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NZ Domestic Rugby Competitions 2016

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waiopehu oldboy

waiopehu oldboy

George Smith (75)
Draws for Mitre 10 (formerly ITM) Cup & Heartland Championship have been released.

Mitre 10 Cup:

http://files.allblacks.com/NZRU_Media_Releases/2016/2016_MITRE_10_Cup_Draw_FINAL.pdf

Just a reminder it's played in two divisions:

Premiership (in 2015 finishing order): Canterbury, Auckland, Tasman, Taranaki, Counties-Manukau, Waikato, Hawkes Bay (promoted from Championship).

Championship: Manawatu, Wellington, Otago, Bay of Plenty, North Harbour, Southland, Northland.

Heartland Championship:

http://files.allblacks.com/NZRU_Med...itre_10_Heartland_Championship_Draw_FINAL.pdf

Starts off as an "all-in" comp before splitting into Meads (Top-4) & Lochore (5-8) Cups.

Ranfurly Shield:

Currently held by Waikato. As Meads & Lochore Cup winners, respectively, Wanganui & King Country get pre-season challenges, North Harbour are the first challenger with a realistic chance of victory & after that it's on the line every time the holder plays at home (playoffs excluded). I'm of course hoping Waikato hang onto it until late-September when Canterbury head North.................
 
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waiopehu oldboy

waiopehu oldboy

George Smith (75)
Waikato have defended the Ranfurly Shield 55-0 v King Country in Matamata:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/...-in-the-wet-to-hold-on-to-the-ranfurly-shield

Second defence of the season after thrashing Thams Valley 83-13 in Paeroa on Queen's Birthday:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/...e-as-expected-with-thrashing-of-thames-valley

Wanganui's mandatory challenge as Meads Cup winner is next Saturday, first "real" challenger is North Harbour on 27 August which will be a day game due to a Strayan XV of some sort or other playing up the road at Eden Park that night :)
 
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zer0

zer0

John Thornett (49)
waiopehu oldboy said:
Wanganui's mandatory challenge as Meads Cup winner is next Saturday, first "real" challenger is North Harbour on 27 August which will be a day game due to a Strayan XV of some sort or other playing up the road at Eden Park that night :)
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That's quite generous to North Harbour.
 
RugbyReg

RugbyReg

Rocky Elsom (76)
Staff member
That first one at the tackle is just odd. They're saying there's an off side line at a one on one tackle?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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John Thornett (49)
Brumby Runner said:
Well, that looks like it's well and truly the end of the pilferer, or am I wrong? Have I missed something?
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I recall reading a report on some provincial trial games (or whatever they were) played under these rules and that's exactly what the report noted. There were next to no turnovers generated at the breakdown. If that turns out to be the case, then I will not be at all happy. I don't want to see the game devolve into prolonged multiphase bash-bash-bash-bash rugby.
 
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John Thornett (49)
There we go.

So what if you took that player out of the game before they were, quite literally, taken out of the game? What if their role was to take up the space over the ball as opposed to holding onto it until being either knocked off their feet or knocked into next week? What would happen if you created a genuinely clear offside line so teams could be rewarded for pushing over the ball, instead of diving onto it?

This has been the focus of the new law interpretations currently being trialled in club rugby competitions around the country. In Taranaki, according to provincial coach Colin Cooper who has helped drive the changes, the impact has been overwhelmingly positive - more tries, more room in the backline, far fewer players off their feet at the breakdown and teams being rewarded for numbers over the ball.

And it was the same in Paeroa on Monday afternoon. In fact, it was the least confounding game of rugby I can recall in a very long time. It was goodbye to sealing and stealing and hello to lifting and shifting. Best of all, only twice in the game were players penalised for being off their feet at the breakdown. And that was just unfortunate.

Both of them had tripped over their boot laces.
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http://www.nzherald.co.nz/scotty-stevenson/news/article.cfm?a_id=815&objectid=11652260

So no more opensides. Just three hulking blindsiedes/number eight's to shift bodies at the breakdown. When Munster played that type of loose forward trio a decade ago their game was endearingly named anti-rugby. Doesn't bode well.
 
Highlander35

Highlander35

Steve Williams (59)
Have there been many "foreign" (excluding the half a dozen Aussies there always are) recruits for NPC teams this season? I know Shug is on loan to BoP.
 
waiopehu oldboy

waiopehu oldboy

George Smith (75)
Waikato 32-12 Wanganui in the final pre-season Shield challenge. Match report & hghlights here:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/...ganui-challenge-to-retain-the-ranfurly-shield

image.jpeg
 
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amirite

amirite

Chilla Wilson (44)
waiopehu oldboy said:
Tasman have let Zac Guildford go. He's now living with his grandparents in South Wairarapa & may play for Wairarapa-Bush in the HC (he'll have to qualify as a resident first as he didn't play Club footy there):

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/all-blacks/news/article.cfm?c_id=116&objectid=11694418

Such a sad story, albeit many of his dramas have been somewhat self-inflicted.
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Whilst they are self-inflicted I think this is a genuine case of mental health issues. Good luck to the bloke, his afflictions have probably blocked him from the high-stress life of being a professional athlete.
 
waiopehu oldboy

waiopehu oldboy

George Smith (75)
With the success of the Foreign Exchanges blog series in mind I asked, "is there room on G&G for a weekly Mitre 10 Cup blog?" @Sully said go for it, @mst put their hands up to edit & publish it et voila!

http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/national-provincial-championship-2016/#disqus_thread

The plan is for weekly updates with a brief wrap of the Round just gone, some ELV-related stuff, and a rundown of the Round ahead. At this stage the writing roster is just myself & @Ozee316 so if there's anyone out there who would like to contribute in any way (a super sub would be really, really handy) put your hand up & im sure you can be accommodated.

In the meantime, give the link a click!
 
waiopehu oldboy

waiopehu oldboy

George Smith (75)
Highlander35 said:
Have there been many "foreign" (excluding the half a dozen Aussies there always are) recruits for NPC teams this season? I know Shug is on loan to BoP.
Click to expand...

Does Piers Francis (Counties Manukau) count? Also USA prop Chris Baumann (Wellington).

Aussie watch: Michael Ala'alatoa (Manawatu) & Matt Duffie (North Harbour) that I've seen so far. Not sure if you'd count Sam Lousi (Wellington) as an Aussie just yet?

So after 11 days subsisting on the crumbs of Olympic 7's & actively watching NRL (for research purposes only, of course :)) real rugby is back tonight!

North Harbour v Counties Manukau at Albany (predicted crowd: <1,000). Yay! There's a reason games like this are played on Thursdays but for Round 1 could they not have dished up something a little better? Say Northland v Manawatu or Tasman v Waikato (not sure if Blenheim's lights are up to TV standard but if not play it at Trafalgar Park instead).
 
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John Thornett (49)
Saw last night that Fatialofa is playing for Auckland. Awesome. Had just assumed he had completely moved to Wellington.

4. Michael Fatialofa
5. Steven Luatua
6. Taleni Seu
7. Blake Gibson
8. Akira Ioane

That's shaping us as being a pretty awesome, mobile and interchangeable locking/loose forward unit.
 
Dan54

Dan54

David Wilson (68)
Reckon we will see the emergence of a long time future midfield for the All Blacks this season, although at 2 different teams, I thinking by 2023 WC it will be Leinert-Brown and Reike Iaone will be at 13
 
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