Thoughts on the touring NZ League team?

I personally think they are gonna win them all. I know that they have been playing abit rough, but when has a NZ team always looked like the better side throughout a tour? Its almost a proven fact that the UK league teams cannot withstand 80 minutes of antipodean rugby leage (IMO).

Its great to see Monty back to his verbal self, haha! Hes got to be the next Mathew Ridge for sure!

Anyways, im more interested in hearing your opinions than you reading mine, so take it away....!

they've been a bit patchy, but once they adapt to the UK style of league they'll be unstopable........

3-0 in the test series for sure.........

I think they are gonna win them all also, but there performance against St Helens wasnt the greatest, i hope they improve for the next one.

As for UK league teams, they still aint up there.

they are just too talented to lose to the poms i think...

with the likes of jones, paul, lauiti'iti, hohaia, swain and betham...

there is just too much skill, and with our outside backs in good form we can damage any team in the world and always convert chances too points...

admittedly we are yet to show our best over there, but when we do they better look out

Thet thrashed them in the world cup semi. Hard to see anything but a kiwi win. The brits often win 1 against the aussies though, so it may be 2-1. Maybe a loss in the last one once we have the series wrapped up.

I couldn't believe some of the brits saying st helens are possibly the best club team in the world. The brits win the world club challenge each year cause its in britain against the NRL champs who couldn't give a stuff. They've obviously forgotten about the super league series of a few years ago which was embarrassingly one sided.

just wanted to make sure that i was clear...

i was talking about richard swain... not logan swann...

as i think logan swann is fucken shit and doesn't deserve to be on the bench for mt albert.

Fully agree about Logan, I cringe everytime he goes to offload. If he just buried himself he would be a better player by miles

St Helens played the kiwis 2 days after their Grand Final win, so a few of them would have alot of alcohol fresh in their systems-not a good yardstick

Mid week games *shrug* any win is a good one

Shouldnt be a problem to win all three tests, the Kiwis are not far behind the Kangaroos and the Aussies would expect to win 3 zip

I love the way their commentators are so incredibly biased. They can make the most average player sound like a legend and they are totally blind when a replay clearly shows their side infringing. The way they talk you would think the Kiwis had lost all of their matches so far.

Having said that, their error rate is a bit of a worry.

Didnt the Aussies lose 1 last year?

yes aussies won 2-1

kiwis won this morning 34-12????

wasnt a great game either, but the final 15min when the forwards started running onto the ball, they where just to strong for the poms

(forwards scored all the kiwi trys)

looks like they are slowly getting it to gether

yeah, maybe the team will take note that it was ONLY forwards that scored tries??!!

I still think they will go through unbeaten, but boy they aint the most dynamic of Kiwi teams to have toured!

And bummer for Motu Tony eh, breaking his hand just before the actual tests start.

Wait til the important games beforing judging them. They have also had bad weather so far which doesn't suit their style.

Well, they certainly looked on form as they whipped Wales. Was prolly a good idea taking the heat off Stacey by making kearney captain.

Lets hope they keep it up this weekend when they take on Great Britain.

Had to have a little chuckle as Rauhihi abused the Ref - lucky he wasnt sent off!

and now they are one nil against England!

Luv the hitup from Big Jerry!

Gonna be some heat on the field this weekend, thats for sure!!

they are only going to get better

Trance brought me into the scene and I still love it. Seems that most clubs are changing over to a more relaxed environment with slower house music Maybe to get people drinking and spending more, I dont know. I've only been up in Aucks for the year and have noticed a big change in town since last summer.

Damn, that msg would be in the wrong thread...sorry

haha, nice one Stu!

i was waiting for you to say you saw Jerry Seuseu dancing at a trance club!

I watched the game against England A, and they were messy. Although your right about the commentry.. if you were blind you would have thought the kiwi's were getting stood on

Not Jerry, But I have seen Byron Kelleher out doing the rounds a couple of time both here in Aucks and down in Dunedin.

at last years gatecrasher i saw Byron and Troy Flavell

Largered Elevation earlier in the year, they always look smaller when their not on TV, why is that?

Hey you two banana brains, this is a league thread.

Who the fuck are "Byron" and "Troy Flavell?"

omg anyone hear the news this morning? Toopi is coming home cos hes got a broken bone in his hand so theyve called up









Sean Hoppe!

Hes gonna start too, we have run out of backs.

i reckon Sean will be well pleased to come out of retirement to play for the kiwis! Hope he does alright

Bummer about Toopi - hes had a good tour

Well, Lance has been given the kicking duties after Richie Swains dodgy kicking game last week, and i hear a rumor that Steve Kearney has gone home to look after his daughter?

Damn, we are getting abit depleted now, but im sure we will kick arse!

well they lost in the weekend to a fired up GBR team, the loss of Steve Kearney really did affect the team.

and you gotta feel sorry for Lance and 'that' kick for conversion!

you gotta feel sorry for Lance and 'that' game he had!

oh well, they were better on the day.

send em down here next time & theyll get their beats.

Freeman must be sacked.

Anyone that turns a winning team into losers deserves the boot. Especially as he is obviously to blame, he didn't coach them to adapt to the UK rules (quick play the balls) and changed the tactics after we won, then with Freeman's tactics we drew then lost.

Sorry Whizz, but you fucked yourself up.

Agree Jono, freeman hasn't produced the goods at all. When a team does worse at the end of the tour than the beginning the coach isn't doing a good job.

NZ finally develops it's own style of play and what does Freeman do? He tells them to stop using it after winning the first test and go back to playing the same old one off the ruck spread it on 4th tackle that we've got nowhere with for years. Not to mention it basically nullifies the talents Lauiti'iti, Seuseu, Kearney, and Guttenbeil, who have developed into possibly the best group of ball playing/off loading forwards in the world.

thats a nice point you make there Jono!

good point jono, i fully agree

Was Henry Pereanara (sp?) injured or just not selected for the tour?

Freeman was only a average player to star with. Hes no better in a coaching role too

Freeman was an awesome player, I take nothing away from his on the field ability or leadership... His coaching just needs to a lot of work, I think he needs to get into club coaching and learn more about strategy. Although most kiwi coaches lack strategic knowledge and tend to rely on motivational skills. Whereas the Aussie coaches are great strategists, hence Daniel Anderson's work at the Warriors, and David Waite (GB coach) using superior tactics to get the win.

Bloody hell D-Man thats the most wack post Ive ever seen from you, Freeman was a great player

The Kiwis need a coach with NRL experience, not an glib ex-star

I think tactically Waite ran over the top of Freeman in that series

Henry Perenara.. I think he was even dropped for the Storm this year.. not even the bench ay.

I think it's hard for us to assess Freeman as a coach especially with the lack of media coverage. Sure he did things wrong but what?.. was it his relationship with the players.. Freeman wasn't always the greatest team player, or was it his coaching drills. From what i have heard though, the players were shacked up in their hotels bored silly for most of the tour, which i think is the reason for their poor ending.. the fun went out of the game.