Well the new Air New Zealand Cup kicked off over the weekend. The Air NZ Cup is essentially the old NPC Division One, with four teams promoted from the old second division - Hawkes Bay, Tasman (a combination of Nelson Bays and Marlborough), Counties Manakau, and Manawatu.
All teams actually performed pretty well. I went and watched Manawatu (arguably the weakest, and worst prepared - their coach walked out 4 weeks ago) play defending champions Auckland. To be honest, after the Lions (British) put 100 points on Manawatu last year - I wasnt expecting much with a team like Auckland coming to town - star studded backline and all. But Manawatu dominated the break-down, turning over a lot of posession, and won the lineouts - their scrum was weak, but thats to be expected.
Manawatu lock Hayden Triggs could well make the Hurricanes if he can keep performing like that, and the Manawatu loosies were outstanding, outperforming the Aucklanders - who were made up of Daniel Braid, Brad Mika, and Jerome Kaino - all of whom have played for the All Blacks.
My team, the Wellington Lions were too good for Taranaki, and while the other results were predictable, Counites should have beaten Otago - going down by four points, and Tasman pushed Harbour losing 33-27. Good stuff.
What wasn't so good was my performance in the Virtual Air NZ Cup - picking up only 18 points, nevermind its early days yet - and the Heartland Championship should be a leveller once that kicks off.
PS. Its a little odd that the Manawatu team are called the Turbo's - they are suppsoedly named after the Wind Turbines, which dominate the hills surrounding Palmerston North - so why not the Manawatu Turbines?
2 comments:
42, 42, 42....42, 42, 42....!
Tortoise and Hare boy
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