Blues Vs Reds Super Rugby Round 10, 2012

[Ignoto]

Reds Team announced;

St.George Queensland Reds team to play Blues​

1. Ben Daley​

2. James Hanson​

3. James Slipper​

4. Rob Simmons​

5. James Horwill (c)​

6. Beau Robinson​

7. Liam Gill​

8. Scott Higginbotham​

9. Will Genia (vc)​

10. Ben Lucas​

11. Rod Davies​

12. Mike Harris​

13. Digby Ioane​

14. Dom Shipperley​

15. Luke Morahan​

​

16. Albert Anae​

17. Greg Holmes​

18. Adam Wallace-Harrison​

19. Jake Schatz​

20. Eddie Quirk​

21. Nick Frisby​

22. Anthony Fainga'a​

​

​

http://www.redsrugby.com.au/NewsEvents/NewsArticles/tabid/581/ArticleID/6244/Default.aspx​

 

[Troy]

Add to that Digby's 50th game! Side looks good.

 

[Godfrey]

Not a bad looking side at all.

 

[whatty]

Why do I get a strong feeling this maybe the game the Blues get there act together?

 

[RedsHappy]

The exposing players for us are unfortunately 4, 11, and 15 and Genia's very poor kicking. They've proven it in spades this season (and I hope Harris is more settled at 12 than he appeared last week but allowing for his long injury period that contributed). They'll be targeted. Back row now back to something of greater effectiveness, sensible.

I'll be in AKL for the game, it'll be great to see AWH and AF return.

 

[Slim 293]

I just fear for the Reds scrum...

 

[Godfrey]

Meh, the Reds have been ok in the scrum this year. Haven't really been torn apart like they have in the past. As long as they get the ball out I'm happy (or make that happier).

 

[Grandmaster Flash]

Woodcock and Mealamu are out so that's a big leg-up for the Reds.

 

[bloodred]

pretty happy to see Liam Gill there with Beau. Hopefully we can get an advantage from this pairing, so that the ball comes a little quicker. Then we just need Genia to dispatch quickly

 

[Scoey]

I just fear for the Reds scrum...

Why? Our tight five has been holding it's own (and dare I say it, getting on top of occasionally) some very good scrums. The Blues are missing Woodcock and Mealamu form the front row alone. I have to say, I'm not that worried about the scrum.

The winner of this match will be the team that is up for it tomorrow. Both teams have under performed and struggled for consistency. It is a no BS, must win game for both teams. The team that gets the basics right (i.e. makes their tackles, gets passes to stick, deomstrates good disipline, etc) will win comfortably. If both teams turn up then this is going to be a fantastic game!

 

[Scotty]

Reds did surprisingly ok against the Brumbies scrum considering that Daley lined up against Palmer.

 

[tigerland12]

Not a bad side to put out given the injures, but the form of #4, #6, #9, #11 and #15 still worries me.

 

[Brisbok]

pretty happy to see Liam Gill there with Beau. Hopefully we can get an advantage from this pairing, so that the ball comes a little quicker. Then we just need Genia to dispatch quickly

Will be an interesting battle with the Braid brothers.

 

[Scoey]

Will be an interesting battle with the Braid brothers.

A very tasty battle - this is the stuff I love watching!

 

[RedsHappy]

The Reds major 2012 problems can be summed up pretty simply, can't they?

- our attack consistently yields too little - we are struggling to score 2 (sometimes any) tries a game and

- ditto defence, from OK, to poor to truly dreadful - hence high points yield against us then our tiny losing margin bonus point(s) so far

No improvement in these deficiencies, we'll only beat weaker teams at home, and the Blues - now desperate - will beat us.

 

[The Red Baron]

ever the optimist eh RH?

 

[RedsHappy]

I try to be ever the factualist. Like you, am a committed fan, but after 9 Rnds the jury's coming in now on this year's team's actual delivery capability and I am not in the business of raw optimism if IMO the facts, on balance, are against it.

I'll worship the skill and well-structured play when it returns.

 

[bloodred]

The Reds major 2012 problems can be summed up pretty simply, can't they?

- our attack consistently yields too little - we are struggling to score 2 (sometimes any) tries a game and

- ditto defence, from OK, to poor to truly dreadful - hence high points yield against us then our tiny losing margin bonus point(s) so far

No improvement in these deficiencies, we'll only beat weaker teams at home, and the Blues - now desperate - will beat us.

That's a fair call. We have not performed strongly enough in defence. If you looked at last year we had Beau, Ant and Ben Lucas consistently topping tackle counts. Two of them have had limited games. Hopefully the mojo will return. In attack we just need to get quicker ball and our confidence to have a crack back(Quade wouldn't hurt also).

 

[TheBigDog]

Hopefully Ant takes the field early in the game. I think his hard running lines and textbook tackles will be needed to wrap up a fairly elusive Blues mid-field. As such I wouldn't mind seeing him come on for Morahan and shift Harris or Lucas to 15 and Ant to 12. I'd like to see the ball in Digby's hands as much as possible so that way he can stay at 13.

The halfback battle will be good. If Genia is playing like a headless chook again it will be interesting to see if Link throws Frisby on at his actual position of halfback for once to replace him. Would be interesting to see how the young fellow fares going head to head with an experienced all black.

Apart from that the Reds have a slightly better forward pack imo , especially with the Blues missing Woodcock and Kevin. Reds forwards are more mobile and I think will be getting a lot of turnovers at the breakdown but whether our backs can capitalise remains to be seen. Last week against the Stormers there were patches where we had great build up and then couldn't get over the line. Hopefully the inclusion of the crisp passing from Lucas for his 2nd game back and some direct running from Fainga'a and Diggers can give the Reds a bit more punch to finish the job. I'm not bursting with confidence but I am in no way ready to concede defeat either, team is finally starting to get off their crutches and make its way onto the field.

Reds by 10.

 

[qwerty51]

Woodcock and Mealamu are out so that's a big leg-up for the Reds.

Dodged a huge bullet there, the only impressive thing about the Blues this season has been their scrum.