Seeing as I care more about the NPC than any other Rugby I feel like I ought to start a thread for this too, even though i’m the only person here that probably has any interest :)
Round 1 Fixtures:
- Taranaki v Counties-Manukau
- Auckland v Wellington
- Canterbury v Northland
- Southland v Otago
- Waikato v Bay of Plenty
- North Harbour v Hawkes Bay
- Manawatū v Tasman
- Bay of Plenty v Counties-Manukau*
*Due to the compressed nature of the competition every team has what’s called a storm week where they end up playing 3 times in about 10 days which is why this match is marked as the 2nd game in round 1 for these two teams
Results so far & any notes if I watched:
spoiler
- Taranaki 31 v 15 Counties-Manukau
- Auckland 21 v 29 Wellington
- Canterbury 34 v 21 Northland
- Southland 22 v 13 Otago
- Waikato 21 v 36 Bay of Plenty
Ive only watched a bit of games 1 & 3 and all of game 2 so far. There’s just so much Rugby and i’m trying to get some work done on my dinghy in the shed.
- Counties-Manukau almost looked like they might have been able to rein in that lead in the last 15-20 minutes of their game, but were unlucky the referee was very lenient on repeat infringments on linebreaks / goalline D by the 'naki. Of course if they’d done better to start with it wouldn’t have been so tough.
- Game 2 was a great watch, a real ding-dong battle with the Auckland NPC team playing a lot like the Blues. The Lions had to put in a massive defensive shift and weirdly similar to the Argentina-ABs game were able to capitalise on a couple of mistakes to get their foot through the door. Auckland started with a very journeyman 10 with Plummer called up to train with the ABs, and looked a lot better when Zarn Sullivan returned form injury to take up the playmaker spot; with Perofeta, Barrett & Plummer ahead of him at the Blues NZR should really be trying to get him to move to another Super club so he can try to get more game time - whether that be at 10 (my preference) or 15 (where the Blues have played him).
- Northland were surprisingly competitive against the Rams for the bit I watched near the end; especially given the huge number of Canterbury players with SR experience.
- Wish I’d watched that Southland victory; they’re perennial wooden-spooners but the match against Otago is their big derby so no surprise they were competitive at home. Rugby Park in Invercargill is NZs 2nd worst NPC ground (after Tasman’s alternate home in Blenheim) - I wonder if there was an Antarctic southerly sweeping the ground.
I’ll be watching my Magpies at 2pm, bit of a rebuilding phase for them this year I think, North Harbour should be pretty good with Bryn Hall back at 9 for them this year. C’mon the Bay!
Results of the two Sunday matches
spoiler
- North Harbour 32 v 41 Hawke’s Bay
- Manawatu 21 v 54 Tasman
I didn’t watch the Tasman game, but that’s not much of a surprise they have a much more expensive squad than Manawatu typically carry and have been there or thereabouts at the top of the table for a long time now.
Hawke’s Bay picking up the W away from home at North Harbour where they hadn’t won since 2011 is a heck of a result. Definitely didn’t look like they’d get the job done for large parts of it, but once Lincoln McClutchie came on in the 2nd half they looked very solid and had a great scrum and maul. How Lincoln wasn’t picked up by any SR team this year is beyond me. Also, Fakatava is (for me) currently a better halfback than Noah Hotham; the latter probably has a higher ceiling in the long run but I think its a real shame that Robertson’s team decided to go with their boy than pick the better player. See the Bell over Riccitelli selection as 3rd Hooker as another example of that.
1 more game in Round 1 which isn’t until Wednesday - i’m not sure if i’ll remember to mention it or not.
