Super Rugby 2023 QF: Blues vs NSW Waratahs

[Hogan]

Disagree. He is a ball player not a playmaker.

Really? Edmed was pedestrian offering no spark whatsoever. Just shuffling the ball sideways. Too slow. But with the Waratahs game plan, it wouldn’t matter who you had at 10. They barely touch the ball.

 

[Jimmy_Crouch]

The blaming the ref is so poor... the Tahs were simply outplayed.
The ref isnt stopping us carrying over the gainline, or pushing the blues over it.
We had no answers in attack after the first 30min and resorted to shithousery.
We spent the first 30min inside the Blues 22 and we couldnt convert it to points.
Our lineouts looked like something out of the U14 Bs.

I agree, Rugby will never gain much traction if we continue to play against teams who are essentially a division above and im all for a domestic comp if someone comes up with a viable idea. But thats hardly the refs fault.

All true but O'Keefe was still shit

 

[Froggy]

Tahs well and truly beaten but what I expected. Set piece was particularly disappointing, Leatigaga is a disappointing scrummager for such a huge man, and what's going on with the lineout? Being solid most of the year it's been rubbish the last two weeks. Way to many missed one-on-one tackles, no backline direction, too slow to clean out.
Looking for individual positives, I thought Porecki worked hard, Hanigan was probably the best of the Tahs, and the two wings, Marky Mark (Nawaqanitawase) and Pietsch both played well. I also really likes what Teddy Wilson brings when he comes on. Likewise Seu, it's a pity we're losing him.
Well each of the last two years have seen a marginal improvement in the Tahs, but gee they have a long way to go to threaten this competition.

 

[Marce]

 

[Shiggins]

The refereeing is a joke. How is it kicked out by white but when the blues knock the ball out of peaches hand it's out off the tahs ?

 

[Shiggins]

Okeef was very one sided. is that part of being higher on the ladder?Home game and home ref ? The ranger with the man bun wasn't penalised once when he gave away about 6 penalties easy. Tahs never going to win anyway. Their scrum and line out were bad. The lineout was some of the worst I've seen all year from anyone. Swinton and latu absolute disaster. How they are still playing I don't know. I don't think any tahs forwards should make the wallabies. Not one.

Dalton clearly knocks the ball on in the last minute and okeef is just blind.

 

[Dismal Pillock]

MOTM Big Red Robinson.

Terrible opening 20 mins. Barrett the ghastly fucking ****** was shitting me blind with those cute crossfield bombs from inside his own 22. NSFW easily collect and go straight on attack on Blues 22. Such a dumb copout of a play. Cotton wooling c***t, I hope failure face Fozzie leaves the precious ***** at home

Nock seems way sharper than Christie.

No way Bleues win next week if starting that ragged ratshit 9/10 axis

 

[Shiggins]

The blaming the ref is so poor... the Tahs were simply outplayed.
The ref isnt stopping us carrying over the gainline, or pushing the blues over it.
We had no answers in attack after the first 30min and resorted to shithousery.
We spent the first 30min inside the Blues 22 and we couldnt convert it to points.
Our lineouts looked like something out of the U14 Bs.

I agree, Rugby will never gain much traction if we continue to play against teams who are essentially a division above and im all for a domestic comp if someone comes up with a viable idea. But thats hardly the refs fault.

Completely agree. Nothing wrong with calling the ref out on the terrible officiating though. Especially this game was very one sided. But the tahs were shocking and had. I chance. The lineouts were super duper comical

 

[brokendown]

Completely agree. Nothing wrong with calling the ref out on the terrible officiating though. Especially this game was very one sided. But the tahs were shocking and had. I chance. The lineouts were dead set comical

Shiggins,don't say "deadset",my old mate Chiselhead was ousted from this forum a few years ago,for uttering those very words!,deadset!
ps the Tahs were toilet

 

[molman]

Tahs well and truly beaten but what I expected. Set piece was particularly disappointing, Leatigaga is a disappointing scrummager for such a huge man, and what's going on with the lineout? Being solid most of the year it's been rubbish the last two weeks. Way to many missed one-on-one tackles, no backline direction, too slow to clean out.
Looking for individual positives, I thought Porecki worked hard, Hanigan was probably the best of the Tahs, and the two wings, Marky Mark (Nawaqanitawase) (Nawaqanitawase) and Pietsch both played well. I also really likes what Teddy Wilson brings when he comes on. Likewise Seu, it's a pity we're losing him.
Well each of the last two years have seen a marginal improvement in the Tahs, but gee they have a long way to go to threaten this competition.

Agree. I think most of the Tah players were working hard. Hooper really threw himself into it. Porecki & Hanigan were good.

It was a hard watch because the scoreline could have been kept more respectable. Even though the Blues were truly the dominate team, the Tahs blew their opportunities (Pietsch's bobble) and then allowed the Blues into the game with some of their mistakes (Holloway's gift to Talea summing it up). Like you said, the lineout in particular became a real issue, which is hard to understand exactly why.

The Tah's were controlling possession and territory reasonably well in the first half, but once the Blues did get their hands on the ball the gain line and clean ruck ball meant they kept plowing ahead. Defensively the Tah's had lots of elements that worked well. They cut off the offloads with their choke tackles. The folding defence and players shooting out was proving reasonably effective.

The Blues have some plays that just suit the players they have so well. The way they flood the outside channels like they did for their first try, or the offloading game they have in contact or through a soft seam. They push the boundaries with some of their movements which are boardline obstruction at times and some of their ruck work is a little questionable in places, but they're big, fit and fast players who have excellent catch pass skills.

I do wonder at where some of the Tah's players were fitness wise. Having had Edmed out for so long, Gordon out, Forketi I suspect not 100% and all the various other challenges the team has had this was always going to be a stretch to win.

For the Blues, I actually thought Barrett was rather pedestrian in this game with his passing often looking like an unwillingness to take it to the line/accept contact and his kicking being a bit meh. I'm not sure if this is him trying to evolve into a more Sexton style flyhalf, but I haven't been wowed by him this season considering the calibre of player he is.

 

[molman]

BOK live awarding that Sullivan try says everything. There’s an subconscious bias towards NZ teams. It’s undeniable.

What was the issue with the Sullivan try? Concerned leg was in touch?

The AR on the line I'm pretty sure called that in (though he did call that Lam try in too ).

Looked like it at first glance. Should've been reviewed at least.

This incident I found rather odd not to be reviewed. I can't quite understand some of the inconsistencies in the officiating of head contact of late (not just in this competition).

 

[Marce]

Man of the match:

 

[KOB1987]

I had people over and had the game on in the background - I thought Id watch the replay if it looked like a good game. From what I saw it looked like the Tahs were outplayed as expected, and when I saw a flying headbutt on Hooper that wasn't even looked at that killed any interest in watching the rest of the game, let alone a replay. That was the second one of those this season, the other was on Perese v Chiefs from memory.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

^ "flying headbutt" is a bit OTT but it didn't look good & as I commented at the time it should've been reviewed - I didn't even hear any of the now-usual background chatter from TMO to ref about it.

I know TMO gets a different feed to TV* but Hooper thinking he'd been sent for an HIA should've made TMO wonder why he might've thought that.

*Edit: therefore might not have seen the slo-mo replay we all saw.

 

[dru]

All a bit “meh” at this point but I thought the defensive effort by the Tahs in the first 20 was impressive at any level.

Sad that the quality slipped from there.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Man of the match:

Any particular decision(s) you'd care to cite, or is it more of a vibe thing?

Different ref =/= different outcome, 'tahs were well outplayed - see @molman's excellent summary above.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

Any particular decision(s) you'd care to cite, or is it more of a vibe thing?

Different ref =/= different outcome, 'tahs were well outplayed - see @molman's excellent summary above.

 

[Dismal Pillock]

Man of the match:

 

[molman]

Man of the match:

To be fair to BOK, I didn't think he was bad and further the refereeing of a game is a team effort. The AR was pretty ordinary with his call of a try when it was a clear knock on and the TMO failing to chime in re: the Hooper head contact was truly poor. So if we're going to get critical, the things most people have qualms with wasn't necessarily his doing.

If you watch the game across the globe some of the interpretations are a bit all over the place at the moment. There is this constant tension of trying to enforce the laws of the game (including player welfare) as we currently see them verse the desire to keep the free flowing elements that so many old timers reminisce about. I don't feel BOK is an unconsciously bias referee, he just has the same issue that all referees have of interpreting things inline with how they play the game where they do most of their refereeing. In his case it's NZ. He also has the same issue that many referees have of calling things slightly differently in different zones of the game. But good teams study the referee and adapt the game to the manner in which it's being called. BOK had no significant impact one way or the other on the outcome of that game.

 

[Marce]

Any particular decision(s) you'd care to cite, or is it more of a vibe thing?

Different ref =/= different outcome, 'tahs were well outplayed - see @molman's excellent summary above.

Ben O'Keefe bottled that. He whistled that in excitement.

BOK with a very late call after Pietsch was going to steal it.

Pretty sure Heem tackling the tackler to remove him off Telea isn’t what you’d call legal

Any reason for BOK to call ‘advantage over’

Waratahs clean after holding up = penalty
Blues clean after holding up = fine

Kristie is on the floor holding onto a foot and doesn’t get penalised. Does BOK even know the laws?

Blues get warnings, Waratahs get penalties

Feel like BOK is desperate for NZ players to like him.

still doesn't get invited to the pub

Barrett kicks it out, hooter goes, BOK calls half time when he SHOULD have played the line out. WTF is this guys problem

Finlay getting away with a high shot 'cause he's a wee little lad.

Clear Red on Hooper. Silence.

Looked like it at first glance. Should've been reviewed at least.

Apparently Ben O'Keeffe forget the laws when a Kiwi is penalizing

The TMO has all that time whilst they sort out Hooper and doesn’t intervene for leading with the head…

Haha how the fuck did Dalton have his hands on the ball

Christie seals off, then holds onto hoopers feet off the ruck. I mean, It’s coached

obstruction by Blues

The Tahs sure are helping them…but O’Keefe week after week showing he can’t correctly interpret a ruck correctly

Or a tackle, or open play, or the laws…

offside blues stopped the pass. not called by ref

BOK live awarding that Sullivan try says everything. There’s an subconscious bias towards NZ teams. It’s undeniable.

It’s actually whinging about a correct call (in the end) so it’s not using it as an excuse for the Tahs performance at all. Awarding that try speaks volumes about how little NZ tries are scrutinised when scored against Aus teams compared to the reverse - that’s not even getting into the discrepancy with missed foul play.

No one’s calling the referees corrupt but it’s clearly a trend with it happening to one country from refs from one country so it’s normal to question why it keeps happening.

The TMO misses when Australian teams play in NZ is unexplainable and inexcusable though. Discipline isn't being called fairly and it's a huge issue.

All true but O'Keefe was still shit

The refereeing is a joke. How is it kicked out by white but when the blues knock the ball out of peaches hand it's out off the tahs ?

Okeef was very one sided. is that part of being higher on the ladder?Home game and home ref ? The ranger with the man bun wasn't penalised once when he gave away about 6 penalties easy. Tahs never going to win anyway.

Dalton clearly knocks the ball on in the last minute and okeef is just blind.