Super Rugby Rd 1: Waratahs vs Brumbies Friday, 24th February

[Adam84]

Darker gold and thicker outline would massively improve it. I really hope that when we end up with a proper body to run the comp they're really tight with standards around visible numbers and clash jersey's for teams. We've been having these issues for way too long and it's entirely solvable as long as you don't leave the teams to their own devices.

Yeah some of this is simple stuff.
I'll be surprised if Super Rugby gets past Round 2 without some kind of clashing jersey where it's difficult to identify who is who. My money is on Drua vs Pasifika later today. Even the Drua's away jersey has a heavy tinge of blue in it.

 

[Wilson]

Yeah some of this is simple stuff.
I'll be surprised if Super Rugby gets past Round 2 without some kind of clashing jersey where it's difficult to identify who is who. My money is on Drua vs Pasifika later today. Even the Drua's away jersey has a heavy tinge of blue in it.

I think that Drua away jersey should be ok against Moana but you're right it's ridiculous it's ever been a problem, let alone a problem season after season. It really doesn't help that teams are so intent on wearing away jerseys instead having a clash jersey for when they need it (particularly given the rugby tradition is that the home side wear the clash strip).

At least we don't have the situation where a bunch of the kiwi sides have basically the same green/blue away jersey again, I don't think I've ever seen a more brainless piece of "planning" in a professional sporting competition.

 

[stillmissit]

Guys, I think the jersey is about 150th down the list of things our teams need to do, this is admin not playiing.

 

[wamberal]

Just a word of appreciation for Nic Berry too. Best game I've seen from him.

For once I can agree wholeheartedly with your post. No cards!!

 

[Up the Guts]

Thought it wasn’t too bad for the first hitout of the season. Brumbies defence and breakdown work was very good, forced a lot of errors from the Tahs.

Jorgensen, Wright and Toole were all electric but Ikitau in a class of his own for mine. The way he stands up a defender on the edge is next level.

 

[dru]

Having just caught up on the Chief v Crusaders game, I think the Brumbies and Waratahs are well off the pace.

I thought so too. In part because no matter how well Berry went, the Ref in NZ seriously managed the pace of the game to keep the ball in play. Time at scrums was notably reduced, every goal kick was under pressure with the clock. Water breaks just didn't happen.

What seemed interesting to me, was that the pace impacted the Kiwi counter game - number of occasions where players just didn't have the legs to strike hard on the counter. I'm not sure how that will pan out where the games are Kiwi v Aus, though early on I wonder if a team like the Tahs would have at least some advantage. Muscled up and the Kiwi counter a little blunted. In time fitness levels will play out to decisive advantage to NZ.

The Reds-Hurricanes match should tell us more.

 

[HogansHeros]

Was Swinton playing? Pretty anonymous...

Was hard to tell from behind the posts, but seemed to make a couple good shots in defence.

 

[7137]

John Ulugia MOM

How were they allowed to replace him with AAA at the end though? Did they fake a HIA?

 

[fatprop]

I would like to know why Gordon played the full game, he was slow at the end

 

[qwerty51]

I would like to know why Gordon played the full game, he was slow at the end

At the time I thought it was strange, Goddward is decent, he could sped the pace up and got to the breakdown quicker.

Brumbies game plan was obvious to disrupt the Tahs breakdown, they went hard at every ruck. In a way good for the Tahs to see they round 1, they know a lot of teams will try to do the same. They need to be more accurate and aware of when to go wide or play quickly.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

Did any of you keep a count of how many penalties the tahs gave away in the last 10 mins? Seemed almost non-stop to me.

Our discipline was the killer. Several silly penalties gifting points to the Brumbies being the difference.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

Thought it wasn’t too bad for the first hitout of the season. Brumbies defence and breakdown work was very good, forced a lot of errors from the Tahs.

Jorgensen, Wright and Toole were all electric but Ikitau in a class of his own for mine. The way he stands up a defender on the edge is next level.

Fokoeti was very good imo as well. Particularly having to create most of his own space when with the ball. A 12/13 pairing of him and Ikitau certainly would work well. Gleeson also added a lot when he came on. He identified the mismatch between big and small with Muirhead that allowed him to free his hands on a few occasions to offload. Which was something that frustrated me watching as the Tahs seemed intent on not looking to exploit the size of Nadolo for that very purpose. Forcing Muirhead to have to commit to tackle the much bigger man allowing for someone like Jorgeson to run support waiting for Nadolo to offload.

 

[molman]

Don't agree with that TMO over twinkle toes.

Horror call

I thought they'd got that one right at the ground, but watching the replay he really doesn't seem to drop that back heal at all. Pretty hard done by if they are conclusively saying the studs made contact with the line.

 

[molman]

I thought so too. In part because no matter how well Berry went, the Ref in NZ seriously managed the pace of the game to keep the ball in play. Time at scrums was notably reduced, every goal kick was under pressure with the clock. Water breaks just didn't happen.

What seemed interesting to me, was that the pace impacted the Kiwi counter game - number of occasions where players just didn't have the legs to strike hard on the counter. I'm not sure how that will pan out where the games are Kiwi v Aus, though early on I wonder if a team like the Tahs would have at least some advantage. Muscled up and the Kiwi counter a little blunted. In time fitness levels will play out to decisive advantage to NZ.

The Reds-Hurricanes match should tell us more.

We saw this in the Ireland v France Six Nations game where I feel some of France's power up front was muted by the pace of the game. It certainly changes some of the the dynamics of the game (for the better imho).

I'm very keen to see how the Reds go tonight as well, though I'm not sure the Hurricanes are the cream of NZ Rugby atm. The Reds had some really nice interplay happening in the Trial games with good cohesion and supporting play. If they can amplify that whilst getting the rest of their fundamentals right they might put on a good show.

 

[Derpus]

Thought the Tahs did a poor job of getting Perese and Nawaqanitawase involved. Saw Donaldson hitting it up quite a few times when he shouldn't be doing that.

Jorgenson took his chances well though. Future star i guess.

 

[Dan54]

Our discipline was the killer. Several silly penalties gifting points to the Brumbies being the difference.

I wondered if they were just running out of puff?

 

[Happy]

Imagine how sore John Ulugia will be today

 

[Lightblue]

For once I can agree wholeheartedly with your post. No cards!!

No cards a plus….. but still loves to award a penalty to a team that has an advantage instead of letting the game flow ..ala Wayne Barnes, who is the best World ref by a mile.

 

[Brumby Runner]

Having just caught up on the Chief v Crusaders game, I think the Brumbies and Waratahs are well off the pace. That game was fast, the ball movement was fantastic (McKenzie is a delight to watch), the breakdown was fierce and well contested and the patterns to try and break the defense made compelling viewing. Couple this with the solid core basic skills of smart tactical kicking, passing etc.. and it was just a really good game, even with the Crusaders looking well off their best. The silver lining is it's the first round, but these two Aussie teams will need to find the next gear soon.

I disagree with this judgement and I think you might be letting your admiration of NZ teams get the better of you. The Crusaders were well off the pace against the Chiefs and a significant drop in quality play from last year, as we might expect early in the season. But they missed something like 34 or more tackles. With that sort of effort, either the Tahs or the Brumbies would be good bets to put quite a few points on them in their current form.

In my opinion, there wasn't such a significant lower pace in the Tahs/Brumbies game as in the first game, and both of our sides showed they have a way to go to reach full fitness and top form. We will be competitive in my view.

 

[Lightblue]

Thought the Tahs did a poor job of getting Perese and Nawaqanitawase involved. Saw Donaldson hitting it up quite a few times when he shouldn't be doing that.

Jorgenson took his chances well though. Future star i guess.

I saw Edmed missing some easy tackles, when he shouldn’t be doing that. The ‘Tahs‘ not getting Perese and Nawaqanitawase involved would have been Edmed’s role as the 10 for the majority of the match?
You need to be highlighting more than Donaldson in your criticism of the game..