Looking ahead to Round 2: NPC

Round 2 of the Bunnings NPC kicks off on Saturday with Counties Manukau hosting North Harbour at Navigation Homes Stadium. Counties will be looking to rectify their start to the competition after they fell to Manawatu 39-21 last weekend. North Harbour also found themselves on the losing side in Round 1 after they were dominated 28-15 by Waikato. 

Saturday’s fixtures commence with a bang as defending champions Tasman take on Auckland at Trafalgar Park. Both sides hit the ground running last weekend with Tasman downing Bay of Plenty 27-14 while Auckland put Canterbury away 35-24. 

Canterbury will host Manawatu at Orangetheory Stadium in the second of Saturday’s games and will no doubt give good account of themselves on their home turf as they attempt the halt the winning momentum of their opponents.  

Another big clash is scheduled for Saturday evening as Otago travel to McLean Park to challenge Hawke’s Bay. Otago came away with a win over Southland in Round 1 (26-19) but Hawke’s Bay were put to the sword fairly convincingly by Taranaki (33-19). 

Bay of Plenty will be eager to pull their campaign back into line when they travel to Rugby Park Stadium to face Southland. The former had a less-than-desirable result against Tasman last weekend while Southland were also on the wrong side of the scoreboard against Otago.  

Waikato will have their hands full against a Wellington team who brought the hammer down on Northland in Round 1, 54-7. Waikato themselves posted a good result last weekend as they ran out 28-15 winners against North Harbour. 

Round 2 will conclude with Northland taking on Taranaki at Semenoff Stadium. After the hiding they  received last weekend at the hands of Wellington, Northland will need to make a statement in this match although they face a quality outfit in Taranaki who brushed aside Hawke’s Bay in Round 1.