Southland — Northland — Community Consensus & Technical Dossier

SeenItAll's got a point about training camps but nah, I reckon form still counts for something 😤 Northland putting 52 on Wellington then losing at home to Counties the next week, what does that even tell a selector?tbh if I'm Foster's mob I'm watching how guys bounce back from a hiding, not the scoreline. Southland shipping 55 to Taranaki... that's the sort of thing that kills

Diehard, your Taranaki ticket dying was rough, but I'd separate the two losses before writing Southland off entirely. conceding 55 in New Plymouth and then 34 in Christchurch are bad, sure, though Canterbury away is a different animal from hosting a Northland side that just lost at home to Counties Manukau 19:22 after looking world-beaters against Wellington the week prior. Tha

I could be wrong, but the 19-55 at Taranaki worries me more — a side that concedes 50+ rarely fixes it in a week. Taniwha by a try.

Think of it like a baker hiding the batch until the oven door opens, same trick here, paper lineups on Wednesday and a reshuffle at team announcement. Given Southland's defensive numbers across those two trips (55 conceded in New Plymouth alone), you'd expect them to load the forward pack wherever fit and pray; Northland's slide from that 52-28 showing in Wellington to leaking