Round 1 - Waratahs vs Hurricanes @ Brookvale - Saturday 16 February 2019

[Up the Guts]

I just watched the game and I thought it was an entertaining and even match up. Both teams were a bit rusty and there's room for plenty of improvement but I really don't get the fairweather 'fans' who just want to jump on here and put the boot into the Tahs for absolutely every fucking thing. That's different to constructive criticism of course.

Personally, I am far more frustrated by this loss than being completely outclassed by 20 odd. That all the criticism is based around the fact the Tahs gave the game way is an acknowledgement that they were good enough for the contest and is not sticking the boot in for “absolutely fucking everything.”

 

[formerflanker]

Personally, I am far more frustrated by this loss than being completely outclassed by 20 odd. That all the criticism is based around the fact the Tahs gave the game way is an acknowledgement that they were good enough for the contest and is not sticking the boot in for “absolutely fucking everything.”

Yep.
Additionally, Tahs fans who have been around for a while have had a gut full of almost-permanent losses and reasons for defeats. We went OK last season but its the build up of constant let downs over the years which makes me arc up over silly mistakes and penalties which cost us the game.
If last nights narrow loss was a rarity I'd be disappointed, that's all. Since I see it as a permanent feature, I get cranky.

 

[Silverado]

most of the 'fans' comments are probably because it's just frustrating to watch your team do everything they can to give away the win.

It’s frustrating to lose, but a kick able goal in the last minute would have sealed it. It’s not like we lost to The a Sunwolves. They just over the Canes who were at the pointy end last year. They also did a lot to win. Just relax. It’s s long season

 

[Dan54]

It’s frustrating to lose, but a kick able goal in the last minute would have sealed it. It’s not like we lost to The a Sunwolves. They just over the Canes who were at the pointy end last year. They also did a lot to win. Just relax. It’s s long season

And also Silverado, I know Foley missed that kick, but he had got a couple of pretty good ones that put them in the position anyway. If I was a Tahs supporter, I would be a little disappointed, but not ripping into them just yet!

 

[KOB1987]

Personally, I am far more frustrated by this loss than being completely outclassed by 20 odd. That all the criticism is based around the fact the Tahs gave the game way is an acknowledgement that they were good enough for the contest and is not sticking the boot in for “absolutely fucking everything.”

Yep.
Additionally, Tahs fans who have been around for a while have had a gut full of almost-permanent losses and reasons for defeats. We went OK last season but its the build up of constant let downs over the years which makes me arc up over silly mistakes and penalties which cost us the game.
If last nights narrow loss was a rarity I'd be disappointed, that's all. Since I see it as a permanent feature, I get cranky.

Well I'm a Tahs fan who has been around for a while. It's the nature of a competition like this that most teams will fluctuate between the top half of the ladder and the bottom half.
The Waratahs were perennial underperformers up until around 2000, but since then have won 131 out of 239 games (55%), and that includes the disastrous year that Foley coached. I think as NSW supporters we expect them to go better than they do, but that's because we were brought up with them being a representative team rather than a professional franchise.
I get frustrated too but I'm just a bit more tolerant because no team is ever going to play to their maximum potential every game.

 

[Finsbury Girl]

Foley absolutely dire. And QC (Quade Cooper) is a called a turnstile? Come on. The double miss Whooper and Foley - dear oh dear. Please Gibson give MM a go next week.

Hunt looked the goods as did the porn star half back. Edit - Folau ok as well a couple of shockers but the good far outweighed the bad. The #11 winger looked slow to me. Is Hanigan a halfwit? Surely he has dropped himself for a few weeks, I've not seen such dumb rugby for a long time.

Loads of dumb penalties, dropped balls, lack of skills. Seriously these guys are professionals, is it too much to ask that they can catch and pass?

On the positive side for NSW the line out was good.

Canes were garbage though so the bar was very low.

 

[wamberal]

Personally, I am far more frustrated by this loss than being completely outclassed by 20 odd. That all the criticism is based around the fact the Tahs gave the game way is an acknowledgement that they were good enough for the contest and is not sticking the boot in for “absolutely fucking everything.”

They tried hard enough, but made some terrible mistakes at crucial times. I did not see the whole game, by the way. If Foley had not choked, or whatever he does too often, we would all be saying what a gutsy win that was.


They were gutsy, for mine they look like a hungry side. Maybe too hungry, cooler heads would not have made given away so much possession in the last quarter.

 

[formerflanker]

I think as NSW supporters we expect them to go better than they do, but that's because we were brought up with them being a representative team rather than a professional franchise.

That's a very good point. It explains why I get my hackles up when I hear them described as a "club".

 

[Silverado]

Particularly their first game of the season, we’ve lost bd T and it’ll take a few games to gel. The scrum wasn’t the basket case it was supposed to be, line out s need improvement but by no means an embarrassing first hit out

 

[Up the Guts]

I don’t think anyone is faulting the effort, defence etc. just the flagrant lack of smarts and continual gifting of the Hurricanes get out of goal cards. How many dumb penalties did we give away that got the Hurricanes out of their 22? Stupid shit like pulling the man down in the air. It should never have come to Foley’s penalty, we let the Hurricanes march down field through our own mistakes with TJ Perenara at fly-half. The guy must have dropped more balls than he caught standing there.

 

[Sully]

Foley absolutely dire. And QC (Quade Cooper) is a called a turnstile? Come on. The double miss Whooper and Foley - dear oh dear. Please Gibson give MM a go next week.

Hunt looked the goods as did the porn star half back. Edit - Folau ok as well a couple of shockers but the good far outweighed the bad. The #11 winger looked slow to me. Is Hanigan a halfwit? Surely he has dropped himself for a few weeks, I've not seen such dumb rugby for a long time.

Loads of dumb penalties, dropped balls, lack of skills. Seriously these guys are professionals, is it too much to ask that they can catch and pass?

On the positive side for NSW the line out was good.

Canes were garbage though so the bar was very low.

I've edited this post to remove to the derogatory name given to one of the players. Just a reminder that it's against the forum rules to play the man and not the ball. Here's the rule for those who are interested.

6. Play the ball, not the man / No personal abuse of forum members, players, officials and public figures. Personal comments will be deleted and you'll get a card or ban.
This also applies to comments about players, coaches, Referees and other public figures. Feel free to criticize their play and decisions with reasoning, but not slander them as a person.
"Like last weekend, he's always seagulling and it gives me the shits" is OK.
"He's a f*ckwit who'll never amount to anything" is not.
Only a complete knob jockey resorts to personal insults anyway.

zero tolerance.

 

[Silverado]

Foley absolutely dire. And QC (Quade Cooper) is a called a turnstile? Come on. The double miss Whooper and Foley - dear oh dear. Please Gibson give MM a go next week.

Hunt looked the goods as did the porn star half back. Edit - Folau ok as well a couple of shockers but the good far outweighed the bad. The #11 winger looked slow to me. Is Hanigan a halfwit? Surely he has dropped himself for a few weeks, I've not seen such dumb rugby for a long timer


Loads of dumb penalties, dropped balls, lack of skills. Seriously these guys are professionals, is it too much to ask that they can catch and pass?

On the positive side for NSW the line out was good.

Canes were garbage though so the bar was very low.

The lineoutdvwewcgood for us o their this.our throw not so much

 

[Slim 293]

The lineoutdvwewcgood for us o their this.our throw not so much

Not another Russian bot.........

 

[The Honey Badger]

Plenty to be unhappy about, but first game, lost by 1 point to a genuine Super rugby heavyweight and could just as easily have won. A lot of so-called fans on here will only ever be happy if we beat everybody.

Defence was very much improved, and against a very powerful centre pairing, and I thought the run-on pack was perfectly competitive at the set piece. HJH (Harry Johnson-Holmes) really stepped up, Holloway and Hooper were very good, as was Hunt. And while it's popular to trash Foley for his defence, they ran big guys at him all night and I think he only missed one.
The negatives were way too many soft penalties to the Canes, a lack of creativity in attack, and too many handling errors. Folau in particular was a real mix of good and bad. Latu, for all his talent, can be a nett liability with his poor line-out throws and penalties.

Beale is a real conundrum. With the centre pairing last night we were really solid in defence, but lacked that creative spark Beale brings. I agree with many here, bring him back at 15 and shift Folau to the wing. As to Foley's missed goal, the guy kicked 5 from 6, including one from the sideline, any side in the world would be happy to have a kicker at that level. It wasn't right in front or that close, but I guess you guys are all Jonny Wilkinson! That didn't lose us the match, it was marching the Canes up into our 22 with repeated penalties that lost us the match.

On the repeated penalties for going early in the scrum, what you had there was a young, inexperienced prop (Talakai) trying desperately to get the first shove, and an experienced prop just pulling back a bit so the young guy falls forward. Hopefully he learns from that.

Class post Froggy. Balanced. Agree totally

 

[Adam84]

I don’t understand why there’s so much negativity, they lost but there will still some positives out of it. Dempsey played well and looks on track to force his way back into the wallaby squad, Hunt played well at 12 which makes a bit of a conundrum for where to play Beale, I also thought the young winger Newsome looked pretty good.

If I understand correctly the wallabies were pulled away for wallaby squad training up until mid January, so the super rugby squads have only had their wallabies back for 4 weeks, maybe that explains some of the cohesiveness issues.

 

[A mutterer]

having had a day or so to mull over the coulda, shoulda woulda i'm glad that Hanigan has decided to step up and take over the mantle of 'tits for hands' that was vacated by paddy ryan.

what would our waratahs team be without the ol tits for hands coughing up the pill in the 80+ championship minutes?

 

[Blackadder]

Observations from the game
First the Bad:

The same issues of lack of go forward, silly penalties, poor options and way too much drop ball. Funny thing is some of the experienced players were the culprits. Kepu had a bad night so did Latu and Hanigan.

The frustrating thing is this game was there for the taking. No Barrett best chance to roll the Hurricanes and the Tahs failed to do so. So many times they got into an attacking raid and silly drop balls, poor scrum after HJH (Harry Johnson-Holmes) was held up which gave the ball back and silly passes. Foley putting a grubber into to the sidelines when the attacking raid was on and so on.

The Hurricanes who were also bad took the game despite their injury toll and resting Barrett.

Foley missing the final goal was shocking however it was not the reason the game was lost. Yes if he got it over Tahs would have won but the game should have been won way before that.

Ask the rebels what one loss can do to a season.

The Good:
Hunt. I was against signing this bloke due to his issues not his ability. I thought he was very good.
HJH (Harry Johnson-Holmes) really stood up.
Defence improved
Dempsey got through his first super rugby game and looked great
Holloway played very well as did a few others

I am not writing off the season but the frustrating thing is the Tahs SHOULD have won this game.

 

[Braveheart81]

Foley putting a grubber into to the sidelines when the attacking raid was on and so on.

Wasn't that Hunt? The one I'm thinking of was in the second half and the kick went out just outside the 22 when we had turnover ball and a decent amount of space.

If the kick went out 10m out then it would have been a good option but it didn't gain nearly enough territory to make it worthwhile kicking the ball away.

 

[KiwiM]

I don’t understand why there’s so much negativity, they lost but there will still some positives out of it.

Paul Cully I think summed things up quite well I thought - that the Tahs pack struggled with the Canes and given that the Tahs problems last year were in the pack and that the Canes pack was weak by NZ standards that has to be concerning.

 

[Braveheart81]

I thought the Tahs problems in the pack were largely at scrum time though.

We faltered on some of our own lineout ball but our defensive lineout was strong and we were clearly the better of the two teams at the lineout.

Ardie Savea beasted us all night but that's what he does. Overall I don't think our pack really struggled in general play.

We protected our own ball pretty well.