Round 5 : Force v Reds - Perth

[stillmissit]

The Reds were not organised around the ruck, Force committed to 3 players to counter rucks at most breakdowns. Force played very well and Wilson was targeted at the kick off. Force came in with a great game plan and it worked.

Reds need to look at their game day management and rotated fatigued players sooner rather than later. All credit to the Force wellplayed.

Enjoyed your post apart from bolded bit above. Fatigued players? for Christ's sake, they are pro players and play once a week for 50mins or 30mins for the 'finishers' with a bye occasionally. They all should be able to play 80 mins once a week if needed, if not they should go back to Tiddlywinks.
They didn't do much for the first 40 anyway..

 

[Derpus]

^^^
I don't agree with much you say but you are right about this. If anything, the players get far too little game time.

 

[The Engine Room]

Got to start Harry M-P next game v Brumbies.

 

[Strewthcobber]

I don't discount fatigue, but I think the coaching/tactics played a much bigger role than any individual level effort.

Cron had them counter-rucking, laser focussed on shutting down Paisami 's go forward in mid-field and attacking down Vunivalu's wing. Was impressive from him

 

[TSR]

The Reds finished 8th last year. Yes they are doing a lot better this year but they haven’t suddenly turned into the Crusaders (and by that I don’t mean this years version). Now they’ve played a couple of games under Kiss teams opposition has a chance to unpick their game a bit and the Force turned up with a good strategy and executed it well. The Force have played lots of good footy this year - they just haven’t been able to sustain it for long periods. Throw in a bunch of uncharacteristic errors some missed kicks, and the fact that most of their bench were inexperienced from the Reds and it was one of those games.

It doesn’t mean the Reds have suddenly become rubbish. But it does show why it’s too early to be talking titles or filling up Wallaby squads.

It does make this weekend pretty important IMO. If the Reds have another bad night out then it might really knock the confidence. If they bounce back hard then it becomes a bit of a bump in the path.

 

[NCT]

I don't discount fatigue, but I think the coaching/tactics played a much bigger role than any individual level effort.

Cron had them counter-rucking, laser focussed on shutting down Paisami 's go forward in mid-field and attacking down Vunivalu's wing. Was impressive from him

If I was coaching against the Reds I would get my team to attack down Vunivalu's wing constantly, his defensive alignment is poor, he comes off his wing too much and joins rucks that don't need him. His tackling is not very effective either.

 

[Brumby Runner]

The Reds finished 8th last year. Yes they are doing a lot better this year but they haven’t suddenly turned into the Crusaders (and by that I don’t mean this years version). Now they’ve played a couple of games under Kiss teams opposition has a chance to unpick their game a bit and the Force turned up with a good strategy and executed it well. The Force have played lots of good footy this year - they just haven’t been able to sustain it for long periods. Throw in a bunch of uncharacteristic errors some missed kicks, and the fact that most of their bench have were inexperienced from the Re it was one of those games.

It doesn’t mean the Reds have suddenly become rubbish. But it does show why it’s too early to be talking titles or filling up Wallaby squads.

It does make this weekend pretty important IMO. If the Reds have another bad night out then it might really knock the confidence. If they bounce back hard then it becomes a bit of a bump in the path.

Still more important to be in good form towards the end of the season TSR, both from the SRP (Super Rugby Pacific) competition and for Wallaby selection points of view. Too early to be making judgements just yet.