ITM Cup - Round 1

[dudeabides]

Wow, Waikato ran that try in from out wide nice, had numbers and didn't need them the pass got there so fast.

 

[Darwin]

Waikato vs North Harbour match was close for 50-odd mins, but Waikato are completely running away with it now....

 

[voiceofreason]

Was closely watching David Adongo in the Counties game, as I had heard so much about him. He looked decent for his first run out, but seemed a little lazy at times.

 

[voiceofreason]

Any chance we can steal Tim Nanai-Williams? Such a classy little player.

 

[Darwin]

Any chance we can steal Tim Nanai-Williams? Such a classy little player.

He would be far too small for the current South African selection panel

He has played sevens for New Zealand in any case, so no-one can steal him.

 

[voiceofreason]

We have similar player in Gio Aplon, who i rate very highly. But like you said about our panel, he is deemed too small.

And doesn't have a perm to boot.

 

[Larksea]

some really good games

counties were impressive against southland, never really let them in the game - they sent out a real message.

Canterbury side basically stacked top to bottom with super rugby players and fringe all blacks beaten by Tasman, fantastic.

Waikato dominated the last third of the game against Harbour. Saw the power of their halfbacks in action. TKB used a very strong forward platform to combine with a very impressive looking O'Donnell to score then was subbed off and Leonard came on and produced lightning fast ball with brilliant accuracy which created a try for himself almost straight away.

Great opening round.

 

[Larksea]

with the good comes the bad.

Sean Maitland and Andre Taylor both picked up serious injuries

I think Maitland really needed a big ITM cup to secure his future at super rugby level after being overtaken in the crusaders pecking order by Adam Whitelock. And I guess this ends any chance of Andre Taylor pushing for a EoY tour spot with the All Blacks.

 

[Shaggy]

just finished watching Tasman v Canterbury, and really enjoyed the match ... really encouraged by the Tasman forwards ... they looked much better in the set pieces ... looking forward to the sheild challenge next week

 

[Kiwiwomble]

a great result for otago, was aweome to watch. need to sore that defence though, we cant back on soring nearly 50 points every week!

Tanaka was great, really gave Parker his best chance to shine and ensor looked class with his try, given half a chance and beats his man sells the dummy and socres, confidence...was good to see in a otago jersey

 

[Larksea]

saw a bit of the otago game, their 15 looks pretty good? Was looking to see if that really impressive #8 from last season was still around?

I keep looking for players the blues should look to snap up!

 

[Darwin]

a great result for otago, was aweome to watch. need to sore that defence though, we cant back on soring nearly 50 points every week!

Tanaka was great, really gave Parker his best chance to shine and ensor looked class with his try, given half a chance and beats his man sells the dummy and socres, confidence...was good to see in a otago jersey

Ensor scored a very similar try in the warm up vs Tasman - broke the line, then beat the fullback with ease. He certainly has made a great start to his Otago career, especially when you consider he wasn't even in the initial 28-man squad!

saw a bit of the otago game, their 15 looks pretty good? Was looking to see if that really impressive #8 from last season was still around?

I keep looking for players the blues should look to snap up!

That would be Gareth Evans. He was starting at 8, and had a solid (though pretty quiet) game.

 

[Kiwiwomble]

Verbakel had a very good game i thought to, very solid in defence