2017 Mitre 10 Cup

[cashead]

4 rounds in, and there are two stories coming through from the Premiership

The first is the form of North Harbour, who have sprinted to first place on the table (for the time being. Canterbury have a home RS fixture against Southland), having dealt to Southland and Auckland, while getting over a spirited Otago side in a rematch of last year's Championship final and a Counties Side that weren't going to die wondering.

The other is "just what in the fuck has happened to Auckland?" 4 rounds in, and they've nothing but an unconvincing win over Northland to show for it, and were belted 57-10 by Harbour.



At the Championship level, Wellington have looked ominous with 4 bonus points wins, including one over Taranaki in the cross-over match.

[zer0]

Auckland's problem is pretty simple. The coach is an old boy, self-congratulatory, back-slapping appointment. On the bright side, White should be gone at the end of the season, so it should only be one terrible season. But the ARU board being what it is, means they'll probably either not cut him, or will cut him, but replace him with someone like Kirwan.

[rowan]

Sure, Kirwan has a great coaching record

Is the championship the second division?

[cashead]

Auckland's problem is pretty simple. The coach is an old boy, self-congratulatory, back-slapping appointment. On the bright side, White should be gone at the end of the season, so it should only be one terrible season. But the ARU board being what it is, means they'll probably either not cut him, or will cut him, but replace him with someone like Kirwan.

North Harbour on the other hand reached out to Tom Coventry, who was based in Hamilton, relief teaching at Hamilton Boys' High, and retained former-Waratah Daniel Halangahu, who had already spent time with the province as a player as part of what has turned out to be a fairly diverse CV (3 different levels of domestic rugby in Australia - clubs, NRC and Super Rugby, along with Zebre, where he was immersed in Italian rugby while playing against the Celtic nations, and RC Narbonne in the French second division, not to mention a brief stint with Australia A).

As proud a history as Auckland may have, they really need to look beyond their own borders and talk to people who actually have a vision. I do also think some of their problems run a bit deeper though, and I think Ofa Tu'ungafasi pretty much exemplifies it - he has stacks of talent and potential, he has physical gifts that many other players in their position can only dream about, but he's fucking useless at the core skills of his job.

Sure, Kirwan has a great coaching record

If previous coaching records were the be-all and end-all, rather than possessing any sort of vision, ability to reflect and refine, then explain Wayne Pivac and Craig Dowd's stint's with Harbour. Pivac, after multiple successes with Auckland, came into Harbour and immediately undid every bit of progress that had been made under Alan Pollock, including getting hammered in a Ranfurly Shield defence by Waikato where they leaked a record (at the time) 52 points, with only 7 of their own to show for it. In fact, Pivac was a fucking disaster for Harbour, and under Dowd, they were little more than also-rans, at best.

Steve Jackson, who was plucked from an assistant role at Counties, with no previous head coaching record of significance, actually got Harbour to pull together, and got them promoted into Premiership.

When Jackson left to assist Tana at the Blues, Tom Coventry was appointed, despite his previous head coaching role involved him getting London Irish relegated out of the English rugby top flight.

Is the championship the second division?

Yes.

[rowan]

Thanks. What in hell is Wellington doing in 2nd division?

[cashead]

Wellington had a horror run in 2014, where they only won 1 from 10 and got relegated. While they have been in contention in the play-offs, their customary inability to win the big one has meant that they've been unable to secure promotion since, getting pipped at the post by Hawke's Bay in the 2015 Championship final and falling just short of chasing down eventual winners North Harbour in the 2016 Championship semifinals.

[rowan]

That's downright embarrassing. But it sounds like they might be swapping places with Auckland this season, and if the second biggest metro center being in the 2nd division is embarrassing, easily the biggest metro center replacing them would be an outright humiliation...

[cashead]

Need to win a final first. Harbour did it the hard way last year, getting into the play-offs at 3rd place, going down to Wellington and beating them at the Caketin before they gave Otago a dose of heartbreak at Forsyth-Barr courtesy of a 78th minute drop goal from Bryn Gatland.

I thought Harbour would struggle a bit without Chris Vui, Michael Little and Matt McGahan, who were key players last year, but they've barely missed those guys.

[rowan]

Looks like there are inter-division matches though. Taranaki just beat Auckland, and as far as I'm aware Taranaki is in the championship division and Auckland is in the premiership (for now).

[zer0]

Taranaki is 3rd in the Premiership where they've been one of the top teams for the last few years, and champions in 2014.

[rowan]

Ok, but Wellington played them just a week or so ago, didn't they? I saw a video clip and the Lions were rampant. So are there inter-divisional games, is all I'm wondering.

Or maybe it was Hawke's Bay on 2nd thoughts. I just had a look at the official web site and is clearly states there are inter-divisional games - crossovers. Pretty weird seeing Tasman in 1st division and Wellington in 2nd.

[J Dory]

Seeing the Taniwha back to winning ways is nice, having Ranger in the team is the icing on the cake.

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[cashead]

Northland have looked ominous at home especially in the way they dealt to Waikato.

[J Dory]

Northland versus North Harbour this Thursday. Fancy a friendly wager Cas?

[cashead]

OK.

[J Dory]

Winner get's to choose losers avatar for a month?

[cashead]

Sounds good to me.

[Lizard]

Looks like there are inter-division matches though. Taranaki just beat Auckland, and as far as I'm aware Taranaki is in the championship division and Auckland is in the premiership (for now).

Yes. You play round robin in your own division plus 4 "cross over" games with teams from the other division.

[rowan]

Thanks. That's what I was after. I couldn't find a clear explanation on the net. That sounds alright then. Better than just having first and second division. Kudos to the NZRFU on that innovation.

[cashead]

Habour and Northland are going hammer and tongs right now. 9-all going into the break.

Northland have looked more likely, but Harbour have held them out. Meanwhile, Harbour almost scored a try, and just couldn't finish it.

[cashead]

24-22 to Harbour at the moment.

[cashead]

Duffie is scary good under the high ball.

[cashead]

That's the game. Vaega just did an intercept try under the posts with about 90 seconds to go. YUSSSSSSSSS!

[cashead]

Scrum on the 80th, Northland's put in. The score is 31-22, so the winner is decided. This pretty much decides by how much.

[cashead]

Ooooooh, Harbour's going for a 4-try bonus point, since they've secured a win.