Reds 2013

[USARugger]

Won't be able to catch the game until sometime tomorrow or Sunday but I did manage to read the live report from Planet Rugby on the train this morning. Seems like the only reason we pulled this one off was Barret missing multiple shots at goal. Lots of stupid penalties, 2 or 3 of those kicks were from off-sides, either Walsh was having a horrible night or we were making some seriously schoolboy errors. I'm leaning towards the latter of the two.

So you rate Smith over Tuilagi for England who is massive in breaking opposition back lines.

Pretty sure if you were to draw up the ratio of # of tests played and # of times that they have had someone turn the corner on them in attack Smith would be ahead by a country mile

 

[humanbeast]

Gill may need some more kicking practise

 

[liquor box]

Gill may need some more kicking practise

or a South African fine for forwards kicking the ball. Put you head down and run, your not paid to kick!

 

[Penguin]

Toua had a shocking game, I don't expect to see him in the side for a while, did not live up to the hype one bit and should have been pulled before halftime. Morahan is a must at 15, he was fantastic when he came on,gave us an exciting edge in attack.

Hanson also gave a lot of ground to Fainga'a last night, lineout turned to shit when he came on & a few wayward passes. Saia was immense.

I thought Link could have used his bench forwards a bit earlier, the guys were clearly out on their feet, however the forwards as a whole did a great job.
Our defense has been great thus far which debunks some theories of it turning to crap with the loss of the former defensive coach to Scotland. It won us the game last night.

Steve Walsh gave one of the worst refereeing performances I've seen in a long long time, he's better than that. Give the whistle a break mate!

Hope the guys coming off with apparent injuries (Ioane, Lucas) were only precautionary..... need both those hands on deck right now. Digby has been in superb form & looks to be building for a huge year. Love his Errol Flynn look. And if Lucas is out (shoulder looked a worry) we are looking scarily thin a halfback. Frisby worries me as a starter. Who comes in for bench cover?

 

[Scott Allen]

Hope the guys coming off with apparent injuries (Ioane, Lucas) were only precautionary... need both those hands on deck right now. Digby has been in superb form & looks to be building for a huge year. Love his Errol Flynn look. And if Lucas is out (shoulder looked a worry) we are looking scarily thin a halfback. Frisby worries me as a starter. Who comes in for bench cover?

Link said in the press conference last night that Digby was a tactical substitution.

Nigel Genia starting at #9 today in the QLD A team with Ben Meehan on the bench. Two weeks ago Meehan started with Genia on the bench so it's likely to be one of those two. No doubt Link will be watching that game this afternoon very closely.

 

[hench]

When is Genia back?

 

[Scoey]

Last week there was an article that suggests they were hopeful he'd be fit for the Force in 2 weeks time.

 

[BDA]

Okay so here's my general thoughts on the game:

- It wasn't what most people were expecting and the slippery ball was probably most to blame for that. Still I was on the edge of my seat for much of the game so I enjoyed it.

- The Forwards did a really good job through-out.They were particularly effective at scrum time and with the pick and drives up the middle. In fact the was one area where we seemed to have a clear advantage. The Canes tried the same approach late in the second half (i.e. taking it up the middle) but were no often than not unable to make ground. This was the biggest positive for me because its a solid platform for us to build on.

- Gill is the leader of this forward pack. He's simply outstanding; stealing the ball and the first in to start the pick and drives every time. He seems to be even better than last year and he will surely push pocock and hooper this year for a wallabies spot.

- I thought Saia Fainga'a and Rob Simmons both played exceptionally well. The backrower's were busy too. Shatz got a nice steal in the second half close to the Reds line which relieved some pressure.

- Toua had a shocker and quite frankly should have been hooked in the first half. Made a number of bad errors and only had one good run in the second half. Morahan looked much more confident in both attack and defense. He should start next week.

- Personally I thought the Reds lost complete control of the game when Frisby came on. His service was just too slow. He put us on the back foot badly and didnt direct play well at all. Lucas did a decent job i thought but we need genia back if we're to be finals contenders.

-Cooper had some nice moments throughout the game. a few line breaks and even some nice defense (there was a nice moment where he rushed up on the kic receiver and tackled him over the touch line). He also made some bad errors in the second half (most notably missing a kick for touch twice on penalty) which could have lost us the game. But that's just cooper i guess. you take the good with the bad. His play seemed to go downhill when frisby came on and he was more under-pressure. He is developing a decent relationship with Lucas and should be even better when Genia returns.

- Overall some positives there and with Genia, Horwill, Fainga'a and Robinson still to return there is plenty of improvement in the side.

 

[Penguin]

Link said in the press conference last night that Digby was a tactical substitution.

Nigel Genia starting at #9 today in the QLD A team with Ben Meehan on the bench. Two weeks ago Meehan started with Genia on the bench so it's likely to be one of those two. No doubt Link will be watching that game this afternoon very closely.

Cheers Scott, a little strange Diggers was a tactical sub, he was having a great game & Toua was having a shocker. Glad it wasn't an injury concern.
Will be interesting to see which scrummy comes in if Lucas is crocked. Which club does Meehan play for? It's a bit of a shame Prior & McKibbon moved on, but can hardly blame them looking for an opportunity.

 

[Bowside]

I'd like to see jono lance at fullback.

 

[Penguin]

Pretty much agree with all of that BDA. Simmons & Saia look to have put the niggle back in the box & are looking much more effective for it.

They did their best to lose that game last night & put themselves under extreme pressure. Great defense & toughness in the forwards saw them through in the end.

 

[tigerland12]

I really don't think Frisby is up to it. Three weeks in a row and three poor performances.

I thought O'Donoghue was outstanding, did all you'd want from a tight forward. Ran well, tackled well, did a shitload of grunt work. I'm very impressed by what he has shown.

Simmons finally put in a good performance, but he needs consistancy.

 

[thierry dusautoir]

Link said in the press conference last night that Digby was a tactical substitution.

Nigel Genia starting at #9 today in the QLD A team with Ben Meehan on the bench. Two weeks ago Meehan started with Genia on the bench so it's likely to be one of those two. No doubt Link will be watching that game this afternoon very closely.

You would have to think Meehan would be a little green for top rugby due to his time in league. So it would have to Nigel but is he even up to it

 

[USARugger]

Just sat down and watched the match, my thoughts:

-Toua is clearly just not ready for Super Rugby. I can't see Morahan being left out of the squad next week.

-Saia has elevated the physicality of his game to entirely new levels these past few matches, the battle for the #2 shirt has clearly benefited the Reds

-Quirk was very, very good again. He's strung together some really great performances so far this year and if he manages to keep it up I can see him giving some Wallabies selectors a headache in the coming year

-CFS was pretty poor on defense and looked lost when he was coming up against backs like Savea and even Smith who are closer to his size. The explosive ball running from the Tahs game just wasn't there and he fell off some tackles he should not have missed. On a brighter note, he had a pair of tackles that resulted in immediate strips/turn overs.

-Quade kept blowing hot and cold all night, great line breaks and nifty passing followed by some fucking massive brain farts that could have easily cost us the match. He really needs to find a way to bring some consistency to his game. Whatever they did to his kicking ritual seems to be working though, he was looking for more comfortable kicking penalties from the touch line than he ever was before.

-If Lucas really is hurt we are going to be in for a rough couple of weeks. Maybe we'll see some more madness like last year and have Jono at #9, or even Cooper at #9 with Jono at #10. Really though if I ever saw one of those combinations come on the pitch I may break everything in my house so hopefully that never, ever happens.

 

[Jets]

My read on the Lucas situation is that he is playing with an injury and they are hopeful he'll be able to play until Genia returns. If he can play half a game against the Rebels next week we should be ok. Genia Jnr isn't up for it and I haven't seen Meehan but it's a big step up.

Toua had a bad night but I wouldn't say he isn't up for Super Rugby. He will bounce back. I do agree though that Morahan needs to play 15.

Schatz was really good and the dream backrow that many predicted a few years ago seems to be coming together. He just needs to work on picking the ball up off the back of the scrum.

It was nice to see us getting the better of another team at scrum time. Hopefully they build on this and can turn the scrum into a bit of a weapon.

Simmons was much better. No niggle and he seemed a lot more comfortable in what he was doing. Big Ed has impressed too.

Bring on the Rebels next week.

 

[Penguin]

Toua has done nothing with his three or four chances he's had at this level, two starts this year with little to show for the reputation that precedes him. And an absolute shocker on Friday night! Morahan, Harris & Jono Lance should be far ahead in the pecking order. Maybe he'll come good, maybe he won't, but it should take a big injury toll before he gets his next shot.

 

[RoffsChoice]

Fainga'a, Simmons, O'Donoghue, Quirk, Gill and Schatz are the reason the Reds won. No doubt about it, the forwards set the platform.

The backs really struggled though, especially when Frisby came on. Toua was essentially invisible, CFS was poor, Tapuai couldn't get going, Cooper was hot and cold. I really, really hope they improve, because playing like that will lose them games.

 

[tranquility]

Toua has done nothing with his three or four chances he's had at this level, two starts this year with little to show for the reputation that precedes him. And an absolute shocker on Friday night! Morahan, Harris & Jono Lance should be far ahead in the pecking order. Maybe he'll come good, maybe he won't, but it should take a big injury toll before he gets his next shot.

Its an interesting one, and I definitely agree. Although I have a sneaking suspicion that Link may give him one more week to show something.

 

[something]

i didnt think CFS was that poor. He didnt really get any opportunities but he didnt really mess anything up either. Made a few strong tackles, didn't see him miss any important ones. Granted, he was quiet

 

[tic]

Is Big Kev due back for the Rabble match?