Rebel v Tahs, round 15 2014

[Forcefield]

Hardly, the Sharks have the top sewn up.

I don't know. You are 5 points behind. They have three games to play and two are away against teams that will be desperate to restore some pride. You have 4 games. 2 home and 2 away. You should pick up three wins there and I reckon bonus points in at least 2 of them. If the Sharks drop a game, you are in with a red hot chance.

 

[Pete King]

We where useless tonight, no fight from anyone. I know everybody hates Higgers for his wrestling and pushing the boundary's of the ref and opposition but we play a lot better when he does. Was it cause he shaved the beard?

I thought that Inman showed plenty of fight in a losing side, smashed Izzy a couple of times as well as anyone else. Think English is definately better suited to wing

 

[Scooter]

I liked Meehan's game, he brought some enthusiasm and his kicking game was quite good. Inman was good again, probably our second best player this year behind Jones.

One of the things that killed us was the line out throw. With 20 left we got back to within 5 and had an attacking line out which the Tahs stole. The Tahs scored from. Then we had another attacking line out, which the Tahs scored from again. So we went from 5 points down with attacking chance to 17 or 19 points down in a blinking of an eye. They were virtually the only time we touched it in the last 20 minutes.

I always feared that the Tahs' bench would have more impact with guys like Kepu, Skelton and Hoiles on it and that was the case. Backline had more x factor with Beale, Folau, Horne, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) etc.

I thought Beale should have got a yellow card for his deliberate knock down.

 

[Pfitzy]

I don't know. You are 5 points behind. They have three games to play and two are away against teams that will be desperate to restore some pride. You have 4 games. 2 home and 2 away. You should pick up three wins there and I reckon bonus points in at least 2 of them. If the Sharks drop a game, you are in with a red hot chance.

The only advantage we have is a game in hand. The rest of it is tough, but yes we have a shot.

An away game against the Chiefs (3rd) which is only good in that its not in Hamiltron. Still, the New Plymouth locals will come out in vocal support of the franchise which they chose over the Hurricanes. That game will basically determine our maximum finishing spot before we go into the Test break.

Then, depending on how many guys return from the games against France, we have a fairly good run home besides the fact we're facing the other Australian contender, who is still only a game behind us even though we have one in hand, and one of the Kiwi contenders in the top 6.

Speaking objectively, we should stomp the Reds - without Quade their attack is, in theory, limited further, and their forward pack simply isn't barring up. But I never count the bastards out.

 

[fatprop]

Hardly, the Sharks have the top sewn up.

We need to cheer for the Stormers, they play them twice

 

[Pfitzy]

If the Cheetahs can beat the Ponies, they can also top the Shorks.

Except for the conspiracy.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Polish that Tin Foil Hat @Pfitzy. Keep it good and shiny.

Bulls have done us a favour and things looking good for a Tahs Home Semi (along with a good top up for Moore Park coffers).

 

[Richo]

The Palu v Higgers was a flop you wouldn't have even know either was on the field had we not had close ups with hands on hips during breaks in play.

You're not going to catch anything with that rancid bait.

 

[GaffaCHinO]

You're not going to catch anything with that rancid bait.

Wasn't trying to just stating a point.

 

[JSRF10]

Goal kicking is still a huge worry, we won't get away with leaving 15 points behind in any of our other games this season. Andrew Merthans has a busy period ahead of him.

Palu was awesome in defence and some of clear outs were top class, so what if he isn't doing flashy 60 metre runs anymore? There are plenty of other guys on the team who can do that, I'd rather a no 8 that can do the basics superbly than one with a great youtube highlights reel.

 

[GaffaCHinO]

Came through between his prop and lock. Not sure how but that's where it looked like. Was a bit confused when a he was managing to collect the ball.

Well Scott Allen has done his super slowmo analyst and reckons it came out the tunnel but it matters not the try was awarded just don't understand how it could have been missed.

I think this is the point kafe is making with the NRC Rules committee about how we should start with enforcing the rules we already have........

 

[Pfitzy]

60 metre runs are for poncy backs. Forwards are smart enough to know that once they've broken the line, the border collies can finish it off. Why waste the effort?

 

[Pfitzy]

Well Scott Allen

Mods, ban him.

 

[Forcefield]

We need to cheer for the Stormers, they play them twice

We need to cheers the Stormers for every game for the rest of the season. They also play the Bulls in Capetown.

The Stormers have the ability to halt the running of the Bulls and to deny the Sharks top stop on the ladder. Great stuff. I reckon they are just finding form too and they will get a number of their guys back after the international break.

I will cheer the Waratahs on for top spot on the ladder if you guys cheer the Force on to three wins from our final 5.

 

[Pfitzy]

Shit yeah. I want the Tahs, Force AND Brumbies in the finals, so we can tell the Kiwis to line up and take it in turns to go get fucked.

 

[swingpass]

haven't watched a replay yet, but my impressions from the game live.

the tahs were simply too good in attack.

we had no good ball, the little we did have we turned over at first or second phase, usually from our errors rather the waratah defence. yet despite all this we were only 5 points adrift at about 65 minutes in. then two disastrous errors at attacking lineouts and we are down another 14. shades of 2011/12/13 rebels.

the positives were meehan, smith, inman (the tackle on izzy first up worth the ticket price alone), jones again and generally not giving up.

as well as the line out debacle, worst this year, the big problem i saw was not altering the approach to the breakdown. the ref last night penalised frequently for "hands in the ruck" when the defending team, usually the rebs, were contesting. but we continued to flood the breakdown, ineffectively, the waratahs continued to either get quick ball, leaving us short in defence out wide, or we were penalised. there doesn't seem to be a plan B when the referee interprets the ruck in this fashion.

and geez skeletons got big legs

 

[Scrubber2050]

Congrats to the Tahs - real deal this year - reckon the Brums are on the slide.

Just hope the Tahs supporters come out in real numbers - 30,000 - 40,000 to cheer South Queensland, I mean New South Wales on to the title

 

[BDA]

yeh i called it last week. i reckon the brumbies will miss the finals

 

[BDA]

my favourite part of the game was Horne's try...bumping off woodward at the end was impressive.

 

[Hawko]

my favourite part of the game was Horne's try.bumping off woodward at the end was impressive.

More impressive for me in that try was Horne's running lines. He left good players in his wake despite not having jet shoes.