ITM Cup - Championship semi-finals

[Darwin]

Friday 19th October:

Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin. 7.35pm.
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Saturday 20th October:

ECO Light Stadium, Pukekohe. 2.05pm.


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[easy2288]

Anyone can advise if Counties Manukau wins, the final will be played at their home ground?

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

It will indeed

 

[Kiwiwomble]

come on southland and otago final!

 

[Darwin]

Some bad news for Tasman (/good news for Otago), with Tasman number 8 Jordan Taufua called into the Canterbury squad this weekend meaning he is unavailable for Tasman (as he was only there on loan). He has been Tasman's main source of go-forward ball this season, so he is a massive loss.

Both teams are struggling a lot with injuries (I'm sure the condensed season doesn't help in this regard). Robbie Malneek is out for Tasman, and I understand Tom Marshall and Campbell Johnsone are in doubt. Not sure the exact injury situation is with Otago - we had a lot of players leaving the field with ****ly injuries in our last game, so hopefully they have all recovered (I think only Grant, Franklin, and Tuirirangi are confirmed as out at this stage). I would imagine the Otago team will be along the lines of:

1. Seiuli, 2. Heather-Anderson, 3. Coltman, 4. Verbakel, 5. Ives, 6. Ioane, 7. Allen, 8. Evans, 9. Tanaka, 10. Parker, 11. Popoali'i, 12. Dickson, 13. Spence, 14. Suckling, 15. Ensor
Bench: 16. Horie, 17. Sasagi, 18. Hill, 19. Blake, 20. Weber, 21. Breen, 22. Collins.

 

[Kiwiwomble]

its a real pitty the fringe all blacks (like our three) couldn't come back, none of them will get much or any time for the AB's

and you shouldn't be allowed to recall a loan player in the playoffs, they've spent all season with the guy and for the big game they need to work something new (and yes i know he's a canterbury player etc, just feel sorry for tasman)

 

[Darwin]

its a real pitty the fringe all blacks (like our three) couldn't come back, none of them will get much or any time for the AB's

and you shouldn't be allowed to recall a loan player in the playoffs, they've spent all season with the guy and for the big game they need to work something new (and yes i know he's a canterbury player etc, just feel sorry for tasman)

I agree entirely with this - Taufua should be playing for Tasman this weekend. It seems silly that you can play almost an entire season for one team, only to be pulled away to play for another side come playoff time...

EDIT: Just heard a rumor that Adam Thomson will be playing for Otago on Friday :bana:

 

[Darwin]

Tasman:
1. Tim Perry, 2. Quentin MacDonald, 3. Sam Prattley, 4. Filipo Levi, 5. Riki Hoeata, 6. Joe Wheeler, 7. Shane Christie, 8. Tevita Kolomatangi, 9. Jeremy Su'a, 10. Hayden Cripps, 11. James Lowe, 12. Andrew Goodman (capt), 13. Kieron Fonotia, 14. Peter Betham, 15. Tom Marshall.Reserves: 16. Francis Smith, 17. Reuben Northover, 18. Vern Fredricks, 19. Gary Redmond, 20. Steve Alfeld, 21. Mitchell Scott, 22. Albert Nikoro.

Otago:
1. Aki Seiuli, 2. Sam Anderson-Heather, 3. Liam Coltman, 4. Jackson Hemopo, 5. Rob Verbakel, 6. Adam Thomson, 7. Lee Allen, 8. Gareth Evans, 9. Fumiaki Tanaka, 10. Hayden Parker, 11. Buxton Popoali'i, 12. Glenn Dickson (capt), 13. Jayden Spence, 14. Marshall Suckling, 15. Tony Ensor.Reserves: 16. Shota Horie, 17. Jacob Ellison, 18. Adam Hill, 19. TJ Ioane, 20. Peter Breen, 21. Michael Collins, 22. Hugh Blake.

Tasman have a pretty good looking team despite the injuries / loss of Taufua.

Great news for Otago that we have have Thomson back (and Ioane on the bench ). No idea who Jackson Hemopo is, but it is certainly a pressure match to make your debut! No real surprises elsewhere. I can only assume that Brad Weber is injured, but I would still have called up a backup halfback rather than go into the match with no halfback cover....

 

[Kiwiwomble]

Tasman:
1. Tim Perry, 2. Quentin MacDonald, 3. Sam Prattley, 4. Filipo Levi, 5. Riki Hoeata, 6. Joe Wheeler, 7. Shane Christie, 8. Tevita Kolomatangi, 9. Jeremy Su'a, 10. Hayden Cripps, 11. James Lowe, 12. Andrew Goodman (capt), 13. Kieron Fonotia, 14. Peter Betham, 15. Tom Marshall.Reserves: 16. Francis Smith, 17. Reuben Northover, 18. Vern Fredricks, 19. Gary Redmond, 20. Steve Alfeld, 21. Mitchell Scott, 22. Albert Nikoro.

Otago:
1. Aki Seiuli, 2. Sam Anderson-Heather, 3. Liam Coltman, 4. Jackson Hemopo, 5. Rob Verbakel, 6. Adam Thomson, 7. Lee Allen, 8. Gareth Evans, 9. Fumiaki Tanaka, 10. Hayden Parker, 11. Buxton Popoali'i, 12. Glenn Dickson (capt), 13. Jayden Spence, 14. Marshall Suckling, 15. Tony Ensor.Reserves: 16. Shota Horie, 17. Jacob Ellison, 18. Adam Hill, 19. TJ Ioane, 20. Peter Breen, 21. Michael Collins, 22. Hugh Blake.

Tasman have a pretty good looking team despite the injuries / loss of Taufua.

Great news for Otago that we have have Thomson back (and Ioane on the bench ). No idea who Jackson Hemopo is, but it is certainly a pressure match to make your debut! No real surprises elsewhere. I can only assume that Brad Weber is injured, but I would still have called up a backup halfback rather than go into the match with no halfback cover....

agreed on both fronts, i would have though as the game is in DUnners they could at least get Josh Renton in

wish we could get ellison back in

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

That may well be the best game I've seen all year...

For Otago: TJ Ioane was great, no signs of his drop ball syndrome Darwin knows him so well for. Ensor was fantastic, as usual. Parker gave the backline great width to work with - even if he did throw one intercept pass. Tanaka was also exceptional, giving quick servie to Ensor. Coltman, Verbakel, Thomson and Evans also all had very good games.

 

[Darwin]

That may well be the best game I've seen all year...

For Otago: TJ Ioane was great, no signs of his drop ball syndrome Darwin knows him so well for. Ensor was fantastic, as usual. Parker gave the backline great width to work with - even if he did throw one intercept pass. Tanaka was also exceptional, giving quick servie to Ensor. Coltman, Verbakel, Thomson and Evans also all had very good games.

Yep, definitely an exciting game of rugby. Although he did make a couple of wrong calls (and for some reason gave Tasman another 10m for their last penalty) I think a lot of the credit for the quality of the game should go to Glen Jackson. He seems to have a great feel for the game, and there always seems to be quality games when he is involved.

I agree Ioane was very good for Otago. That is the frustrating thing about him - he is actually pretty good when he isn't dropping the ball every 5 minutes! It was a bit weird that he got subbed off with 2 minutes to go (considering he had only himself come on as a sub after 35-ish mins...). Coltman was good for us again, and I think Jacob Ellison made a massive impact when he came on with a couple of storming runs, and one great scrum. Tanaka was good as usual, and I love the commitment that Suckling brings to to every game. He may be a bit limited, but you know he will give 100% every game. Ensor did some good things again, but his work-rate this game was shocking. I'm wondering whether the knee injury he picked up last week was affecting him, as he took a very long time to get up and back in position on a number of occasions. The main thing we need to do next week is STOP PASSING THE BALL TO THE OPPOSITION!

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

Yep, definitely an exciting game of rugby. Although he did make a couple of wrong calls (and for some reason gave Tasman another 10m for their last penalty) I think a lot of the credit for the quality of the game should go to Glen Jackson. He seems to have a great feel for the game, and there always seems to be quality games when he is involved.

I agree Ioane was very good for Otago. That is the frustrating thing about him - he is actually pretty good when he isn't dropping the ball every 5 minutes! It was a bit weird that he got subbed off with 2 minutes to go (considering he had only himself come on as a sub after 35-ish mins...). Coltman was good for us again, and I think Jacob Ellison made a massive impact when he came on with a couple of storming runs, and one great scrum. Tanaka was good as usual, and I love the commitment that Suckling brings to to every game. He may be a bit limited, but you know he will give 100% every game. Ensor did some good things again, but his work-rate this game was shocking. I'm wondering whether the knee injury he picked up last week was affecting him, as he took a very long time to get up and back in position on a number of occasions. The main thing we need to do next week is STOP PASSING THE BALL TO THE OPPOSITION!

The wide passing may have caused a few intercepts, but it also was a huge bonus for Otago on attack. Obviously you can't chuck a wide ball everytime, but it does work as a strategy, providing the players are smart about it.

 

[Darwin]

The wide passing may have caused a few intercepts, but it also was a huge bonus for Otago on attack. Obviously you can't chuck a wide ball everytime, but it does work as a strategy, providing the players are smart about it.

Passing wide is fine when it is on, but in the last 2 games we had our passes intercepted 5-6 times - it cost us the game vs Auckland, and could have cost us the game this week. They need to be much smarter with their passing - they were actually much better when they took the ball through the hands rather than trying ridiculous skip passes when the Tasman players were already standing in our line....