Here are the updates kiap was working off last night, they aren't the best or anything, probably not that accurate in retrospect either, but hey. And a couple of posts are in relation to questions, so they are a bit out of context. Sorry I didn't post them here, but one site was pretty much all I could keep up with.
JOC (James O'Connor) misses penalty. 0-0 after 6. Crusaders attacking well, their support play is fantastic. Rebels moved forward in that last passage though. Rebels had a an attacking scrum get ruined, lost a line out too. Crusaders trying to turn Gerrard around. Couple of spilled balls but good game so far, pretty intense for a pre season. Cipriani defending at 10 and sticking his tackles. Rebels not shirking in defense. Pretty even game really, Crusaders just that bit classier. 0-0 after 15. And as I type that, try to iDagg. Basically a six to one overlap appeared out of nowhere and he strolled over. Pathetic by the Rebels. Good conversion from out wide, excellent flag waving technique from EF too. 7-0 Saders after 17.
Rebels have turned the ball over at the breakdown a couple of times in the last five minutes, they're working out what numbers to throw in and when to counterruck. Vuna and Cips have run a couple of nice little plays, not dissimilar to Digby running off Genia's shoulder. Todd is having a big game, there aren't many better linking 7s than him in the game. Wow! Rebels run the ball from behind half way, Mitchell slices through cutting inside Gerrard. Support arrives on 22, Lipman dishes it out, ball gets to Bieber who takes it up and offloads to Delve who crashes over. Converted. 7-7 after 25.
I'll do my best. Bleyendall, if he's playing 10, looks the goods. Makes good decisions, chooses his options well. Doesn't appear freakishly skillful, but a very very smart player, hasn't made any mistakes. He just strode through a gap then got absolutely belted throwing a pass. Winded but looks okay. Taylor I haven't seen much of. EF just made a really good knock on call against the Saders. Was a hectic bit of play, but he picked it well. EF > Kaplan/hated ref of choice. Rebels win scrum penalty after sustained Saders attack inside 22. 7-7 after 30.
Rebels attack down the middle. Cipriani gets his SBW on, makes the half break then dishes off the offload out the back of his hand to Pyle who charges forward. Crusaders turn over, Rebel scrum 10 out. Bieber at first receiver, steps inside two Saders sliding out and strolls over. 14-7 Rebels after 34. If they can play like this come season proper, the Rebels will go alright. Immeasurably better than last year.
Yep, that's him then AC - very impressive. Rebels attack down the right through Inman, tries to offload to Bieber who is taken without the ball. Misses the penalty. Saders 22. They get the ball back. Dagg cuts in up the middle, tries to step inside Cips who hauls him down. Goes back to a scrum for a knock on. Saders ball minute to play.
Half time. Saders kicked deep, trying to get behind Vuna. He shifted it off to Gerrard who belted it out as the siren sounded. Good half that, fun to watch. Both teams kicking quite intelligently, running well and with good support. Rebels take the momentum into the second half. I've been impressed with Bleyendaal (sp?), Todd, Franks from the Saders and Cips, Bieber and Lipman from the Rebels.
Great to see the kids playing at half time, they and the crowd love it. Exactly what rugby should be about.
Saders strike early, iDagg in under the posts. They took it up, then he sliced through some pretty soft defense. Disappointing stuff. 14-14. Saders have really stepped it up after half time, that's the difference between the best teams and the rest. Touchie wants to have a word with the ref, wasn't EF though. Penalty against Rebels. Saders kick for touch and set up on the 22.
Saders scrum after unplayable ruck 5m out. Try Saders. A. Whitelock picks up Bleyendaals stabbed grubber. No sweeper, he just walked through the line, collected and fell over. Conversion missed, Pyle and Cips off. This is exactly what happened to the Rebels last week. Frustrating.
DD, how are the Rebels pack standing up?
Okay actually, they aren't getting bullied which I feared they might.
Rebels scrum attacking 22 after Ellis drops a quick line out cold. He's played pretty well, but that was shocking.
Saders pinged for an early shove, Gerrard misses easy penalty. Rebels attack again. EF misses high tackle on Rebels player. Bieber off and Johansonn on. There are some BIG collisions out there. Delve, Lipman, Franks, Crockett... They're putting their shoulders in.
Saders giving away some silly penalties. One in a scrum just before, one just ten where some bloke flew in off his feet practically from the Rebels side. Line out, they maul, get no where, spin it wide, almost break through, comes back inside and ball gets spilled. Great defense! iDagg clears to Rebels 10. Fucking hell some of these hits are massive, this is a serious hitout for these guys, they aren't holding a whole lot back. Saders lineout about 10m out, looking ominous. Rebels ringing the changes, no way they'll win from here. Maitland has looked much better this half, gone looking for work.
iDaggs workrate hasn't been great Ali, it's just when he's been involved they've been big moments. He's a class player. Saders scrum 5 out. They bash away at the line, Rebels scramble well and force a turnover. Johansonn breaks then throws a shocking pass which gets spilled. Saders counterattack, get almost to the try line. Rebels turn it over and clear. Saders lineout, attacking 22.
Rebels attack after an outstanding tackle and turnover by Kingi off a kick chase. Take it wide then fuck it up. Vuna off, 19-14 Saders with 10 to go. Rebels willing, but without Cips, JOC (James O'Connor) and Beale lacking the silk to polish things off.
Stirzaker on!
Trance, he (Johansonn) isn't shit. He's powerful, but slow. Makes good reads in defense but then makes pretty average decisions. I don't like the way he comes up out of the line. I've been very impressed by Maitland this half, he was clearly told to up his workrate and he has. Just made a try saving tackle after the Rebels broke straight through. Bleyendaal cramping up these last 5 mins, should be given a rest. Rebels maul andddd the Saders get a scrum on the 22.
All over 19-14. Fun game, I really enjoyed that. Stirzaker looked a significantly better player than Phipps when he came on, even though he looks about 12. Anyway, I'm off for now. Hope you had fun kids.
Just a couple of things. Trance, Kingi seems to be playing as a replacement outside back, he's popped up on the wing and at fullback, they haven't really used him at scrumhalf. Stirzaker was really seriously good in the 10 minutes he had, I rate him. Wendigo, Cips was good again, really good. Muggleton has him defending in the flyhalf channel (like he should) and he has him making his tackles. Hauled Dagg down in broken play which is certainly not the easiest thing to do. Made a really nice tackle defending in the 22 when some big Crusaders forward, didn't get an eye on who, tried to bounce him - he just took it, then brought him down. Made a couple of nice half breaks, he's starting to pick up runners off his shoulder with offloads and little pop passes too. In fairness it was, for Crusaders standards, a pretty pedestrian midfield, but still - good signs. As for Dagg, I actually wasn't that impressed. He seemed to struggle to work out how to inject himself. His first try could have gone to any one of about five players, he just happened to get picked. The second was nice, but soft. He'd be better off working with a roving commission like Ioane often has for the Reds. When he did get involved he did some very, very good things - he really is all class. For now though, I'd still have him at fullback.
