Manawatu v Otago
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1 Benjamin Lopas, 2 Liam Coltman, 3 Saula Ma'u, 4 Fabian Holland, 5 Will Stodart, 6 Oliver Haig, 7 Sam Fischli, 8 Christian Lio-Willie (c), 9 James Arscott, 10 Cameron Millar,
11 Josh Whaanga, 12 Thomas Umaga-Jensen, 13 Hudson Creighton, 14 Kyan Rangitutia, 15 Finn HurleyReserves: 16 Henry Bell, 17 Abraham Pole, 18 Rohan Wingham, 19 Will Tucker, 20 Harry Taylor, 21 Nathan Hastie, 22 Ajay Faleafaga, 23 Levi Harmon
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sticking with a winger in midfield and and midfielder on the wing...even though we got shown up out wide repetitively last week....make sense
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@Kiwiwomble has there been a time in recent memory where Otago and the highlanders haven’t been shown up out wide? It’s a constant issue over the past 3-4 seasons
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@KiwiInLondon i would argue midfield has been a much bigger problem as far as defence, nareki for example is awesome in defence
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What stood out to me about this line up is moving Fischli from lock to 7, he is a loosie and has been doing a job at lock so to move Stodart into the tight 5 could signify they want him to get stuck into the dirty work. He does have a fair bit more size than Fischli as well. Hes been great filling in at lock and punched well above his weight this season so looking forward to seeing him back at a more natural position, just a shame it’s at the expense of Stodart. Holland and Stodart is one hell of a young and imposing combination though.
Glad to see Rangitutia back in the line up, was he injured or just out of favor? Would rather see us work through with our young guys that are in the system instead of ring ins that don’t cut the mustard and more than likely won’t be seen with us again(Nalaga).
Also nice to see Ajay on the bench, should have been there all season and offers something different in the second half if we are needing a change of style at 10 or 12.
Not exactly confident for this game but if we lose this it would not surprise me and it would sum up Donnellys tenure in charge.
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Holland and tucker are both out
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I can't remember the last time Otago had a strong back three. The Viliame Fine we rqn with wasn't the player he is now with Super experience. We have had guys like Mitch Scott, Koroi, Tomkinson on the wing, Collins at fullback. Have been tits for years. While with the Landers this years one is probably the best we've had since the Osborne, Naholo and Smith combo. A decade later. Outside backs and midfield has been a big problem.
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1 Joe Gavigan, 2 Vernon Bason, 3 Flyn Yates, 4 Stan van den Hoven, 5 Lachlan Shaw, 6 TK Howden, 7 Mosese Bason, 8 Brayden Iose, 9 Jordi Viljoen, 10 Reece MacDonald, 11 Pena Va'a, 12 Jason Emery, 13 Kyle Brown, 14 Taniela Filimone, 15 Drew Wild
Reserves: 16 Raymond Tuputupu, 17 Malakai Hala-Ngatai, 18 Feleti Sae-Ta'ufo'ou, 19 Johan Momsen, 20 Julian Goerke, 21 Luke Campbell, 22 Brett Cameron, 23 James Tofa
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@KiwiInLondon said in Manawatu v Otago:
Holland and tucker are both out
If that’s the case that’s not good news and will test the lock depth. Might see Fischli moved back into lock with Taylor start at 7 and Aho and a loosie come on to the bench. Either way depth will be tested.
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Holland dropping out is always massive. Whether it is Aho or Naeata is much of a muchness. Same with whether it is Casey coming in. Not much between him and Taylor. Just tough when one of our best two forwards has now missed half the season.
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Five back rowers on the field at once. Don’t know much about the quality of the Manawatu locks but hard to see Otago not getting punished for that
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Haig, Naeata and Stodart are all passable weight-wise for locks. So shouldn't be a problem for those three. Fischli certainly gives a lot away in the size department
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@Landers92 said in Manawatu v Otago:
@KiwiInLondon said in Manawatu v Otago:
Holland and tucker are both out
If that’s the case that’s not good news and will test the lock depth. Might see Fischli moved back into lock with Taylor start at 7 and Aho and a loosie come on to the bench. Either way depth will be tested.
Assumption was correct.
Abraham Pole dropping out is a big loss too so Wingham to now cover loosehead.
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@SouthernMann said in Manawatu v Otago:
Holland dropping out is always massive. Whether it is Aho or Naeata is much of a muchness. Same with whether it is Casey coming in. Not much between him and Taylor. Just tough when one of our best two forwards has now missed half the season.
Naeata is out injured and not likely to be seen again this season. Has a hand/arm injury.
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@Landers92 said in Manawatu v Otago:
@SouthernMann said in Manawatu v Otago:
Holland dropping out is always massive. Whether it is Aho or Naeata is much of a muchness. Same with whether it is Casey coming in. Not much between him and Taylor. Just tough when one of our best two forwards has now missed half the season.
Naeata is out injured and not likely to be seen again this season. Has a hand/arm injury.
Another one on the list then. That's a shame. He added a bit while he was involved. Fischli to me is a bit of a weird one. A jack of all trades, master of none kind of player.
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@SouthernMann yup pretty much but he’s probably been the forward who has been most consistent. No lack of effort that’s for sure
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If the weather goes to what is forecasted this is going to be an absolute shitter of a game. Plenty of rain and wind. Potential thunder. Great game for 10 man rugby, Millar kicking to the corner and Umaga-Jensen hitting it up two off the ruck. Good amounts of high ball kicks towards both Wild and Hurley
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@SouthernMann said in Manawatu v Otago:
If the weather goes to what is forecasted this is going to be an absolute shitter of a game. Plenty of rain and wind. Potential thunder. Great game for 10 man rugby, Millar kicking to the corner and Umaga-Jensen hitting it up two off the ruck. Good amounts of high ball kicks towards both Wild and Hurley
Thank fuck because we suck in open games... thinking about your comments about our last decent back three, perhaps rose tinted glasses but I remember quite enjoying the Nareki, Koroi and Vahaakolo back three. Not perfect but three guys who were elusive an knew their way to the tryline... unfortunately the latter two had a few other issues.
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@frugby those three certainly had their moments. It is just a lot of the other top provinces have had players or back threes that were the pick of the litter. Ta$man, Wellington, BoP, Taranaki, Canterbury, Hawkes's Bay have all periods where their back threes have been starting super rugby quality/emerging internationals. Even at their best only Nareki was a starting Super quality player.
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@SouthernMann said in Manawatu v Otago:
@frugby those three certainly had their moments. It is just a lot of the other top provinces have had players or back threes that were the pick of the litter. Ta$man, Wellington, BoP, Taranaki, Canterbury, Hawkes's Bay have all periods where their back threes have been starting super rugby quality/emerging internationals. Even at their best only Nareki was a starting Super quality player.
Probably doesn't help, that as you have pointed out we don't really produce backs (particularly outside backs) so are relying on imports.
