SupeRugby Final 2011: Queensland Reds V Canterbury Crusaders

[maxdacat]

I'm surprised that no-one has mentioned that the Reds won the battle of styles. The game was chaotic and up-tempo, not controlled with set pieces the way the Crusaders would have liked it. A big part of that was Genia's mania for box kicks. It was saying - we're going to play the game entirely in broken play. Pure genius!

yeah but - as i recall there was a box kick from Genia that gifted possession to the saders in the reds half, a phase or two later cue Dan Carter's try. Another one got charged down close to their own 22 but as you say maybe it did more good than bad.

 

[Slim 293]

Richi is ungracious... the Crusaders are cheats... Giteau is un-Australian... the refs are biased!

Can anything go right for Queensland!?!?!

Oh wait, didn't they just win something?

 

[spectator]

I've only ever seen a good sport whenever McCaw has been interviewed. There is a big difference between being disappointed and being ungracious.

He was obviously gutted for his side and their fans. That's fair enough.

 

[BDA]

Without taking away from the win, because you can only play the team that turns up, I have no doubt the repeated errors by the Crusaders in the second half are partly attributable to fatigue.

I thought Ellis outplayed Genia while he was on (Genia scored his try after Ellis had been replaced). Genia kicked twice as much as he should have. I thought Carter outplayed Cooper as well. However, I think both of those outcomes are attributable to the Crusaders forward pack disrupting Reds ball. They drove through and past the ball 80% of the time in the first half.

The Reds game plan seemed to be to keep turning the saders around with kicks for the first 60 minutes to tire out the crusaders and it worked.

 

[Athilnaur]

I'm surprised that no-one has mentioned that the Reds won the battle of styles. The game was chaotic and up-tempo, not controlled with set pieces the way the Crusaders would have liked it. A big part of that was Genia's mania for box kicks. It was saying - we're going to play the game entirely in broken play. Pure genius!

I actually thought Genia box-kicked a couple times too often and missed a couple of opportunities to send the ball out. I'd have to play the game again to check but my sense at the time was that a few times the Saders were swarming him, covering in depth for the box, and leaving opportunities out wide. Credit to the Saders for that though, the pressure they brought to bear was incredible and Genia played well under that pressure. Cooper less so but his sheer presence was making gaps for others such as Tapuai. I was disappointed with AFaingaa's lack of carries as I wanted to see how that side of his game travelled but then Genia was box kicking!

Reckon Cooper and Genia learnt a lot from that game, and it was an insight into what the Wallabies will face 3N, RWC.

 

[biggsy]

RED, im off to REDS Fan day to soak all of this. Yet to watch the game on tv,but it was a awesome game to be at. The $1000's and $1000's of dollars I've spent over the many many years with my members ticket waiting ,hoping this day would come, it was all worth it. Last night to be there at our home G.F with 52000 Fans was a special moment. And Im hopping when Im at Eden Park at the world cup G.F with the Wallabies and the 15 Reds that made the squad this morning. We get the same result.

Go you good thing. RED

 

[maxdacat]

• The Reds scrum was bullied. It's an 8 man effort but you could see that Crockett, the form LHP of the tournament, was smashing Holmes. But some of their wheeling looked dodgy as you don't spin a scrum that quickly without the LHP moving his feet out and walking around and/or the THP pulling back. Holmes didn't do his chances of making an Oz comeback any favours,

some good points there but on the subject of scrums:
- the first reds scrum was pinged to be reset, even though the ball was out, but I don't think this was consistently applied throughout the rest of the game?
- was Samo's strategy of scooping the ball to Genia actually making the red's scrum less solid? ie he wasn't providing sufficient ballast at the back, and a traditional gather by the half between the 8's legs might have been better.
- should McCaw have gone for another scrum, hoping for a penalty try, instead of 3 points?
- btw on the plus side I thought Holmes seemed pretty good in broken play as a ball carrier.

 

[RuckinGoodStats]

Very scrappy game but an amazing result. Congratulations to the coach and the players - he got the most out of each and every player, and they were willing to give everything.

The kicking game was clearly a deliberate plan. It had the result of opening up the game....and they got the win!

I think the result should give all of the Aussie teams great hope for 2012 (well maybe not the Tahs).

67 tactical kicks from the hand in the game, Red 37, Crusaders 30.

 

[RuckinGoodStats]

yeah but - as i recall there was a box kick from Genia that gifted possession to the saders in the reds half, a phase or two later cue Dan Carter's try. Another one got charged down close to their own 22 but as you say maybe it did more good than bad.

2 charge downs by Crusaders, 1 by the Reds.

 

[twenty seven]

I think the Crusaders will make the mistake of focusing on Cooper too much. After the blinder he had last week he will be in the front of their minds, but he has proven numerous times this year he can hang back and play the understated role allowing the guys around him to do the damage.

You nailed it. Showed great maturity and team ethos.

 

[Jnor]

Richi is ungracious... the Crusaders are cheats... Giteau is un-Australian... the refs are biased!

Can anything go right for Queensland!?!?!

Oh wait, didn't they just win something?

Maybe think of it this way, Slim. The Brumbies beat the Reds and the Reds just managed to win the whole damn thing. Therefore the Brumbies pretty much won the competition - think happy thoughts!

 

[RuckinGoodStats]

The Reds game plan seemed to be to keep turning the saders around with kicks for the first 60 minutes to tire out the crusaders and it worked.

Everyone is talking about the last 20 probably because the game was tied up, but the Reds stood up and were counted in the 1st half as the Crusaders spent 18% of the 1st half, just talking contestable time here, insied the Reds 22 and were ahead by 1 point at the break. That's massive defence and you would have expected the Crusaders to be ahead by more given that advantage, well I did. So yes last 20 important only because of the Reds efforts in keeping the Crusaders out.

 

[Victorian Reds Fan]

Richi is ungracious... the Crusaders are cheats... Giteau is un-Australian... the refs are biased!

Can anything go right for Queensland!?!?!

Oh wait, didn't they just win something?

I supported Gits' actions.

 

[tigerland12]

I write this without reading any previous posts and with a hangover, so forgive me for my incoherent rant.

- Firstly the atmosphere at the game was quite amazing, especially when 50 odd thousand people start chanting WE ARE RED.
- THe Reds looked like they paniced every time they got the ball in the first half, which can be attributed to the Crusaders line-speed.
- Will Genia and Quade Cooper had the worst games I've seen them play in a while, apart from Genia's try, his kicking and decision making was horrible.
- The stand outs for QLD for me were the unheralded backs, Tapuai and Jono Lance. Both defended and carried well, and I am very pleased with how they have developed this year.
- The scrum was painful to watch, Crusaders scrum is one of the best I've seen in years.
- What got QLD over the line in the end was their ability to play as a side and not as individuals (as they did in the first half), the forwards were taking a belting but they held in there.
- Finally, I don't want to be THAT GUY, but the ref was appalling, for both sides he was very very poor.

I am very proud of this young Queensland side who now have a chance to build something that will last for years to come. It is just a shame Peter Hynes couldn't be playing, he (along with Holmes) are the players whose loyalty deserved to be rewarded.

 

[saulih]

Crusaders had thrown 9 lineouts deemed not straight before the final and 3 in the game. They also lost another 3 lineouts.

The improvement shown in the reds lineout was evident from the Blues semi game, and proved a critical deciding factor IMO

 

[Sully]

 

[Slim 293]

I'm pretty sure that picture can be photoshopped to show Ewen give both fingers to the Waratahs...

 

[twenty seven]

I actually disagree. Genia had his worst game in a long time, but that says more about his form this season than his game tonight. But he was a bit off- his kicking game was ordinary and he was charged down on numerous occassions, he knocked the ball on on a few occassions, his service was patchy. But he came through that well to score a great try. He certainly wan't 'crap' but by his lofty standards he was average.

Finals footy is always different to the Round games.
Genia and Quade played a different tatical game.
Why kick deep to a team that is renowned for kicking big, straight back into your own territory!! The Genia/Quade kicks were high and just over the Crusaders heads. Was this to turn their forwards around and make them run back instead of just walking forward onto the next lineout when their backs would have kicked it deep into Reds terriotory? The Reds/Link took out a very effective part of the Crusaders play.
Was at the game and how awesome it was. Crowd shut down the booing when Quade kicked for goals and they also shut down the idiots booing when Richie went up on stage by cheering him. Well done.
GO THE REDS!
Been a supporter for 20+ years. Big grin

 

[Sandpit Fan]

My view on Bryce is that he was utterly incompetent as usual. He lost control of the breakdown in about the 3rd minute and never got it back. Call me a troll if you like, but some of Richie's atrocities were beyoind belief.

The funny thing is that Bryce's uselessness materially contributed to the Reds' win. Because it made the game a free-for-all. If he had blown an extra 8 penalties per side, the Crusaders would have won the game throiugh set pieces and goal kicking.

The decision to appoint him, however, remains mysterious.

Nailed it there Scarfy. He let both sides get away with anything they wanted. Of course all of us only notice the Crusaders infringements that could have been blown up, but there were an equal number by the Reds, so he wasn't favouring anyone in my opinion.

 

[RuckinGoodStats]

The improvement shown in the reds lineout was evident from the Blues semi game, and proved a critical deciding factor IMO

In terms of throwing not straight, Reds had the lowest average in the comp. There lineout was a lot better than the media had made it out. Think people are now working that out. Think Ewan is just brilliant and is worthy of stepping up to the big time and being a contributor here instead of the other outlets that he write for...