Not a bad 1st half from the Tahs; a pity about the 2nd. Some stray thoughts in no particular order:
- haven't seen a replay today of the maul incident but if it was a fair penalty and a try would probably have been scored but for the infraction, then a penalty try was the fair result. What gets up my nose is referees who don't have the nuts to award a penalty try, first up, but issue warnings instead.
- have no objection to both a penalty try and a yellow card being awarded for the same incident. We are not used to both being awarded, but that has nothing to do with the laws. It has more to do with conventions that referees have established over the years.
- TPN was carded, but if that was wrong I thought that somebody else pulled the maul down (Ryan, I think) and deserved the same; so the Tahs got what they deserved.
- the big negative for the Tahs in this game was the same as in Rd.1: their lack of discipline. Coach Foley told me a few weeks ago that the Tahs had a visit from the ref gurus in the pre-season, as other Super teams had; so it's something that has to be revisited. Douglas had a good game but he got pinged a couple of times in about as many minutes. He wasn't the Lone Ranger either: Alcock, Jenkins and others, acted as though the laws had changed overnight.
- Bryce made a couple of odd decisions apart from the maul, if that was odd, but I thought he had a good game otherwise. I was looking for infringements from the Tahs for a period of the match and he pinged most of them.
- I don't know which team thought they won the niggle contest, probably both did, but it distracted the Tahs from their mission in the 2nd half of continuing what they had done in the 1st. Whatever, it coincided with the Rebels showing more starch.
- I don't know what Muggleton, the Rebels defensive coach, told the Rebels at oranges but, whatever it was, he should have said it before the game started: they looked like a real team in the 2nd half.
- Was good to see 6. Luke Jones starting in Super Rugby when he deserved to be. Folks may understand a bit now what some have talked about since his school days in 2009. He got a full Super contract straight out of school before he made his bones and the contract did him no favours - but now you can see the promise. Watch this space: he will be a 3M kind of player.
- One can understand why folks don't want AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) to be on the wing, where he played very well by the way, but B. Foley had to start after his cameo in Rd.1. He is still to be tested in 80 minutes of tight play as a custodian fullback, but his instinctive running and support play is a big plus for a Tahs attack without a Beale - or a Mitchell or Turner, for that matter.
- Coach Foley should give the fellow who wore the 12 jersey, and stepped off his right foot to beat Gerrard to score, another run next week. He bore an uncanny resemblance to Tom Carter.
- Hangers had a top all round game: one of his best for the Tahs - but we need to see that against a top team. His little mate inside him, Pretorius, was also a handful, sometimes by doing nothing but making defenders think he would. His long and accurate pass, keeping the shoulder under the chin like a golfer, should be required viewing for young scrummies. It won't be for everybody, but it's an option they should look at.
- Dennis had another good game, taking the ball up, Sharpie-like. Palu was brutish again though one held one's breath for his well-being a few times. Lopeti looked good after he replaced Palu when he wasn't being a goose. He could be anything this lad in a year or two - like Jones for the Rebels. Kepu is coming into his work after a spell isn't he? It's good to see a THP who is a top scrummager and also plays well in other ways.