International Pacific Championship

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I know Ponga spoke about his māori culture recently, but has he stated he's interested in playing for the Kiwis at all?

I love what Kini does, but if Ponga put his hand up I'd love to see what he could do behind such a dominant pack like the Kiwis.

I think a forward pack like we have with Brown, Hughes and Ponga would have so much direction and play making options.

Now that RW is going beast mode for Aus and Qld I wonder if that makes Ponga any more likely for us?
 

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sup42 said:
There is nothing wrong with that chat GP exert.

What it doesn't speak to is what happens with a brain bleed that requires surgery.

You can have bleeds that show on scans that do not require surgery.

Obviously we seem to be looking at the more serious kind of bleed.

You only need look at Te Maire Martin.

Serious bleed, told he will never play again.

Gets a better prognosis after a long time out of the game, a specialist says there is no reason he cannot try playing again.

But to answer the original posters question about career then yeah obviously it can be the end of a career.

You can end up brain damaged right. Like impairment in normal every day life that is permanent.
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Agree, in my fifties when diagnosed with a weak heart (type 2 diabetes related issues) on top of that had a stroke, pretty much mucked me up, took 2 months off work, went back to work, but then had to resign due to cognitive difficulties, now given everything away, poor missus has to look after my dumbass - bedridden at the moment, last 3 years taken toll, miss been able to work or do anything physical, listened to Goran and Blairy saying sky sport production team should have alerted Tongan coaching staff and shown them footage of the collusion, medical staff surely would have stood him down, footage looked pretty sickening - gotta feel for the young fella, hopefully he'll make a full recovery and live a normal life, I think my stroke caused by too many head knocks playing league in my younger days, worry about him when he gets into his 50s & 60s, kia kaha! Eliesa.
 
It is funny how a team can be dominating posession and territory and now really get any set restarts. The ball goes down the other end and the defending team that should be freash starts giving up six agains.

You would think the team that hasn't had the ball for 10 minutes would be infringing at the ruck.

Or you have games and in the second half the game flows and the ref decides to blow a six again. You then think oh yeah there is a rule for that.
 
Makasene said:
What was up with the cooked bench usage from Samoa?

Yes injuries didn't help but I thought the Kiwis got on top from about the 30th minute. May not seen until the 60th minute
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They did that with May in their last game as well.

Seems strange holding a front rower back for so long. He isn't a rookie he's the main front rower for his club.

Usually coaches hold back a rookie or if it is a position they are finding hard to interchange or want to save an interchange. A front rower is typically the position you rotate.

The best I can come up with is Haas plays huge minutes and they felt if they brought him on freash at the end they can dominate in the middle. The argument to that is rotate him in to keep Haas freash or to parnter Haas and the opposition are also bringing their starters back on at a similar time.

Unless there is an injury they are managing. Even that would be a bit strange,
 
PhilsySH35 said:
Agree, in my fifties when diagnosed with a weak heart (type 2 diabetes related issues) on top of that had a stroke, pretty much mucked me up, took 2 months off work, went back to work, but then had to resign due to cognitive difficulties, now given everything away, poor missus has to look after my dumbass - bedridden at the moment, last 3 years taken toll, miss been able to work or do anything physical, listened to Goran and Blairy saying sky sport production team should have alerted Tongan coaching staff and shown them footage of the collusion, medical staff surely would have stood him down, footage looked pretty sickening - gotta feel for the young fella, hopefully he'll make a full recovery and live a normal life, I think my stroke caused by too many head knocks playing league in my younger days, worry about him when he gets into his 50s & 60s, kia kaha! Eliesa.
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Really sorry to read that mate, sounds like you’re in a tough situation. I hope the system provides you and your Mrs some help at least
 
No to Madge.

Yes to the current set up, Stacey has SK.

Kearney is the winningest coach in NZ history, particularly tournaments.

The Stacey SK combo is building something special.

I love the way he has the Kiwis playing, very reminiscent of the early two thousands Warriors, especially the rolling big brutes off the bench to kill teams and the offload game.
 
sup42 said:
I thought if Samoa just play eighty minutes defence they win.

The Kiwis were no chance of scoring when Samoa prioritized their efforts around defending.

Eighty minutes of that and Samoa will beat anyone without needing miracle plays..

Interestingly the Kiwis came out in the second half with crushing defence, then Samoa replied in kind, at that point Samoa were winning the arm wrestle over all for the bulk of the test.

Extend that effort in tackling and Samoa will dominate, they have the size to win the too and fro....the yardage game....and they have the flair to get points, scoring shouldn't be their focus.
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Samoa had us in the first half because they matched our physicality, but couldn't keep it up all game. Soon as Clark and Whyte came on I jumped on TAB to start putting money on us to score. The 6 man Kiwi rotation is just too much for anyone.

The commentators "uh oh" laugh of that camera shot of JFH and Tapine on the sideline checking in in the second half kinda said it all.

This has to be one of if not, the most aggressive/dominant forward pack rotations of any team within the last 15-20 years surely... Maybe I cant say that until they play Aussie.
 
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