Reds vs Rebels - 2011R05

[spectator]

Ioane to 13 and Tapuai on the bench with Morahan starting on the wing looks ok.

I presume Lucas will be at fullback again. I wonder how long Link will stick with his reserve half starting in another position? OK until both get injured in the same game.

 

[MrTimms]

Team Announced

St.George Reds team (from fullback): Ben Lucas, Rod Davies, Ben Tapuai, Anthony Fainga'a, Digby Ioane, Quade Cooper, Will Genia, Leroy Houston, Beau Robinson, Scott Higginbotham, Adam Wallace-Harrison, Rob Simmons, James Slipper, Saia Fainga'a, Ben Daley.

Reserves: James Hanson, Greg Holmes, Radike Samo, Ed Quirk, Liam Gill, Michael Harris, Luke Morahan.

 

[TheTruth]

great to see Taps get his shot - and suprised that Chambers not on bench

 

[Godfrey]

I'm not that suprised. He would've made the bench without the 5-2 split but with just the two backs Harris and Morahan cover everything from 10-15 and cover it really well.

I'm really keen to see Gill get another 20 mins!

 

[Reddy!]

Interesting centres combination - should be good defensively I assume?

 

[tranquility]

Tapuai is a gun. Very good player. Chambers might have a fun time getting back into the team, because Ben is in very good condition at the moment. However, I have never seen Taps play 13 and in my head I always thought of him as a specialist 12. I am more than happy to be wrong though. Can't wait to see him go.


http://www.youtube.com/user/ShadowSportsMGNT#p/a/u/1/YlubcO6Z-HE

 

[Moses]

Congrats to Beau Robinson on earning a full contract, awesome player and one I'm glad is back in Australia

 

[BrumbiesPolynesian]

When do they name the Rebels team?
With so many loose forwards under an injury cloud, i wonder what they will do if both Lipman and Delve are ruled out.

 

[TOCC]

Tapuai is a gun. Very good player. Chambers might have a fun time getting back into the team, because Ben is in very good condition at the moment. However, I have never seen Taps play 13 and in my head I always thought of him as a specialist 12. I am more than happy to be wrong though. Can't wait to see him go.
http://www.youtube.com/user/ShadowSportsMGNT#p/a/u/1/YlubcO6Z-HE

I agree, he has demonstrated the attributes of a inside centre in my eyes.. he might be able to fill in at 13, but i think his long term role will be closer into the action

Congrats to Beau Robinson on earning a full contract, awesome player and one I'm glad is back in Australia

that would have to be the nail in the coffin for Lei Tomiki as well for 2011, barring any late season appearances and dominant form.

 

[MrTimms]

Rebels Team (from fullback): Julian Huxley, Afusipa Taumoepeau, Lachlan Mitchell, Stirling Mortlock (c), Cooper Vuna, Danny Cipriani, Nick Phipps, Gareth Delve (vc), Tom Chamberlain, Jarrod Saffy, Adam Byrnes, Alister Campbell, Greg Somerville, Ged Robinson, Nic Henderson Reserves: Heath Tessmann, Laurie Weeks, Hugh Pyle, Tim Davidson, Richard Kingi, Peter Betham, Luke Rooney

 

[Scotty]

Tapuai is a gun. Very good player. Chambers might have a fun time getting back into the team, because Ben is in very good condition at the moment. However, I have never seen Taps play 13 and in my head I always thought of him as a specialist 12. I am more than happy to be wrong though. Can't wait to see him go.


http://www.youtube.com/user/ShadowSportsMGNT#p/a/u/1/YlubcO6Z-HE

A finger will also have to play well.

 

[Dumbledore]

Good to see Delve pulled through, also glad Rooney isn't in the XV. I quite like the look of that backline, actually some decent speed there - Gerrard is an absolutely massive loss though.

 

[AngrySeahorse]

great to see Taps get his shot - and suprised that Chambers not on bench

According to a Fox News message I got Chambers will be on the bench, unless Fox have their info wrong.

 

[DPK]

The Morty at 12 experiment has reared it's head again. He looked to be finding form again last weekend, dunno if I agree with tinkering the minute he seems comfortable at 13.

 

[MrTimms]

According to a Fox News message I got Chambers will be on the bench, unless Fox have their info wrong.

Unless they have info we don't about some Link mind games that team comes from the Reds press release.

 

[Tiger]

A bit hard on Chambers - none of the backs did anything v the Brumbies (except for A Finger in defence a Q Cooper from the kicking tee) although he did have a bad game v the Force.

Good to see Link rewarding performance from the 2nds though. I haven't seen any games but heard that Taps was playing really well so fair play to him for earning the promotion

 

[Dumbledore]

The Morty at 12 experiment has reared it's head again. He looked to be finding form again last weekend, dunno if I agree with tinkering the minute he seems comfortable at 13.

Not a whole lot of choice to be honest, we're very, very thin with inside backs. Besides, Huxley has missed the most tackles in the entire competition - I didn't fancy seeing Digby running at him and Cipriani all day long. Brings Taumoepeau in as well, makes it a much quicker backline.

 

[Scotty]

So the reds now have a playmaking 12 playing 13 and the rebels a strong running 13 playing 12.

 

[Scotty]

The reds actually have 3 guys that have a lot of flyhalf experience in the starting team!

 

[Godfrey]

If the Reds forwards do their job and the backline clicks the heroic scrambling defence we've seen from the Rebels isn't going to be enough I think. There are just too many strong finishers close to the line. I'm tipping Genia to get at least one of his trademark sneaky tries on the goal line.