Ranfurly Shield, ITM Cup & Heartland Championship: NZ domestic comps 2015

[Inside Shoulder]

HT Steelers 19-14 Turbos. Good comeback, were down 12-0 inside 10 min. Very entertaining game with plenty of big hits & some slick running & passing. There truly is no footy quite like Sunday afternoon footy

What I've seen so far the ITM cup seems better this year

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Absolutely. The salary cap & stopping the big-5 stockpiling players is really working. It's probably hurting club footy in the main centres but on the whole I'd rather have a strong ITM Cup & Heartland Championship than ITM-quality players running around for Petone or Ponsonby then being drafted into a "Development XV" with no real prospect of playing for the "A" team. Used to happen a lot & 'nua for one suffered for it.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

FT Steelers 36-35 Turbos. Amazing comeback, 36-14 less than 20 min ago.........

Shield time!

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Taniwha haven't had the Shield since 1978 & that's unlikely to change, Magpies up 22-3 after 30. HT stats will probably suggest Taniwha don't deserve to be that far behind (& the no-try call against them looked plain wrong) but they're just not accurate enough.

 

[Dan54]

See the Turbos have picked up Mark Atkins WOB, not sure if you remember his dad Dale, Maori and Canterbury No 8 from Levin.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Oh I remember Dale alright, shoulda been an AB but was considered "too predictable" as in: 5m scrum, Atkins picks the ball up & fucking scores. Mind you I also remember John Workman making him look pretty average in a coupla 1st XV matches back when Waiopehu had a 1st XV.

FT Magpies 39-10 Taniwha. Shield safe for the time being, North Harbour aka Little Sethfricka have the next challenge.

First time in several years I've watched an entire Round, pretty happy with the overall standard. Already looking forward to Heartland starting next week.

 

[Dan54]

yep gotta say I enjoyed the first round WOB, mind you I tend to find the old ITM cup my fav comp!! just think most of thee teams look like they a little further on than usual at this stage.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Far too long to post but here's a list of the full squads:

http://www.espnscrum.com/itm-cup-2015/rugby/story/271041.html

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Round 2 kicks off tonight, Harbour v Wellington. I'm on lates plus working Saturday so will mostly see 2nd halves except for Auks v 'naki & Cantabs v Steelers on Sunday.

Heartland kicks off this week, feature match is obviously 'nua v Wanganui in Levin on Saturday, 12:35 AEST

 

[daveypnz]

Can you guys post your analysis of all the Heartland teams this year? I'm trying to learn a bit about it. If you could give me your rankings of the teams with a side note about them perhaps!

That would be awesome

 

[Hugh Jarse]

^^ Good idea, especially since an Australian Barbarian Team will be chosen from among the un-contracted NRC players to take on a NZ Heartland XV in a two match series with games in Levin and Wanganui.
http://www.buildcorpnrc.com.au/Arti...7/2015-Buildcorp-NRC-set-to-be-unleashed.aspx

Perhaps one of our NZ based posters may want to speculate on who may be in the NZ Heartland XV.

 

[Dan54]

Like the idea of that Barbarians series (and not just because one game is in Levin), but because it another vehicle for players out super rugby to get a bit of recognition, and a bit of higher standard of rugby.
Well done ARU!!
Oh and NZRU

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

HT Pussycats got claws 22-0 Harbour.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

FT Cats (can't call 'em Lions just yet) 43-0 Harbour.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Can you guys post your analysis of all the Heartland teams this year? I'm trying to learn a bit about it. If you could give me your rankings of the teams with a side note about them perhaps!

That would be awesome

I'll start by trying to explain the format, which is pretty convoluted but more or less works most of the time:

In Round 1 the 12 teams are split into pools based on last year's standings, odds & evens. Everyone plays the other five teams in their pool, the top-ranked three in each pool get three home games, the others two.

At the end of round 1 the comp splits into Meads (top six) & Lochore (others) Cup divisions, three from each pool in each division. In round two everyone plays the three teams they didn't play in round 1 (round 1 points are carried forward).

At the end of round 2 the top four in each division play SF, 1 v 4 & 2 v 3. Kinda sucks to finish 5th or 6th in the Meads Cup as in theory you're better than anyone in the Lochore Cup yet have no chance of winning anything other than bragging rights.

Note that this is "community" i.e. amateur rugby, a throwback to the days where NZ rugby was said to be the other place where doctors, lawyers & police officers interacted with their patients, clients & clientele, but on an equal footing............

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

All the tries from last night, worth a look:

Makos at home to Steamers tonight, should be a cracker.

 

[zer0]

How long until Harbour is put out of their misery and re-integrated back into Auckland?

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

^^^^^^^^^ can't see anyone agreeing to that.

HT Makos 14-3 Steamers.

 

[2bluesfan]

Makos won't be all that excited with that win over the BOP but the BOP certainly made it extremely difficult for the Makos. Ex-Randwick player Peter Samu went well for the victors, bagging a nice try at the end to secure a bonus point.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

FT Makos 34-13 Steamers.

Bonus point win & Marty Banks brought up 500 career points, 100+ of which were for Buller in Heartland comp.