None of the Ta$man loose forward trio are in their expected positions.
Tasman
Match thread
Taranaki (RS)
@Bovidae Starting with Tim Sail at 4!
Lucky we got Ethan and Dave back for this game or we'd really be scraping the barrel.
QMac, Cirikadaveta and, worst of all, Tavatavnawai missing from Wednesday's starting XV.
I was kind of expecting Timoci would be missing, since he was hobbling about at the end of the Auckland game. Hoped we'd see Big Levi back to offset that. TT is a big loss - arguably the most influential player in the whole NPC. I'm starting to wonder if Razor might pick him - will be a travesty if he doesn't make at least the A squad.
Leppien on the bench for this game at least gives us another lock - albeit not a very tall one. Not sure Josh Lord would be worrying about him. Ethan will hopefully help the lineout as well, but we'll need to continue with the innovations that worked v Auckland.
Slightly oddly, they've also swapped Macca Springer and Kyran Tamoefolau - 11 to 15 and vice-versa.
@Grooter said in Ta$man v Taranaki (RS):
JRK looking dangerous
He's had a very good NPC. Must surely be in the AB XV squad?
That is some dirty play by Shalfoon - hits him in the back of the neck and head after he has landed
Should have been red. No mitigation.
Ta$man been pretty ragged at times - that gift try was a shocker! Unfortunately, the Naki are playing well.
We came back into a bit in the last 10 minutes, but will need to play a lot better in the second half.
Lord is a big unit - he's towering over the Ta$man lineout (which admittedly is pretty short)!
Taranaki so much better at the breakdown. Think the ref has gone easy on Ta$man for things like diving off their feet too
Not good enough.
Too many errors, too many dumb penalties and at times some weak defence.
Got back into it with 10 minutes to go, but it would have been a burglary!
Well done, Taranaki!
Think we get the booby prize of playing Canterbury next week, as well.
Probably the one I least wanted!
@Dan54 said in Ta$man v Taranaki (RS):
Yeah!!! Fen yeah!! You Fen beauties. We got the shield!!!
I'll calm down soon fellas!
By crikey @Dan54 you'll be happy about that!
@Chris-B said in Ta$man v Taranaki (RS):
Think we get the booby prize of playing Canterbury next week, as well.
Probably the one I least wanted!
I can understand that Chris, you won't want either team to lose!
@Chris-B Can understand your reasoning mate. I obviously want us to win next week (and right through), but can't see us winning final if we make it that far. I think we will be without Perofeta,, Lord and probably Riccitelli and Jacomb with at lest ABXV!
@Chris-B said in Ta$man v Taranaki (RS):
@Dan54 Successful seasons for both of us, whatever happens!
Enjoy your night!
For sure mate.
And I will enjoy being at QF next week thinking it all good regardless of result of that game!