Who needs to ‘Man Up’?
Mr Hassall, according to Tuesday’s Daily News, wants Taranaki Rugby fans to ‘‘Man Up’’ – it is not the fans that need to man up but the players.
I have been watching Taranaki rugby for over
60 years and have had to endure a lot of rubbish during that time including several stints in the second division.
I have walked out of a few games with 10 to 15 minutes to go because of what is being served up on the field, but have fronted up the next game to watch, normally, an improved effort.
None of that has been apparent this year. The Auckland game apart, the standard from the players has got worse as the season went on. At the North Harbour game, had I not been sitting in the middle of a row which would have required everyone else to get up, I would have quite happily walked out before half time.
Watching that game was like watching a repeat after repeat after repeat of Moses parting the Red Sea. The team were obviously not playing for each other and certainly not for the coaching staff.
Coaching decisions this year have been puzzling. Why put your blindside flanker in at number 8 on your own scrum? It didn’t work in the first game and in any subsequent games. If he’s an
8 then play him there.
Why play an inexperienced halfback in a Ranfurly Shield game against a team who have a history of taking the Shield away from us when you have an ex-All Black in the squad?
Why take your goal kicker off in a tight game and expect a kicker to slot the winner from the sidelines especially as he had not been kicking during the game and last season missed sitters right in front?
Sure we were missing key players through injury and for All Black tackle practice but was it too much to hope that the rest of the team would actually front up and play like a team?
I don’t think any supporter would have been disappointed if we had put in a good effort and got beaten, but to play like they have this year will turn more fans away than encourage them.
For the supporters who did stay loyal even being at the stadium has been a trial – a screen so far away that you couldn’t see any more of what was happening down the far end than you could live, cramped seats, no atmosphere – you can’t yell your support if you can’t see what is going on.
I for one will not be renewing my membership until the NPDC stop sitting on their hands and make a decision on the future of the stadium. I will not endure another season of the ‘‘fan experience’’ because it is one experience I can do without.
June Cooper, New Plymouth