Rebels v Hurricanes, R13, AAMI Park

[swingpass]

The ref did seem to ping Melb a lot but jeez they should've adjusted to him after a couple. Once he's set the benchmark for hold/release he has to be consistent with it.

the problem was he wasn't (consistent that is)

agree the try was taken beautifully

 

[qwerty51]

There was a 'steal' when Vito just took the ball in the middle of a ruck whilst he was lying there. Once the Canes knew they weren't going to be penalised at the ruck they just went for it every ruck and it worked.

 

[FrankLind]

Rebels two tries to the Canes one. Only the penalties kept the Canes in front, and most of those were not deserved, or should have gone the other way. O'Brien is another who should not ref another Super game until he proves himself at a lower level over a longer term.

Nah, I'd say the Canes were the better team.

 

[199madmave]

Bring on the Tahs.

Rebels will win.

Love your consistency Tex - I hope you are right!

 

[199madmave]

Could Higgers be playing with an injury? Certainly doesn't seem to have the same impact he had last season.

If Woody cant kick the ball 10 metres at kick off - what hope have we got?

I've been wondering for a while about TT's attitude towards some players. It looks, from the outside at least, that if there's something he isn't happy with he just rules a line through their name.

I agree Mr Wobbly - Eddie Alolohei has not had a look in this season - surely he could be useful off the bench

 

[swingpass]

so after watching the replay (twice) and with multi slow and taking notes and having calmed down, a bit. my take on friday night

the positives.
defence again
scrummaging
mc mahon again
male say getting into the pace of super
hegarty his best game for the rebs - even allowing for a couple of mistakes (kick in last secs of first half and pushing pass to kingston (who ran the wrong line) at the end
likewise Fainga'a's best for the rebels also
the usual workhorse's fuglistaller, jones (not as dominant), ellison, inman, horie put in.

the negatives
execution again let them down, in accurate clean out (see later re reffing), passing errors - too soon, too late, behind, etc often crueling the go forward; the kick restarts and kicking in general, which has improved, but i can't remember one contestable attacking kick and measly metres on kicks from defence and penalties limit the line out options severely.
still no one in the forwards actually running on to the ball (a la Potgeiter) from the static breakdowns.
a couple of misreads in defence one from ellison lead to the taylor break and resultant try, inman and english both got turned around but given the weight of hurricanes possession its not surprising.

the refereeing
my impression last night and again after watching today was that o'brien was a bit out of his depth, having said that the rebels do have to learn to play a bit smarter. my main beef is that the breakdown was a free for all but only one side got the 50/50 calls. he was also poor on the advantage, which certainly hurt the canes more than the rebels (except in the last 10). he allowed at least two hurricane line outs to go on forever, there were multiple scrum resets, ruck and maul, where the ball came available to play and he blew the whistle stopping any momentum or advantage.
the initial three hurricane penalties in the first half were probably all legit as far as i can tell, but the first was touch and go at 2mins in, the rebel tackler rolled away, the ball came out, there was no hurricane 1/2 so burgess came round from onside and picked it up.
@14mins on hard attack, ellison makes a break, is tackled, there is no clear release and the canes turn the ball over. (but the clean out from hegarty and Fainga'a was not effective), 3 mins latter the same scenario in reverse and the rebel tackler is penalised for not letting go of the ball while the canes player on the ground held on. 3 more points thank you very much.
the second half penalties went from the obvious to the obscure to the ridiculous. the first couple were certainly pens against the rebel defenders, the third for collapsing the line out maul, well irrespective who pulls it down or who falls over it is nearly always awarded against the defence.
the next against burgess when TJP had his hands on the ball,
then hard on attack at the other end once again the attacking team penalised, when it appeared the defender never released and then kept fighting for the ball in the ruck. the next was against higginbotham who came through the maul after the line out.
i really do think the refereeing last night had a substantial influence on the game.

this is another game the rebels could have won if the execution was better. the hurricanes breakdown work was terrific, they slowed the rebels ball with just one or two defenders, flooded when the chance to turnover came and in general were more accurate. they were the better team last night. just another frustrating night at AAMI park

sorry about the length of the post, but trying to be a bit analytical about the reffing

 

[Quick Hands]

s
the refereeing
my impression last night and again after watching today was that o'brien was a bit out of his depth.

Unfortunately, this applies to a number of referees in this year's super rugby.

 

[Moono75]

He's played himself out of the 23, completely forget about the #8. Strip him of the captaincy too.

I agree.