Maori All Blacks to play Leicester

How seriously are Leicester taking this match?

The side to play them is a strong one:

http://www.allblacks.com/news/21041/Maori-All-Blacks-team-to-play-Leicester-Tigers

1. Ben May
2. Hika Elliot
3. Ben Afeaki
4. Jarrad Hoeata
5. Jason Eaton
6. Shane Christie
7. Tanerau Latimer (c)
8. Elliot Dixon
9. Frae Wilson
10. Willy Ripia
11. Kade Poki
12. Tim Bateman
13. Charlie Ngatai
14. Kurt Baker
15. Andre Taylor

Reserves:

16. Quentin MacDonald
17. Jacob Ellison
18. Bronson Murray
19. Romana Graham
20. Nick Crosswell
21. Jamieson Gibson-Park
22. Jackson Willison
23. Declan O'Donnell

Several recent All Blacks and some very good sxv players.
Besides the obvious All Blacks in Eaton, Reid, Hoeta etc names to watch out for are the back 5- Poki, Bateman, Ngatai, Baker and Taylor- all out attackers with serious skills and sevens star ODonnell on the bench.

Bateman's shown enough to suggested he'll fall into the AB mix either at our sparse 12 pos or amongst the several at 10 in a year or so.

Taylor's come through the ranks ticking all the boxes- age groups, school boys NZ sides etc and a real nose for the gap. Likely next 15/ backup to Dagg.

If Leicester can top this side it will have done extremely well.

One things for sure it will be one exciting and fast match.

It`s a long time since Maori or Juniors got a match[for financial reasons]sad they have`nt been given the courtesy of a test match.Bad timing and this last weekend seems they are trying to play the RWC in a single weekend.They are very much a part of NZ`s heritage,gone the days they contested the Churchill/Pacific Cups and won them both.Good to see them playing again and several AB near misses among them.Last time I saw them they beat England on tour 2010 i think.

For this first match of the Maori tour - Leicester will be taking it fairly seriously. It is apparently a sell-out crowd (sadly I am unable to make it) who should see as many first team players as are available making an appearance. (8 players absent on England duty and 5 players away with other international squads).

I expect to see a team that looks something like:

Stankovich
Chuter
Brookes
Kitchener
Slater
Deacon
Salvi
Crane
Young
Ford
Thompstone
Bowden
Smith
Hamilton
Murphy

Stevens
Balmain
Bower
Andrew
Thorpe
Harrison
Forsyth
Tait

hopefully it will be a good match and one that lives up to recent encounters with international sides:

http://www.leicestertigers.com/rugby/1369.php
http://www.leicestertigers.com/rugby/1398.php

Will it be on the telly or an official link LT?

greytiger wrote:Will it be on the telly or an official link LT?

Not as far as I know.

I was a little bit out with the team, but not too bad:

Leicester Tigers (v Maori All Blacks, Welford Road, Tuesday 7.30pm)
0 Mathew Tait
N Niall Morris
M Matt Smith
L Anthony Allen
K Adam Thompstone
J George Ford
I Patrick Phibbs
A Boris Stankovich
B George Chuter
C Fraser Balmain
D Louis Deacon (c)
E Graham Kitchener
F Ed Slater
H Julian Salvi
G Jordan Crane

Replacements
P Jonny Harris
Q Jimmy Stevens
R Kieran Brookes
S Michael Noone
T Richard Thorpe
U Sam Harrison
V Dan Bowden
W Geordan Murphy

It's quite a big Tigers pack with a tough tackling but unimaginative midfield. A lot will rest on Ford and his tactical kicking ability.

Bowden and Murphy to come on could make a massive difference, Bowdens all round skills at 12 outside Ford and Murphy helping to steady the ship (Tait to the wing) would instantly make that backline more dangerous I feel.

Starting pack looks like it needs to do the job as the bench looks pretty average there.

Nice to see the lettered jerseys once again.

Brings back memories of Richards in G, Backy in H and the famous ABC front row of Rowntree, Cockers and the Baron.

Starting pack looks like it needs to do the job as the bench looks pretty average there.

The bench should add mobility later in the game. Definitely need the starting pack to grind down the ABs first though. Tigers will be looking to monopolise the possession and dominate the set pieces, particularly the lineout. If this game descends into a shoot out Tigers will struggle, keep it an attritional arm wrestle and Tigers have enough power to carry the victory.

Well done Leicester, certainly didnt expect this result:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10847320

Havnt seen the match but looks fairly decisive... That was a strong maori side considering the opposition.

Glad to see "3-2 moral victory" being trotted out by the Herald

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:Glad to see "3-2 moral victory" being trotted out by the Herald

To be fair they only state that Maori's scored 3 tries to 2 rather than it being any sort of moral victory. Though banging on about indiscipline losing them the game does not help. After all Tigers would probably have had more tries without this "indiscipline".

Any match highlights? Seems like a good game.

Maori All Blacks!

That can't be PC?

the All Blacks name is a powerful one, so we've placed it in a lot of our team names now.

dallym wrote:the All Blacks name is a powerful one, so we've placed it in a lot of our team names now.

A marketing decision.

Quick heads up guys, the full match has been made available at http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=1kjCK5Z_vcU&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D1kjCK5Z_vcU%26feature%3Dyoutu.be&gl=GB

LondonTiger wrote:

dallym wrote:the All Blacks name is a powerful one, so we've placed it in a lot of our team names now.

A marketing decision.

And one thats no doubt taking the shine off the name when sides carrying it get beaten by academy kids.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:

dallym wrote:the All Blacks name is a powerful one, so we've placed it in a lot of our team names now.

A marketing decision.

And one thats no doubt taking the shine off the name when sides carrying it get beaten by academy kids.

Well, someone has to beat us.

Taylorman wrote:

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:

dallym wrote:the All Blacks name is a powerful one, so we've placed it in a lot of our team names now.

A marketing decision.

And one thats no doubt taking the shine off the name when sides carrying it get beaten by academy kids.

Well, someone has to beat us.

Is that a new rule? Any chance of it being introduced to the full side after the weekend?

Can't see why Hansen wouldnt do that. Surely he can give something back to the country which seems to have assumed the role of training our coaches...