General NZ National Premiership

[Teets]

Could Adam Blair be anymore biased towards the Auckland school in that final. Far out!

I dunno, he was pumping up Neal and Herbie Farnworth aka Jackson Stewart pretty hard. And rightfully so. We need to lock them up.

 

[Riz]

I dunno, he was pumping up Neal and Herbie Farnworth aka Jackson Stewart pretty hard. And rightfully so. We need to lock them up.

My god did he struggle saying Xavier Lynch!

 

[Teets]

Great tournament. I'm loathe to critique kids so I'm not naming any names, but a couple of our Wahs juniors were a bit disappointing in comparison to some of the kids without NRL contracts.

 

[hornbybrown]

I dunno, he was pumping up Neal and Herbie Farnworth aka Jackson Stewart pretty hard. And rightfully so. We need to lock them up.

Glad they are in the system, That was Jackson’s last year at school so I would imagine he makes the move north now. Neal I think still has at least one more year at school

 

[Teets]

Watching a bit of the Otago v Welly game on Sky.

Man Rugby League park is still a picturesque little venue.

 

[Teets]

Canterbury just won the 18s comp and did it without Bishop Neal and Dougal Grant. Huge effort.

The Canterbury 6 and his left centre were really good in the final. Scary what they could do if they were playing behind the Akarana pack.

Byford the best for Akarana.

 

[Chchfanatic]

Canterbury just won the 18s comp and did it without Bishop Neal and Dougal Grant. Huge effort.

The Canterbury 6 and his left centre were really good in the final. Scary what they could do if they were playing behind the Akarana pack.

Byford the best for Akarana.

I watched this live. Some bloody good kids in both teams.
Canterbury had Telefoni and Grant missing from the final as well.
Isaiah Savea the 13 is one of the best kids I’ve seen in a while. Worked hard all game.
Byford and Raina Puletama were the best for Akarana.
Both goal kickers didn’t miss in a tough wind. Bloody entertaining game. The future is strong.

 

[Viking]

The Canterbury RL facilities and fields are amazing. Both of their boys teams were excellent too.

 

[Cces]

The Canterbury RL facilities and fields are amazing. Both of their boys teams were excellent too.

Their investment in good lighting at Nga Puna Wai and shifting the age grade games to mid week has had huge dividends

 

[Riz]

The Canterbury RL facilities and fields are amazing. Both of their boys teams were excellent too.

First age group comp in a while that hasn't been played in a bog!

 

[Viking]

The investment in good lighting at Nga Puna Wai and shifting the age grade games to mid week has had huge dividends

How good would it be to play big matches there instead of in the Cornwall mud pit.

 

[Viking]

There must be some synthetic grass on the main field? My boy came home with grazes that he would normally get from synthetic surfaces. Possibly a hybrid field like the Mt Albert Lions main field.

 

[Chchfanatic]

The Canterbury RL facilities and fields are amazing. Both of their boys teams were excellent too.

The best thing they ever did is let Rugby have rugby league park.
Ngai puni wai is a purpose built venue, something that rugby doesn’t have now. Rugby clubs play on their shitty home grounds.

 

[Cces]

The pictures don't quite match all the players but this was yesterday's team for Canterbury 18s

 

[WHB]

I watched this live. Some bloody good kids in both teams.
Canterbury had Telefoni and Grant missing from the final as well.
Isaiah Savea the 13 is one of the best kids I’ve seen in a while. Worked hard all game.
Byford and Raina Puletama were the best for Akarana.
Both goal kickers didn’t miss in a tough wind. Bloody entertaining game. The future is strong.

I wonder what telefoni means

 

[Teets]

The pictures don't quite match all the players but this was yesterday's team for Canterbury 18s
View attachment 14565

Hopefully one of the Aussie clubs takes a punt on Delahoia Te Pakeke-Kakoi, he was awesome and this isn't the first time he's killed it at a national tourney.

That Chaplin kid was good off the bench too and Savea was huge.

 

[Teets]

First age group comp in a while that hasn't been played in a bog!

Yeah the mid-winter tourneys in Vegas always turn into shitty mud fests. And there's that one Auckland venue they use for rep league and touch that always seems to have hurricane winds blowing through it.

 

[Viking]

First age group comp in a while that hasn't been played in a bog!

The youth games were faster and a higher quality as a result of the good fields IMO. And the players got a chance to show what they could do without sliding all over the place and injuring themselves. It definitely benefitted the faster teams.

There's always been the perception here that the Aussies play at some mythical speed but I've thought for a while now that it's not that the players are faster, it's just that the grounds and weather are better. I think the games this week show that our boys can handle faster games.

 

[Theking267]

Hopefully one of the Aussie clubs takes a punt on Delahoia Te Pakeke-Kakoi, he was awesome and this isn't the first time he's killed it at a national tourney.

That Chaplin kid was good off the bench too and Savea was huge.

I think Kakoi is with the Broncos

 

[Teets]

The youth games were faster and a higher quality as a result of the good fields IMO. And the players got a chance to show what they could do without sliding all over the place and injuring themselves. It definitely benefitted the faster teams.

There's always been the perception here that the Aussies play at some mythical speed but I've thought for a while now that it's not that the players are faster, it's just that the grounds and weather are better. I think the games this week show that our boys can handle faster games.

Yeah it was actually nice to see a fair amount of well constructed tries.

I've had the same thoughts too. I'm starting to wonder if we should shift our league season out of the winter bog in NZ so we can actually give our skill based players more chance to shine.

Would also naturally speed the game up and prepare kids for Aussie conditions better.