That was a curious game wasn't it?
In the first half I was enjoying the hard, intelligent, quick ball play from the Brumbies (with a Wallabies' fan hat on) but wishing they would stuff up their chances like they did next time they played the Tahs (with a Tahs hat on).
They should have been out of sight by oranges with 71% possession and 67% territory, but their errors, often unforced, kept the Reds in the game. Full marks for their sterling defence in keeping the Reds out in the last quarter though.
Then in the second half it was if they had changed jerseys with the Reds. Once more the Brumbies' second half play, or a lot of it, looked bottom of the table stuff.
I empathise with Reds fans in how their season is going because as a Tahs fan I know the feeling every year. You can cop losing the odd close game but not losing so many, even if there good excuses in most of them.
• Moore would have been red carded by 90% of European referees I reckon. He was lucky to get the quixotic Walsh deciding his fate.
He is fortunate that he didn't have Mike Fraser to decide. Fraser yellow carded Dave Dennis two weeks ago for shoving, of all people, Bismark du Plessis (Mr. Goodie Two Shoes - not).
The trouble for Quirk and the Reds is that the SANZAR referees have been talking about playing off the ball matters recently and the profile of such stuff is over-shadowing more significant items such as scoring tries.
• Nice dive over the ruck by Quirk incidentally: had there been a Brumbies' defender over where he dived over to he may have been blocked in an attempt to stop Genia.
• But it had to be Mad Eddie Quirk doing it to Mad "Squeaky" Moore, and Moore responding. If you picked which two blokes would do what to whom, even with the roles reversed, you would have picked those two.
There's a message there coaches.
• I thought that Chris Feauai-Sautia had a cracking game when he got chances: showing his skier's balance in eluding people, and that Nic White has to be pushing Will Genia very hard for the starting Wallabies' scrummie spot.
The only thing negating that at the minute is that you don't want to discard all that test experience that Will has.
Could that opinion change by the time the test team is selected? Hell, yes: Will is a champion.
• Oddly (for me at least) Ben Alexander is looking more and more like a real THP and the best he looked last night was when he was resting on the bench and watching his replacements.
A mixed bag for both teams then, but winners are grinners, especially when they do it away from home.
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