2012 National Provincial Championship (ITM Cup) Thread

Yeah. I was surprised to see no Fili in the squad, but including Brad Shields when there's pretty much no chance of him playing this season.

 

Some beautiful work by Hawkes Bay in the 2nd half thus far. Horrell has been exceptional, and the urgency of the chasers for the Bay has been something to behold. Lovin' it.

 

Thought that was a fantastic match to kick off the season. Great comeback from the Bay only to be denied through Lam's break and unselfish pass to hand Mathewson a winning try for Auckland. Quite clearly the final 15 minutes was a struggle for the Bay in particular. Thought the new 5 second rule to clear the stationary ball at the ruck was fantastic. Scrums still a mess unfortunately.

 

Mathewson was atrocious, I thought. He really has gone backwards over the last couple of years. Poor tactical kicking, poor decision making. Ainscombe wasn't great either. Let himself get isolated far too often through taking the wrong options.

 

Definitely agree re. Mathewson considering he was pushing for the third choice halfback spot a couple of years ago, and from memory played a couple of tests on the end of year tour. Anscombe made a couple of poor decisions but I think he's got great potential and wouldn't be too critical of him.

 

Heartlands Week One:

Wairarapa Bush 32 (Cameron Hayton, Johan VanVliet tries; Glen Walters 2 con, 6pen) South Canterbury 21 (Sekope Maea, Aporasa Tabulawaki 2 tries; Kurt Rooney 2 pen). HT: 16-15

East Coast 23 (Everard Reid, Tau Moeke, Rua Tipoki tries; Joel Semple con, 2 pen) West Coast 16 (Brad Houston, Rowan O'Gorman tries; Corey Deans 2 pen). HT: 13-6

North Otago 31 (Samisoni Tongotongo, Tala Fagasoia, Ralph Darling, Chris Talanoa tries; Hamish Buick 4 con, pen) King Country 30 (Rupeni Seduadua 2, Ben Draper tries; Kurt Strachan 3 con, 3 pen). HT: 14-9

Mid Canterbury 23 (James Carr, Mac Sykes tries; Andrew Letham 2 con, 3 pen) Wanganui 24 (Asalemo Malo, Darren Munro tries; Mark Davis con, 4 pen). HT: 6-18

Horowhenua Kapiti 15 (Sonny McBride 4 pen; Perry Hayman pen) Poverty Bay 31 (Andrew Gardner, Henry Yortt, Kelvin Smith, Paula Tikomainaivalu tries; Scott Leighton 4 con, pen). HT: 12-14

Thames Valley 14 (Jason Laurich, Blake Hill tries; Brook Tremayne 2 con) Buller 24 (James Foster, Apenise Ratugoieavanua tries; Marty Banks con, 4 pen). HT: 0-13

Think I've completely crashed & burned on my picks week 1. But bloody hell, I'm fairly chuffed with only losing to North Otago by a single point. Wanganui only just narrowly getting it over Mid Canty, and I'd picked the upset there.

 

Rua Tipoki still playing for East Coast! And didn't Asalemo Malo used to play for Taranaki?

 

He certainly did. I understand too that Caleb Ralph is playing (or will be playing) for Poverty Bay (actually, it may have been East Coast, but out that way somewhere) this season.

 

Counties looking exceptional so far against Southland. It'll be interesting to see if they can keep this level of performance up. If they can, they have to be Championship contenders.

 

Only caught up with the game in Pukekohe tonight. MySky's been in overdrive this weekend! Very impressed with Steelers, penalty count aside. Definite early favourites to win the Championship.

 

Looks like both sides aren't too worse for wear - HB starting with 13 of their XV from the Auckland match, both in the front row; Wellington with 11 of their XV though two of those changes are Vito and Savea so quality rather than injured based.