Well after day 2 I do feel a bit better about the Reds chances in 2018, it wasn't a dire as Day 1.
Perese is an absolute star, however like mentioned previously he tends to shoot out of the line occasionally in defence opening up space out wide if he misses.
Paenga-Amosa looks to be a quality signing, and can see why they are talking about him been starting hooker come round 1.
Daugunu had some hot/cold moments, obviously very talented but still learning the technicalities of the game, can't see him as starting fullback.
Stewart, there's been a lot of expectation of Stewart on here lately, but he is still young bloke and doesn't yet control the players around like like you need. I don't see him running the backline from Rd1.
Kerevi, another hot/cold, had poor ball security at times and a few mis-reads defensively, always a thread but I kind of expected a bit more from him given his experience.
Harry Hoopert played well, Ngaumanu had a good day 2 after a shocker on day 1, ASY (Angus Scott-Young) and Hewat are a bit Shatz-esque, Teti Tela didnt look out of place.
I feel like the biggest issues with day 1 weren't the player performances but that the side was really playing 15's with 10.
I do really like Paenga-Amosa, in my opinion Ready is still the number 1 choice but it's getting very tight. Ready did have a pretty good tournament too.
Can't agree more about Perese, he was forced to showed a nice kicking game too. He's much better but still lacking a little maturity / composure but he's 20 years old I'm quite sure that will come with time. Get him in a Gold Jersey already! Also I was just reading an article that was speculating Perese might be playing fullback, I think for him that would be a brilliant move because he's too skilled to say a winger his whole career (not so sure about it as a move for the Reds).
I don't think we can read too much into the control of the backline displayed by Stewart in inherently disorganised 10's. He also didn't often play with Tuttle and DP is also missing who will bring a lot of composure to the backline. But it would have been nice to have a transition period with Stewart playing under someone with 100 odd Super Rugby caps and maybe a few international caps, but apparently we don't have anyone like that kicking around the reds or in Club Rugby.
At this point I'd give Stewart a few games, although I'm not sure we'd really have too much choice. Plus Thorn strikes me as a 'learn on the job' kind of guy.
I do agree we need to see more from Kerevi. When he's at his best he's among the best 13's in the world! But too often he's a little average, also he needs to really work on his defence, I've been defencive of his defence in the past but today I counted 2 tries that were probably imminent but Kerevi could have done more. I'm disappointed we didn't see CFS in the Squad to get that competition in the squad.
I really rate Hoopert he looks very good (also someone with Wikipedia experiance want to bring back his Wiki article PLZ?!). IIRC he's had knee injuries or something so that's a concern but he's looking really good.
I'd also add Tupou was quite average (not bad, just average). Tupou could find himself coming off the bench with Hoopert if Tupou doesn't lift his game and if Hoopert keeps up the good work.
I'm not a massive fan of Maranta nor of Ngamanu. But Ngamanu did play well, I just think he's too small and not quite quick enough for Super Rugby mind you he is only 20.
As for the other guys: Angus Blyth and Harry Hockings both looked really good. And Blyth has grown a HEAP! Angus Scott-Young was fairly anonymous, I didn't notice him at least. Reece Hewat doesn't have all the physical tools of some of the guys ahead of him but he's a really really smart player I hope he develops physically, adds a bit of speed and maybe a little stronger but he's going to have a really nice career.
Tate McDermott IMO has kicked himself out of the bench spot, although he did have more influence than Sorovi. It's pretty close to pick who the bench halfback will be but I'd go with Sorovi at the moment just because he'll be less erratic. Jooste could be a pick for utility back on the bench, he looked quite nice and could slot into 15 and is definitely one to watch.
