Power & Elegance
Power & Elegance
Kiwis at RLWC, David Nyika & Hemi Ahio, NZers in Women's Big Bash, stray Blackcaps ideas & another WNL Team of the Week
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2022 Rugby League World Cup: Three Key Trends About Aotearoa Kiwis Footy (Rugby League)
Football Ferns vs Japan: They Lost, But Let’s Keep It Realistic (Football)
The All Whites Need A New Coach After Danny Hay vs NZ Football Reached Its Inevitable Conclusion (Football)
The Memphis Grizzlies Extended Steven Adams' Contact, Now To Go Win Some Championships (Basketball)
2022 Domestic Cricket Contracts: Northern Districts (Cricket)
2022 T20 World Cup: Blackcaps Pre-Tournament Notebook (Cricket)
Scotty’s Word
Aotearoa Kiwis defeated Lebanon this morning 34-12 in a tricky affair, praise Jah for Joseph Manu. Tokoroa's finest had the greatest phase of footy I've seen, bursting through tackles to set up Dylan Brown and then going straight from dummy half for one of the best tries ever.
Last time Manu played a Test for Aotearoa he finished with 401m and put in a legendary shift at Mt Smart. That Test also featured seven dummy half runs from Manu for 105m @ 15m/DHR and his epic try this morning came from a dummy half scoot. This is the best combination of Kiwis performances of my lifetime.
Manu's try assist and try came at a crucial moment against Lebanon. Test footy is niggly and when dealing with the underdog tag, one of the best options is to create chaos. Coached by Argentina's rugby union boss Michael Cheika, Lebanon played this chaotic role well and started the second half with a try to be down 18-12. Less than 10 minutes later, Manu changed the game…
After the Manu extravaganza, Adam Doueihi was sent off and the game was essentially over. Aotearoa will be seeking improvement throughout the group stages. They were below par in this game but grabbed the win and thus the Rugby League World Cup begins.
Tough start for Samoa. Samoa were smoked by England and after pondering the wonky perception of Samoa in Friday's newsletter, I'm not surprised. I was kinda baffled at Samoa being favourites over England for an RLWC opener in England and while Samoa may bounce back to be a major RLWC factor, everything about Samoan footy suggests that won't be the case.
For many, having so many Panthers was the reason for Samoan dominance. This underestimates the difference between NRL and Test footy as well as ignoring how these players fit into a system led by Nathan Cleary, Dylan Edwards, Isaah Yeo, James Fisher-Harris and Apisai Koroisau. That's the Panthers spine and two middle forwards, plus Moses Leota - who is Samoan and wanted to play for Aotearoa.
Samoa has a clear record of shenanigans in rugby league and union.
The 2011 Rugby World Cup featured corruption allegations against Samoan staff. Mahonri Schwalger suggested that Samoan officials treated that WC as a holiday and that the "team's preparation was tainted by not having people in vital positions committed to their duties".
In 2015, Dan Leo wrote a fabulous breakdown of Samoa's issues in rugby union…
"My gut feeling is that without a cultural revolution within the organisation and a total separation of politics and sport things will only continue to get worse for Samoan rugby before they get better. "
Things get weirder in rugby league. After the 2017 RLWC in which Samoa qualified for the quarter-finals via three losses and a draw, Josh Papali'i and Junior Paulo returned to Canberra Raiders training overweight. Papali'i said "I went into Samoa camp pretty unhealthy. I was a bit overweight and I sort of treated that camp as a holiday, and I didn't make the best decisions on that camp."
Last year this yarn from Fox Sports went deep into Samoa's culture and rugby league set up. This gives us one deep dive for both Samoan league and union as reference points. In the Fox Sports yarn, Papali'i - the guy who treated the previous RLWC as a holiday - outlined why he would rather represent Australia and how players didn't want to play under that Samoan coach Matt Parish.
A year later Papali'i is playing again for Samoa. Papali'i and Paulo seem like lovely chaps, but they were part of the problem in 2017, then part of an outcry against coach Matt Parish and then they are back playing. This goes far beyond coach Parish though.
In both footy codes, Samoan players or staff have treated World Cups like holidays. In some cases this has escalated to corruption. Nothing has improved since 2011 and the icky culture has instead filtered across codes, now evident in Samoa losing 60-6 to England … as favourites.
Siua Wong started for Fiji in their loss to Australia as his funky journey continues. Wong is 19-years-old and if the Roosters seal of approval wasn't enough, Wong's mana saw him start for Fiji.
Women's Big Bash League rolls along and I didn't pick up Lea Tahuhu signing with Sydney Thunder so we can add her to the mix. These games are on nearly every day and I'll round up all the kiwi mahi on days with no play, while dropping specific nuggets like Suzie Bates' excellence in newsletters. Bates' Sixers aren't playing in the coming days and they have won their first three games, featuring an 82* @ 109.75sr from Bates.
Sixers are rolling out a batting order of Bates, Alyssa Healy, Ellyse Perry and Ashleigh Gardner. This puts Bates in a different spot to her White Ferns role where there is a weight of responsibility in Bates' batting and Bates can relax into her hitting for Sixers. These batters have their own styles with the opening combo of Healy's punchy shots and Bates' brutal power followed by Perry's elegance. Then Gardner can hit sixes all around the park.
Glenn Phillips can also hit sixes all around the park and I got caught up in the Aotearoa sport chaos to include Phillips in my Auckland domestic contract breakdown. Phillips is instead off to Otago and a quick edit was required, before basking in the reminder that Phillips will be playing for Otago.
Phillips is the most exciting cricketer in Aotearoa and I'll go further to say the world. A trip or two to see Phillips live should be mandatory for cricket fans down south.
Big ups to the Patreon whanau supporting Niche Cache content. Super churs to Phil Daly and Mawk for your support! Our weekly Patreon podcast drops tomorrow afternoon where we’ll probably be chatting Wellington Phoenix and Blackcaps.
I'm pondering the battle between seam and spin for Blackcaps at the T20 World Cup. Australian conditions bring an almost automatic response of speed, bounce and seamers who can do Aussie things. This is countered by Ish Sodhi (20w @ 16.6sr), Michael Bracewell (17w @ 11.2sr) and Mitchell Santner (14w @ 18sr) leading Aotearoa for T20I wickets this year.
Recent Blackcaps cricket also featured Devon Conway rocking the SS Ton bat, alongside Finn Allen who has been part of the SS stable for at least a year. Conway was previously using Gunn & Moore bats as he had during his career in Aotearoa and a few summers ago I noted how BJ Watling, Colin de Grandhomme and Jeet Raval had all switched from Kookaburra to SS Ton.
Waling, de Grandhomme and Raval probably came to the end of their Kookaburra deal and then got more money from SS. Allen was previously using Adidas bats and his SS deal came around his Indian Premier League deal, which is aligned with Conway moving to SS after his first IPL stint.
Wildcard’s Notebook
Same as the last time that Devin Haney fought George Kambosos Jr in Melbourne, there were contrasting results for the kiwis involved on the undercard.
David Nyika went first against fellow kiwi fella Titi Motusaga, who trains outta the City Kickboxing gym alongside Junior Fa and Hemi Ahio and all those UFC lads. Motusaga even came in with an undefeated record... albeit that was an overrated talking point since he was only 4-0 having fought all local opponents.
Nyika was also 4-0 as a professional cruiserweight though having already fought in England and Australia as well as all his amateur pedigree (most notably his Olympic bronze medal). Still, it felt like perhaps this was a step up in opponents for David Nyika in fight number five. A little riskier than he could have opted for.
Yet Nyika looked super confident from the outset, dangling that leading left around and testing out a few angles whilst using his superior height and reach. Not a lot going on in that first round as Motusaga kept it cautious while Nyika was merely on an information gathering project. Then whatever it was he learned, he put it into practice in the second round with a much more active approach. Switching stances and attacking from different angles. He did get a large cut opened up on his right cheek though that seemed to come from an accidental head clash.
Nyika was bleeding pretty profusely and it quite obviously put some fire in his belly. The eyes went full focus. The right hand was coming over the top with vengeance. Tagged him a couple times... then with about thirty seconds left in the second that right hand landed clean with fury and Motusaga was out cold before he even left his feet. A comprehensive stoppage if ever there were one. He moves to 5-0. That cut on his cheek could set him back a wee while as he waits for it to fully heal but it is what it is. Nyika bossed that one.
Immediately after that Hemi Ahio stepped up to face Faiga Opelu, who was born in Samoa and largely raised in Aotearoa but fights as an Australian. Hemi Ahio is the rising heavyweight in kiwi boxing with Joseph Parker and Junior Fa both coming off heavy defeats in their last bouts. Ahio was 19-0 with 14 KOs. Opelu 14-3-1 having lost twice in his last three but those were against Justis Huni and Lucas Browne who are the two best Aussie heavyweights going right now. Tongan vs Samoan boxing action here too, just to add to the funk.
This one was way more action-packed from the outset. Ahio was fighting with a grin on his face. Lots of punches, willing to take one or two back the other way, and that formula probably gave Ahio the first round thanks to the higher workload and a few quality jabs to the head.
However Opelu wasn’t worried. He’s a compact boxer with great counters and he hit Ahio enough in that round to know what was up. Opelu came out in the second throwing fast combos from the inside. From there he got Ahio onto the ropes and drilled him with a few bangers. One of them knocked Ahio’s mouthguard out and they had to pause to find it.
One round apiece then as we entered the third. Opelu had some blood dripping from his nose but he also had the momentum in the bout with Ahio showing some signs of sluggishness after those headshots. When Ahio’s mouthguard fell out for the third time (and he was given an official warning) he was able to catch his breath and get back swinging, lighting up a couple bombs that for the first time appeared to hurt Opelu. But even then he couldn’t close out the round with the same intensity. Back in his corner, trainer Eugene Bareman told him he needed to push himself through the fatigue so it wasn’t imaginary, the dude was puffing.
Opelu got him onto the ropes early fourth and began working him over. Ahio’s arms were dropping, not protecting his head. Then they stopped the fight. Hemi Ahio wasn’t happy and no doubt they stopped it quite early, particularly for an undefeated fighter. But to be fair it was hard to envisage it getting any better for Ahio had it continued. Hemi The Hammer drops to 19-1. His first defeat as a pro and it was a rough one.
Women’s National League – Team of the Week #5
GK – Una Foyle (Canterbury Utd) – The Pride conceded four goals and copped another demoralising loss. Yet their goalie gets TOW honours anyway because she made 3-4 utterly jaw-dropping goal-line saves (mostly off Kelli Brown) to keep her team in that match for as long as possible. Point blank denials that barely even made sense.
RB – Toni Power (Southern United) - Huge praise for a defender in a losing effort but Eastern Suburbs had been unstoppable this season scoring four or more goals in every game... until running into Southern Utd. Subs still emerged with a 1-0 win but the way that Southern defended them was unreal. Toni Power’s tireless and aggressive work at right back gets first recognition...
CB – Hannah Mackay-Wright (Southern United) – ... and Hannah Mackay-Wright gets even higher praise for her sturdy positioning, her prowess in the challenge, and especially for her fine distribution too. Plus about three whole-hearted shot blocks with zero regard for her own bodily preservation.
CB – Arya Blackler (Eastern Suburbs) – Was gonna be Jana Niedermayr but Central let it slip in the last half hour of their game so this spot has reverted to a 16 year old (turns 17 next week) making her first start this season and looking completely assured. Defensively Blackler held her own but it was the passing out of the back that really shone. Blackler operated almost like an extra midfielder at times. Very impressive.
LB – Talisha Green (Northern Rovers) – Yeah she gave away a penalty... but it was a soft call and it was saved anyway. Green also scored a goal (her second of the season) and defended excellently throughout as Rovers went to Canterbury and returned with a 4-1 win. Captain’s things.
CM – Rose Morton (Southern United) – If Southern are putting in one of those defensive prowess performances then you can bet that Rose Morton is amongst it. No CDM in this league does it better. Anticipating where the ball is going then stepping in and taking it. Morton got more influential as the game went on – defying the laws of fatigue (just a pity her team couldn’t find an equaliser). Highest form of praise that can be offered for Rose Morton is that she largely contained Deven Jackson.
CM – Rina Hirano (Western Springs) – It ended up as a 5-1 win but Springs had genuine trouble trying to crack a resilient (and much improved) Central team. It was still 1-1 after an hour. Lucky for them they had Rina Hirano who was the best player on the park by a distance, setting up the first goal in style and ending up with two goals and two assists in the victory. Magnificent individual performance.
CM – Grace Smith (Central) – While we’re talking about Central’s battling effort against Springs, better chuck in a Central player to acknowledge it. Grace Smith added a bit more poise and experience to the Central midfield when she popped up last week. This week was all about the bite as she worked hard and broke things up on the regular. Fine mahi.
FW – Pepi Olliver-Bell (Capital) – Scorer of Capital’s only goal through the first four rounds... and she got a double in the thrilling 4-4 draw against Auckland Utd – including a brilliant header for the 93rd minute equaliser. Getting the best out of POB (and Renee Bacon) has been a mission for Capital so far but using them as wingers on the counter attack seems to have solved that issue.
FW – Kelli Brown (Northern Rovers) – Hard one to pick. Emmelin Bowala and Dani Ohlsson’s efforts off the bench had them in contention though it felt necessary to pick one of the Rovers forwards after a thorough display in Christchurch. Only problem with Brown is that despite scoring one and assisting another she also missed a number of opportunities. But the work to get into those positions in the first place was lovely and at no point did the Cantabs seem to have an answer for her (other than relying on Una Foyle’s super saves). Honourable mentions to Rene Wasi and Leanna Ryan too.
FW – Renee Bacon (Capital) – If POB gets selected then Bacon’s gotta be here too. Two assists for Bacon whereas Olliver-Bell scored two goals. They combined for the third minute opener and that seemed to give them all the confidence they needed. Bacon’s speed and crossing from the right wing was just as important. Great to see a couple forwards who’ve toiled hard for little luck so far get the treats.