Round 5 - Jaguares v Reds, Jose Amalfitani Stadium, Sunday 26 March @ 7:40am AEST

[The torpedo]

This thread is for discussing this match only

The Rules

1. Do not give scores for any other match from this round until 24 hours after the last game!
2. Do not discuss other matches in detail.
3. Good hearted banter is encouraged but trolling is not allowed.
4. Be respectful to posters, players, coaches and match officials.
5. Go the Reds!

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[The torpedo]

McIntyre should come in for Cooper with Taefu on the bench. Will be interesting to see whether McIntyre has improved from last year.

Vanzati in for Slipper with Squeak as captain (maybe).

Gonna be pretty tough game. Jaguares by 15 points.

 

[emuarse]

I watched the Jaguares play the Lions (B) team saturday week ago, and they really did look the goods. Were up very quickly on defence.
Very tough game for the Reds. If they should win after travelling there via South Africa, I'll take my hat off to them.

 

[Sully]

Moore will lead whether he's skipper or not. They should give a young leader a run while he's got some old heads to help him. DP for skipper?

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[liquor box]

Moore will lead whether he's skipper or not. They should give a young leader a run while he's got some old heads to help him. DP for skipper?

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I always thought Higgers would be a great "lead by example" type leader

 

[biggsy]

I Never bet against the Reds, so Jaguars by 30

 

[Simon.]

As long as it's not a blowout and we're competitive I'll not be too unhappy.

I think they'll do better than last week, I reckon the altitude played a fair part against the Lions. Playing with 13 men for 10 minutes and then 14 men for another 30 minutes at 1700m when not acclimatised is going to be pretty bloody difficult. Plus the fact the Lions are a real quality team (standard disclaimer to placate touchy Saffa forum members who get irked when their victories are attributed to anything other than 100% pure unadulterated Saffa rugby brilliance).

 

[Tangawizi]

Courier Mail is suggesting Tuttle will come in for Frisby & Rodda for Douglas.

I'd also like to see Higgers to 6 & Houston to 8.

Flying Maranta over might indicate they're thinking of a 6/2 split as he could cover a few backline spots.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport...h/news-story/3e6a1302e215d0df857831b5a6bc5635

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[Simon.]

I would be pretty happy with that. Higgers has been probably our best forward and a 6/2 split with Korczyk and Tui coming off the bench is probably our best formula for forward running power.

God how I miss Liam F Gill. And Browning for that matter.

 

[Simon.]

Might also be time to give Neville a run off the bench? He doesn't have the power of Rodda but he is pretty bloody fast and athletic for a giraffe. Douglas just never seems to have fully recovered from his knee reconstruction.

 

[Ulrich]

Maybe the Jaguares underestimate the Reds and lose. We've seen it happen many a time in Super Rugby, although the crime is usually committed by Saffa teams.

Unless the Reds play much better than the past weekend I don't see them winning unfortunately as it would be nice for rugby and for the SA sides in their group.

 

[RugbyReg]

Might also be time to give Neville a run off the bench? He doesn't have the power of Rodda but he is pretty bloody fast and athletic for a giraffe. Douglas just never seems to have fully recovered from his knee reconstruction.

What's Neville's story? He's not over there is he? Didn't play club on the weekend I don't think?

 

[RedsHappy]

From that other notorious Reds 'rebuilding' year, 2010, by Round 5 of the then Super 14, the Reds had....

......beaten the Crusaders (R2 - H), the Chiefs (R4 - A), and the Force (R5 - H).

Remembering too that was a team that possessed few 'mature and very experienced players' the likes of Smith, Moore, (now as he is) Higgers, (now as he is) QC (Quade Cooper), etc. On paper, the relative competitive task of the 2010 Reds was tougher than, on paper with the 2017 Reds' roster, it is today.

For the 2010 season, the Reds just missed the Finals and had a w-l % of 62%, winning 8 out of 13 games.

 

[Twoilms]

The Reds built their 2017 expectations on aged and under-performing former stars. QC (Quade Cooper), Higgers, Moore, Smith etc. are all good players but none of them can be star players in a Super Rugby team anymore.

In 2010, the Reds had many of those stars approaching career best form. Not to mention more depth and a better coach.

 

[HJ Nelson]

What's Neville's story? He's not over there is he? Didn't play club on the weekend I don't think?

Played very well for Bond (apparently) and scored a try - http://bondrugby.com.au/article/179/

 

[Scrubber2050]

Not really a Fan of Moore being at the reds but he would have to be captain.

Talk of DP as an interim captain is plainly laughable for so many reasons. It is a wonder someone didn't project McIntyre in there as well. Anyway it gave me a good belly-laugh.

IMO the boys will struggle without Cooper and Slipper although I can only hope they put it all together and come away with a much needed win.

Reds also need to have some options out wide other than just give it to kerevi. The poor bugger is so closely marked in general play, often by 2 defenders he is put under pressure leading to more mistakes than usual. He will always be our go-to guy out wide but we need to give him a dummy or whatever. Close to the line he is fairly well unstoppable so continue to use him there. The team just has to get that field position more.

 

[Scoey]

From that other notorious Reds 'rebuilding' year, 2010, by Round 5 of the then Super 14, the Reds had..

..beaten the Crusaders (R2 - H), the Chiefs (R4 - A), and the Force (R5 - H)

From the 2010 season the Reds won 1 match from their first 3 and won 1 from 2 on their African tour. The away win in Africa was against the Cheetahs who were one of the poorer teams of the comp. If we beat the Jaguares (not likely) then our results are pretty much the same as 2010. If we lose we are one win off that pace and arguably against tougher Africa/America tour opposition.

Obviously I'm playing devils advocate and there's no sugar coating the fact that the start to this season has been poor but we can skin this cat a few ways. The sky might be falling but it hasn't fallen yet.

 

[Tangawizi]

That does look a lot like sugar coating it though.

2010 we thumped the Cheetahs and lost by 2 in the last minutes to the Sharks on the African tour.

2010's close opening home loss to the Tahs which is similar to this year's Crusaders loss. But difference is in 2010 we turned around and pumped the Crusaders the next week, whereas this year we copped a flogging.

It might only be Round 5 but the Reds need to win in BA for anyone to believe they're doing more than just making up the numbers this season.

So change the lineup a bit & get stuck into them!



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[Simon.]

So change the lineup a bit & get stuck into them!

Well if the journos are to be believed (and they usually are pretty accurate) they will be doing the first bit, with Tuttle, McIntyre and Rodda all to start. Whether they'll do the second bit we'll have to wait and see!

 

[dru]

I would have thought pre-season it was a game we would have expected. Slipper and Quade out are big issues though. And the Jaguares are looking on the bright side of optimistic pre-season reviews.

I think its a long shot.