Brumbies v. Blues Rd 8 2014

[Pfitzy]

So what was up with the scrums tonight?

On one hand you've got cyclo on twitter laughing at Woodcock for playing silly buggers at scrumtime, and on the other you've got Paul Cully retweeting no less a personage than John Kaplan* saying "Poor blues" for them not getting their due for a dominant scrum.



* Of course, it must be remembered that after Bledisloe 2000 # 2, Kaplan basically knelt in front of every Kiwi jersey he could find and gave it the old hoover treatment.

 

[cyclopath]

So what was up with the scrums tonight?

On one hand you've got cyclo on twitter laughing at Woodcock for playing silly buggers at scrumtime, and on the other you've got Paul Cully retweeting no less a personage than John Kaplan* saying "Poor blues" for them not getting their due for a dominant scrum.



* Of course, it must be remembered that after Bledisloe 2000 # 2, Kaplan basically knelt in front of every Kiwi jersey he could find and gave it the old hoover treatment.

To be fair, I was playing on the "myth" thing a bit. But, as often seen, he seemed to be angling well at times, although drove hard and straight through Alexander at others. If I watched it a bit less pissed, I might see otherwise.
Overall, hard to say one scrum was dominant overall.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Not sure why JK is getting the blame for the loss, although Blues did some dumb things, I personally thought the Brumbies should of got a lot of credit for playing bloody smart rugby in the conditions.
Waiopehu,if you calling for the door for JK, who are you nominating to take over from him?? Like the refs that people want dropped, to make statement you have to come up with a better alternative!!

It's called irony, mate. Just cos plenty of people "know" something doesn't make them right. I'm sure tomorrow's Herald will see plenty of people calling for SJK's head, as will Sundays Press feature plenty of "sack Todd" input if my lot fall over against the Lions. ATM the only coaches in NZ immune (for now) from this kind of stuff are Rennie & Shag but we both know how quickly that can change.

 

[Slim 293]

To be fair, I was playing on the "myth" thing a bit. But, as often seen, he seemed to be angling well at times, although drove hard and straight through Alexander at others. If I watched it a bit less pissed, I might see otherwise.
Overall, hard to say one scrum was dominant overall.

I thought Woodcock was a bit hard done by early on when he got pinged for angling in........

But then when he was clearly doing it later on and it was Alexander who got penalised, and the Blues also won a tighthead off it........

 

[Slim 293]

Very strange one that, up by 14 with 15 to go and 3 tries in the bag.

Not really........

The Blues score 2 quick tries and the game is in the balance........

I was surprised, and quite happy to see the Brumbies opt out of putting the ball out at the end (twice!) to go for the miracle 4th try.........

 

[cyclopath]

I thought Woodcock was a bit hard done by early on when he got pinged for angling in....

But then when he was clearly doing it later on and it was Alexander who got penalised, and the Blues also won a tighthead off it....

It's always hard to work out which of Woodcock or Alexander are being devious. Both experienced and cagy operators.

 

[boyo]

Very strange one that, up by 14 with 15 to go and 3 tries in the bag.

That decision may come back to bite them on the arse bigtime.

 

[Slim 293]

That decision may come back to bite them on the arse bigtime.

Meh.......

Not getting a 4 try BP against the Tahs or the Force when they had the opportunity was much worse........

As was not getting a losing BP against the Reds or Rebels........

It was the right decision to go for the sticks when there was still plenty of time left in the game and they were only up by 2 tries against a team that can usually score from anywhere.......

 

[qwerty51]

Not really....

The Blues score 2 quick tries and the game is in the balance....

I was surprised, and quite happy to see the Brumbies opt out of putting the ball out at the end (twice!) to go for the miracle 4th try...

Oh come on you're allowed to criticse your team a little bit. It was the wrong decision, the Blues were not going to score 2 converted tries - they couldn't even score one 1m from the line whilst having 6 penalties.

 

[Forcefield]

Great job Brumbies. Nice to keep the ledger in favour of Australia in the Trans-Tasman Super clashes.

 

[Dismal Pillock]

I thought the Blues did too many midfield bombs

yes, Auck clearly under instruction not to piss about in own half,,, so they launch a million midfield bombs,,, and then completely roger up the effort to retrieve them. Yet another aspect of the game they clearly haven't practiced. In fact, any type of kicking at all looks completely anathematic to the whole backling barring Hall, Hickey and Nonu. Pretty embarrassing for Mick Byrne iHOMo

An athlete like Halai should be snaffling those bombs piece of piss. Or at least putting the fear of unholy ungodly facial baptism into Mogg.

 

[Brumby Runner]

Great article.

Imagine an Aussie paper had rugby reporting like that.

And Marshall's analysis seems to be spot on. The intricacies had escaped me beforehand, but I can see that what the Brumbies are doing in both attack and defence is exactly as Justin has described.

 

[Slim 293]

Oh come on you're allowed to criticse your team a little bit. It was the wrong decision, the Blues were not going to score 2 converted tries - they couldn't even score one 1m from the line whilst having 6 penalties.

There's also something called common sense......

Still plenty of time left in the game......... Only 2 tries up against the highest try scoring team in the comp.......

Go for the points....... Every god damn time.........

They may rue not getting that 4th try afterwards, but it was the correct call.......

 

[ChargerWA]

Brumbies have got to be happy at the moment. They are winning and it's not on the back of any individual brilliance, it's championship rugby.

. Everyone does their part and the guys who you would maybe expecting to just play a bit part are leading the way, like Pat McCabe. Mogg looks better every week and To'omua, Kuridrani and Lealiafano can go up another gear if they are to replicate their EOYT form.

 

[I like to watch]

I think they are playing the type of footy to get them to the semi's.
But they will need to do more than this, once they are there.
IMO.....

 

[ChargerWA]

About the only concern I can see is Whites kicking from hand. I'm a fan of him pushing the limits and can handle him kicking one on average one out on the full, but it seems like he must be averaging 3 a week.

 

[BPC]

iHomo

Is this the new Apple product?

 

[qwerty51]

White should start ahead of Genia for the Wallabies purely because we need a long distance goal kicker.

 

[USARugger]

There's also something called common sense..

Still plenty of time left in the game... Only 2 tries up against the highest try scoring team in the comp...

Go for the points... Every god damn time...

They may rue not getting that 4th try afterwards, but it was the correct call...

Pretty sure Blues and Brumbies were tied for 1st with 20 tries a pop going into this match so by your own logic maybe they didn't have so much to worry about

Slept through this one and will be looking for it on the Youtubes for the next few days but the Ponies have been a real pleasure to watch the past few weeks.

 

[USARugger]

White should start ahead of Genia for the Wallabies purely because we need a long distance goal kicker.

Your baiting used to be so much better than this.