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Dane Coles has immediate impact for Wellington as Taranaki relegated

90 comments ยท 1,006 votes

Colesy has been a good bugger throughout all of this. No superstar has carried more drinks and kicking tees, or ran more messages out to the middle while recovering from injury as he - hes done every little job to remain involved in the cause. Now its time for infuriating refs, skinning opposition fullbacks and throwing the All black lineouts straight again.

Hopefully taranaki will get some new coaches for next year. To go from finishing top of the table to dead last in one season is horrific

How ludicrous to think that it would ever be Coles responsibility to regulate Aumuas diet, when there are paid professionals to do that.If he fails to heed the advice of the nutritionist, then he will never make it to the top, and that falls squarely on his shoulders. Mentor?...he mentors Aumua by default, by doing all of the small thankless jobs as mentioned, setting the right examples...as you are well aware,Cody Taylor has also praised Coles for his mentorship, helping in his own all black development...its only natural that Coles will be fulfilling the same role in the lions camp.The quality of the man is obvious, he is a proven mentor.

Oh mate you can just go where we all want you too!!!

Codie has come on really well and stepped up a notch this season (my opinion), which is the plus to not having Coles for an extended period. Great for AB depth

Taranaki couldn`t play tiddlywinks this year,and lost the shield!

Worst Taranaki team ever lead by a coach with no clue.

Hes been given the opportunity

well no he could have sulked and just watched from the stands but instead was determined to get involved and help out in any way. great role model

Lions beat harbour in round robin so would go through

Harris isnt really the answer as back-up hooker. Given the vulnerability of the front row players to injury, it is to be hoped that a feasible plan is in place should an injury to Taylor happen. For mine, that would be Coles & Aumua.

The TRFU cannot blame performances on the stadium. Despite injuries and All Black call ups, they still have had a pretty good roster. Good enough to be a mid table team at least. They have played like a badly coached team all season. That is where the blame should lie.

points differential is not relevant when only 2 teams are level on points - it is the winner of the match between the two tied teams that is placed higher on the table.

Wellington beat North Harbour 35 - 23 when they played. Wellington also have a superior for/against ratio, if that happens to be the decider, Im not sure.

They were beaten by Wellington in the round robin which is the major influence in two teams being tied on points.

Excellent. Coles back. Codie tay tay on the bench- we will be formidable, no Harris or Coltman! I think Tay Tay has been a bit tired as of late because of the amount of games but a solid player. But the dynamic game of coles has been absent.