Brumbies vs Reds, Friday 1st of July, GIO Stadium Canberra

[Ash]

Yeah, lucky the game wasn't close.

That was a fine tackle for mine, but if your arm falls off that quickly you run the risk of a ref lottery. Wasn't a good call, but you can at least see why they got it wrong.

I'd be more annoyed at stuff that Lees missed, like Wells walking around a Reds 5m maul to kill the ball in front of him, or any one of a dozen puzzling ruck decisions.

Luckily it wasn't a game where it mattered, Reds just weren't in it from 50 minutes onward.

 

[Brumby Jack]

Jake McIntyre hobbled out with ice on his left ankle but should be right next week.

Greg Holmes copped a knock on his neck that was already sore from the England series.

Ben Hyne on crutches so wait and see how he pulls up.

 

[Brumby Runner]

Tuttle is going pretty well, but he has been caught out of position a few times and forced to take the ball into touch.. Overall some promising signs for the future for him

Think the Brumbies targeted him and were pretty much spot on with their kicks so that he had little option than to run into or kick for touch. Experience will do him a lot of good.

 

[Scoey]

The officiating killed that for mine. Between Lees and the TMO it felt as a Reds fan that we were copping the very raw end of the stick. I'm sure there were ones going the other way that were poor but there were a metric shit ton of decisions that cost the Reds or gave the Brumbies points.

The Liam Gill no arms tackle gifted them 3 points. Rubbish call.

Kerevi's try should've been given. There was nothing in it, the touchy was right there and was happy with it.

Frisby's deliberate knock on call was simply baffling. They score a try off the resulting penalty.

Frisby in a hole and was clearly tackled without the ball. Players calling for a TMO referral and Lees simply says no. He had been using the TMO to scrutinise the Reds all night but didn't for that. BS.

The ruck where there was about 3 Brumbies offside, play on and then penalise the Reds for incorrect entry. brumbies score a try from the resulting penalty.

I obviously can't call robbed when we get dusted by such a large margin but fuck me, we never had a chance.

 

[BarneySF]

Only have seen the highlights - but Ah Wong seems to have a bit of toe and is strong in contact? He seems to have made some strides this year.

 

[Slim 293]

The Liam Gill no arms tackle gifted them 3 points. Rubbish call.

No arms tackle = penalty, correct call...........

Kerevi's try should've been given. There was nothing in it, the touchy was right there and was happy with it.

Unlucky, but again the correct call.........

Frisby's deliberate knock on call was simply baffling. They score a try off the resulting penalty.

Ball definitely slapped away, correct call.............

Frisby in a hole and was clearly tackled without the ball. Players calling for a TMO referral and Lees simply says no. He had been using the TMO to scrutinise the Reds all night but didn't for that. BS.

Reds unlucky, should've been a penalty............

I obviously can't call robbed when we get dusted by such a large margin but fuck me, we never had a chance.

Both teams on the end of some interesting ruck and scrum penalties...........

I'm not sure how Lees confused Holmes hand in the ruck for a Brumbies foot in the phases leading up to the first Reds try...........

But I don't think either team got the upper hand with the officiating.

 

[Brumby Runner]

The officiating killed that for mine. Between Lees and the TMO it felt as a Reds fan that we were copping the very raw end of the stick. I'm sure there were ones going the other way that were poor but there were a metric shit ton of decisions that cost the Reds or gave the Brumbies points.

The Liam Gill no arms tackle gifted them 3 points. Rubbish call.

Kerevi's try should've been given. There was nothing in it, the touchy was right there and was happy with it.

Frisby's deliberate knock on call was simply baffling. They score a try off the resulting penalty.

Frisby in a hole and was clearly tackled without the ball. Players calling for a TMO referral and Lees simply says no. He had been using the TMO to scrutinise the Reds all night but didn't for that. BS.

The ruck where there was about 3 Brumbies offside, play on and then penalise the Reds for incorrect entry. brumbies score a try from the resulting penalty.

I obviously can't call robbed when we get dusted by such a large margin but fuck me, we never had a chance.

Scoey, I commiserate. Lees has always been very inconsistent in his rulings to my eye, but I do think he doesn't favour any team over another - he just seems to have an individual way of applying the laws of the game. Houston, on the sideline, is a far better ref imo, although I think he was running the touchline where Kuridrani (Qld version) brushed the line in the runup to the Kerevi non-try. I suspect that it was Houston's call to review, rather than him being happy with it.

Plenty of calls I thought could have gone the other way, but not unsurprising I suppose but the penalty on Gill was right I believe. Not just the query about use of arms, but there has been a crackdown on those scything type tackles for some time. Saia has been panalised in the past for just that.

 

[TSR]

Yeah - I agree with the Brumbies guys on most of these - although I did actually think Gill clearly tried to use his arm initially and, for mine, it was quite clear that he did. But then others quite clearly thought he didn't - just goes to show we can look at the same thing and see it differently. The foot on the line and Frisby slapping the ball were both unlucky, but correct IMO. The rulings at both scrums and breakdown were a lottery - but we definitely got some calls that were lucky as well as some which went against us.

We got soundly beaten by the better side - but I thought the game was actually a fair reflection of where the two teams are at at present and there were plenty of positives for the Reds. I would like to see Duncan Paia'uau get a start next week at 10. He made some errors, but I would like to see him get some sort of genuine opportunity which I don't think he has been given to date (which may be due to any number of legitimate reasons which I am not aware of).

 

[dru]

To think some were complaining about reffing against England. Crap performance by the ref.

Crazy that fitness was down thinking they've had 4 weeks to work on it. Both teams.

Calls to sack Phipps for Frisbey have proven premature. If anything Powel steps up in the rankings if you judge on that one game. Ditto calls to drop Foley fue to kicking. Nothing here to support the argument.

Duncan looked OK and I'm wondering how he might go in a second fly role? Get him playing 10 through NRC and then swap to 12. Could be a To'omua style player coming on.

Tuttle looked OK at FH. Tui is too soon at 6 in Super Rugby. Toupo had the goods even though young he needs a bench spotfrom here.

Houston and Douglas need fitness I think.

I'm going to miss Gill.

 

[Slim 293]

Powell's passing was a bit erratic at times - quite a few landing at players feet...........

Cubelli made quite an impact when he came on.

 

[dru]

Powell's passing was a bit erratic at times - quite a few landing at players feet.....

Cubelli made quite an impact when he came on.

Cubelli cant displace Phipps. Compare eratic pass qty between Powel and Frisbey. Frisbeys tackling is good though, like Phipps. Frisbey did settle in, but points victory to Powel I think.

 

[Slim 293]

Cubelli cant displace Phipps.

If only...........

 

[Scrubber2050]

Congrats to the Ponies - deserved to win.

Some wierd decisions by the ref. Thought the worse ones were when Frisby was clearly tackled without the ball and the Alexander try. Really thought he lost control of the ball. Big moments. Gill copped a penalty and probably the right decision - same as the Reds going into touch

Jeez McIntyre just refuses to improve. Should have been replaced much earlier. He is pretty woeful on 2 legs , let alone one. He stands so deep, he has no confidence in his own limited ability.

Tupou went Ok for a first real outing - got dished of course in a scrum or 2, made a couple of good runs - thing is his aerobic capacity with running, tackling and then having to scrum. He is the future on the THP side so need to continue to blood him over the next 2 games.

 

[Sully]

I don't know if the Reds fell apart at 60 minutes or the Brumbies took 60 to work us out. the result was the same.

I felt for Ben Hyne. Only lasting three or so minutes must be gut wrenching.

Through my jaundiced eye the ref got every single scrum penalty wrong. Both ways. Frankly he was terrible and should be sat in a room with an expert for weeks until he figures it out.

I was disappointed with Jack Tuttle. He seems to have no distance in his kick at all. And his general play is beige.

I thought Frisby's knock on was 50/50.

Topou was good.

I like what Duncan Paia’aua ( want to say powpow) bought and would like to see more of him.

How did we let Nigel Ah Wong go and why were we trying to make him a flanker?

LEEERRRROOOOYYYY!!!!

Moore managed to not hit anyone.

 

[RugbyReg]

We weren't trying to make NAW a flanker. He was a flanker. We first trialled him in the backs (Link did).

 

[barbarian]

My takeaways from the game:

- Cubelli's 15 minute stint was better than anything we've seen from an Aussie halfback all year. Our cupboard is so bare right now, Tomas would walk in to our team. Especially with Frisby off his game and Powell throwing bounce passes.

- Reds just need one or two more pieces in the backs to be formidable. Quade would be a good start. It's the Samu Kerevi show at the moment, and if they can get a few decent guys around him then the sky is the limit.

- Liam Gill is a great player, but sometimes gets a bit silly. He tried a few kicks last night, one of which was completely unnecesary and sailed out on the full.

- Brumbies were too skilled and too disciplined for the Reds, especially in the 9-10-12 channel. Controlled the game really well, and the Reds just let it slip in the last half hour with silly errors.

- Tongan Thor is a future star. To have the ball-running impact as a prop in your debut game is special. His scrummaging needs to improve, but if he can get there then he is a future Wallaby.
.

 

[mst]

From the JiD thread:

Looks like Hyne is out for the season. He did his syndismosis (I think that's how you spell it). Really disappointing for him. Oakman-Hunt was 24th man last night so I'd say he gets an opportunity next week. Id say Penca gets called in as well.

 

[TOCC]

Reds lost composure in the last 40mins last night, which shouldn't have been entirely unexpected.

But, a few good signs from the Baby Reds:

-19yr old Luckhan Tui made his run on debut and 19yr old Taniela Tupou made his Super Rugby debut, neither looked out of place at that level.

-7 or the Reds backs were 23years old or younger last night, with Nabuli and Kuridrani considered the old guys at 27 and 24 respectively.

-Paia'aua has looked good every time he has played in 2016, i still don't understand why he isn't getting more game time. Kuridrani showed more heart last night then CFS has all season

 

[Brumby Runner]

My take on the game also was that the Reds show a lot of promise and given good coaching will be a definite force next year. L Tui, Thor and Kerevi are the future of the Wallabies (along with Hodge, Kellaway, Holloway, Staniforth etc who weren't on show last night). Both Houston and Douglas looked the goods for the RC tests and should be strong with a bit more game time under their belts.

Brumbies' attack still needs improvement. Neither CL nor MT are yet committing the defense before passing wide. I think that when they do, they'll find making ground and scoring tries will be quite a bit easier. Joe Powell shows promise, but will need to show better control of his passes under pressure and should also work on a running game. Cubelli showed how it should be done when he came on.

Just generally on refereeing, it was a pretty awful display but a characteristic one from Lees, but the NZ refs are just as bad this year. They are mostly blind to knock-ons and off side play. Some absolute shockers in the game between the Chiefs and Crusaders.

 

[gel]

No arms tackle = penalty, correct call.....



Unlucky, but again the correct call...



Ball definitely slapped away, correct call.....



Reds unlucky, should've been a penalty....



Both teams on the end of some interesting ruck and scrum penalties.....

I'm not sure how Lees confused Holmes hand in the ruck for a Brumbies foot in the phases leading up to the first Reds try.....

But I don't think either team got the upper hand with the officiating.

I guess we'll have to just trust the three of you who actually went to the game.

Oh wait, you didn't go.

That makes it two spectators for a team that's leading the Oz comp.