Reds 2014

[Sully]

Okay lets have a look at the comment.

Who kicked it for the highlanders with 10 seconds to go........ wow not smart

Was it a valid comment? Shit yes it was! 31 -31 with 10 seconds on the clock you want the ball in your hands not the oppositions! If you have the ball you have a lot better chance of winning or drawing than if the other mugs have it!

So yes the comment was sport on.

Now lets look at the comments from our fellow forum member.

Says the bloke who had his contract torn up because he couldn't keep off the piss. Define irony

Does Zacs drinking in any way invalidate his opinion on the game? Has his opinion on rugby have absolutely anything to do with what his drinking? Does the comment show any indication of Zac being drunk at the time?

The answer to all these question is a resounding no!

I suggest that you all get off you 'I know all about Alcoholism' high horses and take the comment for exactly what it is. An insight from an ex Super Rugby player which hits the nail on the head.

 

[TheKing]

Okay lets have a look at the comment.


Was it a valid comment? Shit yes it was! 31 -31 with 10 seconds on the clock you want the ball in your hands not the oppositions! If you have the ball you have a lot better chance of winning or drawing than if the other mugs have it!

So yes the comment was sport on.

Now lets look at the comments from our fellow forum member.




Does Zacs drinking in any way invalidate his opinion on the game? Has his opinion on rugby have absolutely anything to do with what his drinking? Does the comment show any indication of Zac being drunk at the time?

The answer to all these question is a resounding no!

I suggest that you all get off you 'I know all about Alcoholism' high horses and take the comment for exactly what it is. An insight from an ex Super Rugby player which hits the nail on the head.

Sully of course you're right. The issue I took with Guildfords comment was that he called out another player for being "wow not smart". Even though he was right, the fact that it came from a player whose reputation is defined by his own lapses of good judgement was actually pretty ironic.

It's more or less the same as David Campese calling out James O'Connor for not being a team player or being arrogant.

I didn't expect that it would take over this thread, because that was the most exciting second half of Rugby I'd seen from the reds this year. It was a very, very unexpected bonus point win

But, was the result a fluke? Rod Davies and Shipperley both scored tries off the Highlanders inability to defuse kicks. There was one pushover try, and two were forwards crashing over from inside 5.

Ruckin good stats claims the Reds missed 1 in 5 tackles, and kicked from hand 26 times to regather 3.

Not to mention that the Reds blew a 21 point lead with 20-30 minutes to go.





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[Hugh Jarse]

You win some and you lose some. Well done to the Reds for having the composure and discipline to close the game out against the Clan. It could have so easily gone the opposite way, but you can only play the game as it unfolds in front of you.

Even though it was a pencil thin victory margin, the Reds can take some confidence from the victory and this should stand them in good stead as they prepare for the final games. There are plenty of areas to work on at training but the training environment is so much better when the losing streak has been broken, and there is some semblance of the Rugby God smiling on you.

 

[Tangawizi]

It wasn't a fluke. Highlanders jagged 7 points from a deflection that could have gone anywhere.

Reds won the contest up front and defended better outwide than they had in the previous month.

 

[tranquility]

How many more wins do we have left in us this year? Other than the Tahs of course.

 

[Tangawizi]

How many more wins do we have left in us this year? Other than the Tahs of course.

Hopefully 2 other wins so we finish with 4 W's on the trot.

Wait and see what the situation is like post the Test Series re who's fit and available. But 7 wins and 9 losses will look a better years down the track than 4 & 12 and maybe the spoon....

I'd like us to avenge our 3 point losses to the Rebels and Force. If we play like we did on Friday there's every chance we will. Then the spoon will be fought out between Lions & Cheetahs in a last round duel.

 

[RugbyReg]

Great to leap into 12th spot. Hope we can close the gap on the Stormers

 

[Lindommer]

CLOSE THE GAP ON THE STORMERS? Get a grip, Nod. The Reds are on 23 points, the Canes have 37 in 6th spot. Three matches left, that's 15 points, bugger the Stormers, aim for the finals.....

 

[gel]

That Highlanders game was a bit of a false dawn really. It looked pretty good at the game - but I think that was just because I was happy to actually see us winning for once.

I finally got around to watching a replay and our defence and kick chases were as bad as they ever were - it was just hidden by the weird refereeing of the breakdowns. The referee was actually our best defensive player. Any kick down field just gives the opposition a free run of 50+ metres and we are defending in our own 30 again. It's quite unbelievable.

Our line out, maul and scrum were pretty damn handy, but everything else was just downright awful.

I simply cannot understand how the players can possibly be so devoid of so many of the skills (or instincts?) necessary to play super rugby. Skills that they used to have.

I refuse to believe that one man can "uncoach" 10-15 years of instincts and knowledge out of professionals within a couple of months. It simply defies logic.

How is it possible?

 

[liquor box]

That Highlanders game was a bit of a false dawn really. It looked pretty good at the game - but I think that was just because I was happy to actually see us winning for once.

I finally got around to watching a replay and our defence and kick chases were as bad as they ever were - it was just hidden by the weird refereeing of the breakdowns. The referee was actually our best defensive player. Any kick down field just gives the opposition a free run of 50+ metres and we are defending in our own 30 again. It's quite unbelievable.

Our line out, maul and scrum were pretty damn handy, but everything else was just downright awful.

I simply cannot understand how the players can possibly be so devoid of so many of the skills (or instincts?) necessary to play super rugby. Skills that they used to have.

I refuse to believe that one man can "uncoach" 10-15 years of instincts and knowledge out of professionals within a couple of months. It simply defies logic.

How is it possible?

I can only assume that they have maintained these essential skills through repetition. I wonder if the coaching has stopped including these basics to concentrate on other skills and the basics have been eroded.

 

[Parse]

You know I am really amazed with how the Reds administration work sometimes. Other teams, when they get a good player with a long term injury immediately look to filling the spot with the best they can find they can give a contract to (eg: brumbies last year with G. Smith and now this year looking to do something similar because of the injury to S. Moore), yet when the same happened at the reds, their choice is to play other guys out of position or just throw a lamb to the wolves.

Really perplexing considering that the Reds still only have 29 out of 30 possible players on contract this year.

This doesn't mean I don't think young, new guys shouldn't be given a chance, I just believe they usually should start by being on the bench to be given the opportunity.

 

[Train Without a Station]

It's a matter of who is available though.

Not sure who exactly you are talking about anyway?

Ben Lucas being played at 10, when his first choice position is actually 10? What other 10's are out there, in Australia worth a crack? the Brumbies somewhat fell into Smith last year. That's not a fair example to use.

 

[Braveheart81]

Hooker is a specialist position so a temporary replacement is needed.

If the Brumbies had lost a lock or a backrower, I'd guess that someone from within the squad would be more likely to shift to that position.

As TWAS said, the George Smith signing last year was largely fortuitous. Lots of things came together to make it possible.

 

[Train Without a Station]

As far as I am aware, we have no QLD favourite sons, who play 10 as a first choice and said they'd never play against the Reds, running around in Europe and happen to have a planned Aus break right now.

Also, once again in continuation of BH's comment, there's a Super Rugby experienced player in a nearby city, uncontracted, still playing at the next level. Again, don't know any Super Rugby 10's now playing club rugby that we would would. Doubt they'd be better than Lucas either.

Barring dragging Elton Flatley out of whatever GC Pub he is drinking himself into a stupor in, I don't see any options out there.

 

[Braveheart81]

Barring dragging Elton Flatley out of whatever GC Pub he is drinking himself into a stupor in, I don't see any options out there.

Like several former Wallabies, he's now a financial planner.

 

[Parse]

Sorry, wasn't meaning to be referring to a replacement for Quade, my post was a general view of the difference in how the Reds work, and it can be to their detriment.

I don't want to try and list lots of examples like the Rebel's signing Josh Holmes after Stirzacker was injured or the Brumbies signing of Hewat in 2012 etc.

reds have had plenty of injuries this year, I just don't understand why they don't even attempt to fill even the current vacancy that exists to help them out. What have we got? How many players injured at the moment? Take that number away from 29 and.. well you might understand what I mean.

 

[Train Without a Station]

But then again, it comes down to what's available.

The Rebels signed Josh Holmes out of Sydney club rugby. The Reds do not need to do that, because they have the Hospitals Cup to do this from.

The Brumbies signed Hewat because he was available after the Japanese season, seemed like he was going to be in Australia anyway and he covered where they needed.

We are governed by what is out there, whilst I don't have a great deal of knowledge, I can't say I know of any back 3 players in Japan who would have been returning to Aus recently that are definite Super Rugby standard.

Back 3 and 10 is the only place where we have had injuries that affect beyond the squad we have allowed for. That's partly because we have 3 x 12's this year too.

I get what you are saying, but I think the Reds management are at fault for a lot of things especially in 2014, though this isn't really one of them. We've seen examples of things essentially fall into the lap of other franchises, and have a bit of an expectation that we should be able to engineer the same situation. On the other hand, we already have available what others have had to engineer (e.g. the Josh Holmes case), so it appears they are doing nothing, but have already set up the pathways through EPS and WTS.

Remember that when you consider the Reds College playing games, there is at least 46 players being in the Reds system one way or another this year. Probably 50+ when you allow for a couple of injuries.

 

[TOCC]

Reds have the wider training squad which is made up of a mix of experienced club players and up and coming young talent who are all based and playing in the QLD Premier Grade..


QLD doesn't need to recruit a player from the Shute Shield, because like the Waratahs the Reds have a squad training part time alongside the Super Rugby squad already, these are the replacements..

For example, Jonah Placid was brought into play a match when there was the litany of outside back injuries, he was brought in from the Wider Training Squad.

 

[Parse]

While you guys are correct in your assessment, it still leaves me with a little bit of doubt. Fine, ok, they pull guys from the WTS, but the problem is they do that when forced to by injuries. These guys are often thrown in at the deep end so to speak, without any Super Rugby experience (or very very little). That's the problem. A well rounded side would have guys with some experience available and be looking to blood younger guys from the bench more often.

We haven't seen that from the Reds this year. And before you say they didn't have a chance because of early injuries - well I do remember a lot of talk about certain young players with potential who are never being given a shot off the bench. Even Curtis Browning who did get a shot off the bench (and seemed to impress everyone) was dropped the following week and has only come into the side now because of injuries. The guy should have been coming off the bench much earlier in the season, as well as a number of other players. I think Kerevi (sp?) is in the same boat.

And I don't believe age comes into it that much, especially not off the bench, there are many good Aussie players who started Super Rugby in their late teens. And so I still believe the Reds should have been looking for players with some super rugby experience when they got hit with injuries - since they didn't seem to bother blooding any WTS guys off the bench.

 

[tranquility]

Thankyou Parse, but I think you will find most Reds supporters have followed our fortunes much closer.

Curtis should have played more rugby earlier this season, but it was a judgement call that Dick made. Our excellent bench backrower, Beau, is a small bodied backrower which means that in order to play Curtis he would need to drop one of our other young large bodied backrowers and play a small starting loose trio or drop one of Jake / Ed in a direct swap. Both decision would have taken plumbs, and unfortunately neither option was taken.

Kerevi has been injured since preseason and literally could not have played any sooner. When JJ debuted he was practically our last fit outside back.

Playing super rugby in your late teens is the exception not the rule.