Round 2 - Force vs Reds, NIB Stadium, 2nd March @ 6:30pm (AWST)

[TOCC]

Reckon Lukhan may want to come home next year now he's rated number five in the pecking order (assuming you meant Lukhan-Tui and not Hendrik). If you meant Hendrick then that's even more reason to bring him home, he'd be much higher rated than that at the Tahs.

Tui, Rodda, Simmons and Douglas are all signed on 3 year contracts until the end of 2018.

Neville is off contract this season and will undoubtedly move on..

 

[RugbyReg]

Any word on Leroy, he looks fit, wonder why he isn't getting a run.

form.

He was average in the trial. Higgers and Tui and Adam K much better options.

 

[Scoey]

I had no idea that Naisarani had gone to the Force! I know we have an oversupply of backrow talent but i hoped he might've been in a wider training group or something. Good luck to him though, I hope he goes well, just not against us!

 

[emuarse]

I had no idea that Naisarani had gone to the Force! I know we have an oversupply of backrow talent but i hoped he might've been in a wider training group or something. Good luck to him though, I hope he goes well, just not against us!

Naisarani was very good for Brisbane City in the NRC competition wasn't he. The Force thought so too.

 

[Moono75]

The Force showed in week one they are going to be a hard tackling team dishing out some physical punishment. That's bad news for Quade and its bad news for the Reds.

The girls will be crying for Bieber at NIB Monday night.......the Reds will be crying after Thursday night too

 

[RugbyReg]

I had no idea that Naisarani had gone to the Force! I know we have an oversupply of backrow talent but i hoped he might've been in a wider training group or something. Good luck to him though, I hope he goes well, just not against us!

Big money involved. Especially in the 2nd year.

 

[TOCC]

Good on him, just shows the NRC is building as a development pathway


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[Rugbynutter39]

I understand where you're coming from.
Aside from the Reds, the next team I support this year is the Force.
It wouldn't surprise me if many other Australian rugby followers will have the Force as their No2 team.

Tend to agree _ most rugby fans want to.see force survive and they have recruited well with new centre pairing although injuries amongst backrow makes depth a bit light there

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[TOCC]

I want the Force to survive, and il always support the Force against the Brumbies or Waratahs.. but when it comes to my Reds, I hope it's an entertaining game but the Reds to gallop home


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[Hawko]

I want the Force to survive, and il always support the Force against the Brumbies or Waratahs.. but when it comes to my Reds, I hope it's an entertaining game but the Reds to gallop home.

I reckon a large proportion of the Aussie rugby followers will have the Force as their second team. Good, gutsy attitude and developing their local playing group very nicely. They will put some hurt on some teams this year.

I was just glad the Tahs squeaked a win.

 

[Brumby Runner]

I will be very happy if the Force have a successful year. I don't want to see them or any other Aus franchise disappear from the competition, and they really seem to be doing great things for rugby in the West.

But, perhaps surprisingly, I will be supporting the Reds as my second choice because I think they have the makings of a very good side and possibly will have more influence on the makeup of the Wallabies later on.

 

[Joe Blow]

form.

He was average in the trial. Higgers and Tui and Adam K much better options.

I reckon its going to take him a while to adjust to the speed of Super Rugby. He seemed to slot back in to the Pommy game seamlessly. He may always struggle in Australia? Hope not.

 

[Scoey]

I will be very happy if the Force have a successful year. I don't want to see them or any other Aus franchise disappear from the competition, and they really seem to be doing great things for rugby in the West.

But, perhaps surprisingly, I will be supporting the Reds as my second choice because I think they have the makings of a very good side and possibly will have more influence on the makeup of the Wallabies later on.

Nothing to do with the old Brumby we have in our stables now?

 

[Brumby Runner]

Icing on the cake, Scoey. No, I think the Reds will be playing, or have the potential to play, the most attractive rugby out of the Aus conferences and I think it will be a good year for them/you.

 

[fatprop]

It will be interesting to see how the Reds play, they have a few issues to work through and the Force won't make it easy for them to get the clean fast ball they need to unleash the Quade.

The questions for me is can Frisby be the forwards general they need? or will they just stay one out runners?

Can the forwards change gear quickly enough after doing the one out stuff they support the width Cooper provides

I also think there is a lot of big crash ballers in their backline and not enough guile or pace shown so far.

Hopefully Paia’aua and/or Hunt can step in/step up and provide that foil Cooper needs

 

[Sully]

I also think there is a lot of big crash ballers in their backline and not enough guile or pace shown so far.

Hopefully Paia’aua and/or Hunt can step in/step up and provide that foil Cooper needs

I'm interested in knowing the crash ballers and how many is too many? I'll say the wingers and will throw Kerevi in, but believe he is more than a one trick pony, but who else?

 

[Scrubber2050]

I think the forward battle will be torrid with the Reds to grind out supremacy halfway thru the second half. Thor will be very damaging at that point.

Kerevi is the only real crash baller. He was extremely well marked in general play last week but is virtually unstoppable at pace, close to the line.

 

[wamberal]

Thor will need to run straight. He looked flashy rather than effective against Northern Suburbs in the game on Saturday. Crabbed sideways a lot.

 

[amirite]

Thor will need to run straight. He looked flashy rather than effective against Northern Suburbs in the game on Saturday. Crabbed sideways a lot.

Yeah I imagine the Reds won't have a role in their attacking structure specifically build for him to do whatever he wants.

He'll have to stick to his pod and the pattern.

 

[Scoey]

The questions for me is can Frisby be the forwards general they need? or will they just stay one out runners?

Frisby had a stinker last weekend no doubt, but his biggest challenge is starting to pass off the deck instead of picking up and taking those one or two steps sideways. He started doing that a while back and it looks like it's getting worse. When you play a game of millimeters like Quade is by being so flat, that half a second extra it's taking Frisby to pass the ball is having a big impact on the amount of time Quade has got. I think any benefit it creates through fixing defenders near the ruck is negated by allowing the 10 channel defense to get up on Quade.