Aotearoa Warriors Diary: The Taine Tuaupiki Debut vs Cowboys
Aotearoa Warriors face Cowboys in the NRL this weekend and with Taine Tuaupiki named to debut at fullback, they are reaping more rewards from nifty recruitment over the summer. Warriors lost to Roosters last week in the NRL and SG Ball, while Tuaupiki was instrumental in the NSW Cup win over Roosters and this serves as a gauge of where Warriors are at compared to the prior round against Knights.
Warriors went 2-1 against Knights in NRL, NSW Cup and SG Ball.
Warriors went 1-2 against the Roosters in NRL, NSW Cup and SG Ball.
Warriors generally feel better than Knights, but not as good as Roosters. Seems fair.
The NSW Cup Warriors face North Sydney on Saturday in Auckland and the versatile Ben Farr is named at fullback in place of Tuaupiki. Last week Farr plugged a hole on the wing and he has also dabbled in halves mahi after Warriors recruited him from Wynnum in Queensland Cup. Rocco Berry is named at centre, giving Warriors an exciting trio of young centres alongside Viliami Vailea and Ali Leiataua.
Demitric Sifakula is another inclusion as he returns to his starting lock spot and Jacob Laban features on the bench. Laban has played SG Ball this season which means he is still Under 19 eligible and while there are solid forwards who could develop into NRL prospects (Kalani Going's an example) the likes of Laban, Sifakula and Zyon Maiu'u are exciting youngsters to keep close tabs on.
SG Ball Warriors have an away trip to Panthers on Sunday and that's going to be a tricky fixture as Warriors have lost two games in a row. Phranklyn Mano-Le-Mamea is starting in the halves again and he'd be keen for a win, while the rest of the team is settled apart from the presence of Te Hataterehapaerau Reid on the wing.
Reid appears to have been recruited from Queensland, along with Julian Drinnan and Taimana Whakatau. These three have also appeared in the Bay Of Plenty Under 20s team competing in the NZRL national competition while not playing for Warriors SG Ball, with Whakatau starting at lock and Drinnan in the halves.
Starting prop Harry Durbin is another example of this as he joined Warriors SG Ball from Souths Logan. There isn't any clear information bout the other three having junior backgrounds in Aotearoa which is slightly different to Durbin as he is a Pikiao junior who left Aotearoa to enter the south east Queensland system. However these moves happened, Warriors bolstered their junior depth with youngsters from Queensland and this flows into Tuaupiki's debut.
Tuaupiki has hearty Aotearoa mana having grown up in Taharoa, but his footy ascension came in south east Queensland. In recent podcasts I have discussed the fabulous quartet Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Te Maire Martin, Marata Niukore and Tohu Harris. The first three were signed for this season while all four blossomed in Australian systems, returning to raise their mana in Aotearoa.
As for Tuaupiki's footy...
Even though he is a small fullback, Tuaupiki finds ways to wiggle between defenders and make his metres. Tuaupiki is fast and bounces swiftly in a similar way to Hayze Perham, challenging tired defenders around the ruck. Perham and Tuaupiki have fabulous instincts, natural footy intuition that can be as useful as size or power.
The NSW Cup highlights below feature Tuaupiki tries. In both clips Tuaupiki offers early ball to Leiataua, while also showcasing his running threat to make defenders pay for poor decisions. In his try vs Roosters, Tuaupiki and Ronald Volkman react to an offload with a freestyle play that looks like it was straight out of the training script...
Don't expect Tuaupiki to play a Nicoll-Klokstad role as he lacks the size and leadership of the regular starting fullback. Tuaupiki offers a different threat to Nicoll-Klokstad though with his speed, while Warriors have low key established their defensive standard which should ease the burden on Tuaupiki having to make last-gasp tackles.
In the Monday newsletter, I noted how Warriors forwards responded to the challenge of a rugged encounter with Roosters. Harris, Niukore, Mitchell Barnett and Wayde Egan all made over 40 tackles with at least 94 percent efficiency. Egan was the only forward to miss more than two tackles and he's the smallest bloke there, while Addin Fonua-Blake and Josh Curran were both over 30 tackles and 94 percent efficiency.
Warriors lost to Roosters, but were eager to embrace the contest and kept themselves in the game thanks to their defence. 15 teams have played two games so far and Warriors are ranked 13th for missed tackles. Dragons have only played one game and they have 34 missed tackles while Warriors have 55 from two games. Four teams have missed over 70 tackles.
One of those teams with 70+ missed tackles is Cowboys. They have a strong forward pack led by the South Auckland rhino Jason Taumalolo, although they are missing Scott Drinkwater and Peta Hiku in their backline. Cowboys are 16th for offloads and this should help the Warriors defensive energy, although Cowboys are 4th for dummy half runs which will challenge the Warriors ruck defence.
A hot fixture against Roosters followed by an away trip to Townsville is a hefty challenge for Warriors. Warriors will want to find greater impact with their attacking shape and after missing opportunities vs Roosters, clinical execution near the Cowboys try line will be crucial. Warriors have already outlined their effort and intensity in defence, so how that threads into this away trip could be more influential.
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Peace and love.