  The flow of gas into and out of galaxies leaves traces in the circumgalactic
medium which can then be studied using absorption lines towards background
quasars. We analyse 27 log(N_HI) > 18.0 HI absorbers at z = 0.2 to 1.4 from the
MUSE-ALMA Halos survey with at least one galaxy counterpart within a line of
sight velocity of +/-500 km s^{-1}. We perform 3D kinematic forward modelling
of these associated galaxies to examine the flow of dense, neutral gas in the
circumgalactic medium. From the VLT/MUSE, HST broadband imaging and VLT/UVES
and Keck/HIRES high-resolution UV quasar spectroscopy observations, we compare
the impact parameters, star-formation rates and stellar masses of the
associated galaxies with the absorber properties. We find marginal evidence for
a bimodal distribution in azimuthal angles for strong HI absorbers, similar to
previous studies of the MgII and OVI absorption lines. There is no clear
metallicity dependence on azimuthal angle and we suggest a larger sample of
absorbers are required to fully test the relationship predicted by cosmological
hydrodynamical simulations. A case-by-case study of the absorbers reveals that
ten per cent of absorbers are consistent with gas accretion, up to 30 per cent
trace outflows while the remainder trace gas in the galaxy disk, the intragroup
medium and low-mass galaxies below the MUSE detection limit. Our results
highlight that the baryon cycle directly affects the dense neutral gas required
for star-formation and plays a critical role in galaxy evolution.

Astrophysics of Galaxies