ITM Cup - Round 7

[Darwin]

The 7th round of the ITM Cup starts on Thursday night, with the winless North Harbour hosting Manawatu in Albany. The biggest game of the rounds will likely be Canterbury's Ranfurly Shield Challenge on Saturday afternoon, with Taranaki attempting to keep hold of the Shield without their star first-five Beauden Barrett, who has been called up to the All Blacks.

Round 7 Fixtures

Thursday 13th September:

North Harbour Stadium, Albany. 7.35pm.


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Friday 14th September:

Rotorua International Stadium, Rotorua. 6.05pm.

ECO Light Stadium, Pukekohe. 8.05pm.


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Saturday 15th September:

Yarrow Stadium, New Plymouth. 2.35pm
***RANFURLY SHIELD CHALLENGE***

Westpac Stadium, Wellington. 4.35pm.

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Sunday 16th September:

Lansdowne Park, Blenheim. 2.35pm.

Rugby Park Stadium, Invercargill. 4.35pm.
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[dudeabides]

Manawatu's got to pull off their 2nd win in this one, am I wrong?

 

[Darwin]

Manawatu's got to pull off their 2nd win in this one, am I wrong?

I would imagine they will certainly start as favourites, as North Harbour have been pretty dire so far this season. Both teams have struggled defensively this season, so (presuming the weather is good) it could be quite a high scoring game...

 

[Shaggy]

Manawatu's got to pull off their 2nd win in this one, am I wrong?

It might be a close match - Harbour showed some signs of finally getting their seson on track in their last match against Northland ... Manawatu are definitely missing their All Blacks

 

[Darwin]

Well North Harbour found a way to lose to Manawatu, taking their season record to 0-5. It may seem a bit unfair on Manwatu to suggest North Harbour lost the game, rather than Manawatu won it, but North Harbour looked to be the most dangerous side throughout the match, but didn't take all their chances, allowing Manawatu to snatch victory at the end with a late try.

I'm picking Auckland to continue their winning ways tonight against BOP (who have been very disappointing this season), and am really looking forward to the Counties vs Otago game. Unfortunately I see Counties as strong favourites for this match, though I feel Otago have a chance if they play a good territorial game (as throwing it around against Counties would just be playing into their hands...).

 

[Larksea]

Waikato are pretty crap this season mostly I believe from the lack of quality at 10-12 no Beaver and Jackson-Willison has been a bit disappointing, Christie has been very average. No real direction on attack

It's a close comp but they are almost at the stage they need to focus on a couple more wins to make sure they stay in the top division.

 

[Darwin]

Waikato are pretty crap this season mostly I believe from the lack of quality at 10-12 no Beaver and Jackson-Willison has been a bit disappointing, Christie has been very average. No real direction on attack

It's a close comp but they are almost at the stage they need to focus on a couple more wins to make sure they stay in the top division.

I haven't seen all of Waikato's matches this season, but I thought the forward pack has been a bit underwhelming. The front row had looked good, but the locks haven't impressed me at all, and the loose-forwards (barring a few good games from Bradley) have been pretty underwhelming - they are really missing the experience of Holah, and the quality of Jack Lam (who I think are both still injured). Because the forwards haven't dominated Kerr-Barlow has been pretty average at halfback (compared to his outstanding Super Rugby season), and this has spread through the entire backline. I'm not convinced with either Francis or Christie at 10, though I think they would be far more effective if they were getting clean ball. Not sure if there are any obvious solutions to Waikato's issue - though if you look on the bright side, at least they are not North Harbour!