Reds vs Brumbies, Lang Park, 2nd March 2018 @ 7:00pm AEST

[liquor box]

He scrummed at Tight Head for almost 20 scrums with a pack which only had 7 players in it for most the match. didn’t have his runs, but was far from a quiet performance at scrum time

he also had plenty of scrums where the reds chose to have CFS on the loose head side of the scrum so Thor had no assistance other than a second rower.

I think he is very under rated at the moment and will only improve, and possibly grow bigger

 

[TOCC]

His scrummaging was on the upwards trajectory last year, and was apparent during the NRC. Rebels have good depth across their front row, but I don’t think they selected their best scrummaging forward pack for the Reds game. I still expect Tupou to get towelled up a few times in 2018. But that’s all part of becoming a good prop.

I think we will see Tupou used a few times in the mid-field off the line out this week, I think the reason we didn’t see that much last week was the loss of Higgers which meant a reshuffle at the line out.

 

[Simon.]

Yeah I'm extremely impressed how quickly Thor's scrummaging has improved. I still think he should be a loosehead if you want to get the most out of his running game but there's no question now about whether he's up to the scrum side of tighthead.

I think Aaaaaaaa still has the gold 3 jersey locked down but I wouldn't be surprised to see Thor overtake Kepu as first choice 18 this year. Coming on with fresh legs and 20 to go he's going to be very effective.

For tomorrow, if he can monster Ben A at the scrum he could well give him a yellow, but the Brumbies' scrum is still a very powerful unit.

As for the crowd numbers, I have to say I'm finding myself surprisingly unmotivated to attend games at Suncorp this year. I used to be happy to pay for a seat on the centre line, and I went to most of the home games, but now it just doesn't seem worth the money. I'd happily go if it was at Ballymore with a suitable ticket price, but it's like $75 for a good seat at Suncorp. Until the Reds give me something to watch beyond accumulating cards and getting repeatedly pantsed it's hard to justify that sort of money, especially since I have to shout the missus a ticket too.

 

[Jimmy_Crouch]

His scrummaging was on the upwards trajectory last year, and was apparent during the NRC. Rebels have good depth across their front row, but I don’t think they selected their best scrummaging forward pack for the Reds game. I still expect Tupou to get towelled up a few times in 2018. But that’s all part of becoming a good prop.

I think we will see Tupou used a few times in the mid-field off the line out this week, I think the reason we didn’t see that much last week was the loss of Higgers which meant a reshuffle at the line out.

In the trial v Fiji Warriors he was used ad nauseam in that scenario.

 

[Jimmy_Crouch]

but it's like $75 for a good seat at Suncorp.

Mate are you serious? There isn't a bad seat in the house. Membership was $200 (for 8 games). I'll be leaving work early and heading straight to the Precinct Bar to watch the Blues v Chiefs.

 

[Highlander35]

TT certainly did a lot better at scrum time last Friday than November when he was losing out to a couple of our looseheads who are particularly low on the pecking order.

He'll come good: you just can't expect dominance from a prop that's not even 22 yet: holding his own is more than enough.

 

[Tangawizi]

Just buy the cheap seats and walk around. Or get free tickets. Courier Mail gave out 180 double passes to subscribers for this match. Triple M & Hit 105 are giving out tickets too. Just check their website "win" pages.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[cyclopath]

So what sort of crowd do you think we can expect on Friday?

It's not a kiwi side to draw in the queeNZlanders so I'm tipping 12k tops..

Parochial and rummed up. As it should be!

 

[liquor box]

I think we will see Tupou used a few times in the mid-field off the line out this week, I think the reason we didn’t see that much last week was the loss of Higgers which meant a reshuffle at the line out.

The great thing with this is after a couple of runs he can be a decoy for our smaller players like CFS, Kerevi and Nabuli to run similar lines.

4 pretty scary propositions to be running at you as a group, also 4 players who would be hard to stop as a maul if not brought to the ground

 

[TSR]

Alexander shouldn’t be discounted. His issues at Test level have been well covered but he has always been a reliable performer at super rugby level and will have a strong pack behind him. He also has a wealth of experience on his side.

 

[Scrubber2050]

Just to recap who the reds will be missing for this match:

George Smith
Izaia Perese
Scott Higginbotham
Luckhan Tui
Karmichael Hunt
Quade Cooper
Ben Lucas

Amusing you mentioned Quade missing for this match. He will be missing the year !

 

[Scrubber2050]

A LHP is often dependant on the performance of the THP. Thor certainly has improved quite dramatically.

Hopefully he is able to keep devastating runs happening whilst competing well at scrumtime.

Very hard to do both over 60 minutes. I think he is now already being heavily marked by opposition teams particularly when he is standing out wide.

 

[emuarse]

Yeah I'm extremely impressed how quickly Thor's scrummaging has improved. I still think he should be a loosehead if you want to get the most out of his running game but there's no question now about whether he's up to the scrum side of tighthead.

I think Aaaaaaaa still has the gold 3 jersey locked down but I wouldn't be surprised to see Thor overtake Kepu as first choice 18 this year. Coming on with fresh legs and 20 to go he's going to be very effective.

For tomorrow, if he can monster Ben A at the scrum he could well give him a yellow, but the Brumbies' scrum is still a very powerful unit.

As for the crowd numbers, I have to say I'm finding myself surprisingly unmotivated to attend games at Suncorp this year. I used to be happy to pay for a seat on the centre line, and I went to most of the home games, but now it just doesn't seem worth the money. I'd happily go if it was at Ballymore with a suitable ticket price, but it's like $75 for a good seat at Suncorp. Until the Reds give me something to watch beyond accumulating cards and getting repeatedly pantsed it's hard to justify that sort of money, especially since I have to shout the missus a ticket too.

Easy solution: Tell the missus to stay at home & watch it on TV, she might even see you at the game
P.S. Do you have a next of kin?

 

[Slim 293]

Courier Mail gave out 180 double passes to subscribers for this match.

But that would require having to subscribe to the Courier Mail.......... you may as well just fork out the extra money on the tickets.

 

[Tangawizi]

It was $1 for the first 4 weeks with no lock in contract. And they're putting on a catered pre-match function from 5:30pm tomorrow. So well worth my $1.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[Jimmy_Crouch]

Parochial and rummed up. As it should be!

The atmosphere on Friday night games is terrible. Everyone is pissed and just talks the whole time.

It seems that one bloke tells another couple of blokes over a beer at lunch that he is going to the game. Then a small group turn up after knocking off 47 stubs and just want to continue to have a yarn.

Completely different crowd to a Saturday/Sunday game.

 

[cyclopath]

The atmosphere on Friday night games is terrible. Everyone is pissed and just talks the whole time.

It seems that one bloke tells another couple of blokes over a beer at lunch that he is going to the game. Then a small group turn up after knocking off 47 stubs and just want to continue to have a yarn.

Completely different crowd to a Saturday/Sunday game.

I've only really been to Saturday games up there. Always enjoyed it, despite often being on the wrong side of the ledger. Great spot to watch rugby.

 

[Jets]

The atmosphere on Friday night games is terrible. Everyone is pissed and just talks the whole time.

It seems that one bloke tells another couple of blokes over a beer at lunch that he is going to the game. Then a small group turn up after knocking off 47 stubs and just want to continue to have a yarn.

Completely different crowd to a Saturday/Sunday game.

Reminiscent of the back bar at Ballymore. Plenty of people went to games and never watched a second.

 

[Beer Baron]

The atmosphere on Friday night games is terrible. Everyone is pissed and just talks the whole time.

It seems that one bloke tells another couple of blokes over a beer at lunch that he is going to the game. Then a small group turn up after knocking off 47 stubs and just want to continue to have a yarn.

Completely different crowd to a Saturday/Sunday game.

Wish I had been to your Saturday night games. Apart from the Reds final - I find the atmosphere at Reds game terrible. Silence apart from when a try is scored ... which is less frequent than it used to be.

 

[Jimmy_Crouch]

Wish I had been to your Saturday night games. Apart from the Reds final - I find the atmosphere at Reds game terrible. Silence apart from when a try is scored . which is less frequent than it used to be.

Granted the last few season it has been a little worse. Part of the issue is that some bright spark decided to follow the BBL lead and play loud music except their timing is rubbish and it runs into the play of the game.