Brumbies vs Reds, week 3 2011

[cyclopath]

Lawrence was not too bad - I was not too impressed that he pinged players off feet a couple of times, but then just forgot about it. Brumbies gave away far too many silly penalties in easy kicking range, end of story. Giteau looks all flash runnning at 45 degree angles sometimes, and often more obtuse, but man he can root a backline opportunity. He has one dangerous play - inside ball to AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) / Coleman / McCabe / Moore, and the best chance of any of them offloading is Moore, sadly. Watch Cooper "make" the Reds one try. BIG difference.
Tony Rea should be filthy, but he's probably not game to express any displeasure. Maybe Hard-Man Holies has to get up them? Maybe Chis the Madman will tell them off? Maybe the crustacean will get all crabby at them? Maybe Moore will look kind of poe-faced at his team-mates? Someone should fire up, because the Brumbies had the winning of that game, but handed it to the Reds on a platter.
No disrespect to the Reds - they played it very well, got downfield, waited for the brain fart and took the points.
Scrums were pretty awful - I wonder whether it was as much the Aussie teams' practice of packing too far apart that made the worst of it? Alexander has scrummed poorly this season, but been electric elsewhere. A real dilemma.

 

[cyclopath]

Yes. The way he walked I think he had a rectal injury.

Gold , Spewn. And nobody even bought him a drink first!!

 

[chief]

Thought I'd come and upload my two (unstructured) cents to this game.

- Cooper needs to learn how to tackle, I know he can attack, but isn't defense the priority
- Genia as skipper was pretty solid tonight, pretty impressed. Determined to just get quick ball from the rucks
- Gill's a fetcher and no doubt about it, good cameo in the last 15 mins
- Pat McCabe is a superstar
- The Brumbies should have won this game
- PS was Davies playing tonight?

 

[Godfrey]

I'll take the win... I like the fact the Reds can win games when not at their best.

McCabe is Wallaby 22 for me.

 

[Slim 293]

Did the Reds have a scrum that didnt' go down on their own feed?

I thought Lawrence was flipping a coin between Alexander and Slipper at times...

 

[cyclopath]

I'll take the win... I like the fact the Reds can win games when not at their best.

McCabe is Wallaby 22 for me.

He is good. But who would you take out to put him in there? Assuming JOC (James O'Connor) is not a winger this year and more likely on the bench, who would be displaced? He is almost too "utility" for his own good, as we have a few of those already. Not having a go, as I like the guy a lot, but I can't see how to fit him in the 22 at the moment.

 

[Slim 293]

Anyways, there needs to be some culling done at the Brumbies:

Chapman to come back with either Salvi or Fainga'a to be dropped to the bench... probably Salvi...

As I predicted the Brumbies' lineout fell apart this week without Chapman...

Hand needs to come off for Kimlin...

Andrew Smith on for Speight...

To'omua to flyhalf... nah, j/k - that'll never happen...

 

[Slim 293]

He is good. But who would you take out to put him in there? Assuming JOC (James O'Connor) is not a winger this year and more likely on the bench, who would be displaced? He is almost too "utility" for his own good, as we have a few of those already. Not having a go, as I like the guy a lot, but I can't see how to fit him in the 22 at the moment.

McCabe is definitely a Wallaby though... whether or not he makes it into the 22 is another thing...

He's definitely the number one fullback backup for Beale...

 

[Finsbury Girl]

At least the pigs turned up tonight. Defence still shithouse. ACT should've been penalised for detaching from the scrum at least 3 or 4 times in the 2nd half.

Well we're rubbish but not as rubbish as the Brumbies......Hope Rocky/Moore et al feel good about the move south now.

 

[Godfrey]

He is good. But who would you take out to put him in there? Assuming JOC (James O'Connor) is not a winger this year and more likely on the bench, who would be displaced? He is almost too "utility" for his own good, as we have a few of those already. Not having a go, as I like the guy a lot, but I can't see how to fit him in the 22 at the moment.

I'd take out Giteau. J'Oc to 12, Barnes to bench, Mitchell to wing and McCabe to bench.

 

[Slim 293]

I'd wait and see if Cooper improves before discounting Barnes as a Wallaby flyhalf...

 

[cyclopath]

I'd take out Giteau. J'Oc to 12, Barnes to bench, Mitchell to wing and McCabe to bench.

Hmm, fair call. Genia / Cooper / JOC (James O'Connor) / AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) / Ioane / Mitchell / Beale with Burgess / Barnes / McCabe bench. Still have options like Turner / Davies / Horne (if fit) / Giteau as others.

 

[I like to watch]

Slim,
You are dreaming, he is what he is. A liability who at least did play for Australia once, before he was found out.

 

[Sandpit Fan]

Did the Reds have a scrum that didnt' go down on their own feed?

I thought Lawrence was flipping a coin between Alexander and Slipper at times...

Alexander was putting his hand down in almost every scrum...not much coin tossing needed on that one!

 

[Scotty]

Didn't think that the teams played as bad as some are saying it is just that neither played 80 minutes.

Reds scrums were better than expected overall lost the battle still. However think that slipper had a clear points win over Alexander. Not good considering he is playing on his favoured side.

QC (Quade Cooper) needs to tackle fast, at the moment it is getting worse than better. However giteau is still a worse flyhalf. Player power only works when players know what they are doing. Can't believe that larkham doesn't see that they need another flyhalf.

Reds won the game at the breakdown tonight but will need to show their top defense over a whole game to beat better teams. There were glimpses.

Not sure we can read too much into their poor attack as everytime they got into the brumbies half the brumbies infringed. Moore must have been the culprit at least 3 of these times and it is hard to see how they didn't have anyone binned.

 

[Slim 293]

Alexander was putting his hand down in almost every scrum...not much coin tossing needed on that one!

True... earlier in the match Alexander was definitely Woodcocking...

But as the game went on Slipper was clearly doing some Baxtering of his own...

In the second half the scrum only stayed up on the Brumbies' feed...

 

[Sandpit Fan]

True... earlier in the match Alexander was definitely Woodcocking...

But as the game went on Slipper was clearly doing some Baxtering of his own... Gold mate!

In the second half the scrum only stayed up on the Brumbies' feed...

Yep, we had a few problems after Slipper went off, Alexander was working Greg Holmes over a bit.

 

[Galloper]

From a Reds perspective somewhat encouraging, in my view. Winning ugly (reasonable effort, pretty poor execution), a night on the drink, a two week break and hopefully Horwill's return.

 

[floater]

Brumby fans would have been going crazy about the game tonight, if there were not so many stupid penalties... and Giteau. And whoever said Coleman wasn't there, he was at 10 when all the good stuff was happening. Him at 12 and To'omua 10.... well maybe I will just come back next season.

At the very least Giteau should relieve himself of captaincy, no team should lose with 4 tries to 1.

 

[Scotty]

Can someone tell me why kafer (who normally shows no bias at all but did tonight) was commentating on this game but neither Martin or Horan were?