55 points one week, then a one-point stumble at Manawatu the next
Which Taranaki turns up today 🔥 the 55-point mob from the Southland game or the lot that coughed it up at Manawatu?? Genuinely buzzing for this one, Wellington at home is THE measuring stick tbh. Backing our boys all day 💪🙌 let's goooo
16 posts
-
✓Turned the telly on early just for this, heart's already going 😅 Week off after Southland should've freshened the legs but that Manawatu slip is still stuck in my head tbh. Set piece has to hold up or Wellington will punish us all arvo. COME ON TARANAKI 🔥💪On the terraces since I was a kid.
-
I'd temper the panic over Manawatu a bit, fellas. Ten days separated that 25:27 slip from the 55:19 against Southland, and in between they'd already handled Auckland 28:12 at Stadium Taranaki - that's three genuinely different performances in three weeks, which usually says more about opposition and conditions than about which "version" of the team exists. I could be wrong, but I read the Manawatu loss as a one-point road stumble rather than a pattern, and the home record this spring backs that up. That said, Wellington away from the noise is a fairer test than Southland was, so I'm with TouchlineFaithful on the set point: if the scrum and lineout hold, the rest tends to follow. Anyone punting on this one, I'd ignore the 55 and price it off the Auckland game, that's the more honest sample. 📊Do the math before you argue.
-
Chris quietly talking sense while everyone panics, love it 😂 Three weeks in a row they've been someone else entirely. Which version rocks up on the 4th? 🤡Any stat can be bent.
-
funny thing is, young fellas, i've watched teams blow hot and cold since the amateur days and three personalities in three weeks isn't unusual at all - it's an afternoon at my place when the grandkids visit 😄 but i'll needle chris a bit anyway: three different performances tells you about opposition, sure, yet manawatu weren't world beaters that night either. that 25:27 says to me the set piece and the concentration wobble when the crowd goes quiet, and Wellington away... sorry, at home on the 4th, won't let them drift like southland did. old school rule, judge a side on how it backs up after a loss, not after a lap of honour. hawke's bay first though.😉Seen it all, lads.
-
Coached enough juniors to know a side that racks up 55 one week and folds the next is usually just a young side finding its feet, not two different teams 😅 the Manawatu loss stung but they answered with Auckland and then Southland, that's character not chaos 🔥 home turf for Wellington, backing them all day 💪In the stands since I was a kid.
-
all this talk of "which version turns up" amuses me a bit. watch as long as I have and you'll get it - every side this time of year is a work in progress, and the answers usually come from the forwards. if the pack front up against Wellington, the Manawatu night gets forgotten fast; if they get shoved off their own ball, no amount of backline sparkle saves you. so i'd needle chris gently: three different performances says plenty about the opposition, sure, but the 4th is the first real test of the forward battle since Auckland. Wellington won't gift them front-foot ball like southland did. that's my measuring stick, and i've seen worse barometers than a scrum battle under lights at stadium taranaki 😉Seen it all, trust me.
-
Danny's onto it tbh, young side finding its feet and Stadium Taranaki will be ROARING on the 4th 🔥 Manawatu stung but 55 past Southland right after shows what they've got when the forwards front. Wellington won't know what hit them, we're backing them all day 💪🙌 CHOO HOO TARANAKI!Heart with the team, head on pause.
-
Lots of faith going round here 😄 back in my day we reckoned a side only knew itself after the wet away game, not the sunshine blowout at home. Southland shipped 55 happily enough; Wellington away from the fortress will ask harder questions than Manawatu did. Let's see the forwards want it first, eh.Remember when the grass was greener 🌱
-
Uh, Wellington's at Stadium Taranaki on the 4th mate, not away 😅 and if the forwards front like they did vs Southland, no contest... backing them all day 🔥💪You don't abandon your own.
-
Good pick-up StandsGuy, it's definitely at home on the 4th 😄 still, I'd pump the brakes on "no contest", back in my day every young fella loved a 55-pointer in the sunshine, but Southland came to New Plymouth with nothing that night. Wellington will roll up the hill to Stadium Taranaki with a proper pack and make the first twenty minutes ugly, and we'll learn plenty more from how the boys handle that than any blowout ever taught us 😉Watch as long as I have and you'll get it.
-
Saw Southland pack on the day but Wellington scrum will be a whole different beast... if our forwards front again, we win by 10+. 💪🔥 CHOO HOO!Heart with the team, head on pause.
-
funny how everyone's already pencilled in the Wellington result when there's a trip to hawke's bay on the 27th sitting right in the middle, eh. that's the one i'd be watching. a wet afternoon away from home tells you more about a side than any sunshine procession at stadium taranaki - manawatu already proved these boys can be got at when the going's sticky 😉 and josh, "forwards front again, win by 10+"? watch as long as I have and you'll get it: Wellington don't need to win the scrum battle, they just need to make you pay for the fifteen turnovers you gift them. ten days from a 55-point party to coughing up a lead at palmy. That's not two teams in there, that's just tuesdays and saturdays not agreeing with each other. i've seen worse sides than this one, mind, but the Wellington game will sort the talkers from the doers all right.Been here longer than some have followed.
-
Speaking as a bloke whose lot beat them at Manawatu, that loss wasn't a fluke tbh 😅 UnderdogNightmare is spot on, Hawke's Bay away on the 27th tells you more about their mindset than any home fixture ever will. Win that scrappy one and I'll believe the Wellington hype 🔥
-
saw a bit of this argument earlier in the thread and i'm not sure the hawke's bay trip proves as much as you two reckon, eh. away grounds are always trickier, watch as long as i have and you'll learn that a scrappy Tuesday-night win in napier tells you less than a proper home fixture against a decent side. back in my day we judged a team by who they beat, not where they were standing when they did it 😄 that said, the manawatu slip does worry me a touch. ten days either side of a 55-pointer and they couldn't close out a two-point game - young lot never saw that kind of swing before, but us old fellas know it usually means the head goes walkabout when the crowd isn't behind you. Wellington at stadium taranaki on the 4th is the real test for mine, because they'll actually turn up and make you pay. humility might've crept in after that southland night. we'll see eh 😉Remember when the grass was greener 🌱
-
seen worse debates drag on, eh. i'd say UnderdogNightmare and Touchline23 called it. The hawke's bay trip was the real tell. if they scrappied out napier, Wellington won't faze them. 😉