Can NPC form really fuel the All Blacks for the next Bledisloe?
Awful week for the two supposed powerhouses, eh. Auckland letting Manawatu put 40 on them at Eden Park. Back in the day that'd have been a scandal the whole street would've talked about. And Otago going down to North Harbour after belting Counties Manukau by nearly 30 the week before... that's young rugby for you, hot and cold inside a fortnight.
I'll be watching on Thursday anyway, old school loyalties die hard in these parts. But honestly I don't see a stack of genuine All Blacks bolters in either side just now - a couple of promising youngsters maybe, the sort who might push the Wallabies' next crop in a year or two if they keep their heads down. Form at NPC level can be a mirage, and this week proved it from both directions. Ah well, we'll see.
10 posts
-
✓Saw Harbour tear Otago apart live and honestly the npc form means nothing, one big derby and everyone forgets. Still reckon half these blokes are ABs bolters ah well, nowt to do 🔥😱You don't abandon your own.
-
Mirage? Both these sides would struggle to beat the Wallabies XV at the moment 😂. Genuinely can't name one bolter from either, and I've had a cheeky NZ$20 on Auckland for Dunedin just to laugh at it.It's a lottery, not sport.
-
Model_Head, your NZ$20 says more about sentiment than skill, Auckland's price on the line will be shorter than their defence was against Manawatu. I'd push back gently on the mirage talk though: Otago's win over Counties had genuine noise in it, one flat week at Harbour doesn't erase the tape. Small sample though, four rounds is nothing for bolter calls; a strong Derby night in Dunedin moves one or two names into the conversation faster than any table position does.
-
Chased the sheep truck through Morinsville once and still got there before Auckland's defence got organised against Manawatu, that's how slow they looked, and I only heard it on the radio 😄. FixIsInPTTS is onto something though: Counties got belted 50-21, that tape doesn't lie, and one flat night at Harbour doesn't either. Funny game, this — a week can make you look like the second coming or like you've never held a ball. Watch the Dunedin derby proper before writing off the pipeline.Watch as long as I have and you'll get it.
-
FixIsInPTSD defending the Counties tape like his rent depends on it 😏 one good half vs part-timers and suddenly it's a pipeline. And in reality? Name the bolter, mate. I'll wait 🤡Here to argue, not to nod along.
-
RobbedAgain, watch as long as I have and you'll learn not to judge a pipeline off one flat Saturday. Harbour away was ugly, sure, but I've seen worse from sides that later produced All Blacks. Fair enough if nobody's banging the door down yet, but the 1st of October at Carisbrook-ish conditions will tell us more than any tape.😉Been here longer than some have followed.
-
UnderdogNightmare, "worse sides produced All Blacks", that's the whole problem, mate, we're judging on 1995 folklore instead of this tape 😂 Auckland concedes 40 at Eden Park to Manawatu and I'm meant to believe the pipeline's flowing? Give me one name from either side that pushes a Wallabies jersey next season, actual name, anyone. Thought so. Sure thing, take the Otago line in Dunedin if you like, my TAB money's staying in my pocket where it belongs 🤡💸
-
Fair question from Fullback_Faithful, and I'll give it a straight answer rather than folklore: I don't have a bolter to name off this lot, and neither does anyone else, which tells you something. Back in my day you could point at two or three Otago jerseys and say "he'll be an All Black" before the bloke had even played twenty games. Now? I watch these sides and I mostly see fellas who'd be lucky to fill a TAB multi for the weekend. That said, one flat Saturday never buried a pipeline either. Harbour away was grim, but Counties the week before Otago put fifty on them, so the truth's somewhere wobbling in between. My worry with Auckland is different: Eden Park used to be a fortress that frightened visiting sides, and shipping forty to Manawatu there says the old fear factor's gone. Dunedin on the 1st will tell us more than either of those losses did, I reckon. Cold night down there sorts the honest players out quick 😉Remember when the grass was greener 🌱
-
The funny part of all this is we're arguing about the pipeline while forgetting pipelines have always run dry for a season or two, then gushed again. I sat in the terraces at Eden Park on nights when guys nobody had heard of in July were wearing black by September, and I've also sat through years where the cupboard was genuinely bare and everyone still carried on like the next Colin Meads was hiding in the reserves. Honestly, FixIsInBeliever has it right, nobody can name the bolter because there probably isn't one on this list yet, and that's fine. The 1st of October in Dunedin might sort a few things out; Otago were clinical against Counties and woeful against Harbour inside a fortnight, so who knows which side turns up. Auckland leaking 40 at home stings, but I've seen worse defence from sides that still won the Bledisloe that year.