2012 S15R10 Lions vs Brumbies @ Coke Tin

[laps]

This crowd looks like it would be lucky to have a couple thousand in it at most?

 

[Slim 293]

Fotu officially MOTM...

His bullying highlight reel is worth his place alone...

McCabe had another great game... had a good linebreak, and a kick to set up a try...

Lilo so good with ball in hand... his goal kicking however took a dive...

Both Brumbies' wingers so dangerous...

And the Brumbies' forwards once again... excellent...

However, aside from the goal kicking I was a bit concerned about some of the backline defence...

Thankfully there were moments of brilliance which prevented tries...

 

[Slim 293]

As for Hooper...

 

[laps]

As for Hooper...

Fuck hooper we got Faingaaaaaa

 

[Brumby Jack]

This game wasn't the greatest of spectacle's but there were some highlights.

Fotu Auelua's tackling display is one that people should watch. He was belting blokes all over the place and I wonder why the Lions players kept running into him when they had the ball.

Henry Speight was another who impressed and his 2 tries were very good. His only downside was accidentally taking out his opposite winger whilst contesting a high ball. Joe Tomane was another that played well, despite dropping the ball on one occasion. He set up Andrew Smith's try and collected one himself.

The area's to work on for the Brumbies though, are goalkicking and line defense. Leaving 14 points on the field against better teams will cost them and allowing the Lions back into the game when the finally decided to keep the ball in hand was also a problem. Lucky it took them 60 minutes to work this out.

And I can't leave without commenting on Butch James. Butch James has been known for flying in with his shoulder and generally being reckless. His effort on Scott Fardy after the Lions had secured the penalty on the Brumbies line has to be one of his worst efforts, and he has had plenty. The yellow and white cards he received out of it were justified and he should announce he's leaving Super Rugby after announcing he's retired from Test rugby.

 

[Blue]

Not the sharpest tool in the shed, old Butch.

 

[Brisbok]

Fair play to the Brumbies for taking the 5 points from that game, but that was an absolutely shocking performance from the Lions. There is no excuse for a Super Rugby team putting on a performance like that and I hope that the word 'injuries' was not used by any of the Lions in the post match interviews. I would hate to see their missed tackle stats after that game and their ball security was no higher than schoolboy level. None of the senior players stood up and I'm not sure that Josh Strauss is cut out for captaincy (although who else is there really with Doppies La Grange and Wickus van Heerden missing?!).

After putting on a performance like that there is absolutely no reason why they should not be relegated from Super Rugby next year.

 

[Brumby Jack]

22 missed tackles to the Brumbies 21.
26 turnovers to the Brumbies 18.

 

[Brisbok]

22 missed tackles to the Brumbies 21.
26 turnovers to the Brumbies 18.

I am shocked to see that those figures are so close. The telling factor would have to be that 90% of those errors from the Lions were made in their own half and they were then punished for them. Furthermore, if a Brumbies player missed a tackle there would often be a player behind him waiting to make the next tackle. When the Lions missed a tackle it would lead to a clean line break for the Brumbies. Besides their goalkicking, the Brumbies did well to capitalise on their opportunities and credit to them for doing that.

 

[Bernie_Larkham]

The Lions atually played well in the last 20, they kept the ball alive and offloaded alot to get in behind the Brumbies.

They were awful in the first half. The tactics were crap also. Mitchell just doesnt seem to cut it as a coach these days.

 

[Brumbies Guy]

22 missed tackles to the Brumbies 21.
26 turnovers to the Brumbies 18.

Lions had 41 missed tackles according to Foxsports. That figure's a lot closer to the game I watched.

 

[Brumby Jack]

Those stats were provided by the good folk at Ruckin' Good Stats.

 

[Lee Grant]

Agree with most of the comments mentioned above. Friday was a pretty good day for Oz rugby wasn't it? Let's hope that Saturday and Sunday are the same.

Fotu is living up to his Toulon form and is in better shape than in his last season there when he played as a fat centre a lot of the time. It's a wonder that the Bok commentators didn't berate him for not using his arms in a tackle once, but he hit the guy so hard that his arms couldn't take the the force of the opponent bouncing back.

He's playing harder now than then too, but we have seen very little of the skill moments that he is capable of. Watch this space

Fotu is one who has improved his game significantly by playing overseas. As a player he is almost unrecognisable from the guy who ran on for NSW A 6 years ago with the likes of Tom Carter, Lachie Turner and Dave Dennis.

Butch James is a bloody disgrace to the game and has been for a long time. Fardy was in a vulnerable position and this jewel flies in and launches his body at his head. That he came in from the side is neither here nor there. I hope that he gets a long spell in the paddock.

James should have been brought into line early by coaches when he was a young bloke so you have to point your finger at them too. He seemed to moderate his play when he got older and when he played for Bath he got the art of body hit-then grab, down to a fine art.

But this effort was back to his young days; the red mist was just waiting to get out, and did. Scratch James and you will see the Butcher not too far underneath.

Speight took my eye last year and was impressive last week; but against the Lions, albeit a struggling team, he looked like an international player. I think the Wallabies will grab him for a squad as soon as he is eligible, via residency, as he has expressed an interest in playing for Oz.

That was a pity about the goal kicking as Christian must have been pencilled in for the Inbound Tours test squad and almost inked over. Kicking for posts was a part of that; so he has to get his excellent early mojo back.

Good to see Sio brought on and playing at THP which is not his best side; but he did OK against a smallish pack. This guy is going to be a top player and I wish they had given him a shot at reserve hooker in this game against a team that was devastated by injuries and had poor results.
.

 

[Ruggo]

Well done Brumbies. You got to be happy with that. What I admire the most is for such a young and inexperienced side, they show tremendous amounts of composer. The culture within their squad is impressive.

A bloke that doesn't seem to get a lot of fan love but has been really solid for the brumbies this year is Andrew Smith.

 

[whatty]

Blues at home to the Lions will be a snor fest of mediocre but surely this lions team is so weak it will be the blues last and only second win of the season. Someone give Butch a ticket back to Europe he is a idiot and an embarrassment to SA rugby.

 

[Gnostic]

Being reported that Butch James has got four weeks for his shoulder charge to the head. Yet another sterling performance from the SANZAR judicary. With this blokes record between 6 and 10 weeks minimum I would have thought.

 

[Paradox]

Speight took my eye last year and was impressive last week; but against the Lions, albeit a struggling team, he looked like an international player. I think the Wallabies will grab him for a squad as soon as he is eligible, via residency, as he has expressed an interest in playing for Oz.

Speight is some talent. He's very good in contact and then has the pace and footwork to go with it. What about that bloke Tomane again?

I love how even the Brumbies forwards look to swing it wide ASAP when it's on.

 

[PaarlBok]

Brumbies looks the goods this year. Congrats on a good performance. The Lions well they are down the dumbs. Grant Hattingh who have been pulled from the Maties the only shiner in this miserable Lions team. Minnie and Strauss look like lion cups compared to last year. Lions will be out of Superugby, not even prayer will safe them.

 

[Lee Grant]

We find it strange here that the old Transvaal area can't produce a top team at the Super level.

It's strange - and when the Cats were formed and the old OFS and Transvaal areas, plus change, were merged, I thought it was going to be a super Super team.

How wrong I was.

I don't think that SA rugby has anything to gain from persevering with the Lions now. The Southern Kings may be no great shakes either but they can be scarcely worse than the Lions, and, in some unforeseen way, could be an improvement.

PaarlBok

Do you think long term that the presence of the Southern Kings, not far from Stormers country, will attract players who may otherwise play for the Stormers?

Or could it be the other way around and the big neighbour poach the best of the Kings?

Also, what do you think the racial mix of the team will be? As a rugby person I don't care if a player is white, black or green, so long as he can get quick ball from the ruck; but I know that the government has a big interest in the matter and wonder what will actually happen once they set up their first Super squad.
.

 

[PaarlBok]

We find it strange here that the old Transvaal area can't produce a top team at the Super level.

It's strange - and when the Cats were formed and the old OFS and Transvaal areas, plus change, were merged, I thought it was going to be a super Super team.

How wrong I was.

I don't think that SA rugby has anything to gain from persevering with the Lions now. The Southern Kings may be no great shakes either, but they can be scarcely worse than the Lions, and, in some unforeseen way, could be an improvement.

PaarlBok

Do you think long term that the presence of the Southern Kings, not far from Stormers country, will attract players who may otherwise play for the Stormers?

Or could it be the other way around and the big neighbour poach the best of the Kings?

Also, what do you think the racial mix of the team will be? As a rugby person I don't care if a player is white, black or green, so long as he can get quick ball from the ruck; but I know that the government has a big interest in the matter and wonder what will actually happen once they set up their first Super squad.
.

Some very good questions Oom Lee.

Saw this interesting article about Jake Whites view on the Lions

Johannesburg - Former Springbok coach Jake White says it would be a tragedy if a team with as much rugby history as the Lions were to drop out of the Super Rugby competition.

The Lions are in danger of losing their Super Rugby slot to make way for the Southern Kings in next year's competition.

"I hope it doesn't happen, the reality is especially a franchise like the Lions has a lot of history," White said after his Brumbies side beat the Lions 34-20 at Coca-Cola Park on Friday.

"I was saying to Kevin de Klerk (Golden Lions Rugby Union president) upstairs we started in 1996 as a Brumbies squad, if you think about it the Lions started a hundred years before us.

"It would be a massive injustice if you don't have a team that is a hundred-and-something years old to actually be a part of it."

White said it was an issue the South African rugby decision makers had to finalise as a matter of urgency.

"I just don't think you should be chucking those sort of years and years of history out of the window," he said.

"But it is a tough call because at the end of the day, six does not go into five, and if they've made a commitment they've got to find a way in which they could fit six into five.

"The Southern Kings are the only confirmed team for the 2013 competition, while the other four South African places have yet to be determined.

The SA Rugby Union (SARU) and a delegation were still due to have a meeting with SANZAR partners, Australia and New Zealand, to have discussions on a possible expansion of the competition.

If SARU fails to come to an agreement with SANZAR, the remaining spot in the South African conference is likely to be decided by relegation.

With the Lions still languishing at the bottom of the Super Rugby log at this early stage of the competition they are in serious jeopardy of losing their spot, if they do not turn the tables soon.

The Lions have lost seven matches on the trot since the start of this year's Super Rugby season.

White was sympathetic towards the Lions as he felt the uncertainty of their participation in next year's competition did not help their cause.

"And people can say whatever they like, to win the Currie Cup, in this country - doesn't matter who you play - to beat the Sharks in the final is massive but then to lose nine players and then start from scratch, there is no franchise in the world that can do it," White said.

"Even the Bulls, if you take nine players out when they were at the peak of their game they also would have struggled.

"White said the only way for the Lions to stop their losing streak was to be consistent and show faith in the players they had at their disposal.

"I don't want to get into the whole political wrangle but how hard must it be to try and contract players for the Lions next year if you don't even know if you are in or out?

"How hard is it to know, whether you are going to get a sponsor if you don't know whether you are playing Super Rugby or not?"

Myself see this Kings push is nothing else then a polical one from our ANC government. No way you can justice it. The Lions have three premie league CC provinces while the Kings cant even top the 1st CC div. The Kings have already their own contracted group of players, a lot of up and coming Cheetah players plus the likes of Jaco Engels and others. Depend on their player budget and the racial mix will have to be the same as all the other franchises.