vidiot
John Solomon (38)
Pfft. Last year, Reds genius. This year, perennially injured Reds discard. :fishing
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Pfft. Last year, Reds genius. This year, perennially injured Reds discard. :fishing
Bullrush
Geoff Shaw (53)
Would you take Luke Braid or Dan Braid in your starting line-up?
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GC
Guest
Masterful use of the bench again by Link. That's what won them the match IMO. Reds really flagging until the fresh legs came on.
Rebel rouser
Ted Fahey (11)
Can't say I'm convinced. Good that he's getting involved, but he's still going high and very often just slows the runner down so that the next tackler can put them to ground. I'm very worried about this as a wallabies fan, come world cup time it could be a major achilles heel!!
As for the game overall, great to watch. Blues deserved those two bonus points, but I dearly wish the reds had managed to hold them out. Those two points may be crucial in home semi or even home final calculations and the reds will want both of those if they are a chance for the title this year.
darkhorse
Darby Loudon (17)
Kaplan confuses me. I find myself that me thinking of doing things to him that you should never do to another man. I don't mean anything sexual either...
Is it just me or was he poor once again? I could be just putting on the anger goggles every-time he is reffing and see all his bad mistakes.
Is it just me or was he poor once again? I could be just putting on the anger goggles every-time he is reffing and see all his bad mistakes.
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GC
Guest
He wasn't too bad but the scrum rulings were strange. No matter what happened he'd immediately penalize Slipper.
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daz
Guest
Yep. I flippantly suggested pre-game that he might actually impact the game more than the players. Very happy to be proven wrong and I agree that over-all, he did a pretty decent job.
I'm not going to say much about this game, except to say that both teams deserve applause for putting on a hell of a show. Every rugby fan living in the north of the planet just started weeping at the type of quality we get week in week out, that they can only dream about.
The Reds really are the real deal. Enjoy the break and the view from the top, boys.
RedsHappy
Tony Shaw (54)
Is that 'sore' or 'sour' loser. The 'our absent players' excuse, no. 236 in the bag.
Bullrush
Geoff Shaw (53)
Meh.....as I said, not as upset as I thought I would be.....
no excuses cos the boys didn't do enough to win, I'm merely speculating that if that was how close we got without some key players, we are in a good position to go all the way.....
Tangawizi
Peter Fenwicke (45)
First thoughts - well done to the Reds. Toughed out a very hard fought match which they definitely would have folded in during recent seasons. Stepped up to another level tonight to get the job done.
I was concerned they'd gone out too hard like George Foreman against Ali but Link used the bench well and Hanson certainly delivered the boost we needed from the bench. Samo was excellent both around the park with done great runs and also some try-saving defence.
What most concerns me is that in clutch situations in games, our scrum repeatedly concedes penalties or gets pushed off our own ball. That to me is a bigger problem than QC (Quade Cooper)'s defense. You sit their in the stands almost expecting a bad outcome. Though why we would collapse our own scrum 5m out from our line was a bit of a mystery to me but I sit at other end.
Other point of note was in the stands. Was there a fight? Was it Blues fans misbehaving or Reds? I was focussing on the match too closely to bother looking over.
I'm prepared to call it now and say the Reds will make the semis for first time since 2001, and will win the Australian conference and play a home semi. After next week they'll be a minimum 9 points ahead of the Tahs with 4 games to play and based on tonight's form they'll win all of them except Crusaders where our front row problems could really bite us in the arse.
Anyway, it is happy times for Reds fans now! The satisfied feeling from a job well done tonight is around a million times better than what we were copping 2 years ago, which if memory serves me correctly was a 50 point flogging at home from the Canes....
I was concerned they'd gone out too hard like George Foreman against Ali but Link used the bench well and Hanson certainly delivered the boost we needed from the bench. Samo was excellent both around the park with done great runs and also some try-saving defence.
What most concerns me is that in clutch situations in games, our scrum repeatedly concedes penalties or gets pushed off our own ball. That to me is a bigger problem than QC (Quade Cooper)'s defense. You sit their in the stands almost expecting a bad outcome. Though why we would collapse our own scrum 5m out from our line was a bit of a mystery to me but I sit at other end.
Other point of note was in the stands. Was there a fight? Was it Blues fans misbehaving or Reds? I was focussing on the match too closely to bother looking over.
I'm prepared to call it now and say the Reds will make the semis for first time since 2001, and will win the Australian conference and play a home semi. After next week they'll be a minimum 9 points ahead of the Tahs with 4 games to play and based on tonight's form they'll win all of them except Crusaders where our front row problems could really bite us in the arse.
Anyway, it is happy times for Reds fans now! The satisfied feeling from a job well done tonight is around a million times better than what we were copping 2 years ago, which if memory serves me correctly was a 50 point flogging at home from the Canes....
RedsHappy
Tony Shaw (54)
Sorry BR, it frankly just gives a number of us the shits the way you Kiwi fans have a subtly unpleasant habit of coming into these fora, critiquing our players and teams at great length, then when we convincingly beat you, there is zero graciousness and 'well played opposition', rather a bunch of 'if onlys' and inferences that it wasn't really a loss, it was an aberrant event caused by highly unusual factors that will surely not be repeated.
qwerty51
Stirling Mortlock (74)
I remember someone doing that over in SA (because of the commentators at the time) anyone remember who?
wow. You're really prepared to call that now? Ballsy stuff. I mean, we're on top of the entire competition and have the bye next week.
ACT Crusader
Jim Lenehan (48)
Don't paint us all with the same brush RedsHappy
A
allitsab
Guest
What a great game to watch that was. Real pulsating, edge of the seat stuff. Could have gone either way and to their credit the Reds held on in a few tricky spots; even with the blues opening them up seemingly at will.
I didn't see too much of the incident with the blues fans in the stands, but it did look like one or two were getting carted out the door, NFI what happened though.
I wonder if it's too soon to start booking flights up for the finals weekends just yet...
I didn't see too much of the incident with the blues fans in the stands, but it did look like one or two were getting carted out the door, NFI what happened though.
I wonder if it's too soon to start booking flights up for the finals weekends just yet...
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daz
Guest
May I refer you to RugbyReg's comments three rows up? That may assist your decision making process.
Bullrush
Geoff Shaw (53)
But isn't that how it is??....lol...just kidding....
I was absolutely fuming during that first half until the boys scored those quick 2 tries before half-time.
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