I saw an incredible game at Ballymore last night where the U17 Gold pathway teams, Sunshine Coast (SC) and Brisbane Pink (BP) played .
Whats this got to do with the Reds you might ask?
Well there was a certain analogy there to behold, at least, in the first half, exemplified even more by the second half.
From the start SC jumped out of the boxes, scored a try in 2 minutes, and scored two more by half time. What I noticed was a BP team that seemed as if it were the RG coached Reds.
The forwards lacked intent, with only a few of them contesting in the breakdowns, allowing the SC forwards to continually take the ball up in the inner channels. Their backs were adventurous with things like darts around the blind side etc. Meanwhile the BP backline moves were just going through the motions.
Then at halftime, someone must have put something into the BP's drink water.
They were a Cheika type inspired side in the second half. Their forwards were like boys possessed, attacking the rucks & mauls with vigour. The backs fairly flew the ball out to the wings, and the game was on, with SC never getting a look in. The BP won scoring two tries in the last two minutes, converting the last one to score 17 -15.
So what? Well I just couldn't believe how the BP in that first half looked so like the Reds at present. No commitment, no real effort, just going through the motions with the exception of a few players.
RG should really go talk with the BP coach to find out what he did at half time.
Sorry for such a long post, but it was unrealistically eerie, the comparison, made even more so by the change to that BP team in the second half, with pretty much the same players.