Hawke's Bay's best rugby only happens when the forwards play ugly and
That cross-kick into the gale that ended up near the car park still gives me a good chuckle 😂 We all knew where it was going, the fullback knew, half of Napier knew, apparently the playmaker didn't. That's the whole argument in one photo really.
My hot take: this mob is at their best when the forwards just get stuck in and the backs keep it simple. All this sweepy double-loop stuff looks flash on a dry track in Christchurch, but McLean Park's wind doesn't care about your fancy shape, it turns every wide ball into a hospital pass and every cross-kick into a donation to the neighbours. forwards win us games here, backs just need to finish what's left over. Don't agree? Fine, remind me of the last time the pretty stuff worked in a southerly 🤡
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Sorry RobReds but one good kick vs one in the car park? The wind wins that trade every time 😱 I was there that day, sat shivering behind the posts watching it sail sideways, my old man just laughed and said "ah well, nowt to do". Forwards bashing it up tight at McLean Park beats any flash backline move, backing them all day 💪🔥On the terraces since I was a kid.
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Watched enough footy at McLean Park to know the tape backs Faithful_Zone here - when the southerly's up, our tight-five uggers winning the collision and the nine keeping it in close is where nearly all our good possession comes from, while the wide shift just hands the wind another tackle-buster. RobReds, those three cross-kicks that worked were downwind days if I remember right, which kind of proves our point rather than yours. I could be wrong, but I'd take the forwards bashing it up all afternoon over any backline flair the gale can turn into a car park special.
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Funny, I saw that cross-kick live too — but what sticks with me is the old days before it went professional, when the Magpies won Bunnings NPC nights (well, the old NPC) at McLean Park purely by shoving it up the jumpers and letting the forwards get munted in the mud. Back in my day nobody fancied a wide shift into that southerly, they just bashed on and the wind did the rest. Only thing that's changed is the price of a pie, aye 😉Watch as long as I have and you'll get it.
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Put the TAB odds on us winning when we stop the fancy stuff and I'd have my flat Deposit on it every week 😏 OldSchool's mud memory is the whole truth, lads.Here to argue, not to nod along.
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Nah RobReds I still reckon the wind's overrated as the villain tbh 😤 plenty of sides have run width at McLean Park when the forwards give them front-foot ball, we just go sideways cos our uggers get beaten at the collision. Was at that car park cross-kick too and wanted to crawl under my seat 🙈 give the backs a go before we blame the southerly!One love, one side ❤️
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millie love, i hear you on the collision area, but i can't let the wind off the hook that easy 😄 spent plenty of cold nights at the old brook watching sides with all the front-foot ball in the world try to fling it wide into that southerly, and the touchie ended up retrieving more ball from the bank than the wings did touching it. the sky always gets a vote down here. a halfback can have the cleanest ruck pill in the competition and it's still a dice roll if he spins it into a gale. back in my day the smart sides read the weather before they read the defence, the magpies' best mclean park nights came when the forwards rolled the sleeves up and the backs kept the fancy stuff in the vest till the breeze dropped. ugly forwards, patient backs, that's the recipe. wind and the collision both matter, no need to pick one villain.Been here longer than some have followed.
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Both of you are half right. Watch any team run width successfully at McLean Park. It's always after three phases of tight carries that bent the defence first. No front foot, no wind excuse.
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GloryDays summed it up better than I could, and I've got the notebook to prove it 📊 Three tight phases before any width, that's been the pattern in every decent spell I've tracked at McLean Park over the last few NPC seasons. When the forwards bend the line first, even the southerly becomes manageable; when they don't, the wind just magnifies the mess. One caveat though: I could be wrong, but I'd add that our own kicking game deserves a share of the blame too. Millie's right that front-foot ball fixes a lot, but a cross-kick into a gale is a decision, and we keep making it. I used to sit in the stand near the car park end as a kid, and honestly some things haven't changed since. The fix starts up front, but the ten's got to read the flags as well.Do the math before you argue.
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FrontRowFan's notebook has it right, and Millie love you can fling it as wide as you want when the forwards have already softened them up - otherwise you're just donating ball 😏 Funny, whenever I've chucked a few NZ$ on the Bay at the TAB they look like world beaters exactly when the pack stops trying to play pretty. Crash it three times, then go, simple as, really.Any stat can be bent.
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FrontRowFan's notebook 📊 lol what's next, wind speed graphs? Nah, the car park kick was pure ego, ah well, nowt to do 🔥🤬You don't abandon your own.
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Faithful, the wind graphs are real, I keep them on the same page as the phase counts 📊 One caveat though: my sample is three NPC seasons, which is small, so take it as a trend rather than gospel. GloryDays and Andy are saying the same thing from different ends. The car park kick only happens when the pack hasn't earned the right to go wide yet. Whether that's ego or just a playmaker panicking in the gale, I'll leave open.