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Round nine NPC: Returning All Black makes statement, Highlanders' pair shine

Cameron Roigard of Counties Manukau looks on during the round nine Bunnings NPC match between Counties Manukau and Wellington at Navigation Homes Stadium, on October 02, 2022, in Pukekohe, New Zealand. (Photo by Joe Allison/Getty Images)

Round nine of the Bunnings NPC saw Taranaki take the Ranfurly Shield off Tasman, two All Blacks return for Counties, and Southland putting up a record performance over North Harbour.

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Here are the standout performers from the final round of the regular season ahead of the quarter-finals.

Cam Roigard (Counties Manukau)

The All Blacks halfback made his long-awaited return after rupturing his left patella tendon in April and scored two tries off the bench in Counties 45-26 win against Manawatu which secured the Steelers the eighth and final playoff spot.

Roigard was full of running scoring his second try from halfway. Fullback Simon-Peter Toleafoa attacked from deep inside his own 22 before linking up with winger Josh Gray. Toleafoa sniped from the ensuing ruck and offloaded to Roigard who sped over the halfway line and sensationally beat the cover defence with a delightful side-step. Roigard delivered 37 passes. Also back from injury, All Blacks flanker Dalton Papali’i dashed 60 metres for a try.

Daniel Rona (Taranaki)

Like Dean Magon (3 tries against Auckland in 1996) Daniel Rona is a Taranaki centre who has made a name for himself in a successful Ranfurly Shield challenge.

Rona contributed two tries and a dozen tackles in a 42-29 victory over Tasman in Nelson. Rona is a model of consistency with 33 games for Taranaki and 23 for the Chiefs.

Taranaki has had eight successful Ranfurly Sheild challenges and won 51 of their 104 Ranfurly Sheild matches.

Jack Taylor (Southland)

Southland ended their season with a spectacular 59-35 victory over North Harbour. Former New Zealand Under-20 hooker Jack Taylor scored a first-half hat-trick and was a commanding presence, as he has been all season.

The prerenal strugglers set records for their highest score and most tries (9) in an NPC Division I match. Byron Smith kicked seven conversions, and across the whole season, Southland scored 37 tries. The Stags won three matches, including a first victory against fierce rivals Otago since 2020. Southland won three of their ten games and lost another two by less than ten points.

Jack’s brother Harry plays for Otago. With 152 tackles Harry rates as the second-highest tackler in the NPC.

Nikora Broughton (Bay of Plenty)

Bay of Plenty edged Auckland 26-24 at Auckland Grammar School with a massive defensive shift. Broughton led the charge with an incredible 30 tackles and a try. Broughton is 3rd in tackles and 2nd in carries in the NPC this season.

Broughton was ably supported by Jacob Norris who made 19 tackles and scored a key charge-down try. Openside Joe Johnson made 20 tackles.

Broughton had a strong Super Rugby for the Highlanders, has played for the Maori All Blacks and might be looked at for the All Blacks XV tour.

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Comments

3 Comments
B
B 178 days ago

Daniel Rona, the All Blacks A and your Chiefs coach wants you for his team bro...solid.

B
BH 179 days ago

About time we saw some positive comments about the mighty Bay of Plenty Steamers!


And it was great to see Roigard dominating the game again.

J
JW 179 days ago

phew, I was afraid you were listing Jack's brother then for a second. Hopefully the boys improve but it feels a bit weird having two sets of brothers and only one from each family has any hands!


The first Counties try was the stuff of dreams, a beautiful long pass from the starting halfback Taumateine. Hope he and his team mates can nail their Moana Pasifika roles next yeah.

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My name is Alan Criner, and I'm a resident of Toronto, CA. I'm a 45-year-old financial analyst who has always been cautious with my investments. However, in my quest to diversify my portfolio, I fell prey to a devastating fake crypto investment scam, losing 125,000 Canadian dollars' worth of Bitcoin. This traumatic experience sent my life into a downward spiral, leaving me depressed and feeling hopeless.

Despite my repeated attempts to contact the account manager who initially approached me on Telegram, I was met with silence. They refused to provide any explanation or information, and I was locked out of my account on their website. The authorities were unable to assist me, as the scammers were untraceable.

Just when I thought all was lost, my nephew, a Canadian government lawyer, introduced me to Morphohack Cyber Service, a reputable private investigator and crypto recovery company. I visited their website (www . morphohackcyber . com) and, after mustering the courage, contacted them. They listened attentively as I recounted my ordeal and educated me on the scam, revealing that numerous others had fallen victim to the same scheme.

Although skeptical at first, I decided to take a chance. Morphohack guided me through the process, instructing me to set up a new wallet. To my astonishment, they successfully recovered my stolen Bitcoin and transferred it to my new wallet. I was stunned, struggling to comprehend how this was possible.

I initially wanted to keep this experience private, but I realized that there may be others out there who have suffered similar losses. If you're a victim of crypto theft, I urge you to reach out to Morphohack Cyber Service. They can be contacted through their website or email. (Morphohack@cyberservices . com, Info@morphohackcyber . com) Don't give up hope, there is a way to recover your stolen crypto assets.

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My name is Alan Criner, and I'm a resident of Toronto, CA. I'm a 45-year-old financial analyst who has always been cautious with my investments. However, in my quest to diversify my portfolio, I fell prey to a devastating fake crypto investment scam, losing 125,000 Canadian dollars' worth of Bitcoin. This traumatic experience sent my life into a downward spiral, leaving me depressed and feeling hopeless.

Despite my repeated attempts to contact the account manager who initially approached me on Telegram, I was met with silence. They refused to provide any explanation or information, and I was locked out of my account on their website. The authorities were unable to assist me, as the scammers were untraceable.

Just when I thought all was lost, my nephew, a Canadian government lawyer, introduced me to Morphohack Cyber Service, a reputable private investigator and crypto recovery company. I visited their website (www . morphohackcyber . com) and, after mustering the courage, contacted them. They listened attentively as I recounted my ordeal and educated me on the scam, revealing that numerous others had fallen victim to the same scheme.

Although skeptical at first, I decided to take a chance. Morphohack guided me through the process, instructing me to set up a new wallet. To my astonishment, they successfully recovered my stolen Bitcoin and transferred it to my new wallet. I was stunned, struggling to comprehend how this was possible.

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Despite my repeated attempts to contact the account manager who initially approached me on Telegram, I was met with silence. They refused to provide any explanation or information, and I was locked out of my account on their website. The authorities were unable to assist me, as the scammers were untraceable.

Just when I thought all was lost, my nephew, a Canadian government lawyer, introduced me to Morphohack Cyber Service, a reputable private investigator and crypto recovery company. I visited their website (www . morphohackcyber . com) and, after mustering the courage, contacted them. They listened attentively as I recounted my ordeal and educated me on the scam, revealing that numerous others had fallen victim to the same scheme.

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I initially wanted to keep this experience private, but I realized that there may be others out there who have suffered similar losses. If you're a victim of crypto theft, I urge you to reach out to Morphohack Cyber Service. They can be contacted through their website or email. (Morphohack@cyberservices . com, Info@morphohackcyber . com) Don't give up hope, there is a way to recover your stolen crypto assets.

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Despite my repeated attempts to contact the account manager who initially approached me on Telegram, I was met with silence. They refused to provide any explanation or information, and I was locked out of my account on their website. The authorities were unable to assist me, as the scammers were untraceable.

Just when I thought all was lost, my nephew, a Canadian government lawyer, introduced me to Morphohack Cyber Service, a reputable private investigator and crypto recovery company. I visited their website (www . morphohackcyber . com) and, after mustering the courage, contacted them. They listened attentively as I recounted my ordeal and educated me on the scam, revealing that numerous others had fallen victim to the same scheme.

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JW 2 hours ago
The raw data that proves Super Rugby Pacific is currently a cut above

Your links are private if you were intending them to be shared.


URC us doing very well with it’s competitiveness given that each group has it’s own salary caps and entirely different makeups, from clubs, to provinces, to franchises and regions. One group might be teams from the most populace country with the biggest rugby base while another the smallest, with the least amount of rugby players to chose from.

On average, just about one SRP game every weekend has been decided in the last five minutes!

I would also be interested in a average clock length (don’t need to go into the whole BIP hole) showing how long the last phases are taking (because one team is trying to still alter the match points outcome in some way) to complete before the game finally ends. I don’t know if its more common this year but in general I wonder if its a stat that can show how good games are/were?

17.7%

You really had the same reversed 10 points lead % as you had lead changes after the 75th?


Some of these values while standing out numerically against each other have a much less correlative impact than some that tighter differences which might only stick out a small amount. While SRP’s ones might not necessarily be such examples (and here I’m still going off the basic principle that everyone knew this was happening, even though I was challenged about that assumption) they have had the advantage of the fixtures being were doctored even more than normal. In this instance its irrelevant whether they were doctored or not of course, but I think it’s pretty safe to say that there hasn’t been a lot of cross over of worst v best yet. Maybe it just feels like that because the worst are so much better this year? I definitely think that it is undeniable that all the bottom teams (that remain) have gotten better.


So I would be very interested in another weight graph of the games still, but regardless I don’t think it’s fair for SRP to claim anything over the other leagues yet. Certainly as I have said numerous times about the Top 14, it’s sub par compared to what it’s billed up to be, but that is the only league in this group that has promotion and relegation, which is the antitheses of a competitive league, so a trade off there.


Thank you very much for sharing your research though Dmitri, I hope you find another topic to get interested about!

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