Brendon O'Connor ITM cup championship final Friday morning!!

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RagingBull
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Brendon O'Connor ITM cup championship final Friday morning!!

Post by RagingBull »

Kicks off 7:45am on Sky Sports if anyone is interested.

O'Connor starts @ 7 and is captain I believe.

His last game before becoming a Tiger.
JackFlashJonny
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Re: Brendon O'Connor ITM cup championship final Friday morni

Post by JackFlashJonny »

Cheers RB..He is going to take the premiership by storm and everyone on here will be saying Salvi who? :smt003
JerryGas
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Re: Brendon O'Connor ITM cup championship final Friday morni

Post by JerryGas »

Hawkes Bay take it - massive shift from O'Connor!!!!
Jerry, Crumbie terrace season ticket holder from South Glos.
JackFlashJonny
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Re: Brendon O'Connor ITM cup championship final Friday morni

Post by JackFlashJonny »

Just read the match updates:

http://www.3news.co.nz/sport/video-live ... 2015102318

The amount of mentions for O'Connor is brilliant especially with turnovers and offloads....Making of a Tigers legend no.7 if you ask me :smt023
Will S
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Re: Brendon O'Connor ITM cup championship final Friday morni

Post by Will S »

Am I right in thinking he is English qualified. Could he be the answer for club and country???
JackFlashJonny
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Re: Brendon O'Connor ITM cup championship final Friday morni

Post by JackFlashJonny »

Will S wrote:Am I right in thinking he is English qualified. Could he be the answer for club and country???
Yes he is however it would be pretty sad if what is in essence the third/fourth choice Kiwi 7 waltzed straight into the England 7 jersey..truth is unfortunately I think he is already better than any English 7 out there playing in England :smt012

Good news for us though :smt003
RagingBull
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Re: Brendon O'Connor ITM cup championship final Friday morni

Post by RagingBull »

Don't think it is pretty sad TBH.

The fact is McCaw and Cane would both walk into most countries XV (Not Aus).

O'Connor has had a breakout season this year, and If Mauger been a big fan of his we might not have signed him and IMO if his formed had carried on he could of become a All Black 23 player esp since he is only 25.

Fortunately Mauger was a big fan of his and he is qualified.
Will S
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Re: Brendon O'Connor ITM cup championship final Friday morni

Post by Will S »

JackFlashJonny wrote:
Will S wrote:Am I right in thinking he is English qualified. Could he be the answer for club and country???
Yes he is however it would be pretty sad if what is in essence the third/fourth choice Kiwi 7 waltzed straight into the England 7 jersey..truth is unfortunately I think he is already better than any English 7 out there playing in England :smt012

Good news for us though :smt003
3rd choice Kiwi will automatically get promoted to 2nd choice after the world cup when McCaw retires. To be honest 2nd best kiwi open side would be pretty good when most of the 7's England have put out over the past few years would struggle to get anywhere near this level.
JackFlashJonny
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Re: Brendon O'Connor ITM cup championship final Friday morni

Post by JackFlashJonny »

RagingBull wrote:Don't think it is pretty sad TBH.

The fact is McCaw and Cane would both walk into most countries XV (Not Aus).

O'Connor has had a breakout season this year, and If Mauger been a big fan of his we might not have signed him and IMO if his formed had carried on he could of become a All Black 23 player esp since he is only 25.

Fortunately Mauger was a big fan of his and he is qualified.
Its sad that an Englishman can't match up is my point RB..I understand he is a very good player and would eventually be an All Black most likely..

I hope to see him in white as we need a 7 like him :smt023
RagingBull
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Re: Brendon O'Connor ITM cup championship final Friday morni

Post by RagingBull »

TBF Kvesic could well get to that height.

He just needs international game time

Kvesic 23
Caps 2 (against Argentina B team)

Cane 23
Caps 29

And to think Kvesic is against Robshaw and Cane against McCaw.

Who knows perhaps we could see
6) O'Connor
7) Kvesic
8) Morgan

when was the last time england had 2 opensides in the 15?
loretta
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Re: Brendon O'Connor ITM cup championship final Friday morni

Post by loretta »

RagingBull wrote:TBF Kvesic could well get to that height.

He just needs international game time

Kvesic 23
Caps 2 (against Argentina B team)

Cane 23
Caps 29

And to think Kvesic is against Robshaw and Cane against McCaw.

Who knows perhaps we could see
6) O'Connor
7) Kvesic
8) Morgan

when was the last time england had 2 opensides in the 15?
When was the last time we had 1!
In my defence, I was left unsupervised….
FrontRowUnionMember
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Re: Brendon O'Connor ITM cup championship final Friday morni

Post by FrontRowUnionMember »

The pleasing thing about O'Connor, was his original signing was met with relative disappointment by some, based around the fact a club fan favourite in Salvi was leaving, and his replacement was a relatively low key 7 in O'Connor, not the calibre of player expected, after all, Tigers have a proud history of 7's.
However, early rumblings from the club were O'Connor was definitely not a backup option, and had been scouted throughly, showing up well in all the metrics they were judging the incumbent Salvi, and O'Connor in. Then, as the Super 15's took shape, O'Connor has had a breakout season, going from steady squad member last term, to player of the year this year. Added to that, his impressive leadership of Hawkes Bay, definitely an added bonus.
Someone at Tigers has really been doing their scouting homework. Hopefully Kitto, Betham, Veainu, Fitzgerald and Sears-Djuru have had the same level of attention handed their way. I'm not including Bateman, Williams and McCaffery so much, as they are known entities in this league.

As for the England open side debate, I think Will Fraser at Sarries will definitely be in the mix.
RagingBull
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Re: Brendon O'Connor ITM cup championship final Friday morni

Post by RagingBull »

Fraser is the 7 equivalent of Croft ATM IMO.

He needs a full season of fitness under his belt, Excellent potential.
Will S
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Re: Brendon O'Connor ITM cup championship final Friday morni

Post by Will S »

RagingBull wrote:TBF Kvesic could well get to that height.

Who knows perhaps we could see
6) O'Connor
7) Kvesic
8) Morgan

when was the last time england had 2 opensides in the 15?
I think an English back row of below would be our strongest:

6) Croft
7) O'Connor (qualified through family)
8) Nathan Hughes (becomes qualified this year)

Is a shame that only one is truly English but it would be a mighty impressive line up.
JackFlashJonny
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Re: Brendon O'Connor ITM cup championship final Friday morni

Post by JackFlashJonny »

Will S wrote:
RagingBull wrote:TBF Kvesic could well get to that height.

Who knows perhaps we could see
6) O'Connor
7) Kvesic
8) Morgan

when was the last time england had 2 opensides in the 15?
I think an English back row of below would be our strongest:

6) Croft
7) O'Connor (qualified through family)
8) Nathan Hughes (becomes qualified this year)

Is a shame that only one is truly English but it would be a mighty impressive line up.
Hughes at 8 is very exciting spent last season wishing he qualified a year earlier so much better than Billy V.. :smt023
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