Round 2 - Sunwolves vs Waratahs @ 3.15pm AEDST

[Blackadder]

Surely this has something to do with their pre season trials as well!



I mean, they had a couple of trials pre season and barely played any of their main players or created any combinations, instead playing all their 2nd string players who arent getting much of a look in for the super games. With new coaches, new combinations, new drills, and yet the super players are expecting those to work straight away. Knowing that the tahs have a bye in round 3 and will be another game behind the rest of the comp of the other teams settling into their strides. Unbelievable tahs!



And for round 4, I can see there being much changes in the starting 15 as their depth is so bad and inexperienced

And this is a problem as the players know it will be very difficult to drop them which allows them to have the feeling of being unable to be dropped for poor form.

Recruitment so far has been found wanting and Gibson has stated that he wanted young forwards so it is 1000000% him.

Size has been an issue since Gibson and his rubbish belief in small, light and mobile pack. I have no idea on what planet this would make even a rookie coach believe would work.

The stupid thing is Gibson was given another year before a ball was kicked. Last year Big T saved the Tahs more often than not and he is gone.

 

[Blackadder]

Clearly the Tahs were really lucky to get out of this game with a win. They played poorly against average opposition and were fortunate to just do enough.



Too many errors and they got sucked into thinking they could play fast and loose against the Sunwolves and rack up points when their skill level was not close to matching it.



The scrum is a real concern. They are going to get dusted up most weeks and they need to mitigate the damage it causes them.



The Reds in week 4 after the bye will be a big challenge. A loss there and things are looking pretty dire. Getting the form back on track a bit and getting the win and they're in a pretty solid position.

How do you mitigate anything with the pack Gibson recruited?

The reds pack will monster the Tahs and so will half the comp.

 

[Finsbury Girl]

Missed this one - how did Karmichael go this week?

 

[Braveheart81]

Missed this one - how did Karmichael go this week?

He was pretty good and certainly put in a big effort especially on pressuring Hayden Parker on his drop goal attempt causing him to push it wide and give the Tahs the win. Him and Beale combined well in the midfield and were two of the Tahs best (in a pretty disappointing performance).

His only blight was a couple of dropped balls he should have held on to. The Tahs backline were shocking in this area.

It will be interesting to see what the Tahs do in round 4 against the Reds. I expect both Beale and Hunt will start but not necessarily at 12 and 13.

 

[Braveheart81]

How do you mitigate anything with the pack Gibson recruited?

The reds pack will monster the Tahs and so will half the comp.

They have to work that out. Our scrum was weak last year but after the first few rounds was generally serviceable on the back of getting the ball in and out quickly.

We've lost Robertson which is massively costly. We don't have the depth to lose a Wallaby prop even if he isn't the greatest scrummager.

The scrum gets stronger when Latu comes on but he might get suspended and we'll have to go without him. Fitzpatrick has always been pretty weak at scrum time.

Hopefully Vui comes back this week which will help sure things up (at least in terms of our bench).

 

[Derpus]

They have to work that out. Our scrum was weak last year but after the first few rounds was generally serviceable on the back of getting the ball in and out quickly.

We've lost Robertson which is massively costly. We don't have the depth to lose a Wallaby prop even if he isn't the greatest scrummager.

The scrum gets stronger when Latu comes on but he might get suspended and we'll have to go without him. Fitzpatrick has always been pretty weak at scrum time.

Hopefully Vui comes back this week which will help sure things up (at least in terms of our bench).

Latu's discipline issues are nearing ridiculous.

 

[fatprop]

How do you mitigate anything with the pack Gibson recruited?

The reds pack will monster the Tahs and so will half the comp.

Gibson seems to be aware and looking to upgrade where possible, signs a big bok lock etc (pretty sure if there was another local option they would have been first choice)

But a starting back row of Hooper, Dempsey & Hanigan isn't crap. Simmons fixed the lineout, Hollaway provides a shift better at lock and Robertson & Kepu aren't crap either.

My point? Key injuries have more been an issue than the recruitment (Dempsey last year and Robertson this year)

 

[Braveheart81]

Latu's discipline issues are nearing ridiculous.

Generally I agree but I reckon he's been stitched up on getting cited this time.

He's come in and tackled Quirk who was carrying the ball after they broke off from the maul.

He's holding on the Quirk when they both go to ground and is way above his knee. It looks like he has just twisted awkwardly.

Unless the reverse angle shows something dramatically different I really can't see what Latu has done wrong here.

He hasn't crashed in with no arms at Quirk's knee in a ruck as some seem to have suggested.

 

[Derpus]

Yeah doesn't seem to be an issue, actually. Why did they cite him? fucks me off how inconsistent citations are. See so many incidents that are blatant dangerous plays just slide through and they pull that up.

Excuse my ignorance. Can tackling the player carrying the ball be considered collapsing a maul assuming you entered legally? Is that even possible or has the maul ended at that point?

 

[Up the Guts]

Really a citation should not depend on whether or not a player was injured, a spear tackle is still a spear tackle even if there's no damage to the players neck. If Quirk had not been injured would Latu have been cited? My guess is no.

 

[KOB1987]

It certainly looks like a stretch. Is Brumby Runner one of the citing officers?

 

[Sabuulia]

I'm no fan of Latu's constant infringements, but that citing is ridiculous. You could go through the weekends games and find five similar instances where no one was injured. Unless there is another angle that clearly shows an attack on the knee, quirk and the rest have rolled off the back, he is entitled to attempt to stop him, and it looks like he just wraps him up on his thigh and drives through the contact.

 

[Braveheart81]

You'd imagine if the Waratahs contest the charge they will state that Latu thought the maul was over and he was tackling a ball carrier and that the referee had the same opinion.

It seems Latu has been charged with both charging into a maul and collapsing a maul so he could potentially cop two low end suspensions which might drive them to fight the charge.

 

[Derpus]

How is collapsing a maul a cite-able offense What's the difference between entering a maul and 'charing into a maul'.

 

[Braveheart81]

How is collapsing a maul a cite-able offense What's the difference between entering a maul and 'charing into a maul'.

Collapsing a maul is considered dangerous play. The interesting thing here is that an attacking side can seemingly collapse a maul to try and help get the ball out and that isn't considered dangerous.

You are meant to bind on to another teammate already in the maul when you enter.

 

[Derpus]

Collapsing a maul is considered dangerous play. The interesting thing here is that an attacking side can seemingly collapse a maul to try and help get the ball out and that isn't considered dangerous.

You are meant to bind on to another teammate already in the maul when you enter.

Erudite as every BH.

Even if there is no one in front of you?

 

[Brumby Runner]

The Tahs were the best Australian side last year. Maybe if the other teams had performed a bit better they'd have had more players selected and the Wallabies would have also performed better.

Around half the starting XV you picked above (and it's a good XV based both on talent and current form) weren't available for large parts or all of the 2018 test season.

Just like Dempsey, Hey? Didn't stop him being selected for the test squad.

But seriously, Naisarani and Cooper were probably the only two who weren't available for all the test season, while Tui made himself unavailable for the last TRC test (as I recall) and the EOYT. Kuridrani was out of form early but finished the year with a bang, and had significantly more game time than Jack Dempsey.

 

[KOB1987]

Just like Dempsey, Hey? Didn't stop him being selected for the test squad.

But seriously, Naisarani and Cooper were probably the only two who weren't available for all the test season, while Tui made himself unavailable for the last TRC test (as I recall) and the EOYT. Kuridrani was out of form early but finished the year with a bang, and had significantly more game time than Jack Dempsey.

Which year did he finish with a bang? It wasn't 2018, his year finished in July when he tore his pec. If he was fit for the EOYT I would suggest it was a mutual decision between him and Cheika not to tour as he was certainly on the radar.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-...ridrani-and-rob-valetini-20180925-p505ux.html

 

[Braveheart81]

Just like Dempsey, Hey? Didn't stop him being selected for the test squad.

But seriously, Naisarani and Cooper were probably the only two who weren't available for all the test season, while Tui made himself unavailable for the last TRC test (as I recall) and the EOYT. Kuridrani was out of form early but finished the year with a bang, and had significantly more game time than Jack Dempsey.

Kuridrani was unavailable through the Rugby Championship and EOYT. He got injured in the last Super Rugby game.

Kerevi missed the entire Rugby Championship.

Tui was unavailable for the last 6 tests of the year. He played the 7 tests before that.

Arnold was suspended for the start of the June series (when form probably would have pushed him into the side) and then didn't get back in consistently. He played 4 tests last year.

Dempsey was also obviously one I considered. Didn't play a Super Rugby game all year and missed almost all of the test season.

You would obviously not select certain players ever and that's fine, but you also need to consider that a bunch of the players you would select in your team (and have selected above) weren't available when inferior players or players you don't like got selected.

Touch wood we have a good run of injuries this year and have a lot more players pushing for selection. The reality last year is a lot of times the most maligned players gained selection is because a number of preferred players were unavailable.