Northland

1 Esile Fono, 2 Matt Moulds, 3 Chris Apoua, 4 Allan Craig, 5 Sam Caird, 6 Rob Rush, 7 Jake Heenan, 8 Terrell Peita, 9 Sam Nock, 10 Rivez Reihana, 11 Brady Rush, 12 Corey Evans, 13 Solomon Alaimalo, 14 Paula Balekana, 15 Jordan Trainor

Reserves: 16 Jordan Hutchings, 17 Jordan Lay, 18 Coree Te Whata-Colley, 19 Liam Hallam-Eames, 20 Lachlan Hooper, 21 Jonah Mau'u, 22 Josh Renton, 23 Quinton Nichols

Wellington

1 Xavier Numia, 2 James O'Reilly, 3 Siale Lauaki, 4 Hugo Plummer, 5 Filo Paulo, 6 Caleb Delany, 7 Sione Halalilo, 8 Dominic Ropeti, 9 Esi Komaisavai, 10 Jackson Garden-Bachop, 11 Tom Maiava, 12 Julian Savea, 13 Losilosivale Filipo, 14 Stanley Solomon, 15 Callum Harkin

Reserves: 16 Penieli Poasa, 17 Kenshi Yamamoto, 18 PJ Sheck, 19 Akira Ieremia, 20 Cody Lokotui, 21 Nui Muriwai, 22 Kapu Broughton-Winterburn, 23 Hibiki Yamada

Nathan Salmon dropped out of the 23 (not listed as injured, and heard he is not injured) Paula Balekana promoted to the starting line up...I know I keep banging on about it, but he should never have been signed.

He has offered nothing in his time so far, and was pretty poor last week v Otago, but somehow, is promoted to make his first start.

@taniwharugby said in Northland v Wellington:

Nathan Salmon dropped out of the 23

I'm guessing it's his error rate? Seems like a player who just needs more game time.. He has a knack for making post contact metres

@Duluth yep, he makes errors, but has more spark and makes the gainline better than any of our other backs, in contrast, Balekana touched the ball about 4 times and turned it over 3 of them last week in his time, so shouldnt be promoted on that....if they are dropping him due to errors, I'd expect the same off Balekana, which should mean someone from the dev side should be promoted, or Nichols who has started on the wing plenty for us.

The decisions around signing Balekana and Mau'u in particular have pissed me off.

@taniwharugby you and me both. We seemed to have picked up the smallest / slowest Fijian winger available while not playing our best young player. Salmon has been awesome and I thought he would be pushing for a S15 contract this year. Can’t do that if he is not playing.

Jonah just looks fat.

Extremely disappointing.

Salmon actually looks like he could step up to the next level.

And as for Balekana; bringing in a winger from outside; no matter how f'n good, is not guna be a game changer for where the Taniwha are right now.

Reminds me a bit of Gregory; thought he had a lot of potential; never was brought on correctly. Salmon at the Stags next season . . . fuck that!

Biggest game so far; noticed he's gone 6-2 on the bench. Pretty much the season here.

@mohikamo yeah it is def a beatable looking wellington side, conditions look like they will be damp tonight, so smart rugby needed...

NZR is making use of WR refs being in the country again. Angus Gardner is the ref. He will be an AR in Wellington.

@Bovidae said in Northland v Wellington:

NZR is making use of WR refs being in the country again. Angus Gardner is the ref. He will be an AR in Wellington.

Should be good for his development.

@taniwharugby said in Northland v Wellington:

smart rugby needed...

haha . . . you wish!

Been raining last couple of hours, so only us hardy fools gonna be here....

Just got in but no news yet, what's happening here?

Northland always looked the better side. But kept letting Wellington back in.

Forwards dominated. Good kicks and chase (Brady Rush was great). Heenan was classy.

Like the way we are winning the physical battle - scrums, tackle, ruck.

@kev Reihana is good with ball in hand, but gee his kicking from hand this year has gone from very good to awful in minutes...and his handling is a worry, similarly Moulds.

But yeah, good to see some physicality from our boys, also good to see Salmon with a bit of game sense there, could so easily have just rested on the advantage.

Our backs outside Evans saw bugger all though, Brady does well pressuring kicks and gets about alot, gone from being someone I didnt want out there to playing well this season.

Renton looks good though, but Heenan probably my MOTM

@taniwharugby I like the way Evans took it on himself to win the advantage line, which he did. On a wet night it was smart.

@kev while we still kept leaving the door open for them, this side does have a little bit more to them.

Loving what our loosies are bringing, particularly Peita and Heenan.

Plus, we have a good bench.

@taniwharugby yeah, how many years have we not kicked on after winning a few games. What we are seeing is so much more grit - starts with defence.