Reds v Tahs : Opening game of the season

[Godfrey]

The end of this game felt like a kick in the guts, very similar to how the Ireland game felt. Same situation: they were close to the line, we knew we weren't that great and it just happened. Very disappointing. That being said, there were some pretty good things to take out of the game. I thought Hynes had some very, very good moments and seems to have taken to the fullback game very well. His inclination to run the ball is refreshing and he also landed a few good kicks. Genia was great and consistently playing at a high-standard is something we all hope he can do. Digby Ioane was pretty quiet which was a shame. I can imagine if all our backs were firing we might have put it away.

 

[Scarfman]

Some thoughts and observations:

Reds:
- Ewen is already kicking goals with the reds. Yep, up to 75 minutes I was thinking - the Reds have hardened up and the Tahs have gone soft.
- Hynes is fantastic no. 15 Yep again. Deans would have absolutely loved that.

The Tahs:

- They were a mess tonight. Well and truely the worst team this round. The showed nothing for a team that is about to tour SA to face the bulls and the stormers. Except winning? It was almost 30oC, they were stuffed. A lot to work on, but they won an absolutely brutal game, so give 'em credit.
- They look to have the fastest back three in the comp yet have no clue about how to use it. yet. Mitchell was the flakiest, as usual. But as a unit they were very impressive. A massive boost to the Tahs ability to threaten this year.
- Mumm is a prick. Why? Nothing at all wrong with it, unless I missed a whistle blow.

 

[Biffo]

I thought Hynes was very good indeed ... most reassuring after Cameron Shepherd managed a season-ending injury in the warm-up

 

[Moses]

- Mumm is a prick

How? Red 16 (Faainga?) went in the side of the ruck and was loitering on the Tahs side, got what he deserved!

 

[Biffo]

- Mumm is a prick

How? The bloke he ran into (Faainga?) was offside and got what he deserved!

YEP!!!!

 

[cyclopath]

Must just be because Mumm plays for NSW. :
Hardly has a track record of foul play, but should have used more arms to belt the offside tool!

 

[Moses]

I just watched it again, Ref blew the whistle about .2 of a second before Mumm cleaned him out. Fair to say he was committed to taking out the trash by the time the whistle blew

 

[Biffo]

I just watched it again, Ref blew the whistle about .2 of a second before Mumm cleaned him out.

yep. didn't need the replay or stopwatch.

 

[Moses]

Suppose he could have used his arms, well at least he didn't bite him.

 

[JJJ]

That kind of cleaning out should be reserved for that afro-haired All Black who kept loitering on the wrong side of our rucks last year. Instead they let him stand there getting in the way and doing whatever else he wanted.

 

[barbarian]

I see your Dean Mumm and raise you Adam Byrnes... was a thug as a schoolboy and nothing has changed. Took his headgear off halfway through so he could get away with it, should have been binned for endless niggle/late hits/off the ball hits/biting.

As for the game itself, the Reds paid the price for picking a massive pack and playing themselves to a standstill in the first 60 minutes. The Tahs were outenthused for most of the game but managed to keep in touch with cheap penalties. I don't think they looked too bad, although was not really impressed with Barnes or Beale. Carter was one-dimensional and largely useless, as expected. Anesi was pretty average as well, hardly the excitement machine he was made out to be.

Best players on the park were the two halfbacks- Burgess had some brain snaps but created at least 2 linebreaks around the ruck and marshalled the Tah forwards well, and Genia played like I hoped he would. Thought Cliffy, Horwill and Hynes were best of the rest. Would say Quade, but that missed tackle on Palu was a shocker, he never loked close.

 

[Langthorne]

Some thoughts and observations:

Reds:
- Is it just me or do the reds look like a better team because cooper has cut is hair?
True, but Fainga'a tipped the balance back by having an even worse haricut

- I thought Horwill at six wasn't too bad. Deans should take notice. Could come in handy. I hope he stays there for the season.
Mowen was the best number 6 on the field. I can't believe he wasn't in the starting lineup

- Genia is the best no.9 in Australia
therefore we have no chance of winning the world cup

- Hynes is fantastic no. 15
he is OK, mainly for his running kick returns and all round effort and aggression

- Cooper is maturing. I thought he showed some good leadership and his flair at the right tempo is amazing.
it is just the haircut mate - he is still a big show pony. I was very pleased to see him in the Reds team, and especially pleased to see him doing the kicking. Without him playing what chance would the Tahs have had?

- Reds will have a real go at the likes of the Lions (a), Force (h), Highlanders (h), Cheetahs (a) and Blues (h) if they play like that.
no, if they play like that they will lose

- This loss will help them in the long run. They need to understand how to throw away a win before they start winning.
They know how to throw away a win. They know how to lose. They have known these things for a long time now. They have even passed on this knowledge to the Robbie Deans and the Wallabies.

The Tahs:

- They were a mess tonight. Well and truely the worst team this round. The showed nothing for a team that is about to tour SA to face the bulls and the stormers.
they were terrible...and yet they still won. Is this more a reflection on how poor the Reds are than how good they are?

- Beale looks fit. I like him as a 12. Barnes and Burgo didn't help him at all tonight. Both being very poor.
he certainly looks solid without losing his speed and step. The slow and poor ball for large portions of the match were a major mitigating factor in terms of the service from Burgess and Barnes.

- They look to have the fastest back three in the comp yet have no clue about how to use it. yet.
They didn't get a lot of opportunities, but wingers blew the chances they did get. Anesi looks OK, although I worry about his injury record.

- Mumm is a prick
If Fainga'a was just walking down the street minding his own business I think Mumm would be perfectly justified in cleaning him out just on account of his haircut. As he was loitering on the Tahs side of the maul and interfering with play, I think Mumm could only be called a prick if he DIDN'T clean him out. The ref (and that touch judge - what a tool) should be given a red card for that call alone.

- This kicking the ball behind the line and having the winger sprint after it can only be effective for so long. Any team thats looking into their play will see this and drop the wings back further.
...and then you move the ball through the hands

- Barnes is the most overated footballer you'll see this year.
he is worth keeping on the field for his kicking and tackling alone...and whilst Cooper is playing, Barnes could never be the most over rated

 

[fatprop]

The Tahs won because their bench's contribution was better, depth won the game.

They were their our own worst enemy, terrible restarts kept allowing the Reds to get momentum after each Tahs score.

 

[spectator]

Too late in the evening (or even early in the morning) to read all the comments. Have to say I am gutted! The best side on the paddock lost. Apart from the scrum, the Tahs were well and truly outenthused and outplayed.

It will sound like sour grapes but the forward pass for the Tah's first try really rankles, particularly as the touchie was in line with that play.

I thought A Fainga'a and Braid were enormous defensively, and there was plenty to like about Rod Davies' wing play. A number of other good players but I will have to calm down first before I post further.

Leroy looked strong in the curtainraiser and I would suggest he might be the one change to the match day 23 next week. Who to drop? Not sure, maybe Van, but he was bloody good at lineout time.

At the end of the day though, well done Tahs.

 

[Lee Grant]

I don't know that I'll ever regret that the Tahs won a game, but tonight I was close. The Reds lost it. The Tahs didn't deserve to win it, but full marks to them for coming back and to skipper Phil Waugh. I don't think anybody else would give him the man of the match award but I would, simply because without the captain I doubt if the Tahs would have won.


• The clampdown on the breakdown prevails. All the refs have been consistent in attempting to referee the law of the breakdown as it was written and if there was doubt, giving the benefit of it to the attacking team. That benefit is not in the lawbook and one doesn't want to see a reprise of Brumby ball, but it is refreshing to see that the on paper theories we had about attacking play being encouraged, actually happening on the park.

The Tahs are far behind other teams I have seen this weekend in this regard. They didn't have as much good possession as the Reds and they kicked away too much of what they had. On the other hand: I found myself smiling as Hynes ripped through my team and mentally applauding other moments of Reds dash.


• In the end the Reds gave away too many penalties and the points piled up – and then when the subs came on the visiting bench was better.


• The Reds defence was terrific for 79 minutes. The Tahs could point to all the penalties they kicked and argue that maybe they could have scored more tries earlier from good real estate had not the Reds stopped them with infringements, but they were very bloody ordinary. The only good thing for them apart from the win and the scrum is that they haven't peaked too early.


• Good to see from a rugby point of view that in this period of light where attack is being rewarded that a superior scrum still has validity. There was a maul that was valid too, but, since attackers are being pampered, I expected to see a bit more pick and drive to suck in defenders.


• Watching the Tahs reminded of some unaccountably lethargic displays I have seen from the Wallabies in recent times. They lacked work rate and passion. Lacked skill in the restarts also. The Reds nearly made up for their bad scrum with good restarts.


• It's not that relevant to talk about good players or bad players from NSW. It was the team that was wanting – except at the end. Guys were walking around like Brown's cows and lacking in diligence dealing what was going on – a short grubber restart kick wasn't expected, players often too close to each other in the defensive line and a gap further out was the result etc, etc. Waugh was going ballistic.


• The Tahs won 3 games in the RSA last year. You can't see them winning 1 this year on that showing.

 

[Lee Grant]

Should there have been two penalty tries?

Joubert wasn't as consistent as the other refs in the weekend to date in the crackdown. I saw guys from both teams going off their feet often and getting away with it – and the attacking team most. But I applaud his use of the TMO in the penalty try incident even though it is not part of the protocol, unless I have missed an announcement of a change.

It was a penalty try on two counts IMO.

Then when Turner nearly scored 2-3 minutes later, Joubert asked for the TMO again and I thought, good: he's going to check for another penalty try - but he didn't. I thought he was remiss and so was the AR for not bringing an incident to his notice. Turner would probably have scored but for the infringement of Ant Fainga'a.

Turner was on the ground having been tackled from behind by Hynes. He slid forward on his back at a good clip, parallel to the goal line but sliding parallel to touch, not toward it. He probably could have placed the ball on the goal line for a try but 1 metre out AF landed on top of him in the act of pushing him out and his direction of run before leaving his feet took Turner into touch.

Had that act been in open play it would have been an obvious penalty.

When deciding on penalty tries you have to take the infringing player out of the equation. Thus Genia was correctlly judged as probably scoring a try had Mowen not been present.

Imagine if the grabbing by Mowen was the penalty try incident (somehow it wasn't, it was the deliberate knock of the ball into touch, I think) . Imagine he had been running shoulder to shoulder with Genia (and no, he wasn't) and he grabbed Genia, you couldn't assume that Mowen, had he not infringed, would otherwise have bumped him legally and a try would not probably have been scored.

You can't assume that – you'd have to take Mowen out of the equation as though he were the invisible man for 10 seconds. It's the same with Fainga'a. He wasn't there; Hynes couldn't have swung Turner into touch, and Ioane would have got there too late. It would have been a try.

Probably.

 

[Gagger]

Tonight was an inverse example of what's wrong with Australian rugby.

There's one game of the year when this passion and do or die commitment turns up, and it's this derby. If only we saw it vs against all the frikken yaapie and kiwi teams.

Yep Byrne is an idiot and if he was biting then he deserves what's coming to him, plus some. However, there is no denying that to start with the Tahs were pure and simply intimidated out of the game, and he had a lot to do with it. We all sneakingly wish we had a Bakkies in the pack rather than the Sharpes and Chisholms that abound, because as Byrne showed, a bit of abrasive front can go a long way, even without much talent to back it up.

Transfer that to the Wallabies; we saw one 3N test last year in Brisbane when they fronted up properly. The rest of them we just got muscled off the park.

 

[Spook]

Turner bombing another try he should have finished off. He's an average finisher.

 

[Pfitzy]

I agree with you there Lee and called it at the time. You're allowed to go off your feet in-goal to prevent a try being scored. You're definitely not allowed to dive on the man on the ground, in the field of play, whether he has the ball or not. That was at minimum a penalty to the Tahs, not a lineout.

@ spook: Yeah he didn't show much patience for the bounce of the ball. Still, he's got wheels which is something something of a lot of NSW outside backs have lacked.

@ Gagger: Its all well and good to have a Bakkies in the team, but why are refs still too soft to clamp down on it consistently?

 

[cyclopath]

Turner bombing another try he should have finished off. He's an average finisher.

Bombed the first half one, got dudded on the second. Just happy to see him burn past Ioane. Aust rugby needs some proper pace