NZ Domestic Rugby Competitions 2016

[waiopehu oldboy]

Heartland Championship round 5 results:

Thames Valley 16 (Hayden Wisneski, Ben Bonner tries; Moss Doran 2 con) South Canterbury 62 (Kalavini Leatigaga 2, Cameron Bailey 2, Hamish Strachan, Mathew Etheredge, Kieran Coll, Maxx Morris, penalty try; Willie Wright 2 con, Bailey con). HT: 28-16

Poverty Bay 30 (Siosiua Moala, Dan McIntyre, Body Allen, Jacob Cook tries; Isaia Vuki 3 con) Wanganui 52 (Rangatira Waitokia 4, Michael Nabuliwaqe, Lindsay Horrocks, Campbell Hart tries; Steve Crosbie 4 con, pen). HT: 14-20

Mid Canterbury 34 (Jarrad Percival 2, Christian Vainerere, Jon Dampney, Mike Lynch tries; James Percival 2 con) West Coast 22 (Erenimo Tau 2, Brogan Watt tries; Nic Cumming 2 con). HT: 12-16

Horowhenua Kapiti 18 (Rahiri Connor Johnson, Aaron Lahmert tries; Perry Hayman con, pen; Lahmert pen) King Country 42 (James Hemara, Ralulu Bavov 2, Gene Waller, Alex Thrupp, John Koko tries; Zayn Tipping 3 con). HT: 10-14

North Otago 22 (Shay Tucker, Filipo Veamatahau, Lemi Masoe tries; Josh Casey 2 con) Wairarapa Bush 38 (Andrew McLean, John Ika, Glenn Walters, Iziq Foa'i, Zac Guildford tries; Tim Priest 3 con, pen).

Buller 54 (Setefano Sauqaqa 3, Anthony Tailua 3, Scott Neighbours tries; James Lash 6 con) East Coast 22 (Long Fisiioi 2, Ben Parkes tries; Todd Doolan 2 con).

Standings not updated yet but I don't think it's gunna be good news for all you 'nua fans out there..........

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Gee Canterbury have strikepower everywhere. Good match.

Just finished watching the highlights & some awesome tries from both sides. FABJAM showed again what might've been if he were just that little bit more consistent & hadn't gotten injured at crucial times in his career. He's gunna kill it if & when he goes North.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Aussies in M10 Cup (according to Wikipedia)

Canterbury Lambs: Ben Volavola, David McDuling
Taranaki Bulls: Ben Matwijow, Leon Power
Counties Steelers: Cameron Skelton
Tasman Makos: Peter Samo, Richard Kingi
Wellington Politicians: Sam Lousi
Manawatu Turbos: Michael Ala'alatoa
Southland Stags: Guy Miller, Matt Phillip, Michael Dowsett
Northland Taniwha: Phil Kite
Some of these are long term Kiwi residents, but quite a few of them have crossed the Tasman recently having completed a club season in AUS.
Why are the blokes in the latter category not playing NRC?

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

^^^^^^^^ Also Waikato Mooloos: Tyler Campbell, former Aus Schools tho I did hear TJ say he's a kiwi by birth so not sure if he counts.

Comms just mentioned Shannon Frizzell (Makos) as being Tongan-born, Strayan-raised & younger bro of an NRL player (but we won't hold that against him, OK )

Hawkes Bay's Chris Eaton spent some time in Straya, too, IIRC.

EDIT: as did former All Black Alby Mathewson (Canterbury).

BTW It's Canterbury RAMS even if the mascot was/ is Larry the Lamb.

Magpies copping a bit of a hiding from the Makos right now but the way scores have been turned on their head all season it's probably too early to give Tasman the five points.

 

[Highlander35]

Volavola: playing for the Saders
McDuling: Played in South Africa? Maybe angling for a Euro deal
Matwijow: Signed for Naki before the Force and after he was released from Reds
Power: family in NZ, wanted to stay there before playing Super Rugby?
Peter Samo: who?
Kingi: Played Club Rugby in NZ this season
Lousi: Signed for the Canes
Ala'alatoa: Signed for Saders
Miller: No idea
Phillip: 2 years of NRC with little Super Interest, different angle?
Millar: No idea
Dowsett: thought he'd signed for the Rays?
Kite: Same as Phillip?

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

^^^^^^^ Peter SAMU, b. Melbourne, played Shute for Randwick then straight to Tasman & has a really good 2014 to the point he scored himself a Crusaders gig. Limited game time (not surprising given we've got 6/8's coming out our proverbial) but still only 24 so could have a big future. Or be just another Australasian journeyman.

EDIT: pretty sure I just heard Comms say Shane Christie (Tasman) is Scots-born.

 

[Highlander35]

Ah. Makes sense.

Always heard him called Pete Samu, assumed he was someone else, maybe a long lost relative of Radike.

No idea on Christie. Wiki says Palmerston North, plus he's played with the Sevens anyway.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

How many NZ born, NZ Eligible players are there in the various NRC teams?
I'd anticipate that it is more than AUS eligible players in the M10 cup.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Pissing with rain in New Plymouth. Water splashing with nearly every step that the players are making. No mud or playing surface degradation.

How do NZL ground staff prepare their surfaces, and is there anything we can learn because over here:
A. The ovals would generally be closed at the first drops of rain
B. The playing surface doesn't hold up regardless of the prevailing weather conditions (SFS, AAMI park and Suncorp Stadium particularly)
C. >50% of the surface would be "brown" grass rather than the lush green grass surfaces that NZL enjoys. I know it rains in NZL every 10 days or so, and it is a couple of degrees cooler, but we do have a thing called irrigation.

#jealous.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

^^^^^^^^^^^^ it's a fairly recent development, our grounds used to be incredibly muddy until the various Councils & Trusts that owned them started taking turf culture seriously circa 1980's with sand-based turfs & proper drainage. Also the development of turfs that hold together no matter what, that was pretty much a technology transfer from the agricultural sector which makes sense when you consider that our economy used to be mostly based on the quality & quantity of our grass production.

As for Taranaki's weather, the locals have a saying: if you can't see the mountain (Taranaki/ Egmont) it's raining, if you can see the mountain it's gunna rain soon..... I've not heard the same said about Hamilton & Mount Pirongia but having lived in both New Plymouth & Hamilton I can assure you it's equally apt. And pretty much everywhere West of the main divides has either a mountain or a range of them.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Heartland table now updated & 'nua clinging to 8th:

http://www.heartlandchampionship.co.nz/Fixtures/Standings

Round 6 fixtures (ranking in brackets):

(12) East Coast v (4) Mid Canterbury, Ruatoria
(5) King Country v (7) North Otago, Te Kuiti
(2) South Canterbury v (8) Horowhenua-Kapiti, Timaru
(6) Wairarapa Bush v (3) Buller, Masterton
(1) Wanganui v (10) Thames Valley, Whanganui
(11) West Coast v (9) Poverty Bay, Greymouth

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Dave McDuling loving life in red & black:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/...ing-jumps-at-chance-for-canterbury-experience

Reading between the lines I'm wondering if Razor has him in mind for a Crusaders contract if he goes OK in the rest of the M10?

 

[Lindommer]

What happened to McDuling's Sharks endeavour?

 

[zer0]

Haven't watched many Auckland games, but Rieko Ioane seems to be chugging along fairly well at centre. Scored a hat-trick today again BoP.

 

[2bluesfan]

Haven't watched many Auckland games, but Rieko Ioane seems to be chugging along fairly well at centre. Scored a hat-trick today again BoP.

He's looking like an interesting prospect at 13. His first thought seems to be "what can I do here" but, at this level at least, it seems to be working.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

What happened to McDuling's Sharks endeavour?

Made the mistake of asking Gary Gold, "are we ever gunna play some actual footy, or what?" .

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Cantabs v Otago on 24 Sep is gunna be epic!

And it was, 45-34 after Otago's late rally.

http://www.mitre10cup.co.nz/Video/Viewer/26807


Shield is heading South on Wednesday I reckon, if so it'll be Canterbury's 14th successful challenge (second only to Auckland's 16) & the first time they'll have held it since 2011. There are current Cantabs with multiple Premiership titles to their name who've never played a Shield game let alone won one.

 

[Dan54]

By geez it been a round for players scoring a hat trick of tries hasn't it? There was about 3 games that had them, and 2 of the games they were scored by front rowers!

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

There's a Mitre 10 Cup week six wrap on the blog if anyone wants to give it a click....

http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/?p=101284

 

[Dan54]

He's looking like an interesting prospect at 13. His first thought seems to be "what can I do here" but, at this level at least, it seems to be working.

As I said on earlier post this year, I really see Ioane as a long term 13 for All Blacks, and really believe that him and Lienert-Brown will be our midfield in 2023 WC. They both seem to have all the attributes of good midfield backs and think Ioane just needs a bit of experience to know when to pass etc, and it will come.