Super Rugby AU Grand Final - Reds v Brumbies - Saturday 8th May 2021

[Finsbury Girl]

I have been hyperbolic and an idiot.

If I offended anyone I apologise.

Back to the footy.

 

[Set piece magic]

Back on the game for a second. What are people thinking of the Reds performance tactically at the end. I know the Reds said not taking the scrum was about getting rid of referee risk, but I disagree. There’s no way the Reds are getting penalised in an 8 against 6 scrum that the brumbies are obviously collapsing. They should have gotten a penalty advantage or penalty try from scrums at the end and then just put it through the hands. Higher probability of scoring a try, less risk of knock on or being held up. Imo the tactic they used was wrong

 

[Brumby Runner]

Close game but the best team in the comp won.

Not surprised the ACT are the most penalised team in the comp. A load of off the ruck shit which they were extremely lucky to get away with. In my day when Swain knocked over McReight he would received a few I can you tell you. What a dog.

McReight easily the best player in the tournament. Absolutely immense. ASY (Angus Scott-Young) proved why he deserved the 6 jersey.

Bring on the kiwis.

Have another look at the vision of when Swain tackled McReight. He was committed as Berry prepared to blow the whistle in the background. He did his best to pull out of the contact and really there was nothing in it.

 

[Adam84]

Adam, clearly Simone was not off side. He may have been in front of the last feet in the ruck but that means nothing in goal. He just has to be behind the goal line, which the shot at 83.51 shows. It also shows Stowers with his hand on the ground in front of the goal line which puts him in an offside position.

No, Simone’s right foot is in the field of play at 83:51, hence him been off side and not in-goal. And just before that he was standing well offside. In either case there were multiple infringements/offsides there hence the penalty advantage

 

[Set piece magic]

Look who’s culling now!!!

 

[Derpus]

Well watched the replay and you can't ask for much more in terms of a finish to the season. Great watching. Congratulations Reds.

Even though he was on the losing side i thought Valetini was clearly man of the match. I think he may have played Wilson out of the Wallabies at number 8.

Tupou is a fucking machine. 85th minute and he's hitting the defensive line at full speed. We'll see how he goes for the Wallabies but he's just about the best prop in the world. love him.

Although a great watch, i didn't think the quality of the actual footy played was very good. A lot of dropped ball on a dry track, skill execution pretty shit, not many line breaks etc. Plenty to work on.

Edit: revising my opinion, Tupou MotM.

 

[TSR]

Yep TSR, Allan has been off his game a bit since his suspension, but he was as strong as ever in open play again last night. What a happy place for the Wallabies to have TT and AAA in the THP spots.

In my view of things, Valetini schooled Wilson throughout the game. But again, what a fortunate position to have them both playing for the Wallabies.

I think Frost has a huge future in the game. He stepped up at No 6 with hardly a blemish.

Lachlan Lonergan was close to the Brumbies best when replaced. I understand bringing FF (Folau Fainga'a) on when the replacements started in the front rows, but in open play, Lonergan is at least the equal of Folau.

Were there any poor defenders in the game? I think the hard defence employed by both sides will stand them in good stead against the NZers.

Not sure how Valetini ‘schooled’ Wilson, but ok.

From a stats point of view ESPN has Wilson at 7 metres from 4 runs and Valetini at 14 from 8 - so exactly the same metres per run.

Wilson made 10 from 10 tackles and Valetini had 10 from 11. I would have thought that Wilson’s last attempt on Valetini when he got knocked out would have counted as a miss - but in either case they are again almost identical.

Wilson didn’t concede a penalty, Valetini conceded 2 - including the card. Neither conceded or forced a turnover, neither made a clean break or beat a defender.

Both of them made key tackles, both made runs at important times.

When you consider that Wilson played about 20 minutes less than Valetini I’d be prepared to argue he was actually better in the time on the field but I’m happy to call it an honourable draw.

Edit: by way of comparison McReight made 7 runs for 33 metres and 16 from 16 tackles. Not too shabby.

 

[Derpus]

^^^^
Perfect example of how limited stats are. Valetini seemed more effective than Wilson in just about everything he did. Granted, sloppy tackle resulting in the card was poor.

I also didn't think McReight had his greatest game.

 

[Brumby Runner]

No, Simone’s right foot is in the field of play at 83:51, hence him been off side and not in-goal. And just before that he was standing well offside. In either case there were multiple infringements/offsides there hence the penalty advantage

View attachment 12280
View attachment 12281

Yep, ok. Simones right foot was mostly obscured by the scoreline panel in the bottom left corner.

 

[Slim 293]

Back on the game for a second. What are people thinking of the Reds performance tactically at the end. I know the Reds said not taking the scrum was about getting rid of referee risk, but I disagree. There’s no way the Reds are getting penalised in an 8 against 6 scrum that the brumbies are obviously collapsing. They should have gotten a penalty advantage or penalty try from scrums at the end and then just put it through the hands. Higher probability of scoring a try, less risk of knock on or being held up. Imo the tactic they used was wrong

Nah, tap is the only 100% guaranteed option not to risk a turnover in that situation after the siren………..

Although the Reds would likely have annihilated the Brumbies scrum in that 8 v 6 scenario, there’s always a chance someone drops a bind, loses their footing, gets pinged for angling in, or the Reds pack get too overexcited and push early.

 

[TSR]

^^^^
Perfect example of how limited stats are. Valetini seemed more effective than Wilson in just about everything he did. Granted, sloppy tackle resulting in the card was poor.

I also didn't think McReight had his greatest game.

You could equally argue that is an example of how poor the eye test is. Wilson & McReight chopping runners all day was a big part of the win.

What else did you want from McReight??? Did he have to kick the winning field goal?

He was a deserved man of the match in a fantastic match with plenty of contenders.

 

[Derpus]

You could equally argue that is an example of how poor the eye test is. Wilson & McReight chopping runners all day was a big part of the win.

What else did you want from McReight??? Did he have to kick the winning field goal?

He was a deserved man of the match in a fantastic match with plenty of contenders.

Sure, the eye test is fallible as well. And i definitely don't know anything. But, yeah, Valetini looked better to me and i don't otherwise have any particular bias for either player.

McReight - his workrate and accuracy in defence are definitely impressive. But he didn't seem to exert much influence at the breakdown either in winning turnovers or slowing the Brumbies ball. He also threw two shocking passes, so better link play would be good.

He's not as good as Hoops IMO (yet), and he won't win the Wallaby 7 jersey with just workrate against Hooper (i have obvious bias here, though).

 

[cyclopath]

Sure, the eye test is fallible as well. And i definitely don't know anything. But, yeah, Valetini looked better to me and i don't otherwise have any particular bias for either player.

McReight - his workrate and accuracy in defence are definitely impressive. But he didn't seem to exert much influence at the breakdown either in winning turnovers or slowing the Brumbies ball. He also threw two shocking passes, so better link play would be good.

He's not as good as Hoops IMO, and he won't win the Wallaby 7 jersey with just workrate against Hooper (i have obvious bias here, though).

I disagree re McReight, I thought he had a very good game. Very strong defensive work. Nobody was winning many pilfers - the cleanout work was good and Berry was not giving them much time to have a crack before yelling players off. Even slowing the ball a second or two is valuable. I'm not going to mark him down too much for a loose pass or two.

 

[Adam84]

I agree Valetini was arguably up for man of the match and took a points victory over Wilson, in part due to playing the whole game. I just think claiming one schooled the other are a bit ridiculous

 

[TSR]

Look - I think Hooper will be starting 7. He’s been too good for too long. But the format of the tests means I won’t be surprised if McReight starts one. I’ll stand by my assessment he was outstanding - if you didn’t think so, so be it.

And I do agree it’s not all about stats and that they can be misleading. But so can highlight reels. None of Wilson’s tackles were big shots - but he hit people and dropped them on the gain line and he did it consistently. He even used a bit of footwork to make some post contact metres which you should be happy with (as am I).

I’m not really bothered by any assessment Valetini was better. He was great. I was purely questioning the use of the term ‘schooled’.

 

[Adam84]

Look - I think Hooper will be starting 7. He’s been too good for too long. But the format of the tests means I won’t be surprised if McReight starts one. I’ll stand by my assessment he was outstanding - if you didn’t think so, so be it.

And I do agree it’s not all about stats and that they can be misleading. But so can highlight reels. None of Wilson’s tackles were big shots - but he hit people and dropped them on the gain line and he did it consistently. He even used a bit of footwork to make some post contact metres which you should be happy with (as am I).

I’m not really bothered by any assessment Valetini was better. He was great. I was purely questioning the use of the term ‘schooled’.

When you have 3 tests in 11 days, it’s a good issue to have 2 players competing closely for the same position

 

[The Nomad]

The game had an amazing finish and the ground was pumping and stayed pumped for a long time after the final whistle, but it wasn’t a great game of rugby .

The Reds made too many simple errors , gifted the Brumbies territory and possession ans still the Brumbies didn’t really do much with it , guess you could give the Reds’ defence some credit there. There was a large chunk of the game where the crowd was not engaged, people around me seemed more interested in getting a Mexican Wave going than what was happening on the field.

IMO the Reds played into the Brumbies’ hands with lack of phase pressure , too much stop start , too many breaks in play , too much kicking away possessions and poor exits after scoring the few points they did in the first half.

I know the Reds won and winning ugly is better than a loss , but feel the defensive mindset really was a win for the Brumbies, as in the Reds looked like they were trying not to lose rather than going out to win. We just didn’t fire many shots and got into a grind with a team that loves a grind.

Anyway great finish and we won, but still didn’t feel like it was a fine performance.

 

[Derpus]

Yeah i guess he wasn't schooled. I think the impression probably comes from the tackle attempt where he got concussed.

 

[TSR]

Yeah i guess he wasn't schooled. I think the impression probably comes from the tackle attempt where he got concussed.

Lol - well, yes. Hopefully he learns from that one.

I suspect he’ll have to watch the replay first though.

 

[A mutterer]

I disagree re McReight, I thought he had a very good game. Very strong defensive work. Nobody was winning many pilfers - the cleanout work was good and Berry was not giving them much time to have a crack before yelling players off. Even slowing the ball a second or two is valuable. I'm not going to mark him down too much for a loose pass or two.

i dont think there was any player last night id really mark down, it was too tight a game for too long between two teams who have been at each others throats for the past 2 seasons. it wasnt a great game from an attacking perspective but it was a great game between two teams who really want the bragging rights.