Ta$man Mako$ : 15 Will Jordan, 14 James Lowe, 13 Alex Nankivell, 12 Trael Joass, 11 Tima Faingaanuku, 10 Mitchell Hunt, 9 Finlay Christie; 8 Jordan Taufua, 7 Pete Samu, 6 Shannon Frizell, 5 Quinten Strange, 4 Alex Ainley (captain); 3 Isaac Salmon, 2 Ti'i Paulo, 1 Tim Perry.

Bench: Brendan Asomua-Goodman, Tom Hill, Jack Straker, Pari Pari Parkinson, Vernon Fredericks, Billy Guyton, Tim O'Malley, Levi Aumua.

The Mako$ sent me an email without bracketing James Lowe, so hopefully this is the team.

As I suspected, injuries last week and the AB call-up of Hames has badly affected our front row - the obvious first choice front row of Hames, Makalio and Halanukonuka is missing and I know very little about Salmon, Hill or Straker. One of the key weapons probably become a significant weakness. Perry and Paulo will need to stand up!

Makes this a pretty tricky assignment.

Rest of the team looks solid and good to see both Frizell and Nankivell are available. Looking forward to seeing Jordan play.

@Chris-B. said in Manawatu vs Ta$man:

Ta$man Mako$ : 15 Will Jordan, 14 James Lowe, 13 Alex Nankivell, 12 Trael Joass, 11 Tima Faingaanuku, 10 Mitchell Hunt, 9 Finlay Christie; 8 Jordan Taufua, 7 Pete Samu, 6 Shannon Frizell, 5 Quinten Strange, 4 Alex Ainley (captain); 3 Isaac Salmon, 2 Ti'i Paulo, 1 Tim Perry.

Bench: Brendan Asomua-Goodman, Tom Hill, Jack Straker, Pari Pari Parkinson, Vernon Fredericks, Billy Guyton, Tim O'Malley, Levi Aumua.

The Mako$ sent me an email without bracketing James Lowe, so hopefully this is the team.

As I suspected, injuries last week and the AB call-up of Hames has badly affected our front row - the obvious first choice front row of Hames, Makalio and Halanukonuka is missing and I know very little about Salmon, Hill or Straker. One of the key weapons probably become a significant weakness. Perry and Paulo will need to stand up!

Makes this a pretty tricky assignment.

Rest of the team looks solid and good to see both Frizell and Nankivell are available. Looking forward to seeing Jordan play.

Straker is a future crusader for sure Chris. has had a great club season, and got some game time in the brisbane 10s earlier this year.

Has played a couple of seasons now for Sydenham, same club as Codie Taylor, Nepo Laulala, Tokolahi, and from an older generation Corey Flynn and Dave Hewitt.

They call Sydenham the "front row factory" down here.

@SammyC That sounds promising, Sammy.

Google tells me that Salmon has been around the fringes of the Mako$ squad this year (plays for the Nelson club) and Hill has been a full squad member since last year.

What's the word in Christchurch about the future eligibility of Alaalatoa and Jager for the ABs?

Given the preponderance of AB props - and tight forwards in general - that originate or are honed in the Crusaders region, it's pretty concerning that two of the three tighthead berths are training guys who may not be eligible for AB duties.

@Chris-B. said in Manawatu vs Ta$man:

@SammyC That sounds promising, Sammy.

Google tells me that Salmon has been around the fringes of the Mako$ squad this year (plays for the Nelson club) and Hill has been a full squad member since last year.

What's the word in Christchurch about the future eligibility of Alaalatoa and Jager for the ABs?

Given the preponderance of AB props - and tight forwards in general - that originate or are honed in the Crusaders region, it's pretty concerning that two of the three tighthead berths are training guys who may not be eligible for AB duties.

Don't know what the word is in Chch, but Alaalatoa started playing for the Turbos in August 2015, so he'll be eligible from the end of August 2018. He has represented Samoa at the U20s Junior World Rugby Championship in 2011, but that doesn't count for NZ eligibility.

Jager has been in NZ since 2013, so he should already be eligible.

@Stargazer I don't think either of them will be checking their phones hourly for a message from Steve Hansen at the moment - but, Alaalatoa would surely be somewhere on Samoa's radar (or Australia's?) and I daresay Ireland know about Jager.

I reckon it's a situation that NZR should be looking into, because even if one or both would "declare" for NZ it would be a bit murky.

Good start to this game. Good conditions and both teams using the ball.

What happened to last year's finalists? Ta$man not playing that well at all. Silly mistakes & penalties.

And more importantly, which fool allowed Kurt Baker back into the country?

The young Ta$man 15 has had some nice touches.

Why an interview during the match?

Sensational goal line defence Ta$man. Phase after phase.

Hmm, don't think that should be a YC. It wasn't an arm swing. Just a normal movement you make when trying to keep your balance in the air. Not so sure it was his elbow either. Under the Rules, the ref had the choice between a penalty and a card. He chose the card.

@Stargazer Yeah the ref has been a bit off the boil all day.

Great play Will Jordan.

What did Taufua do to get that YC?

Ta$man really miss Banks and Havilli - a lot of youth in that backline and it shows - way too many errors. Hunt not the greatest couple of weeks.

Turbos pack has some graft about it and Otere lead the team around really well - exciting for Blues fans.

Not a good week for a lot of Premiership sides (Auckland included).

@KiwiMurph said in Manawatu vs Ta$man:

Ta$man really miss Banks and Havilli - a lot of youth in that backline and it shows - way too many errors. Hunt not the greatest couple of weeks.

Yeah - I think our season goal might be trying to avoid relegation. The starting XV that we expected to have: i.e. including Havili and Hames, but not Squire; is very strong - but, things are very thin and green below.

At the end, when Paulo and (I think) Ainley went off and Taufua was in the bin, we might only have had about a hundred NPC caps on the field and most of them belonging to Guyton and Fredericks.

On the plus side, Jordan is going to be an excellent acquisition. He looked significantly bigger out there than I thought he was - already got a fair bit of Ben Smith about him. Some refinement to do, but he's going to have the goods.