ITM Cup 2010

[HeathDavisSpeed]

DAVID HOLWELL!!! Call him up for the All Blacks. He's retired more times than he's had hot dinners and he's still the best five-eight on show in the NPC. Dictating play, brilliant hands, great reading of the game. Oh, you can only wish your kids could be as good as David Holwell.

Two Mooloos sin-binned in an excellent game between the Naki and Waikato. A good old fashioned punch-up. The Naki hooker should have been binned too. Waikato to be highly unimpressed.

 

[Somerset]

DAVID HOLWELL!!! Call him up for the All Blacks. He's retired more times than he's had hot dinners and he's still the best five-eight on show in the NPC. Dictating play, brilliant hands, great reading of the game. Oh, you can only wish your kids could be as good as David Holwell.

Two Mooloos sin-binned in an excellent game between the Naki and Waikato. A good old fashioned punch-up. The Naki hooker should have been binned too. Waikato to be highly unimpressed.

Been out for the day so missed Northland's belting of the Turbos, definitely going to have to catch a replay. Enjoyed the late game between Waikato and Taranaki, thought Waikato made some strange decisions at times (twice turning down kicking penalties in the final 15 minutes when they trailed by 7 points) and they weren't helped by the yellow cards to Messam and Graham. Tend to agree that Taranaki's hooker will be counting himself lucky not to have also been dismissed for 10 minutes.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Everyone has picked Northland over Manawatu. But will probably be a very close game. Could go either way.

Great call mate

I picked Northland by a decent margin (10-15 odd I think on Superbru) after they thoroughly outclassed North Harbour but lost due to a sin-binning that they should have avoided. Never expected them to win so easily against a Manawatu side that should have beaten Canterbury last week if they hadn't subbed Shannon Paku.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Been out for the day so missed Northland's belting of the Turbos, definitely going to have to catch a replay. Enjoyed the late game between Waikato and Taranaki, thought Waikato made some strange decisions at times (twice turning down kicking penalties in the final 15 minutes when they trailed by 7 points) and they weren't helped by the yellow cards to Messam and Graham. Tend to agree that Taranaki's hooker will be counting himself lucky not to have also been dismissed for 10 minutes.

T'was a little bit rude of the Naki to take the point away from the Waikato at the end. I mean, of course they had to go for it but when they'd been gifted such a leg-up by the ref, it was a little harsh.

 

[Hurricane]

Hi Heath Davis,

Was an excellent game between the boys from New Plymouth vs then men from the mighty waikato river.

Was on the edge of my seat when Waikato had to kill off a two man advantage.
That penalty that we took as a scrum seemed to kill us off. I hate it when teams opt for the scrum. Just tap the ball and run it up already. They lost like 3 minutes with all the scrum resets. Also the decision to take off Brendon Leonard cost them. The replacement wasn't as good at option taking - he didn't suck but he was no Brendon Leonard.

Liam Messam showed why he made it into the ABs - but he also showed why he was dropped from the ABs missing first up tackles.

Ref robbed us of a try.

David Smith was a threat all afternoon.

Taranaki tackling superior and the difference in the game.

Two thumbs up for the ITM cup.

Oh and Renata at 1st Five shows that the Chiefs have plenty of depth for the fly half position. Didn't make any mistakes. Good hands etc created a try.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Agree with you Hurricane. This weekend of NPC rugby shows just how great a tournament this is. The expansive game on show from a number of teams in good conditions and some great forward play in evidence (the Taranaki 3rd try from a good rolling maul a prime example).

Renata looked a good step up as 5/8th backup compared to Callum Bruce.

Also thought the Mooloos were immense when down to 13 players. Some superb work from (I think) Mikkelson or Middleton?

 

[Somerset]

Round Three Results:
HeathDavisSpeed 6
Somerset 6
BoyBrumby 4
Hurricane 4
Ripper868 4
Samuel_Vimes 4
Voltman 4

Standings after Round Three:
Samuel_Vimes 13
Somerset 13
HeathDavisSpeed 12
BoyBrumby 11
Hurricane 11
Ripper868 10
Voltman 9

Round Four Fixtures:
North Harbour vs Otago
Taranaki vs Bay of Plenty
Tasman vs Canterbury
Counties Manukau vs Manawatu
Wellington vs Waikato
Auckland vs Northland
Hawkes Bay vs Southland

 

[Somerset]

Hi Heath Davis,

Was an excellent game between the boys from New Plymouth vs then men from the mighty waikato river.

Was on the edge of my seat when Waikato had to kill off a two man advantage.
That penalty that we took as a scrum seemed to kill us off. I hate it when teams opt for the scrum. Just tap the ball and run it up already. They lost like 3 minutes with all the scrum resets. Also the decision to take off Brendon Leonard cost them. The replacement wasn't as good at option taking - he didn't suck but he was no Brendon Leonard.

Liam Messam showed why he made it into the ABs - but he also showed why he was dropped from the ABs missing first up tackles.

Ref robbed us of a try.

David Smith was a threat all afternoon.

Taranaki tackling superior and the difference in the game.

Two thumbs up for the ITM cup.

Oh and Renata at 1st Five shows that the Chiefs have plenty of depth for the fly half position. Didn't make any mistakes. Good hands etc created a try.

Fair points you've made. Renata was good today though ironically I wasn't that impressed with his performances in Waikato's two victories in the opening rounds. Apart from punching, Messam also had a strong game - although he seemed to connect with his fists so perhaps there was a victory of sorts for him there too...

Was also surprised to see Leonard replaced by Kerr-Barlow with more than 15 minutes remaining - I've read some promising discussions about Kerr-Barlow but surely you have to give your All Blacks 80 minutes of gametime as often as possible.

Finally, agree that the ITM Cup deserves two thumbs up - a really great weekend of rugby and although its early in the competition, I get the feeling this year's tournament will be just as entertaining and enjoyable to watch as last year, which by all accounts was excellent.

 

[Hurricane]

Dissapointed I stuck with Hawkes Bay last week - I am abandoning them this week.

Round Four Fixtures:
North Harbour vs Otago
Taranaki vs Bay of Plenty
Tasman vs Canterbury
Counties Manukau vs Manawatu
Wellington vs Waikato
Auckland vs Northland
Hawkes Bay vs Southland

I don't think Southland travel very well on the road - but as mentioned above feel pissed off with HB.

 

[ripper868]

Still beating Volteh...Yessss!

Round Four Fixtures:
North Harbour vs Otago
Taranaki vs Bay of Plenty
Tasman vs Canterbury
Counties Manukau vs Manawatu
Wellington vs Waikato
Auckland vs Northland
Hawkes Bay vs Southland

 

[BoyBrumby]

North Harbour vs Otago
Taranaki vs Bay of Plenty
Tasman vs Canterbury
Counties Manukau vs Manawatu
Wellington vs Waikato
Auckland vs Northland
Hawkes Bay vs Southland

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

North Harbour vs Otago
Taranaki vs Bay of Plenty
Tasman vs Canterbury
Counties Manukau vs Manawatu
Wellington vs Waikato
Auckland vs Northland
Hawkes Bay vs Southland

Tough week this one. BoP could very conceivably overcome the Naki, Wellington/Waikato is 50/50. I've picked Hawkes Bay as I think they'll need to hit back at home, and Southland could be a bit sapped of energy after 3 forward-driven shield defences.

 

[Hurricane]

North Harbour vs Otago
Taranaki vs Bay of Plenty
Tasman vs Canterbury
Counties Manukau vs Manawatu
Wellington vs Waikato
Auckland vs Northland
Hawkes Bay vs Southland

Tough week this one. BoP could very conceivably overcome the Naki, Wellington/Waikato is 50/50. I've picked Hawkes Bay as I think they'll need to hit back at home, and Southland could be a bit sapped of energy after 3 forward-driven shield defences.

Southland also played badly on the road in the first game of the season. I am betting against Hawkes Bay out of emotion rather than due to logic. Peeved with them for losing to Tasman.

I also struggled with BOP vs Taranaki.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Harbour
BOP
Tasman
Counties-Manukau
Wellington
Auckland
Southland

 

[Somerset]

North Harbour
Taranaki
Canterbury
Counties Manukau
Wellington
Auckland
Southland

 

[Smudge]

North Harbour
Taranaki
Canterbury
Counties Manukau
Wellington
Auckland
Southland

 

[Hurricane]

I thought Otago were going to win at half time they were the hungrier team. They were hitting the tackles hard and thought Thomson was looking a million dollars. Don't know where they went after the break.

North Harbour won the game despite the best efforts of Ben Botica to keep Otago in the game. don't get me wrong Botica can do it all - run kick and pass. But his decision making could be better. Aimless kicks - and if Otago had've been any better they would have used the possession he kept giving them with telling effect. When he does run he looks good. And when he does spin the ball out to the outside backs he is a good passer. Just want to see him do this more often or at least kick it a heck of a lot better.

This was my first time watching Botica so maybe he has played better in previous rounds.

Robbie Robertson > Botica

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Nah - I reckon you're spot on regarding Botica. Too much of a flake.

 

[Hurricane]

Thanks Heath

From stuff.co.nz

Information about Williams injury from the Canterbury management staff this week has been limited but The Press understands there is a reasonable chance he could make an appearance against Auckland on August 28 or Bay of Plenty on September 3 if his hamstring continues to improve. Both matches are in Christchurch.

 

[Hurricane]

Tasman were up by 14 or so points at half time (can't remember exactly) but thought Canterbury were looking the better team. So I put $5 on them at odds of $2.00 - but they lost by 2 points. Canterbury made frustrating handling errors at critical times and must have committed 5 forward passes in the game.

Canterburys half back in the first half was quite weak - and Andy Ellis was a major upgrade at half time.