Hands down the worst I’ve seen Abraham Pole play. Weak attempt at a tackle

Wellington starting to rumble. Higgins classy again with the break. Ieremia finishes it off.

These fringe players from Otago have really been found out this game

Surprised Delany is still on for Wellington. I’d take him off, he needs to play on Sunday.

Stanley Solomon very lucky. Super Rugby that would be a penalty try and 10 in the bin

@SouthernMann said in Otago v Wellington:

Stanley Solomon very lucky. Super Rugby that would be a penalty try and 10 in the bin

The fact he got a second hand on it probably saved him there.

Game on, Umaga-Jensen dots down.

Pledger has been very accurate from the base. Lio-Willie has just had his best game of the season

@SouthernMann agree. Despite Hastie’s good start, Pledger’s form might be the end of the end for Hastie

Jeez that was a shocker by Maiava. Could have been the match defining try.

Haig all class

@Grooter would be nice if he could donate some of his brain cells to his teammates

Try confirms my belief Creighton is a winger and Whaanga is a centre. Haig is just all class. Does everything right.

That’s a try I’m pretty sure. Sheck with the potential match winner.

That was impressive from Wellington again.

So weak from Otago. Ffs

@KiwiInLondon said in Otago v Wellington:

So weak from Otago. Ffs

Wellington have so much firepower.

@SouthernMann said in Otago v Wellington:

Try confirms my belief Creighton is a winger and Whaanga is a centre. Haig is just all class. Does everything right.

I liked Haig back a couple of years back when he played NZ age group. Hopefully NZ gets him and the poms keep their grubby mits off him.

@Canes4life it’s still not good enough. The tackling and defensive positioning has been a serious issue for this team for several years (ditto the Highlanders). They desperately need some proper coaching or this young generation will go down the toilet

Yes boys, bloody well played. Didn’t expect that with the raft of changes.

Pretty sure Thomas has never beaten Peter in pro rugby.

Bring on the Shield challenge on Sunday.

@Crazy-Horse said in Otago v Wellington:

@SouthernMann said in Otago v Wellington:

Try confirms my belief Creighton is a winger and Whaanga is a centre. Haig is just all class. Does everything right.

I liked Haig back a couple of years back when he played NZ age group. Hopefully NZ gets him and the poms keep their grubby mits off him.

Poms or Aussies. He can go wherever he wants if we don't cap him. I reckon he's the perfect lock/six bench player.

@SouthernMann or even France or Japan club rugby. They’d snap up a player like that and pay him decent money

@KiwiInLondon said in Otago v Wellington:

@SouthernMann or even France or Japan club rugby. They’d snap up a player like that and pay him decent money

Of course. He is eligible for Australia and England, making those countries potentially quite interested. Just the sort of player the poms love too.

@SouthernMann I know he and a few others had a call from Perpignan offering them a place so it’s already on the cards

That sums up that Otago season that does. It’s definitely a trend now, 3 weeks in a row there’s been a second half collapse. Not good enough at all. Almost managed to pull off a miracle but not quite good enough.

We knew Wellington would be resting majority of starters, Otago should have taken advantage of that and used more starters tonight and rested a few on Sunday been. Credit to Wellington, a lot of young guys played well and deserved it in the end.

Overall it was a good game to watch with positives to take away but at the end of the day it’s another L in the loss column. Disappointing. Can not wait for Donnelly to be gone.

@Landers92 said in Otago v Wellington:

That sums up that Otago season that does. It’s definitely a trend now, 3 weeks in a row there’s been a second half collapse. Not good enough at all. Almost managed to pull off a miracle but not quite good enough.

We knew Wellington would be resting majority of starters, Otago should have taken advantage of that and used more starters tonight and rested a few on Sunday been. Credit to Wellington, a lot of young guys played well and deserved it in the end.

Overall it was a good game to watch with positives to take away but at the end of the day it’s another L in the loss column. Disappointing. Can not wait for Donnelly to be gone.

That Avei-Collins looks like a real talent. If he’s anything like his uncle Jerry he’ll have a big future.

Disappointing to lose that, with Wellington rolling out a holding side. The partial charge down from Otago way down on the Wellington 22 was a killer. Still some upside. Frustrating when it is clear we could have picked up victories over the last few weeks.

@KiwiInLondon said in Otago v Wellington:

@SouthernMann I know he and a few others had a call from Perpignan offering them a place so it’s already on the cards

Hopefully we keep him for another contract cycle after this one. Be dissappointing to lose him young

I’d also like to add that the hype around Pledger is definitely real. It’s no coincidence we played quicker and better as soon as he got on. Hope he continues to get regular minutes moving forward this season.

@Landers92 said in Otago v Wellington:

Can not wait for Donnelly to be gone.

Just a question of who else. What money on Cory Brown getting the job back.

@SouthernMann anyone who can coach attack past three phases and a modern defensive system would be nice

@KiwiInLondon said in Otago v Wellington:

@SouthernMann anyone who can coach attack past three phases and a modern defensive system would be nice

And those two components are the roles of Lachlan McCaffrey as the defensive coach and Kane Jury as the attacking coach.

Was really impressed with the display by the debutants for Wellington don’t think anyone of them let the jersey down.

@SouthernMann perhaps they also need to go then

Lachlan McCaffrey will be taking his talents to the Waratahs next year. From a Highlanders perspective Ma'u, Holland, Haig, Millar, Umaga-Jensen and Nareki are the only first stringers. Most of those guys have been good. Just some average errors by some of the lads. Which have let us down over the last few weeks

@SouthernMann said in Otago v Wellington:

@Landers92 said in Otago v Wellington:

Can not wait for Donnelly to be gone.

Just a question of who else. What money on Cory Brown getting the job back.

I was talking to someone about this yesterday. My money is on it being Cory Brown. He wouldn’t leave a pretty wicked in Japan to just come back to pick up an assistant coach wage(you wouldn’t think). The NPC role will be a nice top up for him and also be more hands on with the players on a regular basis.

Hope that’s how it plays out anyway.

@Landers92 said in Otago v Wellington:

@SouthernMann said in Otago v Wellington:

@Landers92 said in Otago v Wellington:

Can not wait for Donnelly to be gone.

Just a question of who else. What money on Cory Brown getting the job back.

I was talking to someone about this yesterday. My money is on it being Cory Brown. He wouldn’t leave a pretty wicked in Japan to just come back to pick up an assistant coach wage(you wouldn’t think). The NPC role will be a nice top up for him and also be more hands on with the players on a regular basis.

Hope that’s how it plays out anyway.

It needs to be someone who sits happily in Jamie Jo's pocket. I reckon the leading candidates are Brown, Jury or Lesie. Sadly JL's time has probably past him by now.

Haig is the type of player Razor should be capping

@KiwiMurph probably another season under his belt. Last NPC season he was out injured and only really started Super Rugby last season. Only 22. Let him get a seasons worth of strength, fitness, and confidence in him. But definitely include him in the ABs XV for the Munster games