NSW Waratahs v Qld Reds round 4 2009 official TYS thread

[formeropenside]

Shit, in foresight Fava was a strange buy. If there was ever a player made for Japanese rugby, its Hoiles, and Fava is really the poor man's Hoiles.

Funny, I regard Hoiles as bit of a poor man's Fava. Fava in top form was better than Hoiles, I think. Just a shame that Fava was last in good form 4 years ago.

...and for about 4 minutes.

 

[steiner]

Waratahs will proabably play more expansively in this match I think, and with the Reds planning to do the same this may well be a different type of match to the dour contests we often get between these two sides. Tahs hopefully though will be smart and throw it wide after forward charges led by Palu and TPN, and there should be plenty of those through the hapless Reds' forwards. No surprise that TPN's back in the starting line-up.

Beale to re-establish the pecking order and remind Cooper who was top dog in their schoolboy years.
Horne to remind the Qlder's of another great centre with a similar name and have them harping on about yester-year again.
Turner to finally see a bit of ball and remind everyone just how good a runner he actually is.
TPN and Palu to charge up the guts like runaway freight trains.

Waratahs 38 Reds 3.

 

[Scarfman]

A few big predictions here that don't seem to match what people have put up on SuperBru.

I reckon the opposite, steiner. These sides will just as keen as us blokes to assert dominance. I reckon it will be physically brutal, with NSW taking too much pill to lose the game. But I reckon maybe a Cooper flash of brilliance, or a charge-down try will keep QLD close.

NSW 20 - QLD 16

 

[Moses]

Tahs 22, Reds 9

 

[fatprop]

Tahs to win, the Reds will make too many mistakes and the Tahs will punish them on the gain line in defence.

I really don't care by how much.

 

[RugbyReg]

HE runs with the wings of an angel. That's as close to serene as you get with Digby Ioane whose every move is reinvigorating the Queensland Reds.

Wingers like Peter Hynes glide across the turf, just as 1980s standbearer Brendan Moon once did.

Ioane tears it up with leg-pumping, staccato steps that will drive any Queensland upset in tonight's interstate mission in Sydney.

Not since Chris Latham or when Toutai Kefu thundered upfield has Queensland rugby had an X-factor to break a game open like this spontaneous talent of Samoan heritage.

Fellow finisher Hynes knows it.

So do the NSW Waratahs and wary wing rival Lote Tuqiri.

"There was a moment last weekend when the ball was being passed towards Digby and three Cheetahs players headed straight to him,'' Hynes said.

''Teams know they just can't give him an inch."

It's the very fact that teams do sweat on Ioane and he still skittles defenders or veers unpredictably into open country that makes him so exhilarating.

Ioane, 23, had two angel's wings tattooed on the full length of his back in 2007 as a proud show of his religious faith.

He was playing for more than the Reds when he sprinted 55m at Suncorp Stadium last Sunday before a Cheetahs winger felled him on the tryline.

The finger-point to heaven in his try celebration was a heartfelt nod to his late sister Sisi.

Her funeral in Melbourne just days before had deeply distressed the tight family of four sisters and five brothers.

"It must have been angels that dragged me over the line," he smiled.

"That try was for her."

Ioane owes the NSW Waratahs.

He was a tortured figure in the grandstand on interstate night last year in Brisbane, unable to lift a finger to halt yet another galling defeat.

He was under suspension, one of two for reckless tackles last year.

Injuries and start-stop football as a new face in the squad affected his confidence because he had a muted 2008 Super 14 season.

"Last year had its lows,'' Ioane said of the rollercoaster ride of 2008.

''Mum told me to hang in and by the end of the year things were awesome with the support I got from Robbie Deans at the Wallabies."

Yes, he has mum's name, Fia, tattooed on his upper body too.

That goes with the praying hands on his neck, the image of Mary on a bicep, the Arabic word for faith on the inside of his forearm, and the new swallows on his stomach.

There are more to come.

"I think I'm addicted. I love the pain," Ioane joked.

The opening month of 2009 has been a revelation because Ioane is no longer giving hints of all he can be.

He is delivering week after week, not just in attack but with full-blooded, knock-'em-down tackles of the legal variety.

Tonight's match-up against Tuqiri is the classic young gun-old bull contest. Ioane can't wait.

"I've played against Bryan Habana and Joe Rokocoko,'' Ioane said.

''They are top wingers in the world just as Lote is the big dog in Australia.

"It's exciting to play against him.

''He's the benchmark of where you want to be.

"I remember my first Wallaby tour in 2005 when I was picked from the club.

''I was so nervous around Lote, George Gregan and Steve Larkham, I didn't want to talk."

Before he headed to Brisbane to finish high school at Gregory Terrace, he had been a wide-eyed kid in Melbourne queuing for Gregan's autograph when the Wallabies came to town.

Just as Deans paired rookie Quade Cooper with Matt Giteau in camp in Sydney last year, the savvy Wallaby coach had Ioane room with Tuqiri to pick up the habits of the best.

"Lote was great,'' Ioane said.

''He helped the young ones and kept on helping on the Wallaby tour so I've got a lot of respect for him."

Did Tuqiri, from his 67-Test perch of wisdom, have any advice that has stuck with the four-Test improver?

"'Get involved early, get that first touch and get into it', he told me," Ioane said of sound advice he would love to enact tonight on Tuqiri's home patch.

When the Reds hit rock bottom in 2007, wingers Hynes, Brando Va'aulu and Andrew Walker scored just one try.

That's not one try in a game.

That is one try for wingers in a season.

In 13 games.

Hynes was a revelation last year.

He hunted for work, scored five tries for the Reds and soared as a Wallaby for the first time with his long, track-runner gait.

The spirit of adventure that Reds boss Phil Mooney and backs coach Damon Emtage have brewed afresh embraces Ioane and Hynes.

"Phil is an old back himself, like Robbie Deans,'' Hynes said.

''I think it does mean something to have a back as a coach because they just have an understanding about attack.

"There are just a lot more chances for wingers out there."

It hasn't just clicked overnight.

Watch any Reds training and there's a 20-minute session where the dozen or more Reds backs in the squad split into sides.

They play a high-speed version of touch to hone beating defenders with a pass, offloads and link play.

A Mark McLinden palm-on pass, Ioane jinking three times on a 20c piece, Quade Cooper's show-and-go, Berrick Barnes's calm skill ... it is all there to transfer to tonight's big event.

Because Ioane and Hynes have roving commissions, they are as valuable as midfield decoys as they are as runners because sucking in defenders can expose the Waratahs elsewhere.

It is early days yet but Ioane and Hynes may one day roll off the tongue like the famous Moon-Peter Grigg wing pairing.

A memorable invasion of Sydney Football Stadium tonight would be the ideal place to start.

good article I thought. Some good insights and points. Amazing about Digger's sister. I hadn't heard that until now. Inspiring resoluteness to play on the weekend despite the situation.

I get the impression Hugh might be having to do something similar very very soon.

 

[fatprop]

Quade with Gits

Digby with Lote

The more I read and hear about Deans the more I respect him

 

[Ash]

The selection of Carter over Tahu at inside-centre was based on his line-breaking ability to challenge Reds No.12 Berrick Barnes. "That is a real strength in Tom's game," Hickey said.

Hmmm.

 

[the gambler]

Ive got a bad feeling about this week for the Tahs. If I had to say a score I would go with 22-13 to the Tahs but there is something in my stomach which suggests we might be going down this week.

 

[Scarfman]

The selection of Carter over Tahu at inside-centre was based on his line-breaking ability to challenge Reds No.12 Berrick Barnes. "That is a real strength in Tom's game," Hickey said.

Hmmm.

It's more line-bending than line-breaking. He's like a Stirling Mortlock who doesn't quite get through the line of tacklers.

1 Carter = 0.6 Mortlocks

 

[Moses]

surely if we were looking for a hole in their backline Berrick Barnes isn't the place to be probing..

 

[RugbyReg]

surely if we were looking for a hole in their backline Berrick Barnes isn't the place to be probing..

and Tom Carter wouldn't be the one probing it.

 

[Moses]

it's all a ploy to make queensland think that we think that Berrick's the hole, when really we're going to trick them with a series of 3 metre passes up the middle

 

[formeropenside]

this ref knows NOTHING about scrums

 

[Pfitzy]

Sounds like a shitboring game...

 

[Pfitzy]

... that said, winning ugly is fuckloads better than losing pretty...

 

[RugbyReg]

bloody disapointing.

Our set piece was destroyed, mostly in the 2nd half, but that cost us the game. Lost by 4 points with no lineout ball in the last third and struggling at scrum time.

Baxter and Robinson, in particular, were great. Mumm was awesome at lineout. Braid and Higgers played damn well, except for Higgers' poor handling in the 2nd half.

Again we were guilty of poor ball security and being outplayed at the ruck on occasions. MMM was fantastic there, but seemed the only one at times.

I know he made some mistakes but I thought Quade was best on field. Did some fantastic stuff.

The Tahs have a real issue at 12. Do they play Carter who can't do anything with the ball or Tahu, who tries to do too much with it.

Congrats Tah fans. Nice ugly win.

 

[fatprop]

this ref knows NOTHING about scrums

Agreed, the Reds should have been penalised far more

 

[fatprop]

;D Good to see reality return, tight fives, not 10s win matches.

The Tahs pack mullered the Reds at set piece and starved them out of the game.

The Tahs backs were terribly disjointed, but defensively they dominated.

 

[RugbyReg]

The Tahs backs were terribly disjointed, but defensively they dominated.

I agree with what you say about the tight five, but you really thought the tah backline dominated in defense? Other than Turner twice, your backline did nothing. One try of beutiful forward play, the other a dropped ball by us. I thought we looked as dangerous as ever, scored a beutiful backline try, and were unlucky with another, and poor handling (and decision making) let us down elsewhere. Not the Tah defense.