Super Rugby Au Round 9 - Rebels vs Waratahs, 7:15pm Sat 29th August

[TSR]

A couple of big questions/observations I have out of the game -

- why had it taken so long to give Moeroa a start? He was pretty impressive.
- having said that To'omua beats him out of the TOTW to me. He is carrying the Rebels backline. Koroibete is trying hard. The rest of them are not earning their keep. How much of that is Wessels fault I don’t know but I reckon the players need to take some responsibility
- Walton is making an excellent start to his rugby career. Seems to have a very good defender, good speed, great involvement.
- Dempsey looks back closer to his best.
- Fa’amausili is a young prop starting out. Any talk of Wallaby squad involvement seems premature to me. But I do really like what he brings to the table. Will be very keen to see how he develops over the next 3 yrs
- HJH (Harry Johnson-Holmes) is coming along nicely.
- Gordon is making a strong late charge to lock in one of the 3 Wallaby half squad spots.
- Hooper is the heart of the Waratahs pack. He carried them when they are crap and he drives them when they are good. Absolutely deserves to be allowed his sabatical next year but will leave an enormous hole. No disrespect to Simmons but there is not doubt who the leader of the Tahs is regardless of who has the C next to their name

 

[Dan54]

It was a yellow card at the very least, potentially a red.....

Either way, it was fucking pathetic from the referee and TMO.

Don't know why anyone gets excited about Swinton, he throws the odd cheap shot, but hardly what I would call a hardman.

 

[Up the Guts]

Was watching at the pub so no commentary to clarify but thought the Swinton lack of sanction and the Philip card bizarre. Gardner not calling the Rebels’ player as being in touch just sums up his refereeing performances this comp.

 

[TSR]

Was watching at the pub so no commentary to clarify but thought the Swinton lack of sanction and the Philip card bizarre. Gardner not calling the Rebels’ player as being in touch just sums up his refereeing performances this comp.

Philip card was due to team penalties. It might have been a relatively soft penalty, but the team was warned next one goes.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

No arms high results in the Rebels player leaving the field concussed how is it not a red?

Go back a page or two and you'll see after looking at it I changed my opinion after the replay.

 

[Brumby Runner]

I would assume the Tahs, as they won tonight.

But the Rebels won the game earlier in the season, didn't they?

 

[Uh huh]

I thought he got away with a few crooked throws personally. Heck that one out the back to To'omua was crooked onto the Tahs side of the lineout.

In the first game of the round, both the Brumbies and Force were pinged for throws that strayed from the centre to the point that the jumper could reach straight up and catch the ball. Every throw like that in this match was let go. The consistency of application of this law is dreadful.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

But the Rebels won the game earlier in the season, didn't they?

They did.

 

[Up the Guts]

Has anyone noticed how super consistent Uelese has become at his throwing?

I thought he was good last night although I agree the ref was a bit more lax.

That said, I’m still of the opinion the hookers should be locked in a large room at Wallaby training camp and made to throw indefinitely.

 

[Bobby Sands]

I thought the refereeing was super weird last night, don't know who that guy us - but I don't think he is ready for this level.

I don't even mean in one direction either, just thought it was a strangely officiated game.

 

[VassMan]

Force to get up for their first win of the season next week and spoils the Rebels party.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

I thought he was good last night although I agree the ref was a bit more lax.

That said, I’m still of the opinion the hookers should be locked in a large room at Wallaby training camp and made to throw indefinitely.

And made to run laps for every errant throw. It's a core skill of the position. How all of them across the board could be having issues with it is perplexing.

 

[Mr Wobbly]

Force to get up for their first win of the season next week and spoils the Rebels party.

That is exactly what I expect is going to happen.

 

[Derpus]

Disappointment i missed this one.

How in the fuck did Foketi keep getting selected ahead of Moeroa. Must have been something going on there. Maybe fitness.

 

[Forcefield]

Force to get up for their first win of the season next week and spoils the Rebels party.

I remember playing the Crusaders in that last home game of 2006. We came a crappy TMO decision away from handing the them only their second loss for the whole season. Always got to have hope. Can't help but feel the Rebels will be less complacent than the Crusaders were. Also can't help but feel that the Rebels can't play as badly as last time and even then they snuck a win.

 

[Silverado]

Disappointment i missed this one.

How in the fuck did Foketi keep getting selected ahead of Moeroa. Must have been something going on there. Maybe fitness.

I think it had a lot to do with him being considered a 12, so Hunt was keeping him out, although having Walton picked at 12 last week when Hunt was injured odd (and unsuccessful)

 

[Purce]

Good game of footy! I thoroughly enjoyed watching that. Very happy to see Hooper, Dempsey, Hanigan, Walton and Ramm performing very well. Particularly happy to see Dempsey performing back at the level he was before that injury a couple years back... i think he has everything we need in an international 6/8 if he keeps performing like this and building. Agile, powerful, skillful and hardworking. I like it. Also happy yo see Hanigan playing well, whilst I haven't been an advocate of his on the past, I am happy he has come through all the criticism of his game and performing well now. He loves the contest too.

As a lifetime reds tragic I cannot see anyone pipping Hopper for the Gold 7 jersey. He is several steps above both Wright and McReight at the moment, as you would expect. His influence on the game and players around him is significant. With the other 2 coming through the future is bright.

Moeroa was fantastic in his first start. He really should have been given more time this year. Is he oz qualified or nz? Impressed with Walton after not seeing much in him in his first starts.

To'omua was superb. Rebels Hopper. Some great phases of play and skill by the rebels however seems to be far too infrequent. Wonder what is going on down there.

 

[Purce]

Also I fully expected to see people jumping up and down about those last 2 Rebels tries which were not tries(IMO).

One clear obstruction and the second where the player was in touch. Those decisions could easily force the Tahs out of finals contention. I believe if either of those were not awarded NSW would be 5 pts ahead on the table instead of 4. And if refereed correctly would put them a further 14pts ahead in the +/- (assuming To'omua kicked both). There were some baffling refereeing in that game but those 2 tries blew my mind.

 

[cyclopath]

Also I fully expected to see people jumping up and down about those last 2 Rebels tries which were not tries(IMO).

One clear obstruction and the second where the player was in touch. Those decisions could easily force the Tahs out of finals contention. I believe if either of those were not awarded NSW would be 5 pts ahead on the table instead of 4. And if refereed correctly would put them a further 14pts ahead in the +/- (assuming To'omua kicked both). There were some baffling refereeing in that game but those 2 tries blew my mind.

The "in touch" call looked just plain wrong, the "obstruction" maybe should have been looked at but I was unsure about that one at the time.
One of the pluses with the comp has been "faster" officiating, i.e. with less reviewing and more "going with the gut", which has certainly sped up the games. There seems to be far less motivation to review things more than 1-2 phases back, so maybe more things are missed.
I agree with Bobby Sands re the game last night. Just odd at times. For example, the AR (Perrett) called the Rebels' THP for changing his bind repeatedly, then he was warned, and did it again straight away - nothing. The shoulder charge, obviously was awfully managed. The "in touch" seemed fairly obvious in real time, so pretty odd it wasn't looked at quickly.

 

[Tahtrajic]

Good game of footy! I thoroughly enjoyed watching that. Very happy to see Hooper, Dempsey, Hanigan, Walton and Ramm performing very well. Particularly happy to see Dempsey performing back at the level he was before that injury a couple years back. i think he has everything we need in an international 6/8 if he keeps performing like this and building. Agile, powerful, skillful and hardworking. I like it. Also happy yo see Hanigan playing well, whilst I haven't been an advocate of his on the past, I am happy he has come through all the criticism of his game and performing well now. He loves the contest too.

As a lifetime reds tragic I cannot see anyone pipping Hopper for the Gold 7 jersey. He is several steps above both Wright and McReight at the moment, as you would expect. His influence on the game and players around him is significant. With the other 2 coming through the future is bright.

Moeroa was fantastic in his first start. He really should have been given more time this year. Is he oz qualified or nz? Impressed with Walton after not seeing much in him in his first starts.

To'omua was superb. Rebels Hopper. Some great phases of play and skill by the rebels however seems to be far too infrequent. Wonder what is going on down there.

Moeroa went to school @ Newington in Sydney I think he played Aus school boys. then played league for Parra so I would guess he qualify For the wallaby’s, but he’ll need a lot more game time.