NZ NPC Round 7

Table:

Pos.	Team	P	W	B	PTS
1	Wellington	7	6	6	30
2	Tasman	6	6	4	28
3	BoP	7	5	7	27
4	Hawke's Bay	7	5	7	27
5	Waikato	7	4	6	22
6	Taranaki	7	4	4	20
7	Canterbury	7	4	4	20
8	Counties-Manukau	7	3	5	17
9	North Harbour	6	2	8	16
10	Southland	7	2	4	12
11	Otago	7	2	4	12
12	Auckland	6	2	4	12
13	Northland	7	1	4	8
14	Manawatū	7	1	3	7

Fixtures:

20/09

• Hawke's Bay v Taranaki

21/09

• Northland v North Harbour
• Canterbury v Counties-Manukau
• Wellington v BoP

22/09

• Waikato v Tasman
• Auckland v Southland
• Manawatū v Otago

25/09

• Taranaki v North Harbour

Predictions:

• Hawke's Bay 3+ (going with my heart on this one bc after last weekend, the head says its going to be a struggle)
• North Harbour 14+
• Canterbury 10+
• Wellington 4+
• Tasman 10+
• Auckland 10+
• Otago 5+
• Taranaki 10+

Notes: Including this weekend there are 3 rounds left until the quarter-finals, the current top 4 should make the top 8 though all of them would be hoping for at least 1 win from the next 3 matches. Especially with Tasman & Taranaki having a game in hand, the former should be eyeing up top of the table.

Of course, they're a very good team, and clearly well resourced given the talent they have signed up so anything outside of top 4 would have been a fail. I'd say the top 7 are probably going to make the playoffs and its really just about whether North Harbour or Counties-Manukau squeek in last place.