2013 National Provincial Championship (ITM Cup) Thread

It was a bloody windy game as well:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10200960324025881&set=vb.159780894173659&type=2&theater

1hr 30 mins till the biggie tonight.

 

I'm devastated. Not only have my boys lost but NZ rugby takes another hit. This seriously is getting old and boring now. Few questionable calls in that game but it was pretty simple. Cunterbury had most of the possession and the territory.

A 3 point lead with the wind behind our backs was not enough.

Pretty immense defence from Wellington though - any other side would have crumbled a lot sooner and let more through or got penalized heaps, so that was good to see.

Outplayed unfortunately.

Killerz showing a typical Cunterbury attitude.

15,000 showed up tonight which was alright I guess, considering the Canes can barely get that. Would have been nice to see 20 odd thousand though.

In terms of history though, it's the biggest finals crowd since 2008 - which was ironically in Welly, was at that one (21,200 attendance)

The last 4 finals which have been all hosted by Cunterbury have had pretty low turnouts (averaging about 12,000)

So I guess Wellington fans sorta do show up when needed, more so than others. Probably shows how bored Cunterbury fans have gotten

 

I am 8 beers to the good or to the worse, I am struggling with the need to not offend rego and the need to tell it how it is.

Canterbury won because they are experienced in finals football. Wellington were hesitant for first 20 minutes and that fucked them over.

I could write a long post - will limit myself to the following

a) Wellington is a naive rugby team. Several times with Canterbury hot on attack wellington could have flopped on the ball and given away 3 points instead of 7.

b) Wellington's 12 13 and 11 were a waste of skin.

c) Brad shields was invisible

d) Wellington's 15 dropped the ball stone cold while in the red zone and wellington had to settle for 3 points.

Waikato has better nous than Wellington. There was little or no game management by the lions. And the coaching staff have to accept most of the blame.

 

Nah no offense here. Pretty much agree with all these comments, as I said a 3 point lead was not enough. Sure I'm devastated but that doesn't mean it should have gone our way. We were outplayed and that was pretty much it. Canterbury found gaps to kick in (even with the wind against them), held onto the ball and pretty much gave Wellington no chances to break the line. Some Super 15 sides would struggle to beat them on that sorta performance. It's not even Wellington losing that is the huge problem (it sucks as a fan though) it's the long list of non Canterbury players playing for them and the cuntish nature of Cabtabs as a whole.

Honestly, no team would have beaten a side like that tbh.

Regarding your point (a) I disagree. It's poor sportsmanship and such an Auckland thing to do. Showed spirit that they didn't wanna let any points through. Still wouldn't have got us the win either. Could have made things worse with cards.