KIWIS TEAM v Tonga

[Revelation 3:20]

Right Lads, Kiwis are taking on Tonga before they shoot off to England.
What is the side going to look like? For me I’ll be interested in what the centre pairing will be, Mannering is out and Ropati has had a shocker of a year and also injured so we wont have the pair that won the World Cup but there are some exciting prospects, Inu is in great form, Matai has stayed injury free, Sau looks to be a talented player. There are also young players such as Alex Glenn, Chase Stanley pushing for inclusion.
Plus, two guys in Soliola and Sa have been there before but both have had an average year with the Roosters, so plenty to choose from.

With the big Vatuvai and Tuiaki injured the Kiwis will be looking for a new wing combo in the following test, while Manu was a certainty to play if not injured. Tuiaki, I’m sure would have made his test return after a stellar season with the Tigers. Players such as Nightingale, Perrett, Locke, Shaun Kenny-Dowall, Chase Stanley again could play wing, Bryson Goodwin has had a great year for the Dogs, SKD offers a height advantage the others don’t. Winterstein another who had a great debut year with the Broncos, Covell is a solid experienced winger and good with the boot and Talanoa, if is not selected could play for the opposition Tonga.

The back row many have a new look to it with Smith pulling out with injury. Will Faalogo play, after his Kung fu fight with Jason Taylor? After coming from no where and shining in the World Cup Harrison would be a cert for the team. Eastwood seems to have his name carved out on the bench, Eddy Pettybourne has been a tyro coming off the bench for the Bunnies, Pritchard will push for a Kiwis return despite the up and down nature of his game. JWH, Matulino and Nuuausala are all good prospects; there is also Halatau who has experience and utility worth. Blair has had stints as a backrower for the Storm as well.

I think the loss of a lot of their experienced players should be off-set by picking their most experienced line-up.

Here is my Kiwi side to face Tonga
1. Perrett
2. Nightingale
3. Matai
4. Inu
5. ?????
6. Marshall ©
7. Roberts
8. Lima
9. Luke
10. Blair
11. Harrison (VC)
12. Faalogo
13. Pritchard

R. Moimoi
R. Pettybourne (debut)
R. Hohaia
R. Eastwood

18th Foran

Others (not including ESL based players)
Luke Covell
Nathan Fien
Alex Glenn
Bryson Goodwin
Dene Halatau
Shaun Kenny-Dowall
Kevin Locke
Ben Matulino
Frank-Paul Nuuausala
Russell Packer
Setaimata Sa
Junior Sau
Iosia Soliola
Chase Stanley
Fetuli Talanoa
Jared Waerea-Hargeaves
Antonio Winterstein

 

[aqua_duck]

Matai has been ordinary this season imo

 

[Mixmasterreece]

1. Perrett
2. Nightingale
3. Stanley
4. Inu
5. Goodwin
6. Roberts
7. Marshall
8. Lima
9. Luke
10. Blair
11. Pritchard
12. Faalogo
13. Harrison

R. Moimoi
R. Pettybourne
R. Hohaia
R. Eastwood

 

[Drzoidberg]

Do you think they would have a full (or close to) strength team against tonga?

 

[African Monkey]

Talanoa deserves a go on the wing. He was awesome for us this year.

 

[ozbash]

I'd give some of the younger guys a run, myself.
Guys who would be probably be out of contention in 4N but who will be in the mix in the future.

Kearney will already have the guts of his 4N squad sorted out and it would do no harm at all giving some of the younger/fringe players a taste..

 

[aqua_duck]

1. Perrett
2. Nightingale
3. Sau
4. Inu
5. Goodwin
6. Roberts
7. Marshall
8. Lima
9. Luke
10. Moi Moi
11. Pritchard
12. Blair
13. Harrison

R. Rapira
R. Pettybourne
R. Hohaia
R. Eastwood

 

[Drzoidberg]

Kearney will already have the guts of his 4N squad sorted out and it would do no harm at all giving some of the younger/fringe players a taste..

yea i agree, not really any point in playing his cards early

1 Webb
2 Winterstien
3 Sau
4 Glenn
5 Locke
6 Foran
7 Marshall
8 Blair
9 Luke
10 Packer
11 Pritchard
12 Harrison
13 Faa'logo

14 Eastwood
15 Fien/Hohaia
16 Moimoi (sh*t that list is short on props who aint in the GF)
17 Pettybourne

worth a stab ;-)

 

[Dragons1990]

1. Perrett
2. Locke
3. Glenn
4. Inu
5. Goodwin
6. Marshall ©
7. Roberts
8. Moi Moi
9. Luke
10. Blair
11. Harrison
12. Soliola
13. Pritchard

R. Lima
R. Pettybourne
R. Packer
R. Fien

18th Man: Steve Matai/Ben Matalino

 

[Revelation 3:20]

:shock: Ozbash you have to be joking, this isnt some throw away test were we give players Kiwis jerseys. You cant use the Kiwis team to develope players. You may see some new faces but to see all those guy in at the same time.....never. I'm glad you guys aren't the Kiwi selectors. You should always play your best team because they need to gel as much as they can before they go to England.

 

[DeeJ]

:shock: Ozbash you have to be joking, this isnt some throw away test were we give players Kiwis jerseys.

No offense but you guys do this already anyway. Whenever there's some new young Kiwi eligible player who's had a few good games he's already playing for the national side.

 

[Benjitheking]

No offense but you guys do this already anyway. Whenever there's some new young Kiwi eligible player who's had a few good games he's already playing for the national side.

Its slowly getting better

 

[Benjitheking]

01.Sam Perrett
02.SKD/Nightingale
03.Junior Sau
04.Krisnan Inu
05.Bryson Goodwin
06.Benji Marshall
07.Ben Roberts
08.Fuifui Moimoi
09.Isaac Luke
10.Adam Blair
11.Sia Soiola
12.Bronson Harrison
13.Greg Eastwood

14.Lance Hohaia
15.Russel Packer
16.Jeff Lima
17.Frank Pritchard

 

[deal.with.it]

they will need some players with genuine mongrel and anger with the idea of losing a test match.
moi moi, matai and perhaps eastwood spring to mind.
im not saying fill the whole team with hot heads, but its a test match.

 

[Skinner]

Regardless of who plays, I wonder how many injuries will come out of it..

 

[Revelation 3:20]

No offense but you guys do this already anyway. Whenever there's some new young Kiwi eligible player who's had a few good games he's already playing for the national side.

Most of the time it was out of necessity, we don’t have the same amount of players playing league compared to Australia. Some time we do pick players early because Aussie tries to get their greedy mitts on them. And ever time we play Australia one of our top players gets suspended the week before…coincidences, no.

We don’t have the luxury of having half a dozen world class players in every position like Australia……..yet we still won the World Cup, World Champions……that sound good.

 

[ozbash]

:shock: Ozbash you have to be joking, this isnt some throw away test were we give players Kiwis jerseys.

so, beating Tonga by 100+ will do the game, the kiwis a lot of good ?

where did I say throw the game ?

we continue to play these 1 offs with a full line strength line up and get snotted in the process, whats the difference.. ?

give the young guys a run in these 'nothing' games..

 

[Revelation 3:20]

Regardless of who plays, I wonder how many injuries will come out of it..

gee thats a sad way of looking at it.....

 

[Skinner]

gee thats a sad way of looking at it.....

No mate, I saw what happened to Stacey in a nothing game like this....

 

[Revelation 3:20]

so, beating Tonga by 100+ will do the game, the kiwis a lot of good ?

where did I say throw the game ?

we continue to play these 1 offs with a full line strength line up and get snotted in the process, whats the difference.. ?

give the young guys a run in these 'nothing' games..

First I didn’t say you said 'throw the game' I’m saying it’s not a nothing test.

Point 1 - It will do the Kiwis (who have not played for a month) a chance to dust off the cobwebs

Point 2 – New Zealand as World Champs have a duty to play such games against smaller playing nations

Point 3 – It gives people a chance to watch the Kiwis play, when most of the time big tests against Aussie and England would be played in the main centers Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch. People of Rotorua can go and watch some world class players.

Point 4 – We play full strength, so we aren’t like touring French rugby teams and fluffing about All black teams. The best Kiwis team will get bigger crowds.

Point 5 – Weakened line up just don’t help, there could be the small possibility of getting beaten. In 1995 the Kiwis beat Tonga by one point; they nearly lost because they took them lightly.

Point 6 – NZRL should have thought about a Kiwis ‘A’, Junior Kiwis or Maori team for development. I said it once I’ll say it again; you should never blood a heap of young players at the same time when there is no need too. Many of them will get their chance and some will even go on tour. The Kiwis don’t have to panic like they use to in bringing in new players because a lot of the players they have now are all still young Harrison, Marshall, Luke, Blair and Inu to name a few have many years in the Kiwis jersey.

Point 7 – Most current players are still inexperienced at international level, a lot of the established players have only played a half-a-dozen games. Many of them still have room for development.

Point 8 – Back in the day the Kiwis would play heaps of different nations, club sides in Aussie, England and France when on tour. Playing side like Tonga, Samoa, PNG, and France is all part of Rugby League. Now I would see your point if they were playing Japan, Italy or South Africa as they are all minor League playing nations.

Point 9 – How boring would it be if we just played Aussie and England, Aussie and England, Aussie and England. I’ve been to a few games when they have played Tonga and other smaller nations as a kid I didn’t care about the score or who the Kiwis played I was just happy to see my favorite players playing. ‘Someone think of the kids’

Point 10 – Your Ozbash….I’m not going to agree with you.

Point 11 – We play Tonga fir the same reason the Aussie Prime ministers 13 played PNG, for the same reason France is in the four nations. To make an effort, promoting and developing the game. I would rather see Tonga get smashed then to say ‘we will never play Tonga or any smaller nation AGAIN’.

Point 12 – For the future I would like to see a double header maybe Aussie v NZ with a full strength Samoa v Maori team as the curtain raisers.