ITM Cup Final - Canterbury v Waikato

[Darwin]

Teams announced:
Canterbury: 15 Sean Maitland, 14 Tu Umaga-Marshall, 13 Robbie Fruean, 12 Ryan Crotty, 11 Telusa Veainu, 10 Colin Slade, 9 Willie Heinz, 8 Nasi Manu, 7 Matt Todd, 6 George Whitelock (c), 5 Isaac Ross, 4 Luke Romano, 3 Peter Borlase, 2 Steve Fualau, 1 Wyatt Crockett. Reserves: 16 Paul Ngauamo, 17 Andrew Olorenshaw, 18 Ash Parker, 19 Brendon O'Connor, 20 Takerei Norton, 21 Stephen Brett, 22 Sam Monaghan.
Waikato: 15 Sosene Anesi, 14 Henry Speight, 13 Save Tokula, 12 Jackson Willison, 11 Dwayne Sweeney, 10 Trent Renata, 9 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 8 Alex Bradley, 7 Jack Lam, 6 Dominiko Waqaniburotu, 5 Romana Graham, 4 Toby Lynn, 3 Nathan White (c), 2 Aled de Malmanche, 1 Toby Smith. Reserves: 16 Hikairo Forbes, 17 Ben May, 18 Kent Fife, 19 Zak Hohneck, 20 Brendon Leonard, 21 Christian Lealiifano, 22 Tim Mikkelson.

Both teams have received good news, with the return of George Whitelock for Canterbury, and Brendon Leonard for Waikato. Waikato will be confident after easily beating Canterbury 26-6 only two weeks ago in Waikato, but beating Canterbury in Christchurch will be much harder.

I'm expecting Waikato to dominate up front again. However Canterbury should have the edge in the loose, as they have two genuine openside flankers, in Whitelock and Todd (plus another on the bench in O'Conner). Because of this I'd expect Canterbury to play a very expansive game as they did in the semi-final against Wellington.

I feel Canterbury have a slight advantage in the backs as well - Waikato have an edge at halfback, but Canterbury have an obvious advantage at first-five with Colin Slade, and an advantage in the midfield with Crotty and Fruean having a slight edge over Willison and Tokula. I feel the outside backs are pretty evenly matched, with both teams having plenty of pace out wide.

It's hard to pick a winner in this game in my opinion... I'm going pick Canterbury by 5 solely because of their home advantage.

 

[Sam Owen]

Canterbury.

 

[Muzzy]

isn't this pretty much the same lineups that faced each other two weeks ago?

Canterbury are still the obvious favorites but this year i want waikato to win. and if waikato dominate the forwards again i think they can, as long as the backs can cash in on it. so even though my head says canterbury i'm gonna pick Waikato to win

kinda sucks though coz appart from this year waikato have always been a team i've hated and it will suck to see their fans celebrating but i support them coz i enjoy watching speight, tokula and waqaniburotu

 

[Shaggy]

I'll go for the Cantabs, just because they are at home ... Waikato are probably better on form though

 

[Amobokoboko]

Waikato, altho it will be a close game.

 

[TRF C A Iversen]

Okay, here's what I think the difference in the teams will be. Canterbury have plenty of attack, and tend to have a rock steady game plan, but when it goes wrong, they become very beatable. Waikato are a side which tends to fight it's way back into matches and are particularly strong in their attack even as they should be tiring in the last 20 mins. Canterbury pour on pressure to bag their tries most of the time, Waikato can suddenly break against the play to score theirs.

They are both missing a few players, but in all honesty I still see the steady planning and execution of Canterbury taking this away by 5-10pts.

I just want an open attacking game and a little bit of a solid defence at times too. Something with like 4 tries to 3 would suit me as a spectacle.

 

[Larksea]

I can hear the cow bells rining in the distance!

should be a closer game than the last one, though if the moloo forwards fire like they did that day it should be a real contest. If not canterbury should win.

Barlow starting and Leonard on the bench should be a good boost. Should be a great game

Sheep shaggers should give Maitland back! He went to school with Renata & Toby Smith! Thought that was interesting.

 

[TRF C A Iversen]

Sheep shaggers should give Maitland back! He went to school with Renata & Toby Smith! Thought that was interesting.

I'm sure the entire Waikato squad are born and bred too.

 

[Charles]

Canterbury for me...There's (almost) no beating them in a final.

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

I'm sure the entire Waikato squad are born and bred too.

Most are I think, bar a couple of Fijians, a couple of Tasmanians... Probably no more than any other squad though

 

[BjR]

Yeah hoping to see Leonard have a good game... and the Tokula vs Fruean battle should be awesome.

 

[TRF C A Iversen]

Most are I think, bar a couple of Fijians, a couple of Tasmanians... Probably no more than any other squad though

I was referring to the request for Maitland back earlier. At the end of the day, it's impossible to keep any player to his home province if he wants to play elsewhere.

 

[Seaton]

Dissapointed this game is not being shown live in SA

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

I was referring to the request for Maitland back earlier. At the end of the day, it's impossible to keep any player to his home province if he wants to play elsewhere.

Yeah I was know, I was just messing around

 

[Shaggy]

Half time Canterbury 13 - Waikato 10 ... pretty poor conditions with Canterbury having played into the wind first half. Neither goal kicker has had much success because of the conditions.

Tries to Umaga-Marshall, Crotty for Canterbury (after having two disallowed by the TMO) and one try to Waikato (Toby Smith) through a forward drive close to the line.

 

[Shaggy]

Try to Waikato (Speight) ... 16 - 13 to Canterbury

EDIT - Try to Matt Todd Canterbury and converted ... 23 -13 Canterbury 14 mins to play

EDIT - Try to Colin Slade and he converts his own try ... 30 -13 Canterbury 7 minutes to play

EDIT - Full time 33 -13 Canterbury ... Canterbury achieve their third consecutive ***le

 

[Muzzy]

as soon as leonard kicked the ball into the Canterbury player gifting them yet another try i changed the channel. never before have i seen such atrocious kicks smh waikato had many chances to run the ball out of their 22, but instead they chose to play it safe and kick the ball not even past half way and give it straight back to canterbury. i think the pressure of a final got to them and they were trying to play it too safe

 

[Nate Dizzle]

Canterbury aye? not again, think Waikato played their final last weekend. Always going to be an uphill battle against Canterbury in a final when their at home. Mission impossible.

 

[smartcooky]

as soon as leonard kicked the ball into the Canterbury player gifting them yet another try i changed the channel. never before have i seen such atrocious kicks smh waikato had many chances to run the ball out of their 22, but instead they chose to play it safe and kick the ball not even past half way and give it straight back to canterbury. i think the pressure of a final got to them and they were trying to play it too safe

Looks like the whole Waikato team caught "Stephen Donald's Disease"... kick a useless kick resulting in a try to the opponents.

 

[Nate Dizzle]

Looks like the whole Waikato team caught "Stephen Donald's Disease"... kick a useless kick resulting in a try to the opponents.

I wonder who the Waikato kicking coach is, seems to be a common theme emerging amongst Waikato players. He needs to be dropped or atleast kept away from Wellington.