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Aupiki 2023 - good vibes, but who's stopping Manawa?
It’s winless in 2022 Southerns Matatu against Chiefs Manawa in the second-edition of the Super Rugby Aupiki final this Saturday in Hamilton.
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The question on people’s lips is, can anyone stop the Manawa maul? It’s demolished all in sundry. The Chiefs can give it a whirl too. With five tries in four games, wing Georgia Daals sits just one try behind hooker Luka Connor as the leading try scorer in the competition.
Connor scored a hat-trick against Hurricanes Poua in round one traveling a combined five meters, three times.
Under the guidance of ‘The Professor’ (Wayne Smith) the Black Ferns had six months to figure out how to stop a rolling maul, when it was England’s strongest weapon. Most of the Aupiki women hold down another job and represent a truer reflection of the Wahine rugby landscape.
Beating your own is sometimes more difficult than beating the formidable foreign beast. The Chiefs play much the same way as England did that famous night at Eden Park.
So, who can stop the Chiefs and their maul in 2023?
Hurricanes Poua tried twice and failed miserably. Joanah Ngan-Woo was unreal this season, perhaps the best lock in the world at present. However, the Poua, pummelled in the scrums as well, couldn’t involve their vibrant, unpredictable backs often enough.
The Blues? Jaymie Kolose, Sylvia Brunt, Katelyn Vaha’akolo, Patricia Maliepo and Ruahei Demant are all dashing outside backs involved in the semi-finals at least in the top ten for most meters carried. No.8 Liana Mikaele-Tu’u was right there too. However, the Blues lacked the collective muscle and concentration to consistently outlast Matatu.
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MATCH REPORT | The first #Aupiki23 Semi-Finalist has been confirmed.
— Super Rugby NZ (@SuperRugbyNZ) March 19, 2023
Matatu leaped out to a 19-8 lead against the Chiefs in 22 minutes in their first encounter. When Matatu got stuck in the tight exchanges, they suffered like everyone else. Conceding 38 unanswered points in 32 minutes is an unmitigated disaster. Their finish was exceptional though with three unanswered tries.
The Black Ferns front row from that fateful November 12, 2022 evening was all Matatu: Pip Love, Georgia Ponsonby, and Amy Rule. They will go to battle under the leadership of lock and fellow Black Fern Alana Bremner.
Can Matatu do a 1998 Crusaders (coached by Wayne Smith) and win an unlikely Super Final in the far North against a steamroller adversary? It seems unlikely but surprise tactics, quick, taps, avoiding the constant hard stuff, and a gen (cough) referee could lead to a boilover.
Good stuff in sundry.
Small Venues. The buzz is palpable, it’s grassroots. Elsewhere there often appears to be more TV staff than actual spectators. Bring Aupiki to the people.
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Intent. Lots of ambition, plenty of good tries, and expansion into Australia likely. Restlessness with the current situation is evident on both sides of the Tasman.
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments