He lauded the dexterity of Tongia, adding the fullback had built a solid platform on the heels of sublime premier club footy in the past two weeks or so.
"Jason Long looked good too. He scrummaged well and carried the ball well before finishing a good try, feeding off [lock] Mike Allardice who offloaded the ball to him," Philpott said.
It was a different kettle of fish in the 7.40pm kick-off against the Hurricanes, who are on the cusp of making it to the Super Rugby playoffs.
"In our second 40-minute game against the Hurricanes, they had 36 minutes of it," said an amused Philpott but on a serious note emphasising the gulf between the professional and the two-tiered national provincial championship athletes.
"The boys played well and and we defended but it was 26-nil after just the first 17 minutes," Philpott said, pleased his players kept the Canes scoreless for the next 15 minutes before the floodgates opened again.
Needless to say, the Bay players relished an outdoor opportunity to experiment against quality opposition on the foundation of a training regime that began early this year, albeit mostly indoors.
"They played against guys like Ardie Savea, Brad Shiels and Jeremy Thrush who are All Blacks."
He was happy to be able to tweak the Magpies template.
