Northland v Tasman
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Back at Okara Park (aka Semenoff Stadium) to face what will no doubt be a strong Ta$man side.
Weather looks like it will be custard on Saturday night, so probably helps us a bit as will likely slow Ta$man down a touch.
For me, we name the strongest 23 we can to start, with injury enforced change up front and positional switch for Murray and Tua (although dont expect they will do this)
Adams, Moulds, Rebolo
Hallam-Eames, Caird
Rush, Matich, Mau'u
Milo-Harris, Reihana
Goodhue, Murray
Rush, Moorby, Tua -
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@kev not to mention we have one of our co-captains and our captain on the bench.
Starting midfield is pretty average defensively, likely up against one of the most devastating ball-runners in NZ...only thing I can think of is Foster has asked to manage his minutes, but I highly doubt that given many of our Abs need a run anyway.
I like they are giving Lemisio chances, but I'd have been inclined to start Te Whata-Colley and bring Lemisio off the bench.
Ta$man wont give us the luxury of a 2nd half revival like Southland when we bring Goodhue, Matich and Moulds on...
Also starting Kauika-Peterson who isnt the strongest scrummager, are they not expecting a strong Ta$man front row?
I am looking forward to seeing Jurlina get a run, but given he is a loosie, I assume they are expecting our locks to go 80 and Mau'u and MacNamara will get subbed early in the 2nd.
Certainly some head scratching decisions, am starting to wonder if these are all on Leslie, or he has pretty much no say on alot of stuff, given so much so far reminds me of when Konia was running the ship that its the old crew pulling alot of the strings...
Injury ward growing:
Fono, Trainor, Nock, Craig, Leilua, Apoua, Woods, Olsen, Rebolo -
@taniwharugby the injuries are killing us. How come Hohaia is starting ahead of Ranger? Our lack of player development is killing us. Tama Anderson has yet to get a start. I don’t understand how our squad was selected.
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@kev yeah I dont know what is up there, probably another player who shouldnt have been signed so early?
I think he is fit, but out of favour, a mid-field of him and Goodhue would have been our best bet to contain the Ta$man mid-field.
Strong Ta$man side named
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@taniwharugby for me Ranger is a better option in midfield than Hohaia, and certainly what squad selection says. Hope we don’t go through another season of seeing players in squad not playing.
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@kev without a doubt.
On the Tama Anderson thing, it is odd, he was signed, is a talented kid, a bit on the small side, but the fact that when there was an injury, they called in another debutant from outside the squad to start instead of giving him a run...that is surely a huge knock to his confidence and i expect hed probably be a bit pissed off too...
At this point it would seem we'd need several more injuries before they give him a run.
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@taniwharugby said in Northland v Ta$man:
@kev without a doubt.
On the Tama Anderson thing, it is odd, he was signed, is a talented kid, a bit on the small side, but the fact that when there was an injury, they called in another debutant from outside the squad to start instead of giving him a run...that is surely a huge knock to his confidence and i expect hed probably be a bit pissed off too...
At this point it would seem we'd need several more injuries before they give him a run.
It’s all a bit shit really.
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Nankivell and Aumua are going to have a field day..this could be ugly.
Can't really think of any reason for Jack Goodhue to be on the bench again. He's clearly not in Foster's plans, so maybe he's going easy on his knee before setting off to France?
Either way it's a bit fucking amateur hour with all the goings on in our union at the moment. I for one would not be pointing any fingers at Leslie for this, that poor guy has had no preparation and basically picked this team up cold. There are others who've been around much longer thay may need to look in the mirror...
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Its fair to say given the way the season has started especially with all these guys injured things are not going to get any better
Like others i dont blame John Leslie , hes come onboard very late and has inherited many players that were pre signed .
And that for me is what gets my back up , theres still enough experience in this side to put out a decent performanceEsile Fono, Jordan Trainor, Sam Nock, Allan Craig, Pisi Leilua, Chris Apoua, Rory Woods, Jordan Olsen, Wilton Rebolo.
Eslie Fono,Pisi Leilua and Chris Apoua all season ending injuries and Sam Nock ,Allen Craig and Jordon Trainor all longer term injuries which i suspect wont see them return until later in the comp or not at all ,its looking very bleak
For me there were red flags in and around some players that were re signed
but thats another debate for another day , i love what Counties Manukau and Manawatu especially have done this year introducing some really young players to the NPC and they are not afraid to introduce them into the playing XV at this level sure their will be the odd blow out along the way but to give your union opportunity to get noticed you’ve got take some risks.
Its time as union to be brave , sick to death of watching the same players being selected and undelivering year in year out .Fair to say i am suffering other team envy at the minute
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@Steven-Harris you forgot Saimoni ULUINAKAUVADRA on your injured list.
IIRC there was maybe 2 or 3 spots to be signed from club footy before the club season even started.
We have 2 talented players playing for East Coast because they were not wanted here, then we have the likes of Rebolo & Trainor, sure you cant account for injuries, but players being bought in as they were, now just looks silly.
Apoua, while he fractured his leg in the Southland game, you have to consider if his lack of fitness has put him in the position where he has suffered the injury, although to be fair, you cant really put that on NRU, I mean he was part of a Super rugby squad, you wouldnt expect the NPC trainers to keep tabs on thier fitness while playing super rugby; that said, when he turned out for MN weeks prior to the start of the NPC season, it was clear, they should have been working him hard from then.
Then there is the discussion around Tama, Hohaia...without getting into actual selections
As to your envy comment, yeah, something about this season feels different to other ones (and not in a good way) on paper we have a bloody good squad (some players we will always quibble over) injuries have taken the edge off it, but even so, something just not right...maybe Veale leaving when he did has had a bigger impact on the squad?
If it has, maybe now is when they need to be bold and give a few of the younger fellas a run, aim for a brighter future, instead of fumbling around like a blind man in a brothel (TY Mex)
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@taniwharugby said in Northland v Ta$man:
@Steven-Harris you forgot Saimoni ULUINAKAUVADRA on your injured list.
The radio commentators will be relieved about that. You would almost have had time to take the conversion before you finished saying this name should he score a try!
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@taniwharugby
Only reason i did add’nt add Saimoni Uluinakauvadra to the injury list is because like Ranger,Anderson ,Scutt and Sweetman they just all missed the cut . -
@Steven-Harris well he seems to have been injured more than not, so I assumed he was still injured.
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In hindsight, having a new coach, then losing them, some months before another new coach announced, then getting someone outside the area in - this season was always going to be an issue. Still think we have a competitive team and no reason for us not to perform reasonable well. But we need some more hard thinking before next year.
So putting all of the coaching changes aside the big question for me is how do you build an NPC side each season?
Signing 100% from club rugby doesn’t work as half the squad are professional playing in all sorts of competitions, even club players might move if not given certainty. So a good % are signed early with a few left open until the middle part and later part of club rugby. It should be the coaches call about retention and rollover of players, and the mix of new talent.
Squad preparation - it just seems to me that one game prior to season start is not enough. Did we really plan for that?
Player development - so many times I have seen young players warm our benches for a season and then disappear. We must have one of the worst records in age group rugby of anyone although playing Auckland can’t help. I remember no one wanted to play for the 2nd 15 - that has to change.
Salary cap - when I hear about Wellington Rugby losing $900k it makes me sad. The contracting of players by schools ( call it what it is ), clubs, provincial unions needs rules and guidelines to protect the wide base of rugby in NZ. Affordability and promotion of an even competition has to be part of that.
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@kev said in Northland v Ta$man:
So putting all of the coaching changes aside the big question for me is how do you build an NPC side each season
from where I sit, whatever we seem to be doing, it aint working.
We need to be looking at what the likes of BOP, HB, Taranaki are doing, and find ways to replicate and make it work for us with our own challenges, but as has been mentioned before, whether its the board, the coaches and backroom staff, but somewhere along the way, we seem to be far too accepting of mediocrity.
