Brumbies vs Bulls - Round 7 S15

[Inside Shoulder]

I thought that the referee was hopeless all game. Scrum engagement too long, breakdown a lottery, missed some obvious things, found forward passes and penalties which weren't there, crroked lineout throws allowed to go and seemingly ok ones called not straight. Went both ways, but shouldn't happen, particularly at this level. Incompetent referees deciding matches is not good for rugby. Even dyed in the wool Brumbies fan Kafer disagreed with the last penalty.

I reckon the whole Easter has been littered with uncalled forward passes and knock ons

 

[Lindommer]

Commentators raving about the Ponies front row schooling the Bulls brutes, what we'd expect when props are finally selected in their correct positions. The days of Alexander (and Slipper and Kepu) having to play both sides are surely numbered. What to do with Ben Alexander? I think rotation is the only answer. It's a nice problem for Fisher and White to have.

How good was Scott Sio? Another prominent product of the Pirates prop factory.

 

[Happy]

I thought the Brumbies didn't play too badly. There were very few unforced errors. They certainly were more conservative than we have seen but that was obviously the game plan. The Bulls defence was good, and they seemed willing to infringe rather than allow a line break, hence the 8 shots at penalty goal by the Brumbies.

In the first half both teams were keen to play it down the other end. Towards the end of the half the Brumbies were starting to control the game. The Bulls had yellow card warnings in both the scrums and the mauls by that stage, and Coleman scored not long before half time. The half time break stopped the momentum and it was back to the beginning when the second half started.

There may be debate about the final penalty, but there were plenty of debatable decisions that went against the Brumbies in the game, so I'll take that one.

The Brumbies owned the scrum all night. The Bulls initially had the better of the lineouts, but the Brumbies made some adjustments and fared better as the game went on. I can't remember a successful Bulls maul, apart from one when they were given a debatable penalty. Scott Sio deserved man of the match, and I thought Big Easy had a good debut. Coleman also stepped up and had a good game.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Commentators raving about the Ponies front row schooling the Bulls brutes, what we'd expect when props are finally selected in their correct positions. The days of Alexander (and Slipper and Kepu) having to play both sides are surely numbered. What to do with Ben Alexander? I think rotation is the only answer. It's a nice problem for Fisher and White to have.

How good was Scott Sio? Another prominent product of the Pirates prop factory.

Is he related to the Norths prop from the 90's David Sio?

 

[fatprop]

I thought that the referee was hopeless all game. Scrum engagement too long, breakdown a lottery, missed some obvious things, found forward passes and penalties which weren't there, crroked lineout throws allowed to go and seemingly ok ones called not straight. Went both ways, but shouldn't happen, particularly at this level. Incompetent referees deciding matches is not good for rugby. Even dyed in the wool Brumbies fan Kafer disagreed with the last penalty.

Methinks the Bulls will be suggesting that they were not helped by the baffling referring. (something the Brumbies could believe as well)

That said, the Bulls didn't help themselves with their dire game plan. When you are consistently busting through tackles (being tackled, but driving through the defender and getting momentum) why kick it away?

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Methinks the Bulls will be suggesting that they were not helped by the baffling referring. (something the Brumbies could believe as well)

Baffling is right.

 

[Pfitzy]

Watching back now.

The only comment worth making: worst Bulls front row ever. I wouldn't be talking up the Brumbies scrum over that performance. The loose head in pink needs his arse kicked. Lazy and too dim to fix his issues mid game. Ralepelle surely can't be one of the top ten hookers in South Africa. Kruger is middling at best, and their locks don't seem to be interested in pushing.

The insult to injury was the 72nd minute when the replacement Bulls THP got done by the AR - 50m away mind you - for binding the elbow. Palmer had been doing it all night!

 

[wamberal]

Some pretty mindless rugby by both sides, particularly the kicking. Dear oh bloody dear, what can we do to stop the aerial ping pong?

I take back what I said about Coleman, he had a wonderful game. He will be a pretty handy player when he grows up.

 

[Quick Hands]

Methinks the Bulls will be suggesting that they were not helped by the baffling referring. (something the Brumbies could believe as well)

That said, the Bulls didn't help themselves with their dire game plan. When you are consistently busting through tackles (being tackled, but driving through the defender and getting momentum) why kick it away?

Their outside backs appear big, fast and skilful and know how to score tries. I don't understand either why you wouldn't be giving them quick ball after breaking/half breaking the tackle. They scored when they did so.

 

[Done that]

Is he related to the Norths prop from the 90's David Sio?

Son.

 

[Bowside]

I really don't like the gameplan Jake White formulated for this game. There is a way to go about beating the bulls and if executed it is usually pretty successful.

The reds made mistakes every few phases last week and still managed to get a win. With the level of skill execution the brumbies have, I would have expected them to walk this game. But they tried to play it a different way and only just got home. A win is still a win, but I'd like to see White demonstrate more variation in his gameplans before we throw him the keys to the castle.

That being said he's changed his mind about the need for fetchers so I don't see why he couldn't evolve this aspect of his coaching in the same way.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Son.

Looks a bit like him.
Seems like a real prospect given his age.

 

[Ruggo]

Commentators raving about the Ponies front row schooling the Bulls brutes, what we'd expect when props are finally selected in their correct positions. The days of Alexander (and Slipper and Kepu) having to play both sides are surely numbered. What to do with Ben Alexander? I think rotation is the only answer. It's a nice problem for Fisher and White to have.

How good was Scott Sio? Another prominent product of the Pirates prop factory.

Phase Palmer out, Alexander to THP and Sio to get regular game time. This won't weaken the Brumbies but it looks to the future. I say phase Palmer out as he is known not to be part of that future.

 

[Country Kid]

Back in Sydney after going to Canberra to watch the Brumbies (father-son trip with another dad and his boys). 2nd time to watch the Brumbies in Canberra. First time... the 2004 final, aah yes the memories. Can you believe it - that nine years ago!

Well last night, the game didn't reach any great heights as we all know. When the scored ticked over 20-13, I immediately commented to my mate, well a draw is still possible. Maybe I should of kept my mouth shut.....

At 20-all I was rather unhappy but grudgingly thought, maybe a draw is a fair result. Mixed feelings about the final result. Pleased the Brumbies won but also thought the Bulls were hard done by....

But also....
I thought the breakdown immediately before the Bulls late try could have been a penalty to the Brumbies. The Bulls had got the quick turnover ball, and while the Brumbies were cought out in defence, a Bulls player was tackled around the 10 metre line near halfway, in Brumbies territory. Then a couple of Bulls players flew into the breakdown and went straight off their feet - my first impression seeing it live about 40 metres away was that the Bulls players 'dived' in and never attempted to stay on their feet. It happened pretty quick off course, within seconds the Bulls scored. I guess this was in my mind because it seemed the Brumbies had been pinged a few times earlier for going off their feet.

Re: the style of play. My thinking was that Jake White was concerned the Brumbies might run out of legs late in the game - hence a conservative approach to the game, box kicking, territory kicks, kicks for penalty goals (giving the guys time to recover a bit). A kick-a-thon. It wasn't pretty but the four comp points sure are helpful.

Anyway, pretty happy to see the Brumbies play live in Canberra. Hope the next time is something like nine weeks - rather nine years.

 

[something]

i havent seen this game yet but going by what has been said on here, it sounds like i shouldn't bother. did anybody actually play well?

 

[Brumby Jack]

i havent seen this game yet but going by what has been said on here, it sounds like i shouldn't bother. did anybody actually play well?

Watch Scott Sio and Dan Palmer at scrum time.

 

[Slim 293]

Mowen's counter rucking was also a thing of beauty.........

 

[Blue]

Their outside backs appear big, fast and skilful and know how to score tries. I don't understand either why you wouldn't be giving them quick ball after breaking/half breaking the tackle. They scored when they did so.

Because the coach is a stuck in the caveman era?

The only way the Bulls will move forward is to dump Ludeke. He has no aptitude for the way the game is being played these days. Nothing.

The Bulls have hoarded the finest young talent in SA. The backup squad is littered with talent. It's all going to waste at this rate.

 

[Paradox]

You would want to hope that the Doctors operated on the correct shoulder at the end of last year.

Did he have two bung shoulders last year?

I'd like to acknowledge your post but haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about. He had a crocked shoulder last year. He received an operation on the affected shoulder. He is now carrying another shoulder injury. That's all I know about his shoulder.

 

[Paradox]

Uhhh... if he's standing still and the ball goes forward, it bloody well has to have come out of his hands forwards.

He was moving forward when he passed and it did come out of his hands backwards.