Bulls vs Waratahs

[Newb]

5. Some very strange substitutions. I assume the TPN is injured; why else bring on Fitzpatrick that early. Why Turner off rather than Mitchell when Turner was the better winger. Why wasnt Anesi hooked very early on? Why take off Hangers when the 10-12 option was working?

yeah i really didn't get this one. TPN had a visit from the physio right before the half so i think he wasn't fit to come back on. the other ones all made no sense at all. KB (Kurtley Beale) should have come on at FB for anesi and left the backs alone otherwise except for horne coming in as he showed some spark with his touch down the line.

 

[the gambler]

Boet the closest you find me on a horse is when I drive my oxwagon. You make it sound if Jonker was kak I think he did OK. Go watch the Cheetah game to see how a Qouta ref destroy a rugby match. Thedefense of both teams Buls and Tahs were disappointing!

I thought he was inconsistent. Allowed some blatant slowing down of the ball, but penalised others when they were trapped and had nowhere to go. Pinged players who were counter rucking for not going through the gate when I thought they had but allowed supporting players to come from the side, leave their feet and seal the ball off. He obviously wasn't biased or favouring one side, just making some poor decisions. Very easy from the lounge room though and the game was played at a cracking pace.

Which game was it that had the 16yr old TJ?? AR...Cheetahs game I think but he looked younger than the ball boys.

 

[Viking]

didnt get a chance to see the game. But i hear Anesi played shit house. Hope next game they move mitchell to fullback and have turner n nadolo wingers. Heard bad thing about nadolo but im still keen to see the big guy play. If not keep the 10, 12 Hangers Barnes combo n stick beale at fullback.

 

[topo]

A great game to watch, though. A few additional comments:

Baxter had a great game. Powerful scrummaging and led a lot of the counter rucking that was so impressive early on. He was penalised a couple of times at scrum time but at least one of these he was ripped off. When the ref talks to Baxter and his opposing prop all the other prop has to do is drop at the engagement to get an automatic penalty. It sucks.
Robinson back to his best after a slow start to the season.
Dave Dennis had a blinder and did a lot of dirty work as well as being good at scrum and lineout time.
Mowen and Palu going well.
Burgess MOM. WTF?????????
Barnes had a shocker. Went missing in defence a couple of times (unusual for him) but kicking was garbage. Straight down the throat of a Bull every time.
And yep, Anesi was ordinary. Get KB (Kurtley Beale) back there.

 

[DPK]

CBF watching the game on account of its timing. Did Mccaffery get any game time?

 

[topo]

Nope.

 

[fatprop]

Boet the closest you find me on a horse is when I drive my oxwagon. You make it sound if Jonker was kak I think he did OK. Go watch the Cheetah game to see how a Qouta ref destroy a rugby match. Thedefense of both teams Buls and Tahs were disappointing!

I thought he was inconsistent. Allowed some blatant slowing down of the ball, but penalised others when they were trapped and had nowhere to go. Pinged players who were counter rucking for not going through the gate when I thought they had but allowed supporting players to come from the side, leave their feet and seal the ball off. He obviously wasn't biased or favouring one side, just making some poor decisions. Very easy from the lounge room though and the game was played at a cracking pace.

Which game was it that had the 16yr old TJ?? AR...Cheetahs game I think but he looked younger than the ball boys.

The Tahs were lucky, we could have had couple in the bin

 

[naza]

What a ripsnorter of a game, it was a cracker, test match intensity.

I really thought we had the Bulls on the ropes but they showed a lot of character and poise early in the 2nd half and got some incredible momentum up. They do the simple things very very well.

Stoked to see the Tahs finally get out of 2nd gear and deliver a spicy performance.

Tahs need to work on:
- re-starts, we got murdered there and it cost us dearly.
- maul defence.
- our pick and go. Just need to work as a unit instead of the one out stuff.
- finding a fullback who will at least be in the picture frame when a try is scored against us.

 

[Pfitzy]

I can't wait for the replay to finish loading - if naza says the Tahs were involved in a ripsnorter then I'm almost stunned

 

[rsea]

Was great to see Burgess rediscover the form that made him a Wallaby and to see the forward pack assert itself at last. This should give them the belief to carry on now. Fingers crossed.

 

[Langthorne]

Tahs need to work on:
- re-starts, we got murdered there and it cost us dearly.
- maul defence.
- our pick and go. Just need to work as a unit instead of the one out stuff.
- finding a fullback who will at least be in the picture frame when a try is scored against us.

Agree on all of those, and I would add that contesting (at least some) defensive lineouts (even if it is just Mowen being hoisted up at the front every time) has lots of big possible positives (win the ball clean, steal the ball in the air, give them poorer quality ball because they have to tap back or have a defender on it, put pressure on the thrower leading to crooked or inaccurate throws, make them less inclined to go for the line at every opportunity) and not too many big negatives (um, have a guy in the air who could be smashing their maul? but disrupting their line out would also disrupt their maul).

A few ideas on Maul defense - tackle the ball carrier before it forms, get numbers in fast to stop them gaining momentum, hit it head on with numbers (not one at a time). (a little controversial) If not too close to the line, dropping off for a moment so the maul gets spread out (great potential for tripping over or accidental offsides), and then hitting it hard again. If you are going to pull it down, do it early.

 

[Blue]

Good to see the Waratahs play rugby for a change and even better to see the Bulls come back from such a big deficit I may yet go to SFS this season.

I thought this was the best Super rugby game so far this year and definitely one of the most exciting in some time.

Whilst the law clampdown is opening up the game it is still way to open to interpretation by the ref and I thought he was particularly inconsistent in this one. The Tahs showed that throwing bodies at the ruck and counter rucking is a potent weapon and it took the Bulls 40 minutes to wake up to this, which is really where the game changed.

As a Bulls fan it's very satisfying to see your team keep their composure like that. The great thing for us is that there is a lot of upside:

- That was a second (third?) choice back row with the injuries and by far the slowest the Bulls could pick. The starting back row if Stegmann, Potgieter and Spies is on another planet in all respects.
- The Boss' henchman is due back to hit the rucks again soon. He will make a big difference is counter rucking, lineouts, and generally making life miserable. Having said that his repelacement at 4 - vd Merwe is the biggest revelation so far this year in South African rugby. There is a future after Bakkkies.
- Jaco Pretorius due back at outside centre - defense will improve immensely. His younger replacement did well, but the he was found out against the Tahs coming out of the line and tended to drift too much in defense.
- Odwa Ndungane is back soon. His kick chase, particularly at kickoff has been lacking. He pulled off three tackles from kickoffs in the Semi and finals last year and also a better defender that his replacement.
- Defense in general will get better as the tournament continues.

 

[Langthorne]

Wow, the Bulls are already amazing without all those guys. The are really the team to beat.

 

[Gagger]

How good a playmaker is Morne Steyne becoming? Set up three lovely tries. The chip was exquisite.

I too thought Jonker was wonky, and the penalty count of 13-4 seemed to play that out. Especially with the Tahs being so dominant in the scrum. Both Bulls tightheads folded in all night and Jonker just turned a blind eye, they even scored a try off one of those scrums (memories of Ireland...).

But that wasn't why the Tahs lost, by a long way.

Was fascinating to see Steyne turn down so many goal shots. They obviously valued the territory, which the Tahs desperately needed. Tactical kicking was pathetic. Shmoo looks the best at it, of a poor bunch

Oh and Cliffy was immense, seems to have gone unnoticed.

 

[Scotty]

Fantastic game. Best I've seen this season so far. Pretty high quality from both teams except some midfield defence from the Bulls and some kicking from the Tahs.

Burgess was tearing the Bulls a new one with his running at times. If he can keep that up he will push Genia all the way for the Wallaby spot, and the one that doesn't start will have a big impact off the bench. Palu was also awesome in both defense and attack. Great tackle to stop that try, even though it should have been called back for a Bulls forward pass before that.

Credit to Nick for anticipating the effect of counter rucking. The new interpretation had made some of the teams a little lazy in terms of ball retention at the ruck and the Tahs showed how to take advantage of this.

 

[Blue]

Wow, the Bulls are already amazing without all those guys. The are really the team to beat.

Let's see what happens on the road before we get ahead of ourselves.

 

[DPK]

How good a playmaker is Morne Steyne becoming? Set up three lovely tries. The chip was exquisite.

Morne Steyn is going to be the next Dan Carter of world rugby.

 

[Pfitzy]

- That was a second (third?) choice back row with the injuries and by far the slowest the Bulls could pick. The starting back row if Stegmann, Potgieter and Spies is on another planet in all respects.

I'm not always convinced that this is the case. I've seen (and played in) teams where particular players (back row or centre in particular) aren't rated as highly as those on the sideline, but when those two or three players join together they're better as a unit. I stand to be corrected as always

 

[Gagger]

Interestingly the Tahs aren't trying to put the hands into the breakdown - just counter rucking very well.

Yep - clearly they're checking pre-game for genius comments:

http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/forum/index.php?topic=9891.msg64089#msg64089

Agree, genius

http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/forum/index.php?topic=9933.msg63500#msg63500

 

[Langthorne]

Yes, Palu was awesome - I thought particularly in the first half of the first half. Keeping up any kind of work rate after that 20 min onslaught was very impressive. The improved aggression in the forwards had a lot to do with him. The were a lot of excellent performances for the Waratahs, so maybe that is why he didn't figure more in the 3-2-1 points.