Force v Tahs, round 9 2014

[Nipper]

Skelton was a beast for 40-50 minutes. Why the Force backs insisted on trying to tackle him around the shoulders when he broke through the line, I'll never know. God knows, I wouldn't want to get one of those massive legs across the side of my head, but there's NO chance of tackling him up high.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Skelton was a beast for 40-50 minutes. Why the Force backs insisted on trying to tackle him around the shoulders when he broke through the line, I'll never know. God knows, I wouldn't want to get one of those massive legs across the side of my head, but there's NO chance of tackling him up high.

That's right. You've gotta go low on the big blokes and drop them.

 

[dabiged]

Ah the badge.

 

[fatprop]

Stoic performance from the Force. Lazy, bumbling performance from the Tahs.

Disagree, they played most of the rugby from beginning to end, execution was average in that they didn't convert enough of those phases into points, but a lot of effort was put in.

 

[Quick Hands]

Agree with you on the effort, although the longer the game went, the less likely a Waratah win seemed likely.

 

[fatprop]

Agree with you on the effort, although the longer the game went, the less likely a Waratah win seemed likely.

Yeah, I had that feeling after the first intercept

It just didn't look like it was going to be our night

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

 

[Froggy]

Hadn't commented before but only just got my computer back.
First up, congratulations to the Force, defence was unbelievable from start to end, absolute guts effort. Sheer guts and determination defeated a clearly stronger opponent. Love the Badger, and thought Hodgson was heroic.

For the Tahs, a lot of positives, set piece was good, particularly the line-out. However, a couple of glaring deficiencies, and none more so than leadership. A fair bit of the stuff people are talking about on this thread, and the way a team responds to a bit of bad fortune leans heavily on leadership. Imo Dennis is not providing it, added to which his on-field performance has been less than impressive. I think it's time for the pine, with Hooper to take over the reins. And while on leadership, I though Foley provided a glaring lack of direction for the backline last night. I was a big supporter of Foley last year, though he had the making of a great 10, but I just don't think he's progressed, in fact last night went backwards if anything.

The other issue, already well documented, was the dreadful service from Phipps. I don't agree with a lot of the criticism of Beale. I have been a critic in the past, but I don't think anyone looked more like creating something then Beale. Sure, he overplayed his hand in the second half, and got a bit short fused, but he showed a desperation to get the Tahs home that I didn't think was shown by those around him, and that could well have contributed to the outburst.

I know it won't be shared, but next week I would bench Dennis, and if Palu's still not fit play Gray, Hoiles or Holloway at 8. I would also start McKibben at 9, Beale at 10 and Horne at 12, with Carraro on the wing if Betham & Bread are still out. I would move AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) to 15 if the ARU are concerned Folua might break a nail if he plays, play Horne at 13 and Lance at 12.

 

[mudskipper]

Wow... Nice win by the force ... Bagged the reds and tahs now... Many thanks from a brumbies fan...))

 

[mudskipper]

BTW did Chieka break anything in the west???

 

[Shiggins]

ohh Watched replay again and during Cummins second try Alby can be seen in the background giving an elbow to crawford after the tackle, could be cited for that

I noticed heaps of
Off the ball stuff from the tahs I'm sure the force did a bit as well.

 

[Shiggins]

Skelton was a beast for 40-50 minutes. Why the Force backs insisted on trying to tackle him around the shoulders when he broke through the line, I'll never know. God knows, I wouldn't want to get one of those massive legs across the side of my head, but there's NO chance of tackling him up high.

He was nackerd after that run. I thought that was only 30
Min into the game? After that he was stuffed. He got smashed a few times. Looked like he didn't want anymore. Very slow to get up
After Benny smacked him one. Haha

 

[Shiggins]

BTW did Chieka break anything in the west???

I don't think he had anything to blame apart from the boys his time. He only really gets pissed off at officials. I love that bloke

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Big Will had some good moments last night but all the chat in the crowd was how much he starts to walk after a while. He's a big talented unit, but won't make that jump into elite company until he can be hitting as hard in the 80th minute as he does in the first. I suspect he's still got some physical maturing to do (which is a scary thought), but he could be anything if he and the S&C team get it right.

 

[Ash]

Yeah, Skelton does something impressive, then watch his closely. It's hard because he's often off walking somewhere in backplay. If he's close to the action, he becomes very messy, often just flopping off his feet at rucks or entering incorrectly.

For Skelton to progress further he will need to be able to be able to put in a few efforts back to back, even if those efforts are just backing up and hitting a ruck correctly after a big run.

 

[Braveheart81]

Skelton probably had too many involvements early in the game with his ball running. At one point he'd run the ball 8 times and the next highest was 4 I believe. He needed to time his efforts better so that he can last longer and hopefully have a better overall impact.

His ball running was really strong though and his ability to offload almost every time is really an asset.

At his size, he's unlikely to ever be an 80 minute player and I think there is certainly a place for him in test rugby given time. The bench is a tactical weapon and you should plan for some players expending all their energy in a shorter period of time.

 

[fatprop]

Yeah, Skelton does something impressive, then watch his closely. It's hard because he's often off walking somewhere in backplay. If he's close to the action, he becomes very messy, often just flopping off his feet at rucks or entering incorrectly.

For Skelton to progress further he will need to be able to be able to put in a few efforts back to back, even if those efforts are just backing up and hitting a ruck correctly after a big run.

He is a baby, a big baby, but still a baby in his first real pro year. He is doing OK, but 30 to 40 at S15 is all he is good for so far until is engine improves

 

[WFDOM]

Interesting to hear what Tracey Holmes says 1:05 in to the clip. I think that's how the majority of us feel.

 

[cyclopath]

True. Add it to the list of things the ARU doesn't sell well.

 

[D-Box]

Interesting to hear what Tracey Holmes says 1:05 in to the clip. I think that's how the majority of us feel.

That is almost worth a thread of its own on how to work with what you have to sell the game

 

[Lindommer]

Had a bad day on Saturday, a crap, crap day.

Firstly, cleared my PO box for the first time in April, only to find one of those formal letters from a corporate undertaker informing creditors a restaurant had gone into liquidation owing me many $s. Closed his doors on 31 March and went into liquidation on 1 April. FUCK. FUCK, FUCK, FUCK. WTF did this prick order wine from me a few weeks ago if he had no intention of paying? DOUBLE FUCK.

Secondly, the Tahs went down after a shambolic interference from the ARU disturbed their preparation the day before the match. TRIPLE FUCK! The Tahs performed bloody well in the circumstances and, TBH, played most of the rugby. But the shuffling around of the backline certainly showed when their timing was a smidgeon out and Cummins plants the pill under the posts up the other end. Or a dropped pass gets snaffled up and the backs aren't correctly aligned in defence.

OK, rant over. I'd like to congratulate the Force on their latest win, five in a row's no mean feat for this baby team, especially accounting for Australia's two oldest and largest unions in consecutive weeks. I sincerely hope the Force build on this vein of good results and contribute to the success of Oz rugby over the next few years, as the Brumbies did when they came onto the scene in 1996.