Air New Zealand Cup 2009

[Perm]

SOUTHLANDDDDDDDD!

There'll be some drunk Gore bogans in Christchurch tonight.

 

[Smudge]

Was tempted to tip Southland, but didn't want to jinx them. Good on ya, lads. Well and truly earned it.

 

[Athlai]

Southland

 

[_Ed_]

Great stuff.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Canterbury vs Southland
Northland vs Hawke's Bay
Tasman vs Wellington
Manawatu vs North Harbour
Otago vs Counties-Manukau
Waikato vs Auckland
Bay of Plenty vs Taranaki

Wanganui vs Poverty Bay
Mid Canterbury vs South Canterbury

West Coast vs Buller
North Otago vs King Country

Been away all week, but had an enjoyable time watching Southland grind out the Shield victory with a guy from Gore in a pub in Cambridge. Great entertainment.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

David Holwell plays his last game for Northland. Over 100 appearances for the Taniwha; the Legend checks out after another reliable and committed performance.

Three cheers for Holwell!

 

[Somerset]

A good victory for Hawkes Bay tonight, with a bonus point, really puts the pressure on Waikato now. Auckland are out of the running as far as I can tell, which is hardly going to inspire a team which is as unpredictable as any in the competition.

 

[Somerset]

Week Thirteen Points (out of 15):
Somerset 13
BoyBrumby 12
HeathDavisSpeed 12
Samuel_Vimes 12
Voltman 12
Ripper868 9

Standings after Week Thirteen:
Voltman 107
BoyBrumby 102
Somerset 102
Samuel_Vimes 100
HeathDavisSpeed 94
Ripper868 86

My tiping of Auckland over Waikato lets me take out the week and tie with Brumby in second. Ripper's faith in the Poverty Bay lets him down for a nine point haul for the round.

By the way, I might've picked Auckland here but picking Waikato on Telecom Virtual Rugby didn't amuse me!

 

[Somerset]

Air New Zealand Cup Week Fourteen Matches

Air New Zealand Cup Semifinals: (worth 2 points)
Canterbury vs Hawkes Bay
Wellington vs Southland

Heartland Championship Week Ten Matches

Meads Cup Final: (worth 3 points)
Mid Canterbury vs Wanganui

Lochore Cup Final: (worth 3 points):
West Coast vs North Otago

 

[Smudge]

Air New Zealand Cup Semifinals: (worth 2 points)
Canterbury vs Hawkes Bay
Wellington vs Southland



Mid Canterbury


West Coast

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Meh, not going to catch up.

Tipping Canterbury and Wellington as semi winners. If they meet, I don't get any points, obviously.

Mid Canterbury for the Meads and West Coast for the Lochore.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Air New Zealand Cup Semifinals: (worth 2 points)
Canterbury vs Hawkes Bay
Wellington vs Southland

Heartland Championship Week Ten Matches

Meads Cup Final: (worth 3 points)
Mid Canterbury vs Wanganui

Lochore Cup Final: (worth 3 points):
West Coast vs North Otago

 

[ripper868]

Curse the Poverty.

I'll take the exact opposite of Heath in a vain attempt to avoid the spoon.

Hawkes Bay
Southland

Mid Canterbury
West Coast

 

[James]

Wow, haven't really followed the AirNZ Cup this year but shocked to see Southland and Hawkes Bay in the semis. They must have played some great rugby.

What happened to the big guns? Auckland/Waikato/Otago..... wow.

 

[Smudge]

Ummm, Otago have been **** for several years now, James. And Auckland were rubbish last season, but improved slightly this year.

EDIT: And it's exactly the same four semi-finalists as last year, so it shouldn't come as so much of a surprise.

 

[James]

Ummm, Otago have been **** for several years now, James. And Auckland were rubbish last season, but improved slightly this year.

EDIT: And it's exactly the same four semi-finalists as last year, so it shouldn't come as so much of a surprise.

Shows how much I'm out of touch with NZ rugby these days. Good to see the smaller unions doing well.

Hopefully Fox can show the semis and finals here.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Air New Zealand Cup Semifinals:

Canterbury
Wellington

Heartland Championship Week Ten Matches

Meads Cup Final:

Mid Canterbury

Lochore Cup Final:

West Coast

 

[Somerset]

Hawkes Bay
Wellington

Wanganui

West Coast

 

[Somerset]

Wow, haven't really followed the AirNZ Cup this year but shocked to see Southland and Hawkes Bay in the semis. They must have played some great rugby.

What happened to the big guns? Auckland/Waikato/Otago..... wow.

Given the starts to the season Auckland and Waikato had (Auckland lost by more than 30 points in week one to Hawke's Bay) and the relative inexperience of the sides, particularly Auckland, for those two 'big' provinces to finish fifth and sixth was actually a reasonable effort. As Voltman mentioned, Hawkes Bay and Southland both made the semis last year, and I'm actually backing the Bay to beat Canterbury in the first semi final.

 

[Somerset]

Week Fourteen Points (out of 10):
HeathDavisSpeed 10
Somerset 5
BoyBrumby 4
Samuel_Vimes 4
Voltman 2
Ripper868 0

Standings after Week Fourteen:
Voltman 109
Somerset 107
BoyBrumby 106
HeathDavisSpeed 104
Samuel_Vimes 104
Ripper868 86

Heath scores a maximum and Ripper records a donut in the penultimate week. Voltman's two means I have a chance to win and Brumby the opportunity to draw the competition in a last game shoot-out for top spot. And with Heath's 10 point week, he could still finish in a tie for second after battling to keep off the bottom of the table for the better part of the season.

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Air New Zealand Cup Week Fifteen Match

Air New Zealand Cup Final: (worth 3 points)
Canterbury vs Wellington