Holy shit where did that come from?

Holy shit where did that come from?

Sure I still take issues with a few selections (and the wider problems still exist) but gee, the lads pulled together last night and didnt just do the business, in those conditions, they gave Tasman an absolute dust up.

That was off the back of a colossal defensive effort last night, that passage where they threw everything, 20+ phases at us, we were controlled and disciplined, was so good to watch.

Our defence simply smothered them across the park, pressuring them into errors, slowing the ball to their mid-field, so much so that Aumua only had one of his trademark bullocking runs, even Tavatavanawai wasn't able to get himself going.

But it didn't just end there, normally we would be all defence and no fire, but we attacked them too, scoring a some excellent tries.

As a Taniwha fan we have grown accustomed to us showing glimpses of that in matches, and I sat there nervously awaiting our usual capitulation; not last night, we maintained the intensity for the full 80, with many of the players that needed to put in a good shift, doing so.

Our scrum that was shaky last week, was rock solid at times, young Lemisio showed that a week is a long time and held up his side much better this week, our lineout was very good (unlike thiers) with BKP putting in some shift last night.

The whole pack deserved to take a bow, they all manned up and did thier job carrying, cleaning and making tackles, and then a few more tackles.

All the reserves put the effort in and did thier jobs, even big CTC who is rather unfit, you saw him pop up making tackles in some of those multi phase efforts of Tasman while doing the business at scrumtime - this fella has all the attributes to go to the next level and I love watching him play, just loves the physical game.

Congrats to Jurlina on his debut, put in a good shift.

Milo-Harris had a few average passes, but like what he brings, even his back up Hape put in a couple of outstanding kicks and cleared the ball well when he came on.

Reihana missed a couple of kicks he shouldnt have, and that pen off the posts, where was our chase, it coulda ended badly, otherwise he seems to be growing at this level with consistent starts.

Much maligned Hohaia still gives me the shits when he rushes out of the line and also lost a couple of balls to turnovers, but for the most part he just did his job.

Tua again was fairly anonymous, while Goodhue played simply when he came on, ran hard and straight, then made his tackles, just provides a good calm influence out there.

The combo of Moorby and Murray is looking pretty sharp, providing good kicking options along with some great attacking options, Rush on the other hand seems to be battling, although I do like the fact he chases kicks hard putting pressure on, but gee he makes some silly mistakes too.

Hopefully no new injuries this week, MacNamara didn't look like a new injury, just the same one he seemed to be struggling with already this season.

All in all, like, yeah, what the actual was that, but as J77 says, now we need to back it up next week.

Thought I should add, was one of Pickerills better games I have seen, his policing of the ruck was as lacklustre as usual, but he was pretty consistent in allowing both sides plenty of latitude, sure he missed some stuff, but did so both ways that I saw.

Have updated the poll with results from the Southland game, and if you havent voted, get in there.

https://www.forum.thesilverfern.com/topic/6188/northland-motm-v-tasman/3