Northland

1 Jordan Lay, 2 Matt Moulds (c), 3 Marcel Renata, 4 Allan Craig, 5 Liam Hallam-Eames, 6 Rob Rush, 7 Jake Heenan, 8 Terrell Peita, 9 Sam Nock, 10 Rivez Reihana, 11 Brady Rush, 12 Reesjan Pasitoa, 13 Corey Evans, 14 Solomon Alaimalo, 15 Jordan Trainor

Reserves: 16 Jordan Hutchings, 17 Esile Fono, 18 Chris Apoua, 19 Sam Caird, 20 Lachie Hooper, 21 Sam Howling, 22 Paula Balekana, 23 Nathan Salmon

Hawkes Bay

1 Hadlee Hay-Horton, 2 Jacob Devery (c), 3 Pouri Rakete-Stones, 4 Geoff Cridge, 5 Isaia Walker-Leawere, 6 Miracle Faiilagi, 7 Cooper Flanders, 8 Devan Flanders, 9 Folau Fakatava, 10 Harry Godfrey, 11 Neria Fomai, 12 Kienan Higgins, 13 Nick Grigg, 14 Jonah Lowe, 15 Zarn Sullivan

Reserves: 16 Kianu Kereru-Symes, 17 Nik Patumaka, 18 Lolani Faleiva, 19 Hunter Morrison, 20 Frank Lochore, 21 Ereatara Enari, 22 Anaru Paenga-Morgan, 23 Andrew Tauatevalu

@Duluth and yet another dumb decision to call in a random from outside, while ignoring our Dev players....

I know Renton is injured, but we have a fit signed player in Murphy, yet we randomly sign Howling, who supposedly MUST play this weekend to meet the transfer deadline.

The smart play would have been to give one of the Dev guys a run off the bench, or leave Murphy on the bench.

Some of the decisions these guys make defy belief....sure if we win, it will largely get forgotten, but not by the players, particularly those in the dev side, I know we had 1 last year and 1 this year withdraw from the dev sides due to these outside signings who go straight into the starting 23.

Back to the bad days of signing randoms from no where. Definitely do not like what I’m seeing.

Northlanders want to go and watch Northlanders play.

Yes there’s always a few ring ins, who’ve either earned it through local club form, or a Super player we’ve picked up. But a nobody from god knows where, nope, not happy.

If you’re picking a nobody, at least make it a local nobody.

Agree; but, haha

I dont think this is just the coaches; I had a look, and Howling (Ponsonby) was in the sevens team with the Rush brothers. Assume they had something to do with this, and perhaps Peita. And was in the initial Auck NPC set up. I think that is correct.

Also in the Development team Barrell has played all three games; backed up by Ryburn, so . . . can sort of see the thinking, for right now. The next two or three games guna decide the season.

@mohikamo said in Northland v Hawkes Bay:

Also in the Development team Barrell has played all three games; backed up by Ryburn, so . . . can sort of see the thinking, for right now. The next two or three games guna decide the season.

Not sure I follow you there.

Both Barrell and Ryburn have been part of the squad all season, kinda the point of them having that squad to back up the main squad, they play halfback, playing 3 games in a row and then sitting on the bench shouldnt be an issue.

To me, it is just a slap in the face to the local guys, we also have 2 other 9s that have been in and around the dev side the past couple of years, sadly some of these guys choose to withdraw from these squads as they dont see any way forward, and signings such as this dont help that.

All that being said, Howling at least is a bit more in line with some loose 'framework' that had been suggested/used briefly many years ago in that they bypassed club if they are a current Super/NPC/National side rep....

This is the conundrum. Worth discussion.
I can see it from both sides.
I'm assuming some of the players in the NPC squad know of both Howling and Barrell (the next man up), and they just want the best quality player possible right now.
If they win two out of the next three games they've got a season. At this point, giving themselves the best chance to win is more important than player development.
If they lose all three games, it then wont matter who the hell the reserve halfback is, and you'd give the local guy a run.

Can work the other way.
I was working with a guy who had been brought into a state squad in Australia.
A minor state, but they did go on to win the Australian minor state title. Beating country NSW in the final. So a reasonable quality comp.
I was a bit flabbergasted when he told me how he'd been brought into the team.
They had had a run of injuries in the 7 position, and the coaches were scratching their heads.
They players themselves then suggested that the coaches bring him in. And the coaches had know idea who the players were talking about!
He came in, smashed it, and they won the title.
I'm assuming Martin's local Northland knowledge is limited.

S. M. Going is the classic reverse example.
Griffen brought him into the team because he'd seen him play out at Towai or Maromaku.
None of the players in the squad knew Going.
He had a shocker in his first game. But Griffen had seen him playing out in the sticks.
He went on to make AB team of the century.

I'm thinking the lesson is; the NPC coach should be integrated into the player development system.
Which Martin is not.
Until that happens, we cant expect much different.

@mohikamo yes, Martin having not been here until pre-season won't help.

If I am honest, I probably.have more of an issue with the signing of Balekana and Mau'u than I do Howling, given the level of rugby Howling has played recently.

Whereas Balekana, we know worked with Martin, but we have some quality outside backs in the dev side, Mau'u, well he isn't even fit, we didnt re- sign him after an excellent season for us in 2023 when he was fit, why is an unfit version better?...we have a 7 in the dev side, who is quality.

Fans will vote with bums on seats, today is a good chance with decent forecast....

Great victory for us against a good side. Our forwards were awesome. Scrum was a weapon.

Congrats Northland, you did the business when it counted.

@kev yep, who'd have thought our pack as our strength, all 13 of them.

That last 5 was a tough watch but the boys held on and got the job done.

Good close game with some excellent D from Northland when it mattered.

Cooper Flanders is an excellent athlete but there were a few hungus moments in there. There's no need to run directly in to contact when there's only one defender within 10 metres of you.

Godfrey continued to play more as a fullback than 10.

Fakatava did what he does very well, but there was a marked improvement in cohesion and flow in attack when Enari came on.

Grigg gets a hell of a lot of rugby out of that frame of his. Had no right to score when he did, and made smart decisions with ball in hand consistently.

Scrum got monstered which is a concern, we're supposed to have some firepower there.

The reffing was a crapshoot - clear obstruction by the decoy runner on one of Northland's tries for example. Shouldn't have mattered though, we should've put it well out of his hands with the opportunities we had.

Northland had 2 or 3 really bad moments which kept the magpies in this game which led to tries happy to take the win but for all intensive purposes they should have put the Magpies to bed by 20-25 points
The scrum was an absolute weapon and the forward pack which is developing nicely deserved better from the backs
Rivez Reihana not finding touch from penalties twice were crucial , then the slip 15 metres out from his own posts and knocking on ,Solomon Alaimalo with a straight drop under no pressure were examples of the home team being their own worst enemy
Just like to see this Taniwha team be more ruthless once they get in the attack zone .
Rob Rush is now starting to make smarter decisions and forming a robust loose forward combo Terrell Peita and Jake Heenan
Loved what Chris Apoua and Eslie Fono bring off the bench with their scrummaging power
Hearing that Pasitoa will be unavailable for next week but the upside Josh Renton and James Mullan might be good to go

After a bit of a discussion about player selections . . .

Like Harris noted; having a winning Taniwha team will be huge for a province like Northland, and probably do more for player development than anything else.

@Steven-Harris the backs need to buy the forwards a beer. Some inaccuracies caused a lot of issues - all that you said, plus that wide up and under that led to Hawkes Bay try against the run of play was so very average, Brady Rush was mostly rocks after playing well last week. But I thought Jordan Trainor was very good and we handled the high ball well.