2013 National Provincial Championship (ITM Cup) Thread

Less than an hour till kick off!!! Counties vs Welly

Huge boost having T.hrush, Perenara and Coles in the starting lineup (not playing on Sat for ABs)

Still a few injuries (Ardie, Ngatai, Leiua etc.) which sees the backline with an interesting mix - few newbies. Hopefully Proctor is good from fullback. Treeby in at second five and Bateman at centre should be interesting to see how well they mix. Personally would have had them the other way around but Treeby should provide some good ball.

Our bench is pretty meh (Levave, Wilson and Eugene Smith the only familiars)

Should be a pretty decent attacking game with Counties tbh. Counties play a really fast paced type game, so that should be good.

Counties are missing are couple of key players due to injury as well so it evens out a bit. The preview has Counties winning by 15.....dream on :P Our forward pack wins. Backs shall be anybody's.

The Ricoh Wellington Lions line-up is as follows:
1. John Schwalger (Norths)
2. Dane Coles (Poneke)
3. Jeffery Toomaga-Allen (Marist St Pats)
4. Jeremy through (filt0wned because I can't spell, btw)sh (C) (Hutt Old Boys Marist)
5. Mark Reddish (Oriental-Rongotai)
6. Brad Shields (Petone)
7. Adam Hill (Old Boys University)
8. Victor Vito (Marist St Pats)
9. TJ Perenara (Norths)
10. Lima Sopoaga (Old Boys University)
11. Sinoti Sinoti (Norths)
12. Shaun Treeby (Tawa)
13. Tim Bateman (Old Boys University)
14. Joe Hill (Old Boys University)
15. Matt Proctor (Oriental-Rongotai)
RESERVES
16. Eugene Smith (Petone)
17. Tolu Fahamokioa (Tawa)
18. Taniela Koroi (Tawa)
19. Kaipati Gaualofa (Tawa)
20. Faifili Levave (Norths)
21. Frae Wilson (Wainuiomata)
22. Afa Fa’atau (Oriental-Rongotai)


Counties Manukau:

1. Simon Lemalu, 2. Suliasi Taufalele, 3. Attila Va’a, 4. Ronald Raaymakers, 5.Sikeli Nabou, 6. Adam Cathcart, 7. Maama Vaipulu, 8. Fritz Lee (c), 9. Augustine Pulu, 10. Baden Kerr, 11. Toni Pulu, 12. Bundee Aki, 13. Lee-Lo, 14. Ahsee Tuala, 15. Sherwin Stowers

Reserves: 16. Mark Price, 17. am Aiono, 18. Ryan Wilson, 19. Sean Reidy, 20. Kane Hancy, 21. Sam Vaka, 22. Frank Halai

 

He went over to Europe I think for a good 3 years at least.

Awesome try by Sinoti Sinoti

5-3 to Welly. These lines are annoying - can barely be seen.

 

Counties are playing pretty poorly. Defensive wise at least. Sure there's a few mistakes from both teams (as you'd suspect) but Counties just haven't really looked solid enough to score tries.

 

There we go. BP try for Wellington already.

Wellington playing some good expansive play which is opening the Counties' defence up. We're being pretty patient too which is good to see (being Wellington and all)

 

Wellington ripping Counties a new one now. Bateman's playing well and him at 13 with Treeby at 12 is working well. Disagree with the commentators saying he's underrated though.

43-16 to Welly.

 

Yeah pretty disappointing from an overall perspective. Happy that Wellington won and played some decent rugby though. 55-16.

The fact Nanai-Williams is probably going to play a minimal part of the season (if at all) due to injury doesn't help Counties at all because they really didn't show the flair you'd expect from them tonight.

Next round will confirm Counties season tbh.

 

In a sense. Like I said prior to the game, Wellington's forward pack >>>> Counties but the backs were up for grabs. It's fair to say Wellington easily won that battle too. I was expecting better things from the Aki and Lee-Lo combination tonight. Really pretty ho hum.

Counties really didn't perform to their potential. Wellington may have been better on paper but not 55-16 better.

 

On to the next game.

Taranaki have announced their team to play Cunterbury and it's a pretty solid team. Hopefully they give Cunterbury a good game (and win). The only odd thing I can see is Andre Taylor playing at centre. It makes no sense either because Baker is playing at fullback so it's not even as though they're having centre problems. Logically you'd have Baker in at centre and Taylor at fullback. From my knowledge I don't think Taylor has ever played at centre (at this level at least). That being said Taylor has the play style to play centre so it should be interesting. The only explanation I can possibly think of as to why they've chosen this move is because they're hoping he gets his hands on the ball a bit more and produces some of the brilliance we saw in the 2012 Super Season. Something which would be even more rewarding at centre. That being said I wouldn't bank on it any time soon (but hey, let's be optimistic).

Taranaki Team Rd 1
1. Carl Carmichael, 2. Timo Tutavaha, 3. Shane Cleaver, 4. Jarrad Hoeata, 5. James Broadhurst, 6. Kane Barrett (c), 7. Berny Hall, 8. Blade Thomson, 9. Chris Smylie, 10. Beaudein Waaka, 11. Waisake Naholo, 12. Isaia Tuifua, 13. Andre Taylor, 14. Jackson Ormond, 15. Kurt Baker, RESERVES: 16. Rhys Marshall, 17. Sione Lea, 18. Mitchell Crosswell, 19. Doug Tietjens, 20. Jamison Gibson-Park, 21. Daniel Brooks, 22. Seta Tamanivalu

Awesome to see Smylie starting over JGP as well. Really balanced squad. Lineout should be solid with Hoeata + Broadhurst alongside Blade Thomson in at 8. Lots of power in the back line as well. Pretty decent bench as well. Hoping for a highly physical game tbh. Fairly reasonable to expect it too.

 

Yeah Barrett deservedly has the captaincy. Pretty high work rate and solid loose trio in general. That being said they're playing against Todd - who isn't half bad at this level

Yeah Waaka will unfortunately probably be no match for Tyler.

A few injuries to Canterbury helps the Naki's cause.

Canterbury

1.Paea Fa'anunu, 2.Ben Funell, 3.Nepo Laulala, 4.Matt Symons, 5.Luke Katene, 6.Luke Whitelock, 7.Matt Todd, 8.Jordan Taufua, 9.Willi Heinz, 10.Tyler Bleyendaal, 11.Milford Keresoma, 12.Rob Thompson, 13.Adam Whitelock, 14.Patrick Osborne, 15.Jamie Verran.

Replacements: 16.Marcel Cummings-Toone, 17.Sione Faletau, 18.Joel Everson, 19.Jed Brown, 20.Andy Ellis, 21.Richie Mo'unga, 22.Marty Swart.