Force v Waratahs Friday April 13th

[Vanuatu Chiefs]

Shades of the 1st half against the Chiefs with the thriftless Tahs failing to convert numerous chances. To the contrary, a defining period of multi-phase patience in the 2nd half led to Barnes' 2nd penalty goal. Many talking points & some improved individual performances (including, Rob Horne) but great to see that the kick crazed play in Sydney largely gave way to more purposeful attack.

Tough one for the Force - again the bridesmaid to the Tahs in Perth. Time for the Tahs to prosper in the Aussie conference.

 

[cyclopath]

Tahs sneaked that one. I texted Lindo near the end that I thought the Tahs ought to have had another in the bin. Jackson did the "reset" after the YC that shits me, as the offences after that were much the same as the repeated ones prior.
But that last scrum was bizarre - players unbound, Pretorius being held off the ball and he reverses the feed??
TPN and Palu made some good impact, Dennis good, Foley and Kingston too. Benn Robinson continue good form, esp in scrum.
Cummins, Mafi, Pocock pretty good.
The ghost of Phil Waugh was spotted calling the scrum resets at the end of the first half when 3 points was a tasty morsel to be had. Maybe Phil has a Fatcat voodoo doll? Dumb, dumb, dumb.

 

[Slim 293]

Cummins should of got a run last year. Fuck it's hard to quit smoking during rugby season.

The force did well. The tahs got a couple of soft tries.
The tahs need to step it up if they won't to go any further this year IMO

Glen Jackson didn't allow pocock into the game but didn't have a problem with Alcock. I thought that was weird. Especially with Alcock Joy supporting weight or going in once the Ruck had formed. Alcock could be a great second to poey if Matt wasn't around.

We (Australia) have some great stocks in the 6/7 department.


Http://www.youtube.com/shiggins316

Pocock would've had the right to the ball on more than a few occasions if his teammate had of just released the player or rolled away...

 

[#1 Tah]

Not a complete performance by a long way, and we need to improve again for next week, but we really showed a lot of character to get our noses in front at the end. That is exactly what we have been missing with Waugh and Baxter out. Gotta feel for Cat, playing the 80 for god knows how long. Hopefully Rocky will be there to take over at the death next week. Kingston, Dennis (MoTM), Alcock (Close 2nd), Cat and TPN all awesome tonight.

Go the Rebels!

 

[fatprop]

Great to see the Tahs forwards getting to the breakdown and cleaning out hard. They Kept Pocock out of the match pretty well

 

[Forcefield]

Well done Waratahs.

That could have been a lot worse for the Force. I'm glad that the second half saw it turn into more of a contest. Your front row was excellent tonight and probably played Salesi Ma'afu out of Wallabies contention.

Three great games in a row for Nick Cummins. I wonder if Deans will pass his eyes over Mafi in the Scotland game with Drew Mitchell and Lachie Turner out and Digby Ioane more needed in the Wales game.

What the hell has happened to Dean Mumm?

 

[qwerty51]

Ma'afu was in contention?

 

[tranquility]

I thought Horne looked good tonight, without being outstanding at all.

Cummins is very good, inspiring even. But he plays a bit like Rene Ranger, all passion and no brains.
He runs in contact with great heart, but little technique and too high. He always passes too late, and he needs to take the line back against the grain from time to time. However, he is fantastic to watch and the heart and soul of the current Force backline.

I thought Stanley looked good at 12 as well. He is too slow to play 13.

 

[Cutter]

Nev,
Mortlock was always a centre, both at Kings and at Gordon. Like a lot of young players, he got his first start at the top level on the wing but quickly shifted to centre. And yes, he's now slow, but wasn't too bad five years ago.

He played fullback in colts. Andrew Gordon and Joel Wilson, two Mudgee boys I think, were in the centres.

 

[Bruwheresmycar]

Tahs scrum probably won them the game today, good attack as well.

Force are looking alright, just wish we'd win a few more of these close home games.

Now for the good of oz rugby tahs, please string some wins together.

 

[up&under]

Gee i thought Palu was rubbish. He is not a "wrecking ball" by any standards. Im surprised he and dean Mumm didnt get taken off after 40.

AND old Salesi Ma'afu couldnt pack a suitcase let alone a scrum. How that bloke ever played for australia is beyond me! Robbo gave him a complete lesson last night.

 

[Lindommer]

Gutted! Ref I'll see u out side.

That's a bit harsh, I thought Jackson had a particularly good game. His warnings to not infringe were clear and loud (I could hear him here in the Blue Mountains) and he played excellent advantage. Penalties awarded against both sides for infringing at the tackle/ruck/maul seemed justified to me. The only (minor) quibble could be his practice of referring to players by name rather than number, might be a Kiwi cultural thing.

Dunno what you're complaining about, GCO.

 

[#1 Tah]

What was the call to reverse the feed of the last scrum? No way it went 90 degrees, flankers and holmes were all offside.

Also, is Toby Lynn the Aussie caveman?

 

[fatprop]

What was the call to reverse the feed of the last scrum? No way it went 90 degrees, flankers and holmes were all offside.

Dunno the reason, but loved the Tahs response. A proper angry forwards response

 

[Schadenfreude]

as

So when the waratahs play to there strengths its "ugly" when the force do it, it's "playing to there strengths" as I said, the burden of expectation falls not in the west and there band of mediocrity.

Tahs by 40.

bahahahaa

 

[#1 Tah]

bahahahaa

At least we beat them

 

[Shiggins]

Ma'fu is usless. He needs to go. He is a usless fatty.

The force were outdone in the forwards and i think the force just had the better of the backs. Definatly better in the centers and quite equal elsewhere. Scary thing to me is if the force were playing like they did last week is would of been a smashing by the Tahs. If our backs were still running around like headless chooks it could of been 40-3 or something like that.

As a force fan the best thing to take away was that our backs looked a lot better. We need to keep Mafi and cummins for a couple years to come and i believe Cummins is contracted to end 2013 but not Mafi. Sheps looked good for his first game back too. I thought stanley looked great compared to his recent games aswell.

One more thing, I love the fact that Pockock went for the try instead of 3 points. Its something Sharpie never did and on some occasions i wish he had of.

(reposted in Western Force thread)

 

[Happy]

I thought the Tahs had let another game slip that they should have won easily. They dominated the first half, but didn't have the points to show for it. The Force nearly snatched that game with a strong second half.

I was trying to think of how to describe some of the Tahs forwards and the best I could come up with is "ponderous". They seemed to do everything in slow motion, which allowed the defence to re-set. In particular, Mumm and Douglas. Palu also had an off night with several basic mistakes. On the good side of the ledger, Dennis, TPN and Robinson all played very well. The Timani brothers also added impact when they came on.

The Force backs are better than they were earlier in the season, with more individual strong performances, but to me they don't seem to be playing as a team.

 

[fatprop]

Ok

What I like about the Tahs
Great cleanout and effort to get to the breakdown, it negated a lot of the problems of the last match (all attitude)
Strong defence for 55 minutes of the game
Some of the "strugglers" continued to improve (Nau, Horne, )
Some of the quality did their job (Robinson, Dennis, Kingston, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper), Douglas)
Strong set piece
They took away the Force's real strength, their pigs, for long sections of the game.

Issues
Barnes struggled against the umbrella defence in the first half because his runners weren't giving enough options on the inside channel and he wasn't prepared to accept the wrath of the fans/commentators and kick in behind that rush defence
Lack of accuracy in the red zone on attack and lack of effort at times to give the ball distributor options. No options means easy defensive decisions
What to do with a strong scrum in the red zone? we had one, but we show little imagination/accuracy in working out what to do with it. Personally I would prefer to see 1/4 turns and scrum pressure and the backs give space
What to do with a from a rolling maul, the box kick isn't an answer
I also reckon after Maafu was binned we should have taken the three.

Force
Great attitude
Good defensive structures, they have strong defensive centres who come up and in, hard to beat.
Good attacking structures, if the get space/numbers in the Red zone they are good enough to exploit the advantage.
Shepherd got through 80 minutes (a quality unit, fit and moving well he would still look great in a Wobs jersey)

Issues
Kicking was pretty aimless for long periods
Scrum wasn't up to scratch
Like most side transition defence struggled at times

 

[Torn Hammy]

I really hate umbrella defences. They kill the game (at all levels) as a spectacle, especially when the outside backs are allowed to creep offside.

Given this defence pattern I was surprised that Barnes' first attempt to take the line on was at the 60 minute mark, and that Carter seemed to be playing on the wing a lot of the time. I hope they are not injured.

Hard fought game and a promising win to the Tahs.