North v South Match

[Larksea]

I am a bit disappointed that its not a true "Island of Origin" clash, that is, you play for the Island in which the Senior Rugby club you first played for is located.

yeah it's a shame they wont run out in their club socks and plug the grass roots teams. That would get more people in to the contest I think. Knowing that players are running out representing the Grass Roots.

Like does anyone actually thing Robbie Robinson represents the north island???

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

http://www.chiefs.co.nz/news/chiefs-to-play-in-rotorua.html

This is what disappoints me. Obviously the players aren't worried about getting injured in non-competition games, so why the heck not can't they play in the North v South match? Very frustrating.

 

[Darwin]

Starting XV's confirmed:

North Island: Robbie Robinson (Chiefs), Lelia Masaga (Chiefs), Richard Buckman (Hurricanes), Hadleigh Parkes (Blues), David Raikuna (Blues), Lachie Munro (Blues), Brendon Leonard (Chiefs), Brad Shields (Hurricanes), Luke Braid (Blues) (captain), Faifili Levave (Hurricanes), Filo Paulo (Blues), James Broadhurst (Hurricanes), Toby Smith (Chiefs), Dane Coles (Hurricanes), Josh Hohneck (Chiefs).
Reserves: Tom McCartney (Blues), Jeffery Toomaga-Allen (Hurricanes), Fritz Lee (Chiefs), Scott Waldrom (Chiefs), Frae Wilson (Hurricanes), James Marshall (Hurricanes), Sherwin Stowers (Blues).

South Island: Kurt Baker (Highlanders), Buxton Popoali'i (Highlanders) Kendrick Lynn (Highlanders), Adam Whitelock (Crusaders), Kade Poki (Highlanders), Tom Marshall (Crusaders), Jimmy Cowan (Highlanders), Luke Whitelock (Crusaders), Matt Todd (Crusaders), Scott Fuglistaller (Highlanders), Tom Donnelly (Crusaders), Jarrad Hoeata (Highlanders), Chris King (Highlanders), Jason Rutledge (Highlanders) (captain), Jamie Mackintosh (Highlanders).
Reserves: Ma'afu Fia (Highlanders), Quentin MacDonald (Crusaders), Culum Retallick (Highlanders), Tim Boys (Highlanders), Willi Heinz (Crusaders), Glenn Dickson (Highlanders), Patrick Osborne (Crusaders).

Not too far away from the XV's I predicted. The South team should certainly have an edge up front, as they have more experience, and have played a lot together (4 currently Highlanders + Donnelly who was Highlander last year). The North have the edge in the loosies, though I'm really looking forwards to the battle between Luke Braid and Matt Todd (the 2nd and 3rd best 7's in the country in my opinion). Cowan v Leoanrd is a good match-up, and I'm interested to see how Munro and Marshall go at 10 - I really think Munro should go back to concentrating on playing 10 if he wants to further his career. The south have a much better midfield, and I'm really looking forward to the seeing the wings getting some space, as all four are electric with room to move.

 

[Larksea]

was a really good game, as I thought South had the stronger forward pack and that really setup the result, having so many highlanders involved gave them some real cohesion, maybe having players come from two teams rather than Three is an advantage? compared to the North pack which was a real mish-mash and had players who were kinda 3rd/4th tier rather than 2nd tier.

South's best players I thought were

Jason Rutledge - obviously took this game very seriously, like it was the highest rep Honor he was going to get because he never made the AB's
Matt Todd
Tom Donnelly
Tom Marshall
Kurt Baker

Whitelock and Lynn were pretty good too.

For the north

Brendon Leonard - must be pretty fit because unlike the south halfs who did 20min dashes he played through ~65min and I think looked better than any of the other 9's and did not really look warn out when he came off (where Cowan looked totally stuffed) really good passing and some very good tackles.
Luke Braid
Brad Shields
Richard Buckman
Robbie Robinson

Lachie Munro I thought was another weak link for the North, so often he would get a brilliant pass from Leonard then his pass to the next player would go to ground or behind the player and kill any momentum.

Good game, I think those who watched it would see just who seriously the players take it and I think there would be more interest in it next year so I hope they do carry on with it. Huge amount of running rugby for an 80min game.

 

[Kiwiwomble]

I honestly believe Rutledge is bloody unlucky to not have even been called into an ab's training squad (unless I'm wrong?)

he has done very little wrong over the last few season and a hell of a lot right, he would have really stepped up on the international stage as he's an old school kind of guy where it would have been a real honor rather than just achieving a goal his manager set a few weeks ago over a glass of Pinot Noir and a prawn sandwich...I'm looking at you SBW

 

[Larksea]

great player, one of the best to never make the AB's but he was kinda a late bloomer, and he's not going to make his test debut now, heck he's like a year and a half older than Mealamu. If anything he could have been selected for the world cup or 2010-2011, I doubt he would have let the AB's down and if anything he'd be better than Flynn. I guess size is an issue as well, being around 5ft 9in & ~100kg? is fairly small. you think ahh well it shouldn't really be but if he was 5ft 11 and ~110kg you would have to say he would have been an AB for sure, as well you could say if AB's were picked on form alone he would have been in for sure - but it's not. Age, size and previous test experience is a factor.

 

[Larksea]

on a side note:

Four players have been cited for their involvement in a fight in the North vs South match in Dunedin.

Several players became involved in the fracas just before halftime in the match, won 32-24 by South.
North halfback Brendon Leonard and hooker Dane Coles have been cited for an alleged dangerous tackle on South captain Jason Rutledge.
A fight broke out afterwards from which South centre Kendrick Lynn and North lock Filo Paulo have been cited for punching.
The players will have their cases heard this week.

nz.sports.yahoo.com/rugby/news/article/-/13917685/four-cited-for-north-v-south-fight/

tackle was dangerous I think, there was ****le between Leonard and Rutledge earlier on after Jason Put Brendon i a headlock, are around the neck and took him out at a ruck and things heated up. So Leonard did put a big hit on him and lifted him a little then coles game in and made it a bit more dangerous. That said he landed parallel to the ground and he was not really in any threat. What came after that was pretty bad though, some south players jumped in, I think Kenny Lynn threw some punches at Dane Coles. Then Donnelly came in and tackled Coles then the worst happened.

Filo Paulo came in and gave Donnelly a very solid punch to the face while he was on the ground. Genuine act of thuggery, left Donnelly pretty bloodied.

 

[Sneaki]

on a side note:

Four players have been cited for their involvement in a fight in the North vs South match in Dunedin.

Several players became involved in the fracas just before halftime in the match, won 32-24 by South.
North halfback Brendon Leonard and hooker Dane Coles have been cited for an alleged dangerous tackle on South captain Jason Rutledge.
A fight broke out afterwards from which South centre Kendrick Lynn and North lock Filo Paulo have been cited for punching.
The players will have their cases heard this week.

nz.sports.yahoo.com/rugby/news/article/-/13917685/four-cited-for-north-v-south-fight/

tackle was dangerous I think, there was ****le between Leonard and Rutledge earlier on after Jason Put Brendon i a headlock, are around the neck and took him out at a ruck and things heated up. So Leonard did put a big hit on him and lifted him a little then coles game in and made it a bit more dangerous. That said he landed parallel to the ground and he was not really in any threat. What came after that was pretty bad though, some south players jumped in, I think Kenny Lynn threw some punches at Dane Coles. Then Donnelly came in and tackled Coles then the worst happened.

Filo Paulo came in and gave Donnelly a very solid punch to the face while he was on the ground. Genuine act of thuggery, left Donnelly pretty bloodied.

Yeah that was very ugly from Paulo, and right in front of the camera too. The Blues could easily lose him for the last three weeks of the season.

Also I've noticed Coles always seems to be on the edge of belting someone, maybe he needs to sort out his aggression if he wants to compete for the AB's third hooker spot. A bit of aggression would be alright but it makes him more of a liability if taken too far.

 

[Larksea]

yeah, controlled aggression is really important and you would have to say with Coles a lot of the time it's not controlled, seemed to me that he in a way started the whole thing.

Players who are quick to react and lose their cool are a liability, more so at test level where punches like that could end up as red cards. I think you simply can't select Coles for test footy the way he is.

Paulo's act was plain thuggery, very much like what Fitzgerald did recently with the chiefs. As I said then it reminds me of Club Rugby with Gang members playing.

 

[donmcdazzle]

^^ Coles is a loose cannon alright, always seems to be involved in off the ball rubbish. Cut from the same cloth as Dion Waller and Inoki Afeaki if anyone can remember those guys. He is too small for the AB's anyway (same point as you made for Rutledge) so you couldn't pick him for test rugby regardless, but it probably isn't exactly endearing him to the higher ups.

 

[nickdnz]

^^ Coles is a loose cannon alright, always seems to be involved in off the ball rubbish. Cut from the same cloth as Dion Waller and Inoki Afeaki if anyone can remember those guys. He is too small for the AB's anyway (same point as you made for Rutledge) so you couldn't pick him for test rugby regardless, but it probably isn't exactly endearing him to the higher ups.

Afeaki wasn't that bad...

 

[Draggs]

Paulo is done. That was simply shocking. There is fighting, and then there is disgusting thuggery, hitting a player on the ground.

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

Donnelly didn't even do anything bad, he was basically stopping the fight, albeit in an extreme manner.

 

[Kiwiwomble]

Tom could and maybe should have been punished for escalating things but Paulo had a brain explosion and took it way beyond a bit of on field biff to...in all honsety, and as someone thats all for a bit of biff and mongrel, to assult

 

[Larksea]

Paulo got 5 weeks effectively ending his super rugby season. This was a case of his punch being just too bad to let go because of the "charity event" nature of the game. It was a shocker

The others walked.

Coles and Lynn lucky none of their wild throws really landed.

The tackle, well if it was super rugby you would think maybe they would have got a week but he did land pretty safely though Coles could have done more to make sure he came down safe - but he's not the sort of guy you expect to get fair play awards any time soon.

 

[Kiwiwomble]

i was pretty happy with everyone else getting off, the tackle was just a big one and the punches thrown were imbassessing for everyone...but paulo lined up a guy on the graoud with this arms pinned, knelt infront of him and punched him in the face....