1 Ayden Johnstone, 2 Pita Anae Ah-Sue, 3 George Dyer, 4 James Tucker, 5 Hamilton Burr, 6 Malachi Wrampling-Alec, 7 Mitchell Jacobson, 8 Simon Parker, 9 Cortez Ratima, 10 Josh Ioane, 11 Daniel Sinkinson, 12 Quinn Tupaea, 13 Gideon Wrampling, 14 Bailyn Sullivan, 15 Tepaea Cook-Savage
Reserves: 16 CalebSean(?) Ralph, 17 Ollie Norris, 18 Solomone Tukuafu, 19 Generic Player, 20 Patrick McCurran, 21 Xavier Roe, 22 Taha Kemara, 23 Tana Tuhakaraina

This was the team listed on the official NPC site

I presume the reserve Hooker is Sean Ralph not Caleb Ralph

1 Joe Walsh
2 Jacob Payne
3 Morgan Mitchell
4 Danny Drake (debut)
5 Josh Bekhuis (c)
6 Blair Ryall
7 Hayden Michaels
8 Dylan Nel (debut)
9 Jay Renton
10 Greg Dyer
11 Michael Manson
12 Scott Gregory
13 Matt Whaanga
14 Viliami Fine
15 Rory van Vugt

16 Jack Taylor (debut)
17 Jonah Aoina (debut)
18 Quinn Harrison-Jones
19 Shneil Singh (debut)
20 Leroy Ferguson (debut)
21 Liam Howley
22 Marty Banks
23 Noah Foster (debut)

Interested to see how the reserve lock goes for Waikato with AI plaguing us with it's infiltration everywhere.

Yeah crappy. I wonder if ‘Generic Player’ & ‘Caleb Ralph’ is because opta has to match each player to database of players

@Duluth Yep - I was thinking it was the product of lazy use of AI. Very poor indeed.

Go the stags.

Not a lot of genuine hope - mainly want to see a gritty effort and make Waikato earn their tries. Pre-season games our handling was woeful.

There must be a few injuries if Malachi Wrampling-Alec is selected from outside the squad to start, and others are on the bench.

Generic player was Tai Cribb

@Duluth said in Southland v Waikato:

Generic player was Tai Cribb

Like Wrampling-Alec, still only 19. More a 6 than a lock.

Two Waikato tries in 6mins

Just saw the halftime highlights. Sullivan was prominent. Ioane with a good kick regather and offload

Quinn Tupaea got a knock on the head.. HIA

@Duluth And failed.

Josh Ioane on his way to the hospital to get a scan of his arm.

Waikato looked so good for 20 mins and then went to sleep for the rest of the game. Spent too much time defending and kicked poorly.

The injuries are a concern.

Thanks to Marty Banks.

Was at the game.

Stags defense was non-existent for first 20mins - Mooloos made meters at will- but very happy to see the Stags show some fortitude and get back in the game.

Refereeing was certainly interesting, particuarly as the game wore on.

There was one five or so minute period where the Southland scrumhalf blatantly knocked the ball on at the back of the scrum but the ref said it went backwards, then when Waikato made a run up the field but seemingly lost the ball backwards, the ref said it went forwards.

When Southland had a penalty advantage not long after, they attempted two cross-field kicks before the ref brought it back for the penalty. Moments later, Waikato had an advantage and grubbered the ball forwards and the ref said 'if you kick the ball, you lose the advantage'.

I think referees have a very hard time with the sheer number of laws to officiate, but inconsistent decision-making like that is very questionable regardless.

@Mattasaurus said in Southland v Waikato:

Was at the game.

Stags defense was non-existent for first 20mins - Mooloos made meters at will- but very happy to see the Stags show some fortitude and get back in the game.

Yeah there was a lot of slow motion repositioning by the Stags defensive line. Looked terrible on the TV, must’ve looked even more so live.

They did get their act together though. I do like the Southland midfield. Got a bit of punch to it.

@Mr-Fish There were definitely some strange decisions by the ref. The penalty against Tucker was harsh because he tried to roll away but the Southland player (Mitchell?) with the ball on the ground clearly had wrapped his other arm around Tucker to make it impossible to do so.