General Trial II

[Ryan_old]

looking forward to first game at Eden park against Parra

Aye. Me too. At least it will be on tele! Whaddya reckon the crowd will be? 30k, 35k perhap?

 

[Fazz_old]

Once again we faded in the second half by the sounds of it.

Honestly we faded in and out of the game a bit.

There was lot to like about that performance imo. We completely dominated them. Not once in defense did I feel like they could CONSTRUCT a good try. They made a few good breaks, but mostly our defense was very good. At one point the ref gave them possession right on our 10m, we smashed them every tackle and our line was under basically no pressure. Even Inu was pretty good on defense. The only try that that Parra scored was on Manu's side.

Locke was amazing on defense.

Fish was amazing on attack.

John looked very good while he was on.

14 (Think it was Mara) looked sharp.

Inu actually had a pretty good game, not to mention he stayed out and signed autographs for anyone that wanted one. Gunna have to be soft on him for that in future.

Brown had some good touches.

Manu was in EVERYTHING until he came off. Don't think there was an injury but he didn't look at full strength. Probably the MOM.

Rapira was a real meter eater, Packers hands and discipline let him down a little bit.

For the most part though, nobody had a howler.

 

[Ryan_old]

Cheers, Fazz. Us game absentees should pool our financial resources to send you to Whangarei to become our un-official real-time reporter!

 

[Spence_old]

So where was Locke and Fish playing when they did their good things? Could you possibly tell us how me scored our tries while it's still fresh?

 

[Fazz_old]

Hahaha If we're gunna send anyone, it needs to be somebody that can identify all of the players bit better than me. I had a hard time making out some of the boys from the back of the grandstand. Overall though, I don't know how much we can take out of it, Parra looked pretty clueless attacking in our 20. They spent a good portion of the game down there.

One thing we can take from the game though, Fish is up to NRL. Every time he had the ball he looked good. Another is, Ivan has a HUGE selection dilemma coming his way...Moon, Inu, Locke, Hohaia and Fish all deserving of a place in the team, but only 3 spots available with Manu and JRo on one side.

 

[Ryan_old]

Dilemma, smilemma... is a good thing, so long as the combos work. Is Bropati's spot cemented, however?

 

[Fazz_old]

So where was Locke and Fish playing when they did their good things? Could you possibly tell us how me scored our tries while it's still fresh?

Locke was mostly at fullback (if not always there) in defense. Saved 2 or 3 tries. Fish seemed to pop up everywhere in attack, but seemed to be playing wing.

First Try to Manu was a good one. Offloading and passing everywhere. I think there was a wraparound in there somewhere too. He absolutely steamrolled the Parra number 2. He went off the field.

Second to Inu was just a well placed bomb from either John or Godinet (Think it was John) which Inu leapt up and scorced easily.

Fish scored 2 tries which were insane. The whole team was involved in both basically. Offloads galore. He had a bit more work to do for his second, stepped a few and scored a good one.

Brown's try was the softest thing I've ever seen. We got a penalty on the 10m line. Hooker passed it to him and he just smashed through to score.

None of the tries scored were the same, all were very different, which makes me optimistic that we aren't going to be relying on the bomb as much this year.

 

[Ryan_old]

How did Godinet go? Good involvement, or did John steal his thunder?

PS Info starved here...

 

[Spence_old]

Well I think it's a good thing that Fish can play well on the wing, a bit of a fight for the right wing spot rather than what we had last year. Glad to hear Locke is being good on defense, hopefully he can regain that attacking flair too, although, a try saved is as good as a try scored, especially for a fullback.

 

[Fazz_old]

Dilemma, smilemma... is a good thing, so long as the combos work. Is Bropati's spot cemented, however?

I'd imagine so. He was solid today without dominating. He was doing well towards the end of last year too. For myself I think Ivan will go with:

1 Hohaia
2 Inu
3 Moon
4 Ropati
5 Manu

Fish and Locke would be next cabs off the rank. I think Tupou is an alright player, but Fish has the potential to be a SUPERSTAR, while Locke has more experience.

 

[Spence_old]

How did Godinet go? Good involvement, or did John steal his thunder?

PS Info starved here...

Haha, I reckon. You could tell me what colour boots Latimore was wearing and I'd be stoked. Tell us annnnnnnnyyyyything.

 

[Ryan_old]

Was Inu playing centre?

 

[Fazz_old]

How did Godinet go? Good involvement, or did John steal his thunder?

PS Info starved here...

I think John stole his thunder a little, neither looked bad though. I reckon Godinet will get to the NRL at some point. If anything I think Manu and Fish stole everyones thunder though lol.

Oh another point. Play The Ball is still a concern. 2 penalties given away over that today.

I reckon it's gunna be a real dogfight for the 2 and 3 spots...should lead to all players doing their best due to the high risk of being dropped.

 

[Ryan_old]

Haha, I reckon. You could tell me what colour boots Latimore was wearing and I'd be stoked. Tell us annnnnnnnyyyyything.

I've been practising my talepathic powers of late and I can tell you that Sharky was wearing a leopard skin thong, just for you...

 

[Fazz_old]

Was Inu playing centre?

Named at centre, looked like he was on the wing for 85% of the time though. I think Henry played a bit of centre, there was a lot of chopping and changing I found. Henry looked a lot better than last week too.

All of the blondies in our team did pretty well. One thing that I will comment on though. We were hitting Parra a LOT harder than they were hitting us. Our defense was fierce at times.

 

[Northern_Union]

Aye. Me too. At least it will be on tele! Whaddya reckon the crowd will be? 30k, 35k perhap?

I think we'll draw a crowd of around 28,000 to 30,000 i suspect.

Whats the promotion of the game been like in Auckland?

 

[Ryan_old]

Whats the promotion of the game been like in Auckland?

I hope that's not directed at me.

 

[Ryan_old]

One thing that I will comment on though. We were hitting Parra a LOT harder than they were hitting us. Our defense was fierce at times.

Did Luck do anything worth mentioning? Punch the ref, perhaps?

 

[Spence_old]

Awesome. I remember Kemp always used to wear a similar thing for NU. It was cute.

 

[Fazz_old]

Haha we got marched 10 at the end because the ref copped a spray. Luck was, well...Luck. Nothing bad, nothing that will win the game either.