2
NPC 2022 comes to end with Wellington far to good for the Crusaders. Wellington were by far the better side and deserved winners.
Manasa Maetele started at 14 for the Crusaders and managed 1 try before being subbed at half time. Not sure if it was injury related or not.
I have not got the stats but he was hardly in the game, did take a huge bump trying to tackle Peter Lakai.
Willie Heinz seemed to be trying to out do Faf De Klerk for the most box kicks in a rugby match so the Crusaders line did not see much ball. Disappointing tactics and that probably aided their loss.
Pek Cowan was listed at the starting tight head for Wellington but got injured in the warm up and did not take part.
Season Summary from a Force perspective
As we draw the curtain on NPC 2022 from a Force perspective:
1) It appears to have been a great learning experience for Jackson Pugh who has showed tremendous growth in both skill and confidence.
2) We got glimpses of what Chase Tiatia is going to add to our squad, and its exciting.
3) We saw Felix Kalapu who was an unknown to start with but showed he could be a very handy signing.
4) Manasa Maetele was Manasa, knew how to find the try line and beat truck loads of defenders and made many metres during the season.
5) Due to injuries at Tasman, Cambell Parata managed to get a lot match day minutes under his belt and continued to show growth.