Western Force

[League is]

Great efort by the Force. Wondeful to see.

 

[Polynesian Warrior]

This weekends games has been great with all the games so far going to the wire ! Lets see how our SA games go !

 

[Woods99]

It just shows there is not enough depth for 4 sides in australia.

A big vacuum has been created with not enough quality players going around.

That is just not true. The creation of a fourth franchise has allowed new players to emerge at both the Waratahs (Polota-Nau, Palu, Halangahu) and the Brumbies in particular.

The Force have had a horrible run with injuries, which is not a depth problem.

Meanwhile, Australia has just won the under 19s World Championship. A couple of the players have already played Super Rugby and David Pocock will play for the Force as soon as he turns 18.

People have to remember that rugby really has only started to hit its straps here in Australia since the advent of professionalism, even though we produced some handy sides throughout earlier years, the depth was thin.

Now the ARU is starting to put money into the junior ranks, and there are some stars coming through who would have gone to league once, because that was where the money was.

By the time of the 2011 RWC, Australia will be up there with the ABs in terms of strength in depth.

 

[fieldo]

You are dreaming

 

[fieldo]

You might want to check your facts on that one.... While the semi and fial format has only been around for a couple of decades the "NPC" has been around in various forms a tad longer than that

Whatever form its been in it has not been the NPC......its been a first division/second/third divison thing no more then that....I lived in NZ in the 60,s/70/80s and there was nothing like there is today....rugby union has never been big on things like the NPC and Super 14s until money was being paid to players. Before that all union officials were interested in was their own coffers.

My uncle played for King Country in the 60s/70s and just friends and relatives used to turn up and that was the comp....even Counties matches attracted few spectators... until the 80's when they had a few good years. The strong unions were Canterbury/Auckland/Waikato/Wellington/Otago/Manuwatu and all the rest were like distance....sorry if i forgot a few...oh North Auckland with Sid Going were alright.

It wasn't until professionalism came in that they acknowledge the competition with an actual name.......and then they decided...oh by the way we have been playing this comp since the 1970s....sorry they were playing a comp but it was never run in the format that the NPC is currently run..It was an ad hoc competition...the Ranfury Shield was the only thing NZers took notice of and supported.

 

[Mal Meninga]

Force team is shaping up extremely good next season -
1. Hardy
2. Cannon
3. Cowan
4. Kanaar
5. Sharpe
6. Hodgson
7. Pocock
8. Fava
9. O'Young
10. Giteau
11. Ioane
12. Mackay
13. Staniforth
14. Pelesasa/Stapleton/Sare
15. Shephard

That team with abit of luck should become atleast the 3rd best team in Australia with Mitchell coaching them.

 

[fieldo]

I reckon the second best team next year for the Force....with Queensland and ACT behind them....as far as a semi final berth....the juries out still...Matt Giteau if he stays injury free will make a difference.

 

[blackfriday]

i read in the papers that gits will definitely be at inside centre, which means he'll be buzzing outside james hilgendorf or lachlan mackay.

 

[Crusader]

yeh, but of all teams to draw with ?

What happened there? I thought it was a missprint when my boy read it from the paper. I am getting Austar!!!

 

[Tim Brasher]

Im pretty sure Giteau has signed to play No 10....

 

[Polynesian Warrior]

Whatever form its been in it has not been the NPC......its been a first division/second/third divison thing no more then that....I lived in NZ in the 60,s/70/80s and there was nothing like there is today....rugby union has never been big on things like the NPC and Super 14s until money was being paid to players. Before that all union officials were interested in was their own coffers.

My uncle played for King Country in the 60s/70s and just friends and relatives used to turn up and that was the comp....even Counties matches attracted few spectators... until the 80's when they had a few good years. The strong unions were Canterbury/Auckland/Waikato/Wellington/Otago/Manuwatu and all the rest were like distance....sorry if i forgot a few...oh North Auckland with Sid Going were alright.

It wasn't until professionalism came in that they acknowledge the competition with an actual name.......and then they decided...oh by the way we have been playing this comp since the 1970s....sorry they were playing a comp but it was never run in the format that the NPC is currently run..It was an ad hoc competition...the Ranfury Shield was the only thing NZers took notice of and supported.

Fieldo ! Why are you trying to drag down a code which you obviosly dont like and made such false statement ?
I was around the same time as you were and Im sure that games between Wairarapa Bush, Manawatu, King Country, Bay Of Plenty, Waikato, Hawkes Bay and Taranaki were huge and always sold out .

NPC is only by name but the same format has been around for a long time now .
In the early years (1900 to 1950s) there were games between all provinces and each game had a trophy or was a traditional games between the two unions .
Maybe you might need a book about history of rugby in NZ so you could see that teams like Wairarapa Bush, Thames Valley, Hawkes Bay and Manawatu use to beat teams like Auckland, Wellington and Canterbury .

 

[Parra Guru]

Scott Staniforth is having a top season.

Can't wait for next year though!

 

[fieldo]

Fieldo ! Why are you trying to drag down a code which you obviosly dont like and made such false statement ?
I was around the same time as you were and Im sure that games between Wairarapa Bush, Manawatu, King Country, Bay Of Plenty, Waikato, Hawkes Bay and Taranaki were huge and always sold out .

NPC is only by name but the same format has been around for a long time now .
In the early years (1900 to 1950s) there were games between all provinces and each game had a trophy or was a traditional games between the two unions .
Maybe you might need a book about history of rugby in NZ so you could see that teams like Wairarapa Bush, Thames Valley, (in my day Thames Valley were classified as a sub union if I remember right)Hawkes Bay and Manawatu use to beat teams like Auckland, Wellington and Canterbury .

I was only trying to say what I saw/witness as a kid and it was not in the NPC format of today......it was the strong unions against the rest......these days it is obviously different.....they have teams from most of the provinces playing against each other........and I came from Thames and they were not in the league of Auckland/North Auckland/Canterbury etc. Oh yeah I forgot about Hawkes Bay who were strong too ....Wairarapa Bush sometimes but more not then often. I did mention Manuwatu. It sjust that it was so ad hoc in my days...today it is more structured......and of course supported by the sponsors more.

 

[bayrep]

I was only trying to say what I saw/witness as a kid and it was not in the NPC format of today......it was the strong unions against the rest......these days it is obviously different.....they have teams from most of the provinces playing against each other........and I came from Thames and they were not in the league of Auckland/North Auckland/Canterbury etc. Oh yeah I forgot about Hawkes Bay who were strong too ....Wairarapa Bush sometimes but more not then often. I did mention Manuwatu. It sjust that it was so ad hoc in my days...today it is more structured......and of course supported by the sponsors more.

Fieldo I think you will find that the strong unions werent all the ones you listed. Ie. Northland with the Going brothers, King Country - Colin Meads, Bay of Plenty, Manawatu(?) to name a few which werent the main centers had strong teams. The main cities like Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington have had a strong pull on population which has had an effect on player strength than anything else. I remember as a kid watching big crowds to any of the above teams.

 

[aussies1st]

Mose Tuiali’i is from Northland orginally so theres another player Northland have produced.

 

[fieldo]

Northland was big yes...I said them...King Country..not when I watched them but maybe when Meads was there yes but I never saw Meads play except for the All Blacks.

Can't recall Bay of Plenty only Hawkes Bay.

Sorry was only trying to say that the NPC years ago wasn't as well supported or even existed in the current format..

 

[Polynesian Warrior]

Maybe you forget how packed Lancaster Park and Eden Park was for every Canterbury/Auckland game when they had the shield .

 

[fieldo]

Maybe you forget how packed Lancaster Park and Eden Park was for every Canterbury/Auckland game when they had the shield .

You missed my point...

 

[Polynesian Warrior]

NPC only had finals not long ago but it was there in different forms before 1900 .

 

[fieldo]

NPC only had finals not long ago but it was there in different forms before 1900 .

OK that what I meant......it never had finals, and wasn't as well supported,...plus it was dominated by the larger unions.