Updating those Aus v NZ stats after the weekend. Three more games, two more Aussie wins. Every Aussie side now has at least one win against a NZ side now Aussie Team Matches vs NZ Sides Wins vs NZ sides Brumbies 3 1 Force 3 1 Reds 3 2 Rebels 2 1 Waratahs 4 2 Total 15 7 Aussies vs Matches Aussies Wins Blues 3 0 Chiefs 2 1 Hurricanes 3 0 Crusaders 3 3 Highlanders 4 3 Total 15 7 Maybe this table should be split into North Island and South Island. The Chiefs letting down the North Island Highlanders the best of the South with the only win vs an Aussie side. Overall 7 SI games against Aussies and 6 losses

It was a gloomy autumn afternoon, but watching the game updates and checking other reports, there was some excellent matches this afternoon! Only one game was separated by more than 5 points, and 3 teams remain unbeaten. The big game between Mid Northern and Moerewa/United Kawakawa ended in a draw, from what I saw, MUKK lead for 75 odd minutes, and at 1 point were 9 points clear, but in the end it was a MUKK penalty at the death that saw the game end 26-26. I went along to Kamo v Sharks, 1st half Kamo were heading into a stiff breeze and was almost 20 minutes before they opened the scoring through young wing Jacob Lowther, they stretched thier lead further after #8 Jarvaiyas Mangu busted several tackles before out pacing the cover defence to put them out to 12-0. The Sharks hit back almost immediately with a nicely worked try to fullback Josiah Povey, the unsuccessful kick would see the half end 12-5. The Sharks, despite turning to face the wind hit back soon after the restart to tie things up at 12 all. Kamo then made some great in roads through thier pack, and after going close a couple of times, prop Iose Brown stepped a defender and scored next to the uprights to put Kamo back in front. The Sharks werent done, as they hit back soon after, they also had several chances with bruising lock Inoke Tavatu shrugging defenders aside as he stormed toward the line, then somehow, Kamo's 6 Harry Lowther bought him down just short, before they ended up scoring several phases later to again, draw level. Now inside the final 10, with the scores tied up at 19-19, Kamo won a penalty about 25 out, right in the middle of the field, and for some reason, they went for the corner...now they did win 2 further consecutive penalties at the lineout maul, then at a scrum, only to turn around and concede a dumb penalty to allow the Sharks off the hook. However, playing into the wind, the Sharks were unable to clear too far, and further waves of attack lead to the visitors making an error giving Kamo a scrum 5m out, from there Jayden Laupepe, thier normal fullback playing 9 crashed over his opposite to score the match winner, and with other results, go to the top of the table. For Kamo, Ben Monaghan played very well, carried strongly, tackled and was a good target in thier lineout, Blake Hohaia did well playing at FB, while young Jacob Lowther showed some glimpses of class on the wing. The Sharks who field a pretty decent sized forward pack were unable to utilise that advantage, even with big Inoke Tavatu and hard running midfielder Jone Mateiwai hitting the ball up, they were often met and bought down. Tavutu was also very busy at breakdowns and made some crucial tackles. Fullback Josiah Povey showed good pace and looked dangerous when he got the ball, while young Lucas Payne showed his extreme pace on occasion, sadly, usually only chasing kicks rather than with ball in hand. In the other games: Wellsford managed to come from behind to stop Hikurangi OBM comfortably accounted for Hora Hora Waipu nabbed thier first win of the season

Weather looks a bit dicey for tomorrow, which is a shame with 2 big games on the card that sees 1 v 3 and 2 v 5. Not yet seen any team sheets. Match of the round will be unbeaten MN (1st) taking on unbeaten Moerewa/United Kawakawa (3rd) MN are tracking well despite not being as strong (on paper) as last year, while MM/UKK is chock full of veteran players with a sprinkling of youth, while I expect MN to be too strong, I thnkn M/UKK will be there at the business end of the season Wellsford host Hikurangi, after a heavy home loss last week, Wellsford will be out to get back on track, however if Hikurangi have big Matt Letoga at 8 again, I think they will sneak past Wellsford. OBM fresh off their big away win over Wellsford will want to keep rolling against HH, who I must say aren’t as good as I thought they should be, although without a decent front row, they will battle, I think this will be tight, but OBM to win it Kamo (2nd) still undefeated host 5th place Western Sharks, I think Kamo should take this, while they aren’t the biggest, fastest or best, they have a solid looking team across the board, although their lineout is a bit of a weakness IMO Waipu, who defaulted in their away fixture last week, host Kerikeri, the visitors should be too strong for Waipu, who seem to be battling on and off the field this year and last year, after making the final in 2022

not too sure if it means they (Godfrey and Higgins) are on the outer as such. Higgins was very good when Barrett was on suspension so they will have a plan for both players I'm sure. Both players may have picked up niggles last week, we don't fully know so I guess no point speculating. They've both proven they can play well at this level, I'm sure we will see them again, potentially against the Tahs when they return to Welly. By then the likes of Barrett, Moorby etc will probably be rested. Will be interesting to see how Grant goes, he looks to be a big lad so if they can get him involved in a few games this year, it will give us even more depth next year (pending who we sign). Lauaki is another player that looks to have a big future, he's pretty much the player we thought Alex Fidow might be. Instead Lauaki can actually scrum but has that devastating ball running ability aswell. Good to see Sullivan back in the frame, hopefully he can have an injury free run for a while.

a reshuffle is understandable but to move Ajay to the bench after his performance is beyond me. The one position we need consistency, we want to see what Ajay has and he looked good and then we bench him? Will need to hear the reasons for this from Dermody but that just seems really odd. Also unsure how I feel about JRK on the bench but again, will be reasons behind that(he’s our biggest threat so imo should be starting). CGB did nothing last weekend to warrant a start in the 15 jersey. Don’t mind the forward rotations, good to see us putting Haig at 6. Does anyone have any word on how long Renton is out for? We need him back badly, same goes for Holland. Dunshea playing club last week so he can’t be far away from an appearance which will be huge for us. Hopefully the reshuffle lights a rocket under us and we can get a result with big impact coming from the bench. Up the landers!

How are the Aussie sides doing against NZ opposition? Aussies vs Matches Aussies Wins Blues 2 0 Chiefs 2 1 Hurricanes 3 0 Crusaders 2 2 Highlanders 3 2 Total 12 5 A huge improvement from a few years ago. Relatively spread out too with 3 NZ sides losing at least once to an Aussie side Looking at it from the other direction: Aussie Team Matches vs NZ Sides Wins vs NZ sides Brumbies 2 1 Force 2 0 Reds 2 1 Rebels 2 1 Waratahs 4 2 Total 12 5 Again, relatively spread out, 4 of the 5 Aussie sides have picked up a win against NZ opposition