Reds v Bulls. Bris Vegas.

[PaarlBok]

Bulls – 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Gerhard van der Heever, 13 Stephan Dippenaar, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Francois Hougaard, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Dewald Potgieter, 6 Derick Kuun, 5 Victor Matfield (c), 4 Danie Rossouw, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Gary Botha, 1 Gurthrö Steenkamp.
Subs: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Bees Roux, 18 Flip van der Merwe, 19 Deon Stegmann, 20 John Mametsa/Heini Adams, 21 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 22. Pedrie Wannenberg/Jaco Engels

 

[rsea]

I got mine in the redzone on Monday and managed to get front row
I thought tickets would be flying off the shelf but obviously not

 

[TOCC]

I want to go but it depends what time rugby finishes in Saturday, I will have to drive down from toowoomba

 

[JJJ]

This will get ugly I think. The Reds will be knackered after the 6 day turnaround on top of the travel. The Bulls will boss the breakdown and get counter-rucking turnovers, which will neuter the Reds' continuity-based running game. The Reds will start kicking more which, with M Steyn there, will lead to lots of Bulls attacking lineouts. Those will mostly turn into mauls, which will knacker the Reds forwards even more. As the Reds get further and further behind with less and less security at the breakdown they will start playing looser and sillier, which will lead to more Bulls tries. Yellow cards will probably ensue, which will speed the rot.

I'm pretty sure the Bulls will put at least 50 on them, and if the scoreboard is at all respectable for the Reds by the end it will only be due either to a couple of early tries or the Bulls clearing their benches once the game is in the bag. I really hope I'm wrong. Man, I still can't believe how good the Bulls' draw is. :nta:

 

[Blue]

I'm pretty sure the Bulls will put at least 50 on them, and if the scoreboard is at all respectable for the Reds by the end it will only be due either to a couple of early tries or the Bulls clearing their benches once the game is in the bag. I really hope I'm wrong. Man, I still can't believe how good the Bulls' draw is. :nta:

I think you're selling the Reds short. Link will have them worked up for this game. I see the Reds losing mainly because of fatigue.

I see Kuun will start ahead of Stegmann. Bold move. Not sure Kuun has the same pilfering ability. His covering tackling is good and he carries the ball better so the Bulls gain there.

As for the Bulls draw, yes, it could hardly be better but they have had some horrible ones as well so it all comes in swings and roundabouts.

 

[PaarlBok]

As for the Bulls draw, yes, it could hardly be better but they have had some horrible ones as well so it all comes in swings and roundabouts.

All depend if he want to compare the Bulls draw with SA teams or NZ/Aus teams. :nta: Something I tried to explain to my keffertjie Biff, but even if they and the Stormers have a shorten tour compare to the other SA teams, they still are four weeks on tour. Dont think the others play more then three SA matches.

 

[Biffo]

As for the Bulls draw, yes, it could hardly be better but they have had some horrible ones as well so it all comes in swings and roundabouts.

All depend if he want to compare the Bulls draw with SA teams or NZ/Aus teams. :nta: Something I tried to explain to my keffertjie Biff, but even if they and the Stormers have a shorten tour compare to the other SA teams, they still are four weeks on tour. Dont think the others play more then three SA matches.

Yes, the poor little South Africans have it tough :'( Highly paid professional athletes suffer terribly from being away from home for four or five weeks. The poor delicate little petals.

 

[PaarlBok]

As for the Bulls draw, yes, it could hardly be better but they have had some horrible ones as well so it all comes in swings and roundabouts.

All depend if he want to compare the Bulls draw with SA teams or NZ/Aus teams. :nta: Something I tried to explain to my keffertjie Biff, but even if they and the Stormers have a shorten tour compare to the other SA teams, they still are four weeks on tour. Dont think the others play more then three SA matches.

Yes, the poor little South Africans have it tough :'( Highly paid professional athletes suffer terribly from being away from home for four or five weeks. The poor delicate little petals.

:lmao:

Biff it isnt us (Blou & me) complaining about the draw, :nta:

 

[Biffo]

As for the Bulls draw, yes, it could hardly be better but they have had some horrible ones as well so it all comes in swings and roundabouts.

All depend if he want to compare the Bulls draw with SA teams or NZ/Aus teams. :nta: Something I tried to explain to my keffertjie Biff, but even if they and the Stormers have a shorten tour compare to the other SA teams, they still are four weeks on tour. Dont think the others play more then three SA matches.

Yes, the poor little South Africans have it tough :'( Highly paid professional athletes suffer terribly from being away from home for four or five weeks. The poor delicate little petals.

:lmao:

Biff it isnt us (Blou & me) complaining about the draw, :nta:

Best you don't complain about the draw. Let's remember how well treated you were this year when the 2011 draw comes out.

 

[Ruggo]

Cant understand why some dont want to go watch the game, go buy those tickets and support the Reds, they'r going to need every support they can get. This will be a massive game.

PB, I don't live in Brisbane. I would go to every game even if we were dead last if I did. Where I live in Darwin is 3500 km away. You should be able to hear me shouting at the TV from Cape Town though. :thumb

 

[George]

I am with Ruggo. I live in Mackay and would be at every game if possible, although the games I have managed to get to, Reds have lost so it may be better that I sit home on the couch. Will be extremely vocal in my lounge room!!!!!!!!

 

[TOCC]

im with you lot, im currently living/working in toowoomba and want to make it to the game, but i got rugby on saturday in toowoomba

 

[Blue]

Suggestion to mods:

Create "Biffo's little thread" where anyone who gives a fuck about his mindless little one liners and poor attempts at being witty can visit every so often if they give a shit.

That way the rest of us can be spared his drivel and read cleaner threads where people have value to add and actually say things that are remotely funny or related to the topic or both.

 

[Blue]

Cant understand why some dont want to go watch the game, go buy those tickets and support the Reds, they'r going to need every support they can get. This will be a massive game.

PB, I don't live in Brisbane. I would go to every game even if we were dead last if I did. Where I live in Darwin is 3500 km away. You should be able to hear me shouting at the TV from Cape Town though. :thumb

Paarl you may want to consult your Atlas. You will realise that these guys live further from Brisbane than Hoedspruit is from Cape Town. You seriously have to love your rugby to travel....(although if I were a Reads fan after years of pain I would be inclined to look for a decently priced air ticket and go for it).

 

[PaarlBok]

Donner, ja, 3500 is more then a return from Slaapstad to Bobbejaansberg

Sure Ill hear Blou,s noise from Sydney will cancel them, you,d probably tempted to go?

 

[Biffo]

Suggestion to mods:

Create "Biffo's little thread" where anyone who gives a fuck about his mindless little one liners and poor attempts at being witty can visit every so often if they give a shit.

That way the rest of us can be spared his drivel and read cleaner threads where people have value to add and actually say things that are remotely funny or related to the topic or both.

:lmao: :lmao:

 

[Ruggo]

Cant understand why some dont want to go watch the game, go buy those tickets and support the Reds, they'r going to need every support they can get. This will be a massive game.

PB, I don't live in Brisbane. I would go to every game even if we were dead last if I did. Where I live in Darwin is 3500 km away. You should be able to hear me shouting at the TV from Cape Town though. :thumb

Paarl you may want to consult your Atlas. You will realise that these guys live further from Brisbane than Hoedspruit is from Cape Town. You seriously have to love your rugby to travel....(although if I were a Reads fan after years of pain I would be inclined to look for a decently priced air ticket and go for it).

Off to see the Reds play the Brumbies in Canberra Blue. It has become my yearly pilgramige.

 

[Lee Grant]

When I saw this thread I was going to warn about the effect of travel, but somebody wrote that the Reds have done well in the past after returning from the RSA.

So the returning may not be that bad; but looking at the Bulls situation: I wouldn't count on them being rooted after being away from home for a while now. They looked pretty fresh last weekend, as did the Reds in JHB.

The key to to winning a majority of rugby games is scoring more tries than the other lot. The Reds know how to score them and the Bulls give up a few; so the trick will be to stop them scoring tries themselves, or too many of them.

That won't be so easy and the key will be to do what the Blues did to beat them. According to the Kiwi broadcasters: the Blues had 61% possession, and a majority of territory would have done no harm either. The Reds got a similar percentage against their biggest scalp to date, the Crusaders, and they will have to do something like that on Saturday night.

As part of that they will have to do another thing that the Blues did. According to Matfield: the Blues beat them at the breakdown and dominated the contact point. Braid will have to be close to being MOTM and have a bit of help as well. The Blues did it; so why not the Reds?

The rotation, or demotion, of Bulls opensider Deon Stegmann to the bench in favour of hooker/flanker Derick Kuün, will have mixed blessings for the Reds. On the one hand, the Bulls won't have their best fetcher starting the game; on the other, they won't get anything like the 5 penalties that he gave to the Blues when they won.

 

[DPK]

Good post LG, I think theres merit in playing the style they used against the Cheifs, playing down the blindside continuously. I know the Bulls have a stong forward pack, but if the Reds get on top and stay on top, the Bulls wont be able to suffocate Genia or Cooper, which will allow them to unleash the full potential of the backs. It'll also allow them to keep on top in the possesion %.

Basically, as Captain Cliche would put it, the forwards need to lay down a good platform for the backs.

 

[PaarlBok]

The rotation, or demotion, of Bulls opensider Deon Stegmann to the bench in favour of hooker/flanker Derick Kuün, will have mixed blessings for the Reds. On the one hand, the Bulls won't have their best fetcher starting the game; on the other, they won't get anything like the 5 penalties that he gave to the Blues when they won.

Kuhn is quicker to the breakdown and a better ball carrier. Altho I like Stegmann I think it is a brave but worthy risk for this match.

Good summary Oom Lee, just one thing missing, the Reds will have to counter the lineouts and mauls like the Bluesers did. Also the sign why they pick Kuhn who is a very good mauler playing hooker in the past. The Sharks beat the Reds with the mauls and surely the one the Brutes have to use.

Myself was disapointing with the Lions, not even contesting the Reds lineouts but no way they will have it that easy against the Brutes or next week against the Stormers.