Could be a bit breezy in Auckland tonight, 25-40kph from the SSW predicted, but no rain & there's been next to none in the last 24 hours so the ground should be in perfect order. I don't know how the wind behaves with the reconfigured & extra stands, maybe someone local could give us an idea? Wind looked to be a factor in at least one M10 Cup match I saw, but that was way above 40kph IIRC.
In terms of the Foley/ Cooper thing I'd actually be more worried if they'd picked Cooper. I think the only place you can beat us is within a 3m radius of the contact point. To do it you'd need a ball-snaffling 7 (or 8), some decent ball-carrying piggies, and a 5/8 who can put e.g. Kerevi into the channels being defended by e.g. Moody, Retallick & Coles (all of whom have missed tackles this year from which tries have resulted). The team TGC is running with has IMO none of these.
That's not to say it'll be a massacre, plenty of your blokes have a lot to prove for EOYT & beyond so they'll be putting in maximum effort for sure. I'm just not convinced that the current Wobs maximum effort is enough to get you within 12-19 points. If (God forbid!) I were a punting Wobs fan I'd be backing them to beat the line (21.5 on TAB.com.au), though.
