Wellington Lions for the championship

[HarryPeters]

Huge reception at the airport for the Lions. Must have been a few good hundred people there.

Which was good to see, even if I am a Waikato supporter. Any provincial support is great.

 

[danny_bullen]

Wellington for the Comp for sure, if they keep up the form and passion they will be the winners come labour weekend.

Here is the Log o Wood in good old Upper Hutt, top marks to Tamati Ellison for coming out still after having his first baby the night before.
[attachment=154:Ranfurly..._smaller.jpg]
Me on the right pumping Mean Maori Mean T-shirt for Maori Television, and two of my boys and there mate in the middle.

 

[jawmalawm24]

Mean picture with tarms wish I could of been in Wellington celebrating but I had a good case of the trotters and still have a bit . Oh well I'm going to the game tomorrow so hopefully get to see the log of wood there .

 

[Klarkash-ton]

hey, good photo! Nice to see the nippers there, bigging up the Lions.

 

[candybum]

woah woah woah!! didn't think Wellington would lose... lose to otago!! weakened Lions it may be but Thomson and Newby were immense for the Otago'ers lol Well done

Go auckland LOLZ!

 

[cyRil]

Karne Hesketh is unreal.

 

[jawmalawm24]

Just got back from watching the Lions take on Taranaki. It was a flippin close one it wasn't until the last 5min that we knew we had it. Gees I think they should just leave it up to our players that have been playing all season because Ma'a Nonu sucked the only good thing he did was catch a pass from Floss who did all the work and got a try. Nonu's defence was a shocker I saw him at least 3 times come out of position for a spot tackle and he didn't even make any contact at all on any of them.

It's looking pretty good for the Lions because to be honest I don't really think they fired tonight but if they play like this next weekend I don't think they'll be as lucky. Anyway Corey Jane deservidly got man of the match he was everywhere and got 2 tries dotting down untouched. I must say thou the 2nd 5 for Naki impressed me he was mean as in defence an offense he could be a future Hurricane.

Stayed around after the game and yelled out to Piri Weepu and he waved back so I got my frills lol. Yep so it was a awesome game will probably go to the game next week if I can get tickets so we'll see soon who we meet in the semi final.

LEO THE LION ROCKS!!!!

 

[cyRil]

Do you know if Jonathan Spratt played for Taranaki? Glad they lost, it means he's on his way back to us and boy do we need a centre right now!

 

[jawmalawm24]

I'm not too sure if Jonathan Spratt played I was too focused on the Lions but I heard the Naki had a import and apparently he's been playin pretty good too. Yeah I heard Henson's been a mishief fulla aye got knocked out or something? so yeah maybe Spratt will be able to fill the gap or am I getting my teams mixed up? anyway I'm glad the Naki lost too because I look good wearing my Wellington Lions jersey while we're winning lol. Everybody keeps wanting to have a few words about how they're doing and I'm more than glad to oblige.

 

[cyRil]

Yeah that's always a great feeling And yeah you got the right team events mixed up a bit though. Cipriani was floored in training by Josh Lewsey at Wasps, and although several rumours went around about why Henson was suspended it was actually due to him missing Wednesday's training session after 'disagreements' with management on the Tuesday. So now he'll be turning out in our semi-pro Welsh Premiership (the equivalent of the NPC/Air New Zealand Cup provincial tournament) for Swansea against Newport next Saturday. I doubt he's happy.

 

[Klarkash-ton]

yeah, scary game. Nonu was up too fast and left a big hole to wander through, but defence was poor in open play as well. Does not bode well when Canterbury seem to be hitting their stride. I thought Ellison played pretty well, but Masoe missed many tackles. Naki were clever in defence a couple of times, tackling the supporting player as he recieved the ball, or maybe a little earlier Saved several tries that way.

Wellington always likes to let the other team have a chance!

But on a different note, where were all the supporters?? The camera seemed to only find Taranake supporters, and there were loads of empty seats.

 

[bobilycious]

Jonathan Spratt didnt play as he is injured. Not sure how bad the injury is.

@ jawmalawm: The Taranaki No.12 (Jayden Haywood) wont be playing for the Hurricanes because he transfered to Otago. So he is probably in the Highalnders squad

 

[kaftka]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Klarkash-ton @ Oct 12 2008, 03:33 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Does not bode well when Canterbury seem to be hitting their stride.[/b]

Who's to say they'll play Canterbury

C'mon the Bay!

 

[jawmalawm24]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (kaftka @ Oct 12 2008, 07:13 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Klarkash-ton @ Oct 12 2008, 03:33 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Does not bode well when Canterbury seem to be hitting their stride.[/b]

Who's to say they'll play Canterbury

C'mon the Bay!
[/b][/quote]Yeah the bay have got the goods but I never like going too far ahead because if Southland play the way they did last night the Lions could be in for a hell of a game. Also why did Masoe get sent off I was in the far corner so all I saw was what came up on the big screen with that Soqeta giving Masoe a bit of a biff in the face.

I think all the Lions supporters couldn't believe how sunny it was so decided to stay home because they would of thought wtf is going on Wellingtons actually sunny and warm not cold and windy. I wore a skivvy under my jersey and took a jacket and gloves but didn't need it in the end because the capital put on a warm day for once suprised the crap out of me.

I hope Wellington play better next week because if Ma'a Nonu plays like he did yesterday than we're going down.

 

[Flux]

I only caught the second half because my brother was being a dick with the TV, but I was extremely proud of Taranaki for putting up such a fight. If Paul Perez had of been awarded his try (if it League it would have been, something Union should consider) and if they had a better look at Hosea Gear's try under the posts I think the game could have perhaps even gone our way, but oh well.

On the subject of Jayden Hayward and Johnathan Spratt, both have been very impressive, but Spratt wasn't avaliable for the match (as has already been mentioned). In saying that, he hasn't started as many games as I thought he should. The team looks a lot better when he starts.

I was talking to someone who knows Jayden pretty well yesterday (he comes from my town) and he decided to go to the Highlanders because he didn't think he would get a good look in at the Hurricanes (which is fair enough when you're up against the All Blacks centre pairing). He's actually a first-five, and I think he's been playing better than Ripia, but that's probably because he's got more room to strut his stuff.

The person who told me this is also related to the Ellison brothers, and we both shared a laugh at the fact that Jayden had stood up Ma'a Nonu and her relly.

Spratt scored a hat trick against Manawatu and has looked very impressive, everyone here (Taranaki) thinks he's been playing well. Although I thought Murray Mexted sounded like an absolute twat when he suggested that Spratt would walk into the Wales team because the ANC was at their level. :wall:

There also would have been a fair amount of Taranaki supporters at the match because a lot of people go from Taranaki to Wellington for Uni.

 

[Sneaki]

They could stick Nonu out on the wing because I think Ellison and Tuipolotu have a much better combination going than either of them with Nonu in the centres. Although Te Whare for Southland was on fire last week and he'd get past Nonu easily if he doesn't sort out his defence.

Also what's wrong with Conrad Smith, is he out injured?

 

[candybum]

Nonu is on the wing with Tuipolotu coming into the midfield.

C.Smith is on the bench!

 

[Sneaki]

My prediction came true! Also they have Tialata back in the front row, should be interesting seeing him against Jamie Mackintosh. And Serge Lilo is back from injury and is on the bench.

 

[cyRil]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Flux @ Oct 13 2008, 06:44 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

On the subject of Jayden Hayward and Johnathan Spratt, both have been very impressive, but Spratt wasn't avaliable for the match (as has already been mentioned). In saying that, he hasn't started as many games as I thought he should. The team looks a lot better when he starts.

Spratt scored a hat trick against Manawatu and has looked very impressive, everyone here (Taranaki) thinks he's been playing well. Although I thought Murray Mexted sounded like an absolute twat when he suggested that Spratt would walk into the Wales team because the ANC was at their level. :wall:[/b]

Sounds like Spratty has done his reputation no harm whatsoever. Excellent news. We could do with a centre for Saturday!!!!!

 

[Flux]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (cyRil of Ospreylia @ Oct 16 2008, 08:48 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Sounds like Spratty has done his reputation no harm whatsoever. Excellent news. We could do with a centre for Saturday!!!!! [/b]

I wish him all the best, and he's welcome back any time.