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

At this point, how more excuses are there for Dermody. I had high hopes for him, but with a squad that is arguably better than last year (certainly one with more attacking weapons) we're tracking to finish even worse. We are by no means the best in the comp, but we just aren't this bad. We're going backwards and not forwards, we aren't learning. Tele'a will come back in next week, and I guess that might improve things slightly, but that just goes to the point that it is moments of brilliance from the players digging us out, not the other way around. The Highlanders nearly won that trans-tasman tournament with a backline of Smith, Hunt, Nareki, Gregory, Collins, Tomkinson and J Ioane. The forward pack was hardly any better, if not worse. The bench was a 6-2 split including the likes of Teariki Ben-Nicholas and Kayne Hammington. Funnily enough Dermody was the coach, though clearly Brown was the overarching figure and had only dipped off. T Brown might have been a reluctant head coach - I think that is clear, but in terms of getting the squad to play to their level of ability, he is the only one to have managed it since Jamie.

Unfortunately I wasnt able to make a game today with most out of town. But looking at the scores, all went as I thought, with MN, Kamo & M/KK retaining thier unbeaten record (that will change next week with MN & M/KK facing) MN putting 45 on KK, who TBF had thier usual 9 at 10 and Johnny Cooper at 13, but was a bit of a surprise, as was the margin OBM got in thier first win of the season. Was interesting to see Allen Craig on the bench for MN after playing last night too. Kamo took a while to get going v Hika, with Matt Letoga picking up 2 early tries that saw them leading for parts of the game. Sad part is Waipu defaulting, no one likes to see that, but I hear it is being seen more often around the country too, that is concerning. That said, the games I have been to, have all been well supported by fans, no less than previous years, the odd game, probably better crowds turning up.