Seeing as I care more about the NPC than any other Rugby I feel like I ought to start a thread for this too, even though i’m the only person here that probably has any interest :)
Round 1 Fixtures:
- Taranaki v Counties-Manukau
- Auckland v Wellington
- Canterbury v Northland
- Southland v Otago
- Waikato v Bay of Plenty
- North Harbour v Hawkes Bay
- Manawatū v Tasman
- Bay of Plenty v Counties-Manukau*
*Due to the compressed nature of the competition every team has what’s called a storm week where they end up playing 3 times in about 10 days which is why this match is marked as the 2nd game in round 1 for these two teams
Results of the two Sunday matches
spoiler
I didn’t watch the Tasman game, but that’s not much of a surprise they have a much more expensive squad than Manawatu typically carry and have been there or thereabouts at the top of the table for a long time now.
Hawke’s Bay picking up the W away from home at North Harbour where they hadn’t won since 2011 is a heck of a result. Definitely didn’t look like they’d get the job done for large parts of it, but once Lincoln McClutchie came on in the 2nd half they looked very solid and had a great scrum and maul. How Lincoln wasn’t picked up by any SR team this year is beyond me. Also, Fakatava is (for me) currently a better halfback than Noah Hotham; the latter probably has a higher ceiling in the long run but I think its a real shame that Robertson’s team decided to go with their boy than pick the better player. See the Bell over Riccitelli selection as 3rd Hooker as another example of that.
1 more game in Round 1 which isn’t until Wednesday - i’m not sure if i’ll remember to mention it or not.