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Written by The Saturated Fan in the Stand
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Thursday, 03 September 2009 |
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Auckland struggles to persuade their fans turn up to watch games at Eden Park. In desperation, they have demolished half of the ground in order to make the remaining stands look crowded but even this tactic failed on Saturday. It took a reasonable turnout of Bay fans to swell the numbers and the poor souls who did make the effort were rewarded with a downpour at kick-off which led to some Keystone Cops action on the waterlogged field.
Every high ball caused excessive nerves among the Bay faithful, hoping against hope that Zar Lawrence would take the catch and surge downfield. Sadly it was not to be and Zar was mercifully substituted, hopefully to return at some point with his confidence restored.
The charitable donations on the field were going in one direction only. Auckland’s second try was presented to them on a silver platter after the Bay had rucked well to turn over possession. When Taniela Moa attempted to return the favour, the referee managed to blow for a forward pass before it landed in the arms of Jason Hona who would have dotted down under the posts. That seven pointer would have put us right back into the game after our terrible start and even without that try, we were only down 14-9 early in the second half. We had the wind behind us and Delany was starting to dominate.
What turned the game was a second try to Rokocoko, who really looked like a man among boys when he ran with the ball. After that it looked like it could turn ugly for the Bay but the scoreline was made to look more reasonable with our consolation try. It was a long trip home for the Fan especially as his rear end was still damp from the heavens opening earlier on. But enough about my problems, how can the Steamers get back to winning ways?
The Bay boys need to do some work on the tackle bags this week as there were too many weak attempts against both Waikato and Auckland. Maybe Aporo and Hunt need to be moved back to 12 and 13 to stiffen the midfield defence. The forward pack has been going well this season but there were signs against Auckland that work needs to be done defending around the fringes and securing the line outs.
The season keeps getting harder with the Cantabs in town on Saturday and then a tricky trip down to Invercargill. The Fan hope the hordes of Bay fans turn up once again and inspire the team to tear into Canterbury with the vigour they showed against Wellington. The Fan also hopes that Messrs Carter and McCaw are being padded in cotton wool by Graham Henry.
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