Auckland vs Canterbury

[TRF_woosaah]

Last years game Canterbury thumped Auckland 35-16 this year the odds are a little bit different with Auckland heavy favourites. These two will likely be fighting it out at the end of the season. Hopefully Canterbury will take this one out.

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Any news on the teams?

Have Canterbury announced this seasons ITM squad? Not seen it on their website.

 

[markshaw]

You might find something on the allblacks.com site about the Canturbury team

 

[Darwin]

Any news on the teams?

Have Canterbury announced this seasons ITM squad? Not seen it on their website.

I'd imagine the teams will be named today (NZT). It doesn't look like Canterbury have officially named their squads yet - this preview (posted yesterday on the official ITM Cup site) has ever squad apart from Canterburys.

 

[FlukeArtist]

Be a good game.
Both teams have a lot of ex- All Blacks and current Super Rugby players, plus some under 20s talent.

Love the ITM Cup - means WAY more to me than Super Rugby

 

[markshaw]

That Tom Taylor for Canturbury is one to watch

 

[Super Sub]

Good game for round 1. Would've been a bit better if it were a Shield match.

Besides the locks, Auckland look good in most positions this year.

 

[Darwin]

Auckland: 1. Pauliasi Manu, 2. Tom McCartney, 3. Charlie Faumuina, 4. Steve Luatua, 5. Josh Townsend, 6. Onosai'i Auva'a, 7. Daniel Braid (capt), 8. Chris Lowery, 9. Alby Mathewson, 10. Gareth Anscombe, 11. Charles Piutau, 12. Benson Stanley, 13. Hadleigh Parkes, 14. Francis Saili, 15. Brent Ward.
Reserves: 16. Ash Dixon, 17. Angus Ta'avao, 18. Richard Haddon or Nathan Hughes, 19. Sean Polwart, 20. Auvasa Faleali'i, 21. Piers Francis, 22. Joe Rokocoko, 23. Tevita Mailau.

Canterbury: 1. Joe Moody, 2. Paul Ngauamo, 3. Andrew Olorenshaw, 4. Luke Katene, 5. Luke Romano, 6. Ash Parker (capt), 7. Brendon O'Connor, 8. Nasi Manu, 9. Willi Heinz, 10. Colin Slade, 11. Patrick Osborne, 12. Tom Taylor, 13. Ryan Crotty, 14. Telusa Veainu, 15. Johnny McNicholl.
Reserves: 16. Steve Fualau, 17. Paea Fa'anunu, 18. Reuben Thorne, 19. Luke Whitelock, 20. Mark Swanepoel, 21. Kolio Hifo, 22. Robbie Fruean, 23. Sam Cottam.

Should be a good game. Neither team is near full strength, but the Canterbury look particularly badly hit with 10 players away with the AB's and a number of the Crusaders yet to join the team (e.g. Todd, George Whitelock, Maitland). Colin Slade has been named to start at 10 though, which will certainly help the team though. Interesting to see Reuben Thorne named on the Canterbury bench, and good to see Luke Whitelock on the bench too, as well as Paea Fa'anunu who was previously from Auckland (and Northland I think) - Fa'anunu is a talented prop, and hopefully the Canterbury environment will help him reach his potential.

The Auckland team has three players from the recent under 20 tournament in their starting 15 (Saili, Piutau, Luatua). The certainly have a lot of talent on the bench too, but with the exception of Mailau and Rokocoko they are lacking a bit of experience there.

Overall I'm picking Auckland to be too good at home and take the win by 10-15 points.

 

[donmcdazzle]

Shame the turbos couldn't hang onto Parkes, good player.

 

[Larksea]

Looks like it will be a cracker, should either confirm Colin slade for the year or set off some discussion.

Where's Liaki Moli? He still around, looked like he would be a real prospect for this year and beyond.

 

[Darwin]

Looks like it will be a cracker, should either confirm Colin slade for the year or set off some discussion.

Where's Liaki Moli? He still around, looked like he would be a real prospect for this year and beyond.

Moli has been injured all year (otherwise he would have got some gametime for the Blues). Last time I heard he was expected to be back playing sometime in August.

 

[Super Sub]

The Auckland team has three players from the recent under 20 tournament in their starting 15 (Saili, Piutau, Luatua). The certainly have a lot of talent on the bench too, but with the exception of Mailau and Rokocoko they are lacking a bit of experience there.

There are actually 4 players from the U20 tournament, you missed out Anscombe of all players.

Auckland look good this year. The bench has some kids there, but Ta'avao, Polwart and Faleali'i have proven they can play at this level.

 

[Darwin]

There are actually 4 players from the U20 tournament, you missed out Anscombe of all players.

Auckland look good this year. The bench has some kids there, but Ta'avao, Polwart and Faleali'i have proven they can play at this level.

My bad, counting has never been my strong point.

 

[William18]

Luke Katene is one people should watch out for. I believe he took time out of rugby to go on a mission.

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Dissapointed to see that Takeri Norton is not on the bench . Has SBW signed ITM for someone else as he does not appear in the Canterbury squad list?

 

[Darwin]

Dissapointed to see that Takeri Norton is not on the bench . Has SBW signed ITM for someone else as he does not appear in the Canterbury squad list?

I don't think he has signed with anyone - Canterbury just haven't named most of their AB's in their squad (McCaw, Read, S Whitelock, Thorn, Ellis, O Franks) as the probably won't play any ITM Cup rugby this year.

 

[TRF_woosaah]

yeah they dont count if they have been named in the all blacks as they are unavailable.

 

[Steveskiez7]

I'm not to sure on the squad rules for the ITM cup but wouldn't Nasi Manu and Colin Slade play for like a Highlanders feder club, ie. Otago & Southland?

 

[smartcooky]

I'm not to sure on the squad rules for the ITM cup but wouldn't Nasi Manu and Colin Slade play for like a Highlanders feder club, ie. Otago & Southland?

Don't get confused between Super Rugby and ITM Cup. The contracts for these are different, and it is perfectly normal for player to be contracted to a Province that is not in the catchment area of the Super Rugby franchise they are contracted to.

e.g.

Israel Dagg & Zac Guildford
- Provincial contract = Hawkes Bay (in the Hurricanes catchment)
- Super 15 contract = Crusaders

Brent Ward
- Provincial contract = Auckland (in the Blues catchment)
- Super 15 contract = Crusaders

Colin Slade & Nasi Manu
- Provincial contract = Canterbury (in the Crusaders catchment)
- Super 15 contract = Highlanders

I'm sure others here will be able to come up with more examples.

 

[Larksea]

Great game to watch, Auckland were out of it then came back.

I was impressed with Colin Slade, I think for sure he is a better option than Cruden for the All Blacks though I do wonder about goal kicking. Slades goal kicking is just a big unknown right now. Which kinda does worry me a bit as far as the All Blacks go.

Crotty was impressive as expected, he really does deserve a lot more than being stuck behind SBW & Fruen. I think he's better than both on defense and he's shown he's no mug on attack that's fore sure.

taylor was super impressive as well, great prospect.

Canter 7 was also very impressive, as was Nasi Manu.

Crusaders lineout on the other hand was a shambles.

For the blues I was mostly just very unimpressed with Dan Braid, another game like that will rule him out of all black contention all together.

But for the most part it was aucklands hands that let them down, partly because of strong defense but mostly just dropping ball cold.