Wooooooooooooooooooohooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

For me , one of the key things was the Magpies having experienced heads Parsons, Dixon and Evans On the paddock deep into the game .
And Canterbury’s bench I thought did’nt really offer a lot..
On Fakatava, yes he’s a young guy , but at the minute he suffers from the Augustine Pulu syndrome, what’s in it for me is my first option ..he actually surveys before clearing the ball, to the point of delaying putting extra pressure on the midfield ..

That celebration. Of the players and the crowd. That's how much it means.

if ever a game needed a nil-all draw....

Graphics department don't know the rules. They have Hawkes up as "BAY".

All I can say is WHAT A FINISH!

ILW looked a bit more like his old self tonight.

Generally speaking I don't like hangovers, but this one I'm strangely enjoying. That game last night was something special, not just because Hawkes Bay won it but because it had a bit of everything. Hawkes Bay started well, moved Canterbury around and kept the attacking mindset. The set piece namely the scrum was strong, and out wide Visinia and Lowe were on fire. Toala looked full of running and Baker at the back looked very assured. Fokatava played well, but too many inside flick passes. Canterbury as per usual after halftime came out full of fire, and looked to be pulling away towards the 70 minute mark, but for me the best part of this game was that Hawkes Bay stayed tough, stayed in the fight and never gave in. Devan Flanders, Ash Dixon, Tom Parsons, Joe Apikitoa take a bow, you were all simply brilliant. Brendan O'Connor likewise at the breakdown. Jason Long magnificent last scrum, and good to see he like the rest of the pack never gave in and conceded. 1982 seems a long time ago, and is but this Hawkes Bay effort showed everything you want to see in players in the Black and White jersey. Great game, great effort, and for once an enjoyable hangover. Well done boys.

Some guys still don't know how it works aye. It's not about where a player catches the ball, a ball is allowed to drift forward; it's about where players are when the pass is made. At the time that O'Connor passed the ball, Visinia was next to him (to be more precise, about a footlength behind him).

The second thing that you need to look at is the position of the hand of the player passing the ball. The ball should leave his hands backward. And that's exactly what O'Connor did.

So it was the flattest of flat balls. Near perfect. Not forward.

Sorry, I didn't manage to make a better screenshot. This is just after the ball left O'Connor's hand. O'Connor is still a tiny bit in front (look at their feet). And there's a good reason why Visinia was in front of him a second or two later: O'Connor was tackled and Visinia is faster. The ball drifted forward; that happens when you pass a ball while running. Physics.

I was extremely magnanimous in victory last night, congratulating every Canterbury supporter in the clubrooms on their well deserved bonus point. Well not quite all as one turned out to confess later on that he was born in Hastings. That detail did not stop him demonstrating total support to Canterbury throughout. Thought seriously about aiming incorrectly when running into him in the urinal! The hangover is improving.

Parsons has been outstanding. It's incredible he did not get a contract for the SR while teams like the Canes or the Chiefs had to field undersized and inexperienced locks.

Can I be given extra points in the Supporters Award for wearing a Magpies jersey with what looks like to be some beer stains on a couple of the white hoops? Don't recall spilling any before during or after the smacking of Counties last Sunday but the evidence is undisputable. Still I suspect there might be a few more added to those already there sometime later today. The fridge is stocked so I can accomplish my pre match warm up in traditional style before departing to my club down here's prizegiving. Fortunately we have a contingent of about ten or a dozen HB supporters here so will not be left to soldier on solo like I dutifiably did in the very same clubrooms that I will be watching the game from tonight that famous day when Nemia Tialata went to sleep on the playing field .

Hah Knewstubb did not want any part of that.

@Bones said in Hawke's Bay v Canterbury:

Fakatava could work on his decision making.

I want him to work on his haircut first though.