This week, we catch up with Head coach Glenn Moore.
There wouldn’t have been many people happier to see the Farah Palmer Cup finally kick off last weekend than the man in charge of the Black Ferns.
Glenn Moore was eagerly awaiting the start of the competition, so he could finally see the country’s best players go head to head. The Farah Palmer Cup started with a hiss and a roar, with Waikato securing the first win of the season, 18-5 over the Northland Kauri. In Pukekohe, the Counties Manukau Heat were too good for the North Harbour Hibiscus 89-3, while the Auckland Storm defeated a determined Taranaki Whio side, 38-0 in Inglewood.
Moore was please with the way proceedings went in week one.
“It was just great to get the competition underway, albeit just the Northern pool. Of course, the Auckland-based teams had some setbacks in terms of the lockdown, and they weren’t able to train, but I thought overall some of the teams looked really good.
“Counties got away to a really good start and they are certainly looking strong. I thought Taranaki put up a really good performance against a strong Auckland team, which was good to see. It will be interesting to see how Taranaki keep rolling out over the next few weeks.”
Of course, Moore is delighted to see Black Ferns Sevens stars like Portia Woodman, Tyla Nathan-Wong and Gayle Broughton turn out for their provinces in the 15s game and as the weeks progress, he’s expecting to see the accuracy and precision within the competition increase significantly.
It’s early days to be singling players out, but the Black Ferns coach was impressed with a few women throughout the opening weekend.
“The likes of Liana Mikaele-Tu’u (Auckland) played really well. I thought Katie [Aotearoa] Matua, Lisa Molia and Ari [Arihiana Marino-Tauhinu] were very good for Counties. It’s only week one, but over the next one to two weeks we will probably see some players really develop.”
Moore is planning on attending a few games this weekend, as the South pool gets underway. One of those will be the Northland-Auckland game on Sunday in Whangarei. He said that while the Auckland team has a number of experienced players, Northland have a lot of promise and good quality players.
“If they get everything together on the day, they’d be a handful for anyone,” said Moore.
“The Farah Palmer Cup has got a lot more importance on it, even more than usual. Given the limited opportunities we have for internationals and then heading towards contracting players and a World Cup, it’s a real significant competition and it’s a great one for people to get behind as well.”
FIXTURES THIS WEEKEND
North Harbour Hibiscus v Bay of Plenty Volcanix
Friday 11 September
4.35pm, North Harbour Stadium
Downer Referee: Jono Bredin
LIVE ON SKY SPORT
Manawatu Cyclones v Canterbury
Saturday 12 September
12pm, Central Energy Trust Arena, Palmerston North
Downer Referee: Becs Mahoney
LIVE STREAMED ON MANAWATU CYCLONES FACEBOOK PAGE
Waikato v Taranaki Whio
Saturday 12 September
11.35am, FMG Stadium Waikato
Downer Referee: Lauren Jenner
LIVE ON SKY SPORT
Tasman Mako v Wellington Pride
Saturday 12 September
1pm, Lansdowne Park, Blenheim
Downer Referee: Brittany Andrew
LIVE STREAMED ON TASMAN MAKO FACEBOOK PAGE
Northland Kauri v Auckland Storm
Sunday 13 September
11.35am, Semenoff Stadium, Northland
Downer Referee: Mike Winter
LIVE ON SKY SPORT
Otago Spirit v Hawke’s Bay Tui
Sunday 13 September
12.30pm, Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin
Downer Referee: Maggie Cogger-Orr
LIVE STREAM ON OTAGO RUGBY FACEBOOK PAGE