Otago V Cantabs

[kaftka]

Otago you f***ing beauties!! What a scrappy game from what i can remember.

Donnely, Ryan, Smylie are bloody legends. Exciting stuff!




....That's all.



GO NOrtH HARBOUR!

 

[sambãd5]

yeah, smylie has a awesome game! get him in the end of year tour.

 

[kaftka]

He carried the weight on his shoulders quite well. And why wouldn't he? Did you see the padding on them?!




Ho ho ho...

 

[esoj]

Otago were outstanding and really took to to the cantabs. Otago loosies played quite well webb blackie and newby were all over the place. Smylie could be a bolter for the end of year tour he has been playing well and has all the skills. Donnelly maybe a chance as the 4th lock.

 

[Saint N Sinner]

I saw the second half and thought, wow. 3 try's in like 5 minutes??

Was that S12, or is it different to the NPC??

It is all so confusing.

 

[loratadine]

the npc is a provicnial championship, not the super 12, the npc sides act as feeder clubs for the big super 12 teams, it only new zealand as well.

 

[Ripper]

If Harbour do win... wont the game be played at Eden Park anyways because Albany is being used as a burial ground for the Kiwis next Saturday isnt it, unless they are playing it at Ericson this year.

 

[esoj]

the league test is at erricson so if harbour win tonight the final will be at North Harbour staduim. npc is only NZ provincial teams. super 12 has aus, sa and nz teams with the nz teams being a combination of provinces.

 

[kaftka]

Alrighty, if the Cantab's managed to cut down their mistakes, and actually strung some decent attacking phases together, then we could have seen a different outcome. Otago's defence at times (especially when in their 22) was wopeful, and led to very soft tries. however, their backrow played an outstanding game I thought, and I would like to see Blackie, and Newbie on the end of year. Smylie had a blinder. What a step to set up his first try!
The scrums were quite a mix, but Canterbury's lineouts were a shambles. Otago's was too for a wee while.
Overall, way to go Otago. Can anyone remember the score? Because I chucked them down for 12- in Virtual NPC.

 

[BigTen]

The faithful at Jade would have been devastated. I know that the rednecks of Christchurch hate losing to anyone but it hurts even more when they lose to the Southerners.

I would have loved to have been at Jade laughing at all of the one-eyed bigots wearing red and black.

I used to hate Auckland when they always seemed to win and had most of the All Blacks during the '80's but a Canterbury defeat makes me feel a lot warmer inside then an Auckland victory ever did.

Well done to Otago - good luck in the final.

 

[Serge]

Originally posted by BigTen@Oct 15 2005, 05:40 PM
The faithful at Jade would have been devastated. I know that the rednecks of Christchurch hate losing to anyone but it hurts even more when they lose to the Southerners.

I would have loved to have been at Jade laughing at all of the one-eyed bigots wearing red and black.

I used to hate Auckland when they always seemed to win and had most of the All Blacks during the '80's but a Canterbury defeat makes me feel a lot warmer inside then an Auckland victory ever did.

Well done to Otago - good luck in the final.

Tall poppy syndrome huh.

I was pretty guttered about the loss. Was disappointed with the crowd turnout. The place was half empty. Otago deserved the win no doubt.

 

[esoj]

yeah what was with the crowd there at looked very empty and apparently they were at least 13k there. Bloody cocky I think not showing up and expecting cantebury to be there next week in the final.

 

[BigTen]

It's not tall poppy syndrome - I just hate how Canterbury take all of the good players from the top half of the south island. Every NZ Super 12 franchise has at least two first division teams except for the Crusaders and I think that Crusader's management plunder the talent in their area.

At the moment the Canterbury NPC side is virtually the Crusaders whereas other franchises share their talent bewteen at least two NPC sides if not more.

The new design of the NPC next year will change this and hopefully the talent of Canterbury will dissipate into other teams like Nelson Bays.

I guess from a whole NZ point of view it is good because certain players in key combinations can get loads of game time with each other and that as a means to an end will always make it okay in my eyes. It's tough on Nelson Bays though!

 

[Zambaman]

The reason why the Crusaders are essentially Canterbury is because of the state of the other provinces in the Crusdaers franchise. If Nelson Bays or Marlborough were in the first division prior to next year, I wouldn't have been surprised to see some players from them in the team. However, you have to look at it from the Crusader's point of view. Out of all the partner provinces of West Coast, Buller, South Canterbury, Mid Canterbury, Nelson Bays, Marlborough, and Canterbury only one team is in the first division, and two are in the second division. Picking players from the third division to play in the Super 12 would be a huge gamble; while both Nelson and Blenheim are a good drive away which would mean any players that came from them would most likely have to live in Christchurch during the Super 12, then go back home during the NPC. This is basically what happened with the likes of Leon McDonald and Ben Blair. They decided to take the chance of playing in the Super 12 and first division NPC to further their careers, and it has undoubtably worked.

Besides, the Crusaders aren't the only team that doesn't seem to pick Division 2 players. All the New Zealand Super 12 teams are guilty, and what seemed like a great way of providing experience to players in the smaller provinces (I'm talking Division 2 and 3 here) by putting them in teams with the bigger ones hasn't worked and has only served to usually make the bigger ones stronger.