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Flighty Fan fires up for first home game of season |
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Written by The ever-optimistic Fan in the Stand
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Thursday, 02 August 2007 |
The Fan in the Stand has a confession to make - he was merely the Fan in the Pub to watch our expected defeat to Canterbury.
I was heartened by the interest in provincial rugby when I walked into the pub - then I realised most of them were there to watch the Warriors. They got to cheer many tries, we applauded whenever we won a line-out.
There are many types of defeat. You can opt for the Otago method (Coach's final message to his young players: `It would be really great if you go out there and tackle, but hey if you don't feel like it, that's fine too').
The Manawatu style is one favoured by the Bay in the distant past - go hard but make too many mistakes and the game is over by halftime.
For Canterbury, the Bay chose the `backs to the wall, never say die, hell for leather' method where defence was their only form of attack.
Given our excessive generosity in handing the ball back to the home team, we had virtually no possession from the 20th minute onwards.
Apparently Canterbury are looking to sign Ngarimu Simpkins as he throws to the Canterbury jumpers much more accurately than Corey Flynn.
With no golden moments of attacking brilliance to reflect on, this fan looked for comfort from heroic defence and there was no better example than Lippi-Smith's tackle on Brett which prevented a certain try.
With the score still 3-3 at that point, early in the second half, it was disappointing to finish with a 30-point thrashing.
Our scrum looked creaky for the whole game. The Cantabs do boast an impressive front row, but I wonder whether the loss of Sorenson and Upton has had an impact here as well as in the line-out.
Mark Sorenson was a real workhorse and maybe his value will only be fully appreciated now he has gone.
On the positive side, Solomon King showed real power and pace off the back of the scrum, Lippi-Smith was twice the player with his lengthened name and, as always, openside Tanerau Latimer was everywhere.
Our first home game is on Friday night against Auckland so make sure you are at Baypark to help the Bay gain revenge for last season's defeats. The players have already shown their total commitment, all we need is for the fans to follow suit, the set-pieces to stand up and this can still be a great season.
Finally, Anthony Tahana claimed in yesterday's Bay Times that ``We will learn from spanking''. Here's hoping Kevin Schuler's new training methods produce a result on Friday night at BlueChip.
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