@taniwharugby said in Hawkes Bay v Northland:

@Nepia well here's the last 2 matches when we challenged HB for the shield
2015 - HB 39 Nthld 10
2020 - HB 33 Nthld 17

I reckon HB will score more tonight, something like 42-25

I’ve never hoped a prediction from a Northlander would be more correct than right now!

@taniwharugby said in Hawkes Bay v Northland:

@kev oh always, but when you look across that HB 1-23, we will need to be on top form to roll them.

Am worried after our scrum last week as Apoua really struggled, if we cant hold our scrum up, will be a long night.

The Coach backs Apoua. The scrummaging start last week was poor but they got better. He is not that mobile so he has to deliver at that phase. They were mostly good against Canterbury.

@kev I think it is a fitness thing as I dont think his scrummaging has been an issue before.

Northland 3-0 after 3mins

Fakatava gets caught like that way too often for an experienced player.

Forward?

@Duluth I thought so in real time....

@Duluth looked it

Not called. Latu has been good, great angle for the try, turnover penalties. Looks like an upgrade on Tua

was a long 2 seconds call at that maul, that collapsed and took more time to come out

Best game I’ve seen McCluthie play. He’s playing very well. Playing inside Matt Giteau and Ma’a Nonu at the Legion this year would have been a great experience for him.

Jacob Devery has been very strong at hooker. Hopefully he’s the back-up to Aumua for the Canes and we don’t lose him to another franchise.

HB into thier stride now

good try, poor tackling at times too...

HB looking good with ball in hand

This is a fun game to watch.

McClutchie in early into the second half. He’s having a blinder. Love that he’s attacking everything, none of this kicking bullshit.

like last week, as soon as they get behind our first line of d, we are gettign opened up.

Game is so fickle, Murray was a fingertip from a likely score, 2 mins later HB score, then they do so again after halftime....need to sub NOck and Apoua

Shield safe.

McClutchie definitely outplaying Reihana tonight. If he doesn’t get a Super contract this time around, these coaches have rocks in their head.

Early on I thought I'd tipped the result badly wrong. But now it's the margin...

75 points in 65 minutes - definitely entertained.

@Donsteppa I changed my highest scorer from HB to Wellington...

that was a BS call from a ref who has been largely very good

What’s happened to Devan Flanders?

That was an entertaining game.

Well that was both disappointing and embarrassing with that many points being scored against us,

We had some good patches, but when HB were on, they were superb and thier running from depth at pace made our d look silly, although we did concede 3 tries by players simply not markign the outside man.

Think we have a few players who are passengers out there, and they are some experienced ones too.

Ref was very good, made a few errors, some cost points (both ways) but thought he controlled things well, although noticed refs not pinging neck rolls or players holding people around the neck as much recently.

I expect to see plenty of changes rung next week as we head into storm week.

Well I guess if we're going to wear black and white hoops we're going to have a baabaas game eventually. Northland really took it to us. Lots for us to work on defensively if we want to retain the shield deep into the season.

@taniwharugby said in Hawkes Bay v Northland:

that was a BS call from a ref who has been largely very good

For me balanced out that terrible first half non call where he let a Northland guy play the ball while on the ground, slow it down causing Fakatava to get caught with the ball, and opening up an opportunity for @bones to put a dig in.

@Nepia Christ on a bike it's such a shame you're not a canes fan anymore, you really suit it.

Genuine question: how was fakatava's penalty tap allowed?

Well have to say as a neutral, that was an incredibly enjoyable game of rugby. Well pretty neutral like HB to hold the shield until the Naki comes calling.
But game was just bloody fun to watch, Mrs was enjoying it. Like a lot of real good games there was a bit of spilt ball etc, and that's what added to it, it all becomes chaotic. Loved it.

Also that O'Donnell fella playing for HB from the Brumbies, his knew his grandad whakapapa ,they Levin people.

According to Stan it was "Northlands"

@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.