Northland v Southland
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Usually the battle for the wooden spoon, and while Southland are winless so far, they and Northland both look vastly better sides so far this season, so will be an intriguing battle.
Northland, ordinarily a side chock full of flair, struggles up front and invariably, lose with style, have thus far won battles of attrition built on solid defence and a solid forward platform.
Southland, typically a 10 man rugby side, this year playing some attractive running footy, scoring some good tries.
Northland lose Jack Goodhue from the backline, which will be a huge blow given he just seemed to provide some stability to things, I hope they bring Kalani Going into the 23, was easily the stand out mid-fielder in the Northland comp, arguably the best player in the comp, and by all accounts, has carried this form into the time he has been on the park for the Dev side too.
As Ross Wright failed his HIA, he wont be available either, so I would expect the Adams / Moulds / Ofa front row to start again.
Unsure on the status of Caird and Robinson.
Weather is looking great, so hopefully see some good rugby!
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@taniwharugby agree re Kalani Going, surprised we haven’t seen him feature at all yet. Hopefully he gets the 12 jersey now that Jack is crooked. Him and Tua would make a good combo with Rene off the pine.
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@taniwharugby said in Northland v Southland:
Southland, typically a 10 man rugby side, this year playing some attractive running footy, scoring some good tries.
Yeah, three losses but they've played well in all of them.
Narrow losses to Tasman, Auckland and Otago. The Tasman game was probably most impressive as it was away from home with travel disruption
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@Duluth normally I’d take Northland by 15-20 at home, but Southland are a massive chance I reckon. Should be a good game. Still going to back us, but won’t be surprised if Southland spoil the party.
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@J77 yeah McLeod is doing a great job with that team, I expect Gregory has been looking forward to this match, hopefully he tries too hard and fails
But yeah, they are playing some good rugby, and a few different bounces could have had 1 or 2 wins this season.
So many parallels between Northland and Southland rugby, struggles, depth etc, so this match always takes on a little bit more.
I think if we have dry conditions, and we can catch a few more passes than we have so far, we should score some tries, and if we can maintain a decent level of defence as we have so far, we should win.
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@Duluth Form what I had heard, one of Robinson or Goodhue will be on the bench, both not 100%...Nock coming off the bench, I wont go into #12!
I assume the bench will be:
BKP, CTC, Puafisi, Goodhue/Robinson, Matich, Nock, Hawkins, Ranger -
Holy heck, Kalani Going must be covered in anthrax or something. Blake Hohaias selection is a huge call! I won’t go any further than saying that is dicing with trouble..
The rest of the team is par for course for what’s available. Should hopefully still get it done.
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@J77 hopefully Veale gets him on board with what so far is a good defensive line.
But be good for our attack to get going this weekend...
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@taniwharugby yep got to trust the systems Veale has in place. Hopefully Hohaia behaves and spends his time aligned and not in behind the opposition backline where he and Ranger tend to live when rushing up too often.
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just seen the bench.
Kauika-Peterson, Te Whata-Colley, O'Donnell (debut) Goodhue, Matich, Nock, Hawkins, Ranger
O'Donnell's parents flew out from Ireland
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Robbie Robinson, Viliami Fine, Matt Whaanga, Scott Gregory, Rory van Vugt, Marty Banks, Jakob Morrison, Charles Alaimalo, Matt James, Grayson Knapp, Josh Bekhuis, Joe Robins, Morgan Mitchell, Jacob Payne, Joe Walsh
Reserves: Sam Stewart, Paula Latu, Quinn Harrison-Jones, Blair Ryall, Jacob Coghlan, Jahvis Wallace, Jack MacLeod, Isaac Te Tamaki
Southland coach Dale MacLeod has distanced himself from any decision-making around his son Jack’s call up as injury cover for the Stags. The Stags have drafted in two players from Canterbury ahead of its showdown against Northland on Sunday, including Jack MacLeod. Jack is a first five-eighth who can cover halfback, second five-eighth and fullback if needed. He has helped provide the Stags with injury cover in preseason games against Tasman during the past two years. He also played for Southland in an under-18 tournament in Christchurch in the past. With first five-eighth Greg Dyer suffering a nasty ankle sprain, along with Michael Manson being out with concussion, Jay Renton and Solomon Alaimalo carrying injuries, the Stags were in need of some backline cover. Assistant coach James Wilson suggested Jack MacLeod would be a good option to bolster its first five-eighth stocks, although Dale was initially uncomfortable about it. “I said that it was a bit awkward for me. I said to James I’ll leave it with you, but the first thing you need to do is go to the senior boys and ask them. If any of them have an issue with it, then it’s a no.” Wilson believed Jack was up to it, and he did get the backing of the players to call him in. The second player that has been drafted in is looseforward Blair Ryall, who MacLeod has big wraps on. Ryall was part of the Canterbury under-20 squad in 2020 and has played for the Crusaders development team. -
@Duluth pretty sure he had a handful of games for Northland when Dale was up here too...may have suffered a long term injury IIRC
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Looks like a change on the bench with Ranger out and Going in
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I really struggle to see what value Hohaia brings. I hope he does well but he's never really offered much in the past. Hawkins might be a bit limited at times but is always solid and consistent and brings good goal kicking. We don't really get the same from Hohaia.
I wonder why they're not starting Goodhue, he played well the first game and with Craig still trying to make the step up to this level he's the better bet right now.
I've thought Milo-Harris has been a bit slow and ponderous - I would've kept starting Nock.
Also would prefer Matich starting over Rush.
If we defend like we did last weekend we should be too strong for Southland.
Wasn't expecting to see in the Advocate that NRU will be advertising for a Head Coach for next year. Is Konia leaving or are they just opening it up for applicants.
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Solid start by Northland. Some good defence and then taking the points
6-0
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I backed the wrong former Stag...
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Try of the season🙃
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Foul play surely.
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@Duluth said in Northland v Southland:
@KiwiMurph said in Northland v Southland:
Foul play surely.
The clean out?
Yep. Clear shoulder to the head. WTF is the point of the TMO.
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Yeah that was lucky. Dumb from Adams, the ball was already won
Also Ofa with his hands on the ground
The try was great after that ruck though
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that's more like it stags🙂
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Rush
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Southland vs the Turbos for the wooden spoon.
Conversely Northland will be eyeing up a top 4 spot in the 'Evens' pool.
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27-7 HT Northland
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@KiwiMurph said in Northland v Southland:
Foul play surely.
On that length of the field try? I was worried about it...saw it happen and thought it'd come.back
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@Duluth very fortunate they did not come back and look at that , looked pretty bad from Adams
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Sensational defence
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Pretty good workrate from Ofa. Hurting people on defence too.
This might be his last game of NPC for a while
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Gregory's career summed up
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Geez, Gregory.
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Got there in the end boys😅
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Gregory is cursed!!
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fck! 🙃
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Robbie Robinson has been good for Southland. Still got it.
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Unfortunate way to end the game.. well I must say though the Taniwha very good this season, they'll make the play offs🙂
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Southland have the last say!
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Northland Captain seems a good guy
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@FakatavaAllBlack Matt is a great bloke never really fully hit his potential throwing darts has always been a problem .
