The Silver Fern

A fairly even game from my view at the stadium. Waikato's poor starts continue. Happy to make the QFs but I don't expect us to advance any further. When I saw all of the missing Waikato players exit their room as I was leaving, there are a lot of players missing before I even count the ABs.

@taniwharugby said in Northland v Canterbury: tackler stats Nice, thats what keeps you in the game. Nearly knocked off the team top of the table. Have to think the forwards will be stoked by those numbers. More of that this weekend.

@taniwharugby said in North Harbour v Northland: I'd say 9 times out of 10 we dont win that. That's the difference this year, a bit more mental strength. Saw this game as a mental battle, NH starting to get super desperate to try and get something out of the wreckage, and Taniwha starting to show a bit of [fragile type] form. If they execute a little better, they'd start to get difficult to beat. Always a good feeling when you get the W, and you know you can play better. Still two games, might nail it yet.

@taniwharugby yeah, how many years have we not kicked on after winning a few games. What we are seeing is so much more grit - starts with defence.

Those two botched attacking lineouts by Northland prevented any chance of a comeback. Very few chances otherwise. Otago's defence was very good.

@Steven-Harris the backs need to buy the forwards a beer. Some inaccuracies caused a lot of issues - all that you said, plus that wide up and under that led to Hawkes Bay try against the run of play was so very average, Brady Rush was mostly rocks after playing well last week. But I thought Jordan Trainor was very good and we handled the high ball well.

Might be time to have another look at this graph, haha. [image: 1756022476624-663769f7-659d-4095-90ad-cc515e1dc983-image.png]

@taniwharugby said in Northland v Ta$man: huge drop off from our 1st 4 props to the 5th and 6th... I was starting to get a bit concerned, but our scrum got better with KSM and probably Leppien and your's got worse and that was the difference. We'd given a few penalties away at the start of the second half to help piggyback Northland back into contention, but then the scrum penalties eased the pressure.

@taniwharugby I thought the first non try called back for a forward pass was ok - backwards out of the hands. But in ugly win is a win.

Just looking at the highlights package above, reminded me how well the Naki defense was. It seemd pretty good on line and even further out was some bloody good scrambling.

Our forwards were awesome this year - scrum time, lineout when Moulds was throwing, winning the contact. Ran out of gas ️ in the last game with injuries etc. I loved what Heenan did for the team. Accurate, a leader, a real professional - we only have a few guys fit that fit that category - Moulds, Cory Evans leads the backs….but signs this year that players are learning to stay in games.

@SouthernMann said in Northland v Otago: @frugby said in Northland v Otago: @SouthernMann said in Northland v Otago: This experiment of Whaanga on the wing needs to stop. I don't rate it at all... having said that, need to go out and get some actual wingers for next season, because every 'actual' winger we tried was atrocious. At least Whaanga can guarantee decent carrying, decent aerial ability, and (generally) good defence. No doubt his long-term home is in the midfield though. I'm firm we do not recruit. Too expensive. Kyan Rangitutia is a decent up and coming winger. Is only 19. Jeremiah Asi was out for the whole year. Nareki, of course missed most of the year. The NPC is not a competition you recruit seasoned players for. Whaanga's future is as about a 105 - 110 kg centre. Player who can stand in the tackle and off-load. He should be a similar build to SBW. Not a winger. Guess it depends what you want to do, but I actually think as you eluded to in the other thread next year we should actually have the squad to have a crack at things. That window is only going to be a one year opportunity I think (though a good new coach might get way more out of the players of course)... I would personally bury my head in the sand and would recruit a winger. Bring the Junkyard Dawg to the glasshouse!

Just watching this game now. I felt like last week BOP didn't use their backline enough against Wellington, lots of predictable pick and go's without a lot of deception. Totally different against Northland, playing with a lot more width and variety. Cashmore is really good at organizing a backline. He plays with zero hesitation, either directly attacking the line or otherwise quickly transferring the ball to his outsides to give them plenty of space to work with. Smart and silky player.

i expected more this season . . . decent squad and decent coach definitely thought a 500 team but it's taken them so long to get organised that the seasons f'd more disappointed than usual . . haha

Problem is, it still comes back to the individual ref or TMO view on what constitutes 'foul play' which I think many cards/penalties we have seen in recent years are not.

[image: 1725845356163-458770739_827411556175287_2128531057955547622_n-1.jpg] [image: 1725845356194-458603131_827411572841952_5026086652516555652_n-1.jpg] [image: 1725845356223-458756375_827411546175288_2581303519167560097_n-1.jpg] [image: 1725845356278-458973486_1003679438435689_6767558077483098960_n-1.jpg] [image: 1725845356568-458740731_1003679451769021_3571976210775056325_n-1.jpg]

@cgrant said in Waikato v Northland: Mathis is talented but his size could limit his aspirations. He should convert to 2nd five : he has speed to burn and good hands. 7s program?

Enjoyed the game. I had Taniwha in my picks etc, and was feeling completely neutral. Then I started to feel for Southland in first half, getting whipped, so started to cheer fot them. Bugger me didn't know my support was so essential! Genuinely both stoked for Southland fans, and feel for Northland ones at same time. I will say again, I think Jamie Joseph must be quite pleased with what he seeing from some of these young fellas from Southland and Otago!

@taniwharugby agree, embarrassing for us. We got opened up on the inside repeatedly. The lineout missed on attack several times. Whether it is the players or coaches that will need to be fixed. And, a lot of one on one tackles missed. But the thing that really annoys me. And it’s happened twice. We get a penalty with time up, just outside the 22, bonus point on offer and we take a quick tap. Kick to the corner, play the % for a bonus point every time. Until we can stop being just plain dumb, we won’t improve.

@taniwharugby great to see his excitement at scoring as well.