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Never a dull moment when supporting Steamers |
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Written by The bewildered Fan in the Stand
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Wednesday, 29 July 2009 |
It is an exciting time to be a Steamers fan and the season hasn’t even begun. Greg Smith now appears to be the ex-Head Coach according to reports and Fans who sit in Stands can only guess at what is happening behind the scenes.
I would have been a happier Fan if I had avoided Tauranga Domain on Friday afternoon. Many others made the same mistake as me and the Steamers gave a limp performance to a full stand. The other Bay gave us a lesson in the basics of rugby while we huffed and puffed and achieved absolutely nothing at all.
The Northland Taniwha will be relishing the prospect of a visit to Rotorua on Friday night. Hopefully they are taking us lightly based on the turmoil at Bay HQ. Northland is a solid unit and with flair players like Rene Ranger lurking at the back, our dodgy backline defence will be tested severely. You may think that this Fan is being unduly pessimistic about our prospects and I hope I am proven wrong. We need Mike Delany to start with his 2008 form and to form a partnership with new half-back Junior Poluleuligaga who has a list of previous teams almost as long as his name and is built like a number eight. A functional line out would be handy not to mention a little fire in the belly of the forward pack.
Next season the NPC is being revamped again. After multiple reviews and experiments, we have been presented with the same format for the Premier division that was originally in place in 2005. The four provinces that are consigned to a lower division in 2010 will struggle to keep players and crowd numbers. Given where we currently stand in the NZRU criteria list, we desperately need a good season or at the very least an average season. Toppling Northland this week and then Counties the week after would give me confidence in our ability to be a Premier team next year.
The Fan took a look back to his final column of 2008 and the Chiefs squad selection. Wallowing in grumpiness, I identified Mark Burman as a mysterious unseen player selected at lock. Come the Steamers squad announcement and there he is again, loaned out to us by Waikato despite his Super 14 credentials. They are certainly a generous bunch those Mooloos as we have also hoovered up a few spare props. Maybe I missed our name change to the Waikato development squad.
On Friday afternoon I looked out for Mark Burman but he wasn’t in the Bay 22. Nor was Ruki Tipuna but at least his location was known. The man who waltzed around All Black Jimmy Cowan last season was on the bench for Wellington in their final pre-season game. What’s going on?
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