Force played with courage and valiance securing 46% of possession despite a 19 to 5 penalty count. The Tahs discipline especially in the first half in all games this season is nothing short of miraculous. Their offerings to the rugby gods resulting in Zen like self control rarely seen by any sports team ever witnessed. It is truly an unreal performance to behold. Well done Tahs.
Courage and even more courage. I think your use of those words might differ from mine. Penalties aside, you may want to dig a little deeper into the game and even the stats before using those words. The offloads afforded, the Force players who were beaten or missed a tackle, the turnovers conceded. The lack of turnovers achieved. There were a lot of things in The Forces control that could have been better. I think Cron and the coaching team were a little more realistic when they admitted to that being their worst performance. Was there willing and effort shown, sure, but the Force players were collectively so much less clinical than last week. I doubt the word courage will get bandied around when they do their game review.
Was at the match with Hawko. And he's right, it was painful to be there. All the good pieces the above posters noted were correct, but, the collapse in structure after 4/5 phases was excruciating to watch live. Most above haven't put enough weight on the diabolical performance the Force put in; sadly for them their promising start to this season came to a screeching halt last night. I mentioned to Hawko the Force somehow got on the wrong side of the ref when he caned them for every minor transgression in the second half. Anyways, we'll take the points, thank you.
The good:
Kellaway's performance was much improved on his poor outing last week. We all know Andrew's an intelligent footballer, and he played intelligently last night.
Jorgensen had a blinder. What a rugby player he is.
Bell is getting better and better.
Grant put in an effective workmanlike shift from the second row. A delightful contrast to Inches' games this year.
Gamble never stopped putting in.
Creighton did the simple stuff well with ball in hand.
The centres were outstanding in defence.
The bad:
The lineout.
Leota's had better games in the past, much better. Dunno what can be done about Rob ATM.
Tupou looks to be unfit while he's carrying an excess 15kg. His contribution outside scrums was woeful.
Creighton's goal-kicking was crap.
Gordon's box-kicking was crapper. Again.
The team's overall field kicking was crappest.
The team's attacking structure after 4/5 phases was unbefitting a professional rugby team. However, this is fixable on the training paddock.
Couldn't see this one live, so interesting to get another perspective. With the lineout, how much do you attribute to Force players disrupting? Also with some aspects like Gordon's box kicking, how much is how poor the chase is? ie. is it poor execution or how the team responds thats more the issue. Also I thought it was reported that Tupou had lost some weight. I think people like
@Tomikin are being unrealistic about comparing younger Tupou pre all his leg injuries to current, trying to refind form Tupou post injuries. It's pretty obvious he doesn't have the same pace atm.
Attacking structures breaking down doesn't surprise me. It's the last thing that tends to get embedded in teams and with so many new players, combinations are going to take time. As long as they're heading in the right direction game to game, thats what you want to see. This was an improvement from last week and hopefully next week it will be another as we know how good the connections at the Reds are. I think the next couple of games will be revealing as to how the Tahs are really tracking.
