Rebels 2017

[hammertimethere]

McGahan already said flat out that he would prefer to play Lopeti at 8, Mafi at 6 and McMahon at 7. To do that he needs Retallick, Jeffries, Day and Cummins all (or almost all) fit.

Tim Buchanan is down there at the moment I think. Would it be a disaster to give him a chance to paper over the cracks until some cattle return?

 

[Highlander35]

Jeffries should hopefully be back next week, and that'd sort things out.

If he's not, then either Schatz needs to start for one of the Opensides, or all 3 of Retallick, Timani and Cummins need to start, and we either back in 2 out of 3 to play 80 minutes, or give Murray Douglas a chance.

 

[Tex]

We really missed McMahon last night. Noone else managed to punch through as effectively.

One thing that killed me was the drift running. JGB and to a lesser extent Hodge both run soft diagonal lines from first receiver. They had no short pass options on their inside or outside shoulders, and mostly threw a pass behind a screen to little effect.

That's all well and good if the line gets straightened, but we kept being lazy and drifting on the diagonal.

Twice we hit a straight angle and won immediate gains.

Seems straightforward to me from the stands, but christ it was frustrating.

 

[Micheal]

When are each of your injured players returning from injury?

I've thought about last night a bit and I actually don't think it was as bad as it looked.

The scoreline was fucked, as was most of the second half, but I don't think the Rebels season is doomed as a result.

Often in these sorts of games there's a moment when the floodgates open, and the weaker teams morale drops and everything goes to shit.

The Rebels actually looked good for much of the first half and their next few weeks need to be centered around maintaining that belief for the 80 and executing little things better.

If the Kiwi (imposter!) 10 hit those three early goals the Rebels would've had a handy lead and perhaps that momentous shift in confidence wouldn't have happened.

Its very hard to take any sort of meaningful insight from a performance of a team after they've been "broken".

When I run (long-distance) I find that after I start walking "for a break" I find it almost impossible to return to the rhythm I had before the break. The run is essentially over after that lapse. I think it was the same with last night and that can be improved quite quickly.

When you're key players return you'll have a handy XV, and until then I think minor changes can be made to tighten things up. For next week:

1. Ah-Nau
2. Leafa
3. Weeks
4. Jeffries
5. Timani
6. Shatz
7. Reid
8. Mafi
9. Meehan
10. Volavola
11. Maddocks
12. Hodge
13. Tuipolotu
14. English
15. Debreczeni

Fainga'a off the bench. You guys need to secure your lineout and secure your own possession. Jeffries and Shatz will help with this. Simple no nonsense players.

Fainga'a coming on at ~60 mins will provide a bit of spark and late game composure as well (god knows you needed it last night).

Add Smith, McMahon, Koroibete, Naivalu, Hansen etc. to that mix and you're cooking with gas.

 

[upthereds#!]

Reid was everywhere, but stuffing up unfortunately. Love the guys intensity, but he should not be acting as the link man out wide. Fainga'a and even Schatz have far better ball skills and Mafi can at least take the contact.

If noone else comes back into the squad from injury.

6. Schatz 8. Mafi 7. Fainga'a

 

[Tex]

Reid was off his game. Usually he's more effective as a link man. I doubt, however, that he has the pace to play out their. Perhaps it's general structure with the intention of the more athletic McMahon playing out their.

 

[Braveheart81]

The Rebels really missed McMahon last night. Mafi was good on the right edge but both Fainga'a and Reid are better suited in tight because they aren't the best ball players.

Reid made some poor errors after a good start and is rightly copping criticism but Fainga'a was a passenger. I don't want to be too critical of a guy who was playing having just lost his father so hopefully it was an aberration.

Ultimately when the locks return, if the Rebels can play a backrow of Mafi, McMahon and Timani they should be much more effective.

I think the pure pilfering 7 is becoming less and less effective in Super Rugby.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[amirite]

\Tim Buchanan is down there at the moment I think. Would it be a disaster to give him a chance to paper over the cracks until some cattle return?

You think a 28yo, 193cm uncontracted journeyman with one Super Rugby cap will 'paper over the cracks' in a way that a 31yo, 20cm tall contracted journeyman with over fifty Super Rugby caps won't? I'm of course speaking about Buchanan V Retallick.

I think what we learnt is locks play lock for a reason, though the lack of lineout jumpers was just one issue.

 

[RebelYell]

You think a 28yo, 193cm uncontracted journeyman with one Super Rugby cap will 'paper over the cracks' in a way that a 31yo, 20cm tall contracted journeyman with over fifty Super Rugby caps won't? I'm of course speaking about Buchanan V Retallick.

I think what we learnt is locks play lock for a reason, though the lack of lineout jumpers was just one issue.

I don't think any element of Retallick's performance last night was up to Super Rugby standard. An indictment on the lack of second row options in Aus that he even got a run

 

[Jamie]

I watched the game last night as I neutral spectator I must say that the Rebels were quite poor and also the Blues did not really do anything special to win that game. I also don’t believe there are 30 points difference between both teams yet the Rebels gave away some cheap points.

• Rebels looked awful once the reserve halfback came on, zero direction, your 9 is such an important part of your game plan. I heard this guy is heading OS at the end of the season so maybe he is going through the motions.
• The new 10 tried really hard and I given credit for that BUT you can’t tell me he is a better player than Jack D. In fact Jack D was one of the few that was running at pace last night.
• Timani went missing for most of the match and Reid was totally ineffective on the “WING” where he spent most of the game, surely a coach tactic yet total shit idea
• Can someone please run straight?! Lots of passing yet very little straight running, Inman was missed

1st game of the season for the Rebels so cannot panic, I think there is a lot of potential.



As far as the Blues goes, they defended really well and worked out the Rebels tactics pretty quickly, lots of speed in their team though.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

I watched the game last night as I neutral spectator I must say that the Rebels were quite poor and also the Blues did not really do anything special to win that game. I also don’t believe there are 30 points difference between both teams yet the Rebels gave away some cheap points.

• Rebels looked awful once the reserve halfback came on, zero direction, your 9 is such an important part of your game plan. I heard this guy is heading OS at the end of the season so maybe he is going through the motions.
• The new 10 tried really hard and I given credit for that BUT you can’t tell me he is a better player than Jack D. In fact Jack D was one of the few that was running at pace last night.
• Timani went missing for most of the match and Reid was totally ineffective on the “WING” where he spent most of the game, surely a coach tactic yet total shit idea
• Can someone please run straight?! Lots of passing yet very little straight running, Inman was missed

1st game of the season for the Rebels so cannot panic, I think there is a lot of potential.



As far as the Blues goes, they defended really well and worked out the Rebels tactics pretty quickly, lots of speed in their team though.

Well, the Brumbies spanked the Canes in the first game of last season, so.........there is hope.

 

[GoMelbRebels]

Well, the Brumbies spanked the Canes in the first game of last season, so...there is hope.

From memory Phil Kearns called the Hurricanes "slow and unfit" after that game, so... Actually, that says more about Phil Kearns TBH.

 

[Brumby Runner]

To carry the comparison further, WCR, the Brumbies continued on to top the conference. I don't think the Blues are likely to top the NZ conference this year. Maybe not so much of a parallel as some might think.

 

[louie]

He referred to them as fat.

 

[GoMelbRebels]

He referred to them as fat.

Worse than I remembered - that was the pot calling the kettle fat.

 

[amirite]

Phil Kearns works in media where his key skill is story telling. He isn't an analyst.

And hey, maybe he's not wrong. I'd say the Rebels' injuries tell me they've been substantially overworked, whereas maybe the Canes went in luke-warm and built.

 

[RebelYell]

Looking for positives, I liked what I saw from English, Maddocks, Hodge & Debrecezeni at times

 

[elementfreak]

I thought English played well. Sione did well when he game on, seemed to straighten the running up. There were some positives in there as well, Maddocks and Hodge did well. I thought JD looked good at 15, a lot more time and space for him and he seemed to really relish that.

Really if JGB had hit his kicks that's an extra 8 points, and then the intercept didn't get thrown then the game would have been 23-18 at half time, that's a very different game in the 2nd half as well.

 

[Clyde]

Talk that Hanson, Inman, Naivalu and Koroibete could all be back next week.

Hanson obviously a straight swap with Laefa but the back line will be interesting.

Anyone willing to take a guess how we'll look from 10-15 if they are all available?

 

[amirite]

Anyone willing to take a guess how we'll look from 10-15 if they are all available?

Based on the 23 named this week, I'd say:

15. Jack Maddocks
14. Sefa Naivalu
13. Mitch Inman
12. Reece Hodge
11. Tom English
10. Jack Debreczeni
9. Ben Meehan (Stirzaker concussed)
8. Amanaki Mafi
7. Colby Fainga'a
6. Lopeti Timani (they had Mafi at 8 and Timani at 6 in the trials)
5. Steve Cummins
4. Sam Jefferies
3. Laurie Weeks
2. James Hanson
1. Cruze Ah-Nau

16. Pat Leafa
17. Tom Moloney
18. Tyrel Lomax
19. Culum Retallick
20. Jake Schatz
21. Mick Snowden
22. Sione Tuipulotu
23. Marika Koroibete

Things that could and will change this are:

1. Injuries, obviously.
2. If they decide to start Marika over English, or even push English back to 15? There's a lot of iterations they could go for, and some involve Debreczeni defending at 15 and attack at 10, which is fine.
3. If they decide to continue that disdain for lineouts and put Reid on the bench instead of Shatz.