Stormers vs Reds @ Newlands round 9

[galumay]

Consistent improvement from the banana benders, they would have lost that game by 30 points earlier in the season, its ironic that as the dominance of their scrum has diminished, the rest of their game has improved out of sight.

That last try was a shame job, as pointed out, half the reds were in the change rooms already.

 

[Shiggins]

Unlucky reds. Played well apart from a few handling errors

How many complaints against these south Africa ref's do we need? The stormers played the ball on the ground constantly. Sealed their own ball and took players out behind the ruck all night. Plus scored a try by crawling 5m While being held. It seems to be an ongoing thing.


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[Shiggins]

Even the TV guys tried their hardest to point out the reds lock might of been offside from kerevis charge down.

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[TOCC]

Reds lost fair and square, but I was fairy unimpressed with those referees.. I thought the Stormers were given a lot of leeway at the breakdown, lying over the ball and getting in the way of a quick recycling.


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[cyclopath]

Just watching a replay - comms wanking on about the "fantastic way the Stormers cleanout" completely ignoring that it involves 1-3 players flying in off their feet like missiles most of the time which is, you know, illegal. Sure it's very effective, but it should be penalised. I'm sure other teams do it too, but it was notable by it's frequency in this match so far. At least it was good to find some commentators with as little regard for knowledge of the laws as Kearns though.

 

[Gnostic]

The subs may not have given us the impact we needed, but that wasn't the only problem. Our fitness levels aren't good enough - and this wasn't the first game that that has been an issue in. In fact it's been a common theme this season.



I had not expected that to be an issue with Marshes appointment - but I am not actually trying to blame him as I don't know enough about the inner workings of the Reds to apportion blame there.



But I don't want to be too harsh. I never expected that we would suddenly transform into a top 4 team overnight, but I always thought that, with the players we have we could be much more competitive.



We have made definite progress, and it is much more enjoyable to watch the Reds these days - even if there is still a way to go yet.



I'm in Brisbane next weekend and looking forward to getting to my one game a year with genuine hope that they'll roll the Cheetahs.

The fitness does appear to be an issue, but in defence of Marsh it would be difficult to change the target point mid season if he had been given markers by Graham. From the time that he was re-appointed last year this season was done for the Reds. The improvement that we have seen in the Reds play since his ditching is a case of what might have been IMO. This team has effectively been put behind every other side (except the Sunwolves and Jaguares) by 6 months.

 

[gel]

We are behind by 2 & 1/2 years actually, not just 6 months.

 

[TOCC]

I don't think fitness is that much of an issue, lack of depth means the bench players don't have the experience and composure to close out matches like other teams can and that's a big reason they are struggling in the last quarter. They don't look unfit, but when players like Slipper, Simmons, Hunt all head off the field they just look a little clueless.

I've been hesitant to actually touch on the conditioning because im afraid it might jinx them, but the conditioning of the squad is much better then last year. By this point last year half the squad was out injured, this year there has been much more consistency in selection due to the lack of injuries.

 

[RugbyReg]

and it's not as if it was just the last 15 minutes that were bad.

The opening 15 weren't that great either.

That's not fitness.

 

[Scrubber2050]

The first 50 or so was very entertaining rugby to me.

Browning had his best game I have seen. Why he was replaced at that time baffles me. Slipper was great with a heap of involvements. Gilly was just not Gilly.

McIntyre's intercept or attempt was just shit. Expect to see that at junior level, not at Super 15 level. That mistake alone cost us 7. Hunt continues to struggle at being one of Australia's best backs and a Wallaby call-up must surely have disappeared.

Scoreline flattered Stormers but they still deserved to win.

The battle of the Bench was lost by the Reds. Scrum went to shit. Blah Blah. Goro was poor and questions about his signing from a playing perspective (not PR) should be questioned.

 

[Intruder]

I don't think he scrum battle went to shit, Faagase was called for a dubious scrum penalty but other than that they put a lot of pressure on the stormers who were struggling to get the ball out.

 

[RugbyReg]

agree, I thought the scrum battle was fantastic. Don't know how the rankings work but the Stormers had the #1 ranked scrum entering the game and we were #3 I think. The battle was immense and great to watch.

 

[gel]

I thought Hunt was pretty good in this game.

This was not his best game, but he is one of the safest under the high ball at the moment and some of his tackling this year has been bone rattling. His running lines are (and continue to be) sublime.

He is a class above and despite whatever those who attended Hogwarts might be saying earlier in this thread, he puts in 110% every game.

He has made me a believer at this point.

 

[Scrubber2050]

I was believer a couple of weeks ago.

Every player should be putting in bigtime.

Personally I don't give a shit whether a bloke puts in 110% or 150% its all about the result.

 

[gel]

I think you set a very high standard.

 

[Scrubber2050]

I think you set a very high standard.

gel, it's a failing of mine

 

[PaarlBok]

Sad to see so many complaining about the ref. Look like most are just watching the ref playing rugby and come out as sad tossers.

 

[Simon.]

I expect both Kerevi and Hunt to be called up to the extended Wallaby squad. I think Cheika will want to get a look at how they perform under his coaching.

Whether they will get a bench spot I don't know. Hunt in particular probably needs to overcome Beale who is in good form. If Beale is injured or promoted to the starting squad then Hunt seems a decent chance of wearing jersey 23.

 

[TOCC]

Sad to see so many complaining about the ref. Look like most are just watching the ref playing rugby and come out as sad tossers.

Referees make mistakes and as such aren't immune to criticism or questions been asked of their performance, I'm sure you've made a complaint or two about referees in your time, that doesn't make you a "sad tosser".

 

[PaarlBok]

Referees make mistakes and as such aren't immune to criticism or questions been asked of their performance, I'm sure you've made a complaint or two about referees in your time, that doesn't make you a "sad tosser".

You seldom if ever get ref critics from the losing team supporters.

Why don't these supporters rather give critism to their players who lost the match?

What about the basic rugby value we learned as 6 year old, playing the whistle?