they are carefully managing MMT because of his injury earlier in the season. Flanders indeed looks a bit tired, but they might be giving Gareth Evans lots of minutes in this game and maybe keep Flanders on the bench (or resting him, next week)?
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1 Joseph Gavigan, 2 Ray Niuia, 3 Flyn Yates, 4 Micaiah Torrance-Read, 5 Liam Mitchell, 6 TK Howden, 7 Shamus Hurley-Langton, 8 Brayden Iose, 9 Logan Henry, 10 Brett Cameron, 11 Ed Fidow, 12 Jason Emergy, 13 Josiah Marakau, 14 Tima Fainga'anuku, 15 Nehe Milner-Skudder
Reserves: 16 Ben Strang, 17 Harrison Allan, 18 Ropate Rinakama, 19 Ofa Tauatevalu, 20 Johnny Galloway, 21 Griffin-Culver, 22 Stewart Cruden, 23 Drew Wild
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Great to see B Evans in the squad - hopefully he gets at least 30 minutes to give one of the other locks a rest
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Surely that was early tackle on Sapsford - penalty try
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@stockcar86 said in Manawatū v Hawke's Bay:
Surely that was early tackle on Sapsford - penalty try
Watched it again, definitely
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Weeds growing on the speedway track - I guess Puk hasn't started the track prep for the season yet @Higgins
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Some terrible defence mixed with awesome attack from both teams in this game.
Manawatū's Howden looks like a promising player. Would love to see him and Flanders - who was excellent when he came on - as a 6-8 combo for the Canes, but Holland and co. no doubt have different ideas.
That first try from Ollie Sapsford was brilliant. His second, with that quality offload from Kereru-Symes, was great, too. Some nice tries from the Poo (and awful defence from us), too!
Just when I was grumbling that Kienan Higgins didn't deserve an NPC contract, he scored two tries. Not sure he's changed my mind, but hats off for the lad for taking his opportunities.
Our bench made the difference.
Glad our B team got the job done; expect our C team for the game v Northland, next week.
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@stargazer said in Manawatū v Hawke's Bay:
Manawatū's Howden looks like a promising player. Would love to see him and Flanders - who was excellent when he came on - as a 6-8 combo for the Canes, but Holland and co. no doubt have different ideas.
Glad to see we are on the same page for once. A Howden, Savea and Flanders combo would be seriously impressive. Flanders and Howden are both athletic young players with big futures IMO and then Brayden Iose coming off the bench as he’s been in great form. Let’s hope Holland plays ball. No doubt he’ll pick Prinsep and Kirifi though. 🤮
