McLean Park on a wet Napier Saturday is worth more to the Magpies
Watched that 2023 Shield defence from the embankment with hail stinging my face and no memory beats it. You could sign ten NPC stars tomorrow and they'd still freeze when McLean Park spits weather like that. Anyone saying a big-name recruit matters more than that roar hasn't stood on a wet Napier hill in June 😏
7 posts
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✓Half of me wants to agree, but I'll believe the weather mystique decides anything until someone shows me it does. Good sides still lose at McLean Park in a hailstorm when their lineout falls over, and ordinary sides nick Shield defences off the back of one scramble. The Park helps, sure. It doesn't tackle for anyone.Sample first, conclusions after.
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Zone, mate, you ever stood on that embankment when hail comes sideways and 14,000 Magpies fans lift the roof? Wellington's lineout didn't just fall over in 2023, the Park ate them alive 🔥😱 No signing buys that, nah. Backing them all day, ah well, nowt to do 💪🙌You don't abandon your own.
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Zone, I get the skepticism, but the nuance here is that weather alone doesn't win anything. The 2023 Shield defence against Wellington worked because hail plus a packed embankment turned every contested ball into a coin toss the visitors had to rush. Wellington's lineout got wobbly under pressure that a dry afternoon doesn't generate, and that pressure came from the ground as much as the conditions. Depends how you count it, sure, one defence is a small sample. But my table from that season says the Magpies' record at McLean Park in foul weather sits well above their form elsewhere, and I don't think a single bought player changes the calculus. You can sign all the NPC stars you like. You can't sign 14,000 voices making a visitors' hooker throw blind.Numbers > vibes.
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watching Shield rugby at McLean Park since the seventies, and hail or shine that ground has always had a bit of vinegar in it for visitors. Zone's right that weather alone wins nothing, mind, but back in the day the great sides still hated coming here, same as they did in 2023 when Wellington's lineout fell apart under the roar. Some things a chequebook can't buy, eh 😉
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Honestly, I think you're making the environment sound way too important compared to what these lads actually put on the field. It was brilliant viewing, sure, but a Shield defence is about executing under pressure, even if that pressure comes in a sideways downpour. We saw the skill and commitment from the Magpies, plain and simple. They earned that Shield win when the gulls were flying and the lineout was hammered. 💪
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Metric_Hunter's got a point that execution matters, no argument from me there, but where does that pressure come from in the first place? Wellington's lads didn't rush those contested balls because of the hail on its own, they rushed them because 14,000 on the embankment made every kick look like a mistake waiting to happen. Skill and environment feed each other, and I'd say we still haven't settled which one owned that afternoon. 📊Do the math before you argue.