SF Wellington v Auckland
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Auckland team named later today
• Angus Ta’avao left the field on Friday night with a spinal injury. Gus is doing well but will not be considered for selection this week. • Salesi Rayasi suffered a high ankle sprain against Taranaki and will not be available for the remainder of the season. • Adrian Choat received PCL ligament damage in the knee against Taranaki and will not be available for the remainder of the season. • Zarn Sullivan is still recovering from a left scapula fracture and will not be available for the remainder of the season.I doubt Ioane or RTS will be available either
So a similar side to last week but with these changes?
Peita in for Ioane
Renata in for Angus
Cobb in for RTSI hope they start with Evans/Lam in the midfield rather than starting both 10's
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That injury update didn't mention Heem. Maybe he's ready to play
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AB training camp in Nelson at the moment. The fairest rule would be that all ABs are unavailable.
Wellington might be the only semi-finalist that escaped without any major injuries.
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@Bovidae said in SF Wellington v Auckland:
AB training camp in Nelson at the moment. The fairest rule would be that all ABs are unavailable.
Wellington might be the only semi-finalist that escaped without any major injuries.
I think it would be a bit shit if leading ABs joined the teams this late in the comp.
I don't mind fringe ones that need game time (and also who probably have turned out this season already).
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@Bovidae said in SF Wellington v Auckland:
AB training camp in Nelson at the moment. The fairest rule would be that all ABs are unavailable.
Yeah they are in camp. The only reason I mentioned Ioane and RTS is that they'll be missing from the team that played last week.. so more changes for Auckland
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@foobaNZ Coaches are usually reluctant to include players who haven't trained with the team during the week. Some, like RTS, might be on the bench if Foster and co think he needs as much time on the park as possible.
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You can lock in Pugh at 8.....
I would think Ekuasi might take Peita's spot on the bench if Peita's starting.
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@KiwiMurph said in SF Wellington v Auckland:
You can lock in Pugh at 8.....
I would think Ekuasi might take Peita's spot on the bench if Peita's starting.
Ekuasi should've played a lot more this year.
Auckland doesn't have that many options in the loose trio. Choat is injured. Jones is suspended. Hainswoth-Fa’aofo only played the midweek game
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Jones had a 3 week suspension. I guess he did one of those courses to get a week off
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@Tim why is Peita not starting?
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Did Jones get his suspension reduced a week by doing a coaching course similar to what Laulala did?
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@ARHS No idea. Dumb coach?
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A spot in the final up for grabs in the capital against the Lions
Auckland travel to Wellington for their Bunnings Warehouse NPC semi-final against the Lions on Friday night. The...
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Hoping Wellington name their team today. Last week they named it the day before though.
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@Bovidae said in SF Wellington v Auckland:
AB training camp in Nelson at the moment. The fairest rule would be that all ABs are unavailable.
Wellington might be the only semi-finalist that escaped without any major injuries.
Yeah, my only worry is that a lot of those starting Lions players have played plenty of minutes this year and I hope it's not a couple games too many for some of them.
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Replace the 8 and that's a solid team.
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@Kirwan said in SF Wellington v Auckland:
Replace the 8 and that's a solid team.
Not sure about Jones & Aoake either
Would prefer a larger body at 6. Also Gibson's form has been uneven this NPC. Last week he missed a lot of simple tackles, but earlier in the year he won a game with his defence
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@foobaNZ said in SF Wellington v Auckland:
Hoping Wellington name their team today. Last week they named it the day before though.
May have been awaiting a clearance of a player under a cloud.
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@ACT-Crusader said in SF Wellington v Auckland:
@foobaNZ said in SF Wellington v Auckland:
Hoping Wellington name their team today. Last week they named it the day before though.
May have been awaiting a clearance of a player under a cloud.
Probably Peter Umaga-Jensen, I’d say he will be 50/50. Not the biggest loss if he can’t play because Riley Higgins has been sound in the 12 jersey.
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I'll be watching W.T.F Heem in this game, because I have no idea why he is anywhere near a black jersey of any sort
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@Machpants said in SF Wellington v Auckland:
I'll be watching W.T.F Heem in this game, because I have no idea why he is anywhere near a black jersey of any sort
Did you miss super rugby?
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@Bones said in SF Wellington v Auckland:
@Machpants said in SF Wellington v Auckland:
I'll be watching W.T.F Heem in this game, because I have no idea why he is anywhere near a black jersey of any sort
Did you miss super rugby?
I missed Heem being any good.
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@Canes4life said in SF Wellington v Auckland:
@ACT-Crusader said in SF Wellington v Auckland:
@foobaNZ said in SF Wellington v Auckland:
Hoping Wellington name their team today. Last week they named it the day before though.
May have been awaiting a clearance of a player under a cloud.
Probably Peter Umaga-Jensen, I’d say he will be 50/50. Not the biggest loss if he can’t play because Riley Higgins has been sound in the 12 jersey.
As long as Higgins is fit to play. Otherwise savea might be moved in. Or proctor
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@Machpants said in SF Wellington v Auckland:
@Bones said in SF Wellington v Auckland:
@Machpants said in SF Wellington v Auckland:
I'll be watching W.T.F Heem in this game, because I have no idea why he is anywhere near a black jersey of any sort
Did you miss super rugby?
I missed Heem being any good.
That's strange because he was excellent for a team that made the final. Grew through the season and filled many positions.
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@Bones said in SF Wellington v Auckland:
@Machpants said in SF Wellington v Auckland:
@Bones said in SF Wellington v Auckland:
@Machpants said in SF Wellington v Auckland:
I'll be watching W.T.F Heem in this game, because I have no idea why he is anywhere near a black jersey of any sort
Did you miss super rugby?
I missed Heem being any good.
That's strange because he was excellent for a team that made the final. Grew through the season and filled many positions.
I'm not going to disagree, just didn't stick in my mind.
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@Machpants said in SF Wellington v Auckland:
@Bones said in SF Wellington v Auckland:
@Machpants said in SF Wellington v Auckland:
@Bones said in SF Wellington v Auckland:
@Machpants said in SF Wellington v Auckland:
I'll be watching W.T.F Heem in this game, because I have no idea why he is anywhere near a black jersey of any sort
Did you miss super rugby?
I missed Heem being any good.
That's strange because he was excellent for a team that made the final. Grew through the season and filled many positions.
I'm not going to disagree, just didn't stick in my mind.
Bloody Cane's fans.
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@Bones said in SF Wellington v Auckland:
@Machpants said in SF Wellington v Auckland:
@Bones said in SF Wellington v Auckland:
@Machpants said in SF Wellington v Auckland:
I'll be watching W.T.F Heem in this game, because I have no idea why he is anywhere near a black jersey of any sort
Did you miss super rugby?
I missed Heem being any good.
That's strange because he was excellent for a team that made the final. Grew through the season and filled many positions.
Pretty much never had a bad game, bailed us out when we had injuries and had some great games. Really good two seasons in a row now.
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@Kirwan hah was he there last year? Seems I have unsticky mind syndrome too.
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@Machpants said in SF Wellington v Auckland:
@Bones said in SF Wellington v Auckland:
@Machpants said in SF Wellington v Auckland:
I'll be watching W.T.F Heem in this game, because I have no idea why he is anywhere near a black jersey of any sort
Did you miss super rugby?
I missed Heem being any good.
Heem was outstanding in Super rugby playing both midfield spots and wing.
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@Bones said in SF Wellington v Auckland:
@Kirwan hah was he there last year? Seems I have unsticky mind syndrome too.
Came late, round 4 I think.
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1. Xavier Numia, Oriental-Rongotai
2. Asafo Aumua, Avalon
3. Pekahou Cowan, Petone
4. James Blackwell, Petone
5. Dom Bird, Upper Hutt RAMS
6. Caleb Delany, Old Boys University
7. Du’Plessis Kirifi, Northern United (C)
8. Peter Lakai, Petone
9. TJ Perenara, Northern United
10. Jackson Garden-Bachop, Northern United
11. Pepesana Patafilo, Tawa
12. Riley Higgins, Petone
13. Billy Proctor, Marist St Pats
14. Julian Savea, Oriental-Rongotai
15. Ruben Love, Wainuiomata16. Josh Southall, Petone *
17. PJ Sheck, Tawa
18. Tietie Tuimauga, Marist St Pats
19. Taine Plumtree, Old Boys University
20. Keelan Whitman, Marist St Pats
21. Richard Judd, Paremata-Plimmerton
22. Aidan Morgan, Marist St Pats
23. Connor Garden-Bachop, Northern United*Denotes debut
Unavailable for Selection: Vince Sakaria, Connor Collins, Iona Apineru, Josh Toómaga, James O’Reilly, Solomona Sakalia, Peter Umaga-Jensen
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I'm not surprised but JGB again is a bummer.
It's so strange to me that after a strong season from Morgan we've switched to JGB at finals time. Looks like we're going to have to try and win a comp with a handbrake on. Hopefully the strength elsewhere can cover for him.
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@foobaNZ said in SF Wellington v Auckland:
I'm not surprised but JGB again is a bummer.
It's so strange to me that after a strong season from Morgan we've switched to JGB at finals time. Looks like we're going to have to try and win a comp with a handbrake on. Hopefully the strength elsewhere can cover for him.
Surprising when the Canes have let him go and kept Morgan yet Wellington have a different take on it.
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@Chris it took the Canes way too long to make the call to be honest.
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JGB aside, that's a strong side and we should be overwhelming favourites on Friday.
They need to inject Morgan on earlier, JGB was good in the first half but struggled to keep up when the game opened up in the second.
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Auckland's gameplan needs to be around tight 5 dominance, especially scrum dominance. No Ta'avao may mean that is less likely.
Despite playing pretty poorly all season Auckland have hung tough in most games this season.
Wellington definitely favourites but based on all the quarter finals I wouldn't be writing off Auckland.
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Renata needs a big game for Auckland.
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@Bovidae He's solid enough at scrum time imo, one of the true journeymen of Auckland rugby. Having said that, Ahio is probably the better scrummager out of him and Renata so its one area I expect us to have the upper hand on Wellington.
