Abrasive Tom Robinson is back and will lead the Northland Taniwha as the team looks for its third win in a row against Waikato.
Photo / Michael Cunningham
Abrasive Tom Robinson is back and will lead the Northland Taniwha as the team looks for its third win in a row against Waikato.
Photo / Michael Cunningham
George Konia could not have put it more succinctly — it's going to be a rugby bonanza tomorrow and kids under 14 can watch the doubleheader for free at Semenoff Stadium.
A bumper crowd is expected for the Farah Palmer Cup clash between Northland Kauri and North Harbour at 2pm followed by the Northland Taniwha and Waikato match in the second round of the Bunnings Warehouse NPC at 4.30pm tomorrow.
The Northland Rugby Union had sold 2000 tickets across all seating by mid-morning yesterday and chief executive Cam Bell said free entry for kids for all five home games this season was about giving back to the community.
Northland's win over Taranaki in the opening round last week has added to the excitement and with the weather boffins predicting a fine day tomorrow, expect a sea of Cambridge blue for both games.
"If two kids come to the game and they see a Taniwha or Kauri performance that inspires them to come and play our game, we've won," Bell said.
"Put the money where our mouth is and let's remove the barriers to get kids to come along. They can slide down the bank, they can watch the game, they can walk around, see their heroes.
There will be a minute's silence before both games for Northland and Māori rugby stalwart Moses Cherrington who died last week.
Kids can get their free tickets either online or at the booth outside the stadium and the admission is for the terraces.
NRU chief executive Cameron Bell is urging kids to come along and enjoy for free rugby bonanza at Semenoff Stadium.
Photo / Gettys
The Taniwha welcome back captain Tom Robinson, halfback Sam Nock and All Black Jack Goodhue, who'll start off the bench tomorrow.
"We've had a whole lot of focus on kids, particularly the girls' Rippa tournaments which introduced all these kids to rugby so we want to keep that momentum going and see if we can get them to the games," Bell said.
Taniwha head coach Konia said the team were excited about their first home game this year and could not wait to carry on from last week's win.
"We know Waikato is strong upfront and they'll try and play the game at pace so we need to match them up front and not worry about them so much.
"It's really about us fine-tuning our game, it's a short turnaround and correcting some of the things that we didn't do well against Taranaki."
Waikato will be out for revenge, having lost to Northland in the previous two encounters and the Mooloos were the only team the Taniwha defeated last year.
Konia said those who played against Taranaki did the jersey proudly, and including Robinson, Nock and Goodhue could potentially boost his team's performance.
"We want to go out there and put on a good performance so that when people turn up to work on Monday, they've got something good to talk about. They can forget about their other worries at work. It's about us helping people enjoy their experience."
Northland have named a strong team against Waikato.
All Black Ofa Tu'ungafasi and Coree Te Whata-Colley will prop the scrum alongside Bruce Kauika-Peterson in the middle. Josh Goodhue and Sam Caird, both with Super Rugby experience, are the locks.
Loose forwards Robinson, Waipū skipper Jonah Mau'u and No 8 Sam McNamara will be the prime scavengers while Nock and first five Rivez Reihana form the halves pair.
Heremaia Murray and Pisi Leilua are the wingers, evergreen Rene Ranger and Tamati Tua will again unite in the midfield and Josh Moorby gets another crack at fullback.
Rob Rush, Ross Wright, Jaycob Matiu, Sila Puafisi and Dan Hawkins join Jack Goodhue on the bench.
Northland get back on the road after tomorrow's match to play Wellington in Porirua before returning home for two games in Whangārei, against Southland and Auckland.
