Lossless Campaigns
Tall Blacks at the World Cup, NZ Warriors depth, NRL Team of the Week, Blackcaps in England, domestic football champions & more
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Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: The Warrior Tom Ale (Rugby League)
Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: The Eventual Arrival Of Rocco Berry (Rugby League)
Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: Pompey Pedigree (Rugby League)
Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: Aotearoa's Warrior Shaun Johnson (Rugby League)
Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: King Charnze (Nicoll-Klokstad) (Rugby League)
Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: Kalani Going Debut For NZ Warriors (Rugby League)
Further Impressions From The Wellington Phoenix Lads In The Aussie Cup (Football)
Meet Michael Wilson, The Closest Thing To A Kiwi In The NFL Right Now (NFL)
Five Things From Blackcaps T20 Tour Games In England (Cricket)
Aotearoa A vs Australia A (The Re-Up): Game One Debrief (Cricket)
Scotty’s Word
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NZ Warriors had a loss to Dolphins in the NRL and a loss to Rabbitohs in NSW Cup. This was a fascinating pocket of footy as both teams were full of young/emerging talent. I covered Kalani Going's debut in the latest Kiwi-NRL Spotlight and he was joined by Paul Roache in coming off the bench against Dolphins - neither were in the Warriors mixer last year.
The NRL team also had Taine Tuaupiki, Edward Kosi and Ronald Volkman. Kosi has been a steady presence in NSW Cup when healthy, while Tuaupiki and Volkman have been crucial to the NSW Cup team's success this season. Freddy Lussick has split his time between NRL and NSW Cup this season, often featuring as a second hooker on the NRL bench. Tom Ale is an NRL forward who was bumped down to NSW Cup due to the Warriors depth mid-season.
Jacob Laban was 18th lad for the NRL team and was not in the NSW Cup squad. Again, he is one of the best Warriors youngsters and a certified top-17 NSW Cup player, probably my starting edge forward. Going, Roache, Tuaupiki and Volkman have been among the best players for NSW Cup Warriors this season. Take these lads out of the NSW Cup team for their first finals game and it was always going to be tricky for the reserves to defeat Rabbitohs in Sydney. This also offered opportunities for young Warriors to play NSW Cup finals.
Ali Leiataua returned to play NSW Cup. Warriors were also able to call upon veteran forwards James Gavet and Paterika Vaivai. They joined the solid NSW Cup crew of Setu Tu, Moala Graham-Taufa, Brayden Wiliame, Ben Farr, Eiden Ackland, Zyon Maiu'u, Michael Sio, Maia Sands and Isaiah Vagana.
Patrick Moimoi continues his rise after playing SG Ball as he started at centre once again. Fellow SG Ball forward Eddie Ieremia played edge forward and he made the most tackles of any player in this game with 41 - not bad for an U19 lad. Tanner Stowers-Smith is another SG Ball player now consistently playing NSW Cup and he grabbed 61mins. Presley Seumanu came off the bench - another SG Ball forward who is big, mobile and aggressive.
Makaia Tafua was named on the bench to cover hooker but he ended up being 18th lad with Jacob David (JD) Auloa making his NSW Cup debut as the bench hooker. Auloa doesn't appear to have played SG Ball but the Pt Chevalier junior was in the wider squad. Warriors have three young hookers brewing with Auloa and Tafua joined by Etuate Fukofuka.
It's hard to win aNSW Cup finals game with so much young talent on display and Warriors should get another crack next week, probably with a near full strength outfit. Regardless of results though, Saturday offered a concentration of NZ Warriors youngsters showcasing themselves and the system.
The National Secondary Schools Tournament was played over the weekend and won by St Thomas of Canterbury College. Stowers-Smith went to STOCC, along with Jordan Riki and the Fa'atili brothers (Caius with Broncos, Felix with Sharks).
The STOCC team who played the final had Toby Gibson, Jackson Stewart, Ezekiel Faga'Ieti, Jason Salalilo, Lennox Tuiloma and Bishop Neal who have either been signed to NZ Warriors or played in NZ Warriors junior games this year. Of course there may be more with Warriors links and NRL clubs would have been all over this tournament, but there are six lads in the best college team with close ties to Warriors.
And if you didn't know, Canterbury/South Island rugby league is on the rise. Then again Going's from Northland and he joins James Fisher-Harris, Dylan Brown and Wiremu Greig as Kiwi-NRL lads from Northland. All of Aotearoa's regions are enjoying a rugby league flourish.
Quick breakdown of the Kiwi-NRL lads who could feature in NRL finals (excluding NZ Warriors)...
Panthers: James Fisher-Harris (Kohukohu), Moses Leota (Auckland), Scott Sorenson (Sydney)
Broncos: Jordan Riki (Hornby), Xavier Willison (Waicoa-Bay), Deine Mariner (Marist) Jesse Arthars (East Coast Bays), Jordan Pereira (Lower Hutt), Delouise Hoeter (Marist)
Storm: William Warbrick (Kawerau), Reimis Smith (Sydney) Jahrome Hughes (Harbour City), Nelson Asofa-Solomona (Upper Hutt), Alec MacDonald (Auckland)
Knights: Greg Marzhew (Mangere East), Leo Thompson (NBHS)
Sharks: Ronaldo Mulitalo (Otara), Braden Hamlin-Uele (Glenora), Briton Nikora (Tauranga), Kayal Iro (Arorangi/Mt Albert), Mawene Hiroti (Western Suburbs - New Plymouth)
Roosters: Joseph Manu (Tokoroa), Brandon Smith (Waiheke Is), Fetalaiga Pauga (Glenora), Siua Wong (Burnham/Manurewa), Naufahu Whyte (Bay Roskill), Sitili Tupouniua (Marist)
Raiders: Jordan Rapana (Porirua), Sebastian Kris (Canberra), Matthew Timoko (Otahuhu), Joseph Tapine (Harbour City), Ata Mariota (Manurewa)
All top four teams had a win in NRLW...
Raiders 12 - Knights 20
Broncos 32 - Sharks 28
Cowboys 16 - Dragons 48
Titans 16 - Tigers 4
Roosters 46 - Eels 12
Eels have one win and their loss to Roosters didn't feature much mahi from their lone NRLWahine Noaria Kapua. Wairoa's Amelia Pasikala scored a try in that win for Roosters and Kiwi Fern Otesa Pule was immense with two tries. Mya Hill-Moana was solid for the Chooks and Teuila Fotu-Moala didn't play. Roosters are top of the ladder, sharing a 6-1 record with Knights.
Knights defeated Raiders and while Shanice Parker wasn't at her best for Knights, her NRLWahine comrades were strong in the win...
Abigail Roache: 11 runs - 113m @ 10.2m/run, 5 tackle breaks, 24 tackles @ 96%
Laishon Albert-Jones: 12 runs - 109m @ 9m/run, 1 tackle break, 27 tackles @ 93%
Big weekend for the Roache whanau who had Paul making his NRL debut for Warriors, Nathaniel playing for Sea Eagles in NSW Cup and Abigail dominating NRLW. Albert-Jones has settled at edge forward for Knights as well, having emerged as a half for Kiwi Ferns last year and starting this season as a middle forward for Knights.
Raiders are one of my favourite NRLWahine teams, probably joined by Broncos. Despite the loss to Knights, the kiwi ladies were immense...
Apii Nicholls: 15 runs - 125m @ 8.3m/run, 4 tackle breaks, 6 tackles @ 60%
Madison Bartlett: 2 tries, 13 runs - 125m @ 9.6m/run, 12 tackle breaks, 1 tackle @ 50%
Cheyelle Robins-Reti: 14 runs - 132m @ 9.4m/run, 1 try assist, 3 tackle breaks, 13 tackles @ 81%
Mackenzie Wiki: 57mins, 17 runs - 250m @ 14.7m/run, 2 linebreaks, 2 tackle breaks, 7 tackles @ 87%
Kerehitina Matua: 35mins, 4 runs - 80m @ 20m/run, 5 tackle breaks, 14 tackles @ 100%
Gayle Broughton scored two tries for Broncos and she has scored three tries in the last two games. Annetta Nu'uausala scored a try, plus jacking up 15 runs - 143m @ 9.5m/run with 11 tackles @ 100%. Tafito Lafaele once again averaged over 10m/run and offers plenty of oomph off the bench for Broncos.
Georgia Hale scored a try for Titans in their win over Tigers as well as casually making 49 tackles without a miss. Hale has now made 333 tackles with two official misses and 99.4% efficiency, while also averaging a career-best 100m per game this season.
Raecene McGregor had two try assists in a big win for Dragons and she now has six this season, tied for third in NRLW. Alexis Tauaneai left the field injured for Dragons and she misses Team of the Week selection. Wiki earns selection despite not playing the full game for Raiders after an HIA sub and I've gone with Niall Williams-Guthrie on the wing ahead of Cheyelle Robins-Reti. Pasikala gets the nod in the middle and as there is so much NRLWahine talent, I'll keep including the 'Notables' group...
Team of the Week
Fullback: Apii Nicholls
Wingers: Madison Bartlett, Niall Williams-Guthrie
Centres: Abigail Roache, Mackenzie Wiki
Halves: Raecene McGregor, Gayle Broughton
Middles: Annetta Nu'uausala, Amelia Pasikala, Georgia Hale
Edges: Otesa Pule, Kerehitina Matua
Hooker: Nita Maynard
Notables: Mele Hufanga, Cheyelle Robins-Reti, Laishon Albert-Jones, Mya Hill-Moana, Tafito Lafaele, Alexis Tauaneai, Tyla Nathan-Wong
Give this a whirl if you want to get deep into Israel Adesanya’s fight prep.
Blackcaps won the third T20I vs England. 83 runs @ 156sr from Finn Allen and 69 runs @ 203sr from Glenn Phillips led the way for Blackcaps batters. Tim Southee took 2w @ 8.5rpo, Kyle Jamieson snared 3w @ 5.7rpo and Ish Sodhi took 3w @ 8.2rpo.
Allen's knock is the most intriguing thing here. Like it or not, Allen will probably open at the World Cup and that will involve him having a whack. This was Allen's first 50+ score in T20Is this year (26avg/140.5sr). After a decent 2022 (38.7avg/94.4sr) in ODI batting, he has dipped down to 20.8avg/96.7sr this year. Interestingly, Allen has an ODI record of 13.3avg/87sr in India and 15.8avg/93sr in Asia.
It's bonkers that apparently Allen still hasn’t played an IPL game. Allen is highly likely to open alongside Devon Conway in the World Cup so this combo is intriguing to track. This combo opened together with Southern Brave in The Hundred…
Devon Conway: 9inns, 215 runs @ 35.8avg/121.4sr
Finn Allen: 9inns, 240 runs @ 26.6avg/144.5sr
Conway hasn’t hit double digits in the three T20Is vs England.
Best Blackcaps in T20Is vs England...
Batters
Glenn Phillips: 132 runs @ 44avg/148sr
Finn Allen: 107 runs @ 35.6avg/145sr
Tim Seifert: 67 runs @ 22.3avg/124sr
Mark Chapman: 34 runs @ 17avg/142sr
Bowlers
Ish Sodhi: 6w @ 16.6avg/10rpo
Tim Southee: 4w @ 25.7avg/9.8rpo
Kyle Jamieson: 3w @ 7.6avg/5.7rpo
Mitchell Santner: 2w @ 43avg/8.6rpo
Here is ample evidence that the bar for White Ferns selection is pretty low. All these stats are List-A and T20 which for these players represents their domestic mahi...
Bella Armstrong (batting | bowling)
List-A: 20.1avg | 21.8avg
T20: 15.3avg | 28.7avg
Brooke Halliday (batting | bowling)
List-A: 22.6avg | 26.2avg
T20: 13.7avg | 19.2avg
Molly Penfold (bowling)
List-A: 37.8avg
T20: 43.7avg
Georgia Plimmer (batting)
List-A: 16.8avg
T20: 10.5avg
Izzy Gaze (batting)
List-A: 8.9avg
T20: 11.8avg
Bernadine Bezuidenhout (batting)
List-A: 25.4avg
T20: 25avg
Hannah Rowe (batting | bowling)
List-A: 19.5avg | 26.7avg
T20: 17.3avg | 30.5avg
Musical jam…
Wildcard’s Notebook
Ka pai to the Tall Blacks, who got the job done against Egypt. Wasn’t a simple game by any means and they spent a lot of it without Shea Ili, who’d been their best player all tournament, but only got 14 mins here. Not sure if that was due to an injury or fatigue or whatever but it was a luxury allowed by a brilliant Izayah Le’afa performance which was matched by some fine Finn Delany work – those two Breakers players leading the way with 27 points each in an 88-86 victory.
Turns out the Olympic Qualifying stuff wasn’t as elusive as I made it seem on Friday. Bit confusing how they did that but beyond the spots allotted for the next best finisher in each confederation there were also a handful of leftover spots for the next highest ranked teams. So no dramas, the TBs would still have made it through with a close loss against Egypt. But it’s better this way, winning and thus finishing third of the Asia/Oceania representatives. 22nd overall at the World Cup. Not what they were aiming for but at least they hit the secondary goal of Olympic qualifying possibility.
24 teams will head to those OQ tournaments competing for the last four more places at Paris 2024. So far we know that France will be there as hosts, while Australia, USA, Canada, Japan, and South Sudan will join them as direct qualifiers... along with the two highest placed European teams which we’ll learn over the coming days. Italy, Lithuania, Serbia, Germany, Latvia, and Slovenia are all in the running as the World Cup enters its quarter-final stage.
The Egypt game was a funky one. Very physical, which probably suited the TBs. Egypt fouled three times on the opening possession and had most of their dudes in foul trouble by the end of it. New Zealand missed some early shots to allow Egypt a bit of a lead but Delany was an exception with his inside scoring and Isaac Fotu came on and made a difference too. The Tall Blacks were trailing 25-20 late in the first but from there they went on a 15-0 run to open up a lead that’d last most of the game. Egypt kinda lost their heads during that spell including copping a couple technical fouls (their coach even told his team they were playing against six during a timeout).
That was about when Le’afa began to deliver the goods. Strange tournament for that guy because he was okay against the USA, hitting three triples for his 9 points, but was then fantastic against Jordan scoring 23 points on 7/14 shooting with 5 assists. Next two games were both defeats and he shot a combined 1/15 for 5 points. Then against Egypt he recaptured the golden touch for 27 points with 4 steals. He played the entire fourth quarter, which did see his shot escape him somewhat (he ended 8/21 from the field), but he helped make up for that with his defensive impact. The way that guy pounces on a steal is like a cat pouncing on a mouse. So swift, so alert. Le’afa has all the ability he needs, it’s purely about consistency at this stage of his career.
Le’afa in Tall Blacks wins during 2023 FIBA WC (per game stats):
32 MIN | 25 PTS (43% FG, 38.9% 3PT) | 5.5 REB | 4.0 AST | 3.5 STL | +9.0 +/-
Le’afa in Tall Blacks losses during 2023 FIBA WC (per game stats):
24 MIN | 4.7 PTS (15.4% FG, 19% 3PT) | 1.3 REB | 3.3 AST | 1.3 STL | -12.7 +/-
Annoyingly, having given up zero turnovers in the first quarter that old tendency emerged again in fits and spurts the rest of the way – although 12 for the game was easily a tournament best. This was also the only game in which the three-point shot largely went astray for the TBs (28% for the night) and with Egypt getting offensive boards that lead shrunk and shrunk and shrunk until it was gone. Egypt went up 83-82 with 2:31 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Helpfully one of their dudes then walked onto the court to speak to the ref after Pero Cameron had called a timeout so NZ tied it back up with the technical free throw and then, out of the blue, the kiwis hauled in a bunch of late offensive boards of their own before Jordan Ngatai hit a corner three to re-establish the lead and Reuben Te Rangi made some free throws.
Further post-WC debriefing to follow in the coming days. But a few sneaky ones for now...
Every team has played five games as things stand and the Tall Blacks rank fifth for three-point percentage (39.6%) and 30th out of 32 teams for two-point percentage (45.3%)
Only Georgia have committed more turnovers (81) than New Zealand (80). That averages out to 16 per game. NZ have no individual players in the top 20 for TOs which shows what a free-for-all it was
The Tall Blacks are also second on the list for personal fouls, averaging 23.6 per game for 118 overall - ten shy of Angola who were the most foul-prominent team
Reuben Te Rangi shot 16/51 for 51.6% from three pointers across the World Cup – Finn Delany and Jordan Ngatai both averaged 44.4% from their triples
Shea Ili made 25/27 free throws at 92.6%... one of only seven dudes to make them at 90+, although that could change over the remaining days. As it stands the only fella with more makes than Ili to maintain above ninety was Karl-Anthony Towns who hit 39/42
Shea Ili is also currently third for assists with 38 of them through five games – that’s 7.6 per game
Le’afa’s 11 steals are fifth equal for the tournament
Weekly Domestic Football Roundup...
That’s the end of that, then. Auckland City are Northern League champions once again having beaten Manukau United 6-1 to clinch the trophy. Ryan De Vries scored a first-half hat-trick which also served him up a share of the Golden Boot. Not sure if they give shared awards or not but he’s tied with Derek Tieku on 19 goals after Tieku got a double in a 4-4 draw between Birkenhead and Hamilton Wanderers. Huge ‘last game of the season’ vibes there – including a 90th minute equaliser from Birko’s Dino Botica. It was 2-0 to Birko, then 4-2 to Wanderers at half-time. Ended 4-4.
Anyway, back to Auckland City. They finish with 60 points from 22 games. 19 wins, 3 draws, 0 defeats. Worthy champions who hammered that worthiness home on the weekend in a result that also relegated Manukau United. Despite some great form down the stretch it’s Takapuna who join them in the drop after a 3-2 loss to West Coast Rangers... which was almost still okay for them except that Bay Olympic scored twice in the last ten minutes to win 2-1 against Manurewa AFC and therefore escaped relegation on the basis on their superior goal difference vs Taka. Madness on the final day. William Eng scored the stoppage time goal that prolonged Bay Olympic’s Northern League existence.
Eastern Suburbs weren’t able to win the title but they still went undefeated. A 2-2 draw against Auckland United meant that Auckland City could’ve lost and still come first but so it goes. U20s international Jackson Jarvie scored right at the very end to preserve the lossless campaign. Remarkable effort from the Lilywhites with 17 wins and 5 draws. They’ll be out for revenge in the National League in a few weeks (sounds like it’s going to kickoff on September 23 although NZF don’t exactly seem to be shouting that from the rooftops). In other last day matters, Western Springs drew 3-3 with Melville United. Melville will of course be back in action next weekend for the Chatham Cup final against Christchurch United.
The Golden Boot race in the Southern League was all even going into the final week, with Sam Philip (Christchurch United) and Garbhan Coughlan (Cashmere Technical) doing battle. Philip had just scored six in a 15-3 win a week ago. He then scored another in a 5-0 catchup win away to FC Twenty 11 in the midweek. Good for him... although the most notable goal scorer that evening was CUFC coach Paul Ifill who chucked himself on for the last quarter of an hour and bagged one at age 43. Old mate’s still got it.
Philip ultimately won that Golden Boot trophy after neither he nor Coughlan scored on the weekend... but despite the title already having been decided something very notable did happen in that match: Cashmere Tech won 3-1. Thus does the undefeated streak come to an end for Christchurch Utd. Their league season now reads: 16 wins, 1 draw, 1 defeat. Plus they have a Chatham Cup final coming up in a few days. Cashy Tech finished second, seven points behind. Coastal Spirit came third with Dunedin City Royals in fourth. FC Twenty 11 were relegated, immediately after going up.
The Central League Golden Boot went to Matt Brazier with 18 of the bangers. Shout out to him but more especially to his Petone team who nabbed that last National League spot with a 2-1 win over Stop Out. Yes, Brazier scored the winner. From the penalty spot. Napier City Rovers also took care of business with a 3-1 win over North Wellington so they finish third while Petone are fourth. Western Suburbs needed to upset champions Wellington Olympic to catch a top four spot. Instead they lost 8-3 despite a Muse Abrahaberhe hatty. Those Napier and Petone wins meant it wouldn’t have made a difference though. Gavin Hoy also scored three for Olympic in that game.
There was an impressive 4-0 win from the Wellington Phoenix Reserves away to Miramar Rangers. Two young teams in action. Joshua Tollervey got three for the Nix. Ben Wallace scored the other. Fergus Gillion, Luke Supyk, and Kaelin Nguyen all started having made first team debuts in the Aussie Cup recently. Along with them you also had current U17s internationals like Anaru Cassidy and Gabriel Sloane-Rodrigues (plus Supyk himself) involved plus a few others of their age. WeeNix finished second, nine points behind Olympic. Whanganui Athletic were relegated.
Northern League
Champions: Auckland City
National League: Auckland City, Eastern Suburbs, Auckland United & Manurewa AFC
Relegated: Takapuna AFC & Manukau United
Promoted for 2024: East Coast Bays & Tauranga City
Golden Boot: Ryan De Vries (Auckland City) & Derek Tieku (Hamilton Wanderers) – 19 goals
Central League
Champions: Wellington Olympic
National League: Wellington Olympic, Napier City Rovers, Petone (plus Wellington Phoenix Reserves)
Relegated: Whanganui Athletic
Promoted for 2024: Either Island Bay United or Palmerston North Marist (Playoff)
Golden Boot: Matthew Brazier (Petone) – 18 goals
Southern League
Champions: Christchurch United
National League: Christchurch United & Cashmere Technical
Relegated: FC Twenty 11
Promoted for 2024: Universities/FC Nelson or Mosgiel AFC
Golden Boot: Sam Philip (Christchurch United) - 29 goals
New Ty Segall for you fellow guitar freaks…