My thoughts on the game were overall underwhelming and a tad uninspiring. I am tempering that though with the horrible conditions, the fact that we had very little ball and the fact that our starting 10 & 15 were two guys that have only recently been training with the group.
I felt Toua was really quite meh, but I do think I need to give him time to settle into the group and work out his role etc. CFS looked more enthusiastic than I've seen him in ages but as Reg said, I think defensively it wasn't a great night for him. Not a shocker but not great. Perese was great and Duncan too. The backline overall looked fairly unorganised and toward the end when we were stringing multiple phases together 10m out from the Fiji line it seemed like we were completely clueless. Sort that out fast, we need to be 100% sure of what we want to do in that situation and be able to execute clinically.
I really like the front row. Tupou was good and seems to be growing into his game well. I think he does enough in tight. his particular skill set is best utilised in the wider channels and that's where he should be focused. Unless we are getting beaten at the ruck them I'm happy for him to stay a bit looser only playing tighter when required. The starting hooker was wonderful, he looks right at home and looks the goods. Tui was fine and we will be well served when him and Rodda are paired up but until then I'm not sure what we do because Douglas seems to be struggling to find his groove. I had hoped Timu would provide a bit more impact but hopefully that will come. Higgers was great. Korcyzk was fine but I really wish we had more of an on-baller in there. One thing I did note was that Timu's skills at the back of the scrum were really poor - he's no number 8. In a scrum moving forward he struggled to both get the ball out or keep it in. I imagine Higgers will play 80 most weeks though so that's probably a moot point.
From the bench, McDermott looks to have a great pass but Sorovi is so quick. Don't know which one is the best fit for our bench 9. My gut says Sorovi. Reserve front row were all good which bodes well. Hockings looks to be a good young prospect. Angus Scott-Young was good and as an old Sam Scott-Young fan from way back it was really weird but cool to see a young lookalike running around out there. Stewart didn't look comfortable for some reason but when he came on the whole team was a bit of a rabble so to be expected to a degree. Daugunu is good and should start on the wing I think.
Hope we start gelling as a team soon and start finding our structures and patterns sooner rather than later or we won't trouble too many teams.
