Tahs v Bulls, round 10 2014

[Dave Beat]

Tahs looked woefully lateral at times with the alternate angle an afterthought. Good win but more of a Bulls loss.

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Agree, the game at 3 was more enjoyable to watch, hey?

 

[ChargerWA]

The Tahs are getting poor value from the halves. Their entire attack seems to rely on Kurtley making space and Folau finishing it off. When one is off the attack looks clueless.

Foley and Phipps need to do more with the ball.

 

[Pfitzy]

Inside line has been forgotten
Too many pushed passes
Not enough pick n go

To my mind, when Horne slotted into 12 things looked a lot better, especially on defence when he snotted a few blokes.

The one handed passes were getting on my tits. Half a step earlier and the player is running into a gap, not getting a juggled piece of shite either forward or behind their run.

By my count, at least three tries bombed, even though the Bulls had the pace to chase us down.

If we keep pushing those passes against the Blues, we are fucked because their blokes have a clue how to hold it and run it.

 

[Badger]

It felt a bit like watching a game from 2012.

I was visiting Sydney and got a ticket to the Rebels game. I got the train from Redfern to Central and walked up to the G&GR pub. When I got on at Redfern I showed my game ticket to the guy on the gate and he let me straight through. Ditto on the return.

Don't tell me I lucked a freebie? That only ever happens to other people.

Interesting. I needed a ticket to exit Central station today.

Ah well. Good for you.

 

[Hawko]

That brings new meaning to the phrase - win ugly.

You think that was win ugly? Try to sit through the Sharks/Cheetahs match this morning. Now that was really ugly. If that's how the saffers want the game to be played we'd be better off without them. That was utterly dire!

The Tahs were brilliant by comparison.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

You think that was win ugly? Try to sit through the Sharks/Cheetahs match this morning. Now that was really ugly. If that's how the saffers want the game to be played we'd be better off without them. That was utterly dire!

The Tahs were brilliant by comparison.

Haven't seen it yet so I won't give you a like (yet) but I love the idea of boycotting them for their style.

 

[rugbysmartarse]

Am I the only one who thinks Dennis fell into the penalty trap? Whenever we were building momentum the bulls would concede a penalty and Dennis took the shot every single time, stopping the flow, giving the tourists a rest, and receiving the territorial pressure. There were a couple of instances where you felt putting it into the corner would have had the bulls really under the pump

 

[fatprop]

The Tahs just showed far too much impatiences last night, every opportunity had to be immediately a try, so stupid passes under pressure stopped all opportunities of building anything.

Oh and the Bulls were pretty bad, no, actually very bad, they couldn't build anything as the dropped or turned over all the ball they had

 

[Pfitzy]

Am I the only one who thinks Dennis fell into the penalty trap? Whenever we were building momentum the bulls would concede a penalty and Dennis took the shot every single time, stopping the flow, giving the tourists a rest, and receiving the territorial pressure. There were a couple of instances where you felt putting it into the corner would have had the bulls really under the pump

He wanted a buffer so we didn't get stung like we did against the Force. I was shouting for it to be put in the corner a few times, but 4 points beats 2 or 1 any day of the week. There were also a couple of times we got into good position and had the lineout picked off or a not-straight throw.

What I can't figure out is why our scrum has gone to shit. Robinson is packing a little too high which should be easy to adjust, but our second row drive isn't there either. Skelton needs to shed another 10kg so he can maintain his effort.

The Tahs just showed far too much impatiences last night, every opportunity had to be immediately a try, so stupid passes under pressure stopped all opportunities of building anything.

Oh and the Bulls were pretty bad, no, actually very bad, they couldn't build anything as the dropped or turned over all the ball they had

Our defence was pretty fucking strong last night though FP. A number of times I thought the Bulls were through, but we rounded them up or blew them backwards. Hougaard looked dangerous on the wing but the cover got him well, and in the ruck we were smashing the ever-loving fuck out of them with abandon.

Looking back at a couple of key moments, it was two forward passes and/or one-handed pop failures that prevented us scoring 30+ against the Bulls, and all because their outside rushed up so hard and muddled our lines. Foley popped a one-hander that was bobbled out of his hand. Dennis did as well, rather than giving it to a flying Hooper a step before.

 

[Pete King]

Am I the only one who thinks Dennis fell into the penalty trap? Whenever we were building momentum the bulls would concede a penalty and Dennis took the shot every single time, stopping the flow, giving the tourists a rest, and receiving the territorial pressure. There were a couple of instances where you felt putting it into the corner would have had the bulls really under the pump

dennis wouldnt be in my match day 23, by all reports a great bloke but Hooper is the inspirational leader the tahs and wallabies need

 

[Inside Shoulder]

The Tahs are getting poor value from the halves. Their entire attack seems to rely on Kurtley making space and Folau finishing it off. When one is off the attack looks clueless.

Foley and Phipps need to do more with the ball.

Hope I'm not repeating myself - thought I posted this but can't see it anywhere!
The Foley issue seems to me to be partly because Beale has been given carte blanche and can overcall him at any point (thats my reading of it, anyway). I reckon it is undermining his confidence and causing him to think that any time he gets the ball he has to create a miracle play.

 

[fatprop]

Hope I'm not repeating myself - thought I posted this but can't see it anywhere!
The Foley issue seems to me to be partly because Beale has been given carte blanche and can overcall him at any point (thats my reading of it, anyway). I reckon it is undermining his confidence and causing him to think that any time he gets the ball he has to create a miracle play.

Yeah, Beale seems to be running the game from 10 90% of the time

The problem is that Beale fails to take on the line at the moment, he runs laterally or stops before the line to pass whenever there is any traffic.

Foley last season was going straight from 10 and passing in traffic to great effect, we really benefited from that directness

Beale either has to start taking on the line or be benched

 

[Pfitzy]

By the look of his ankle I'd say he'll have little choice.

Any word on what that was during the game?

 

[Blue]

No offense Blue, as you seem like a good fellow. But you pull this schtick every week. "We have no chance, our team is missing this bloke, your team to win by 50." Then when you lose, you say, "geez how was it so close we were running our U9s." But when you win, which admittedly hasn't been alot lately, it's all about the imperial depth of South African rugby.

Serfontein was absolutely immense. 50 cap + Springbok.

You must be confusing me with someone else. I challenge you to find a single post by me lamenting the depth of SA rugby on this forum since the day I joined. I have always maintained the contrary - that with such a large player base we have surprisingly thin layer to choose from at the top, but let's not let facts get in the way shall we?

I started the season saying the Bulls will finish in the lower 5. Then after a few games I said we might finish mid table. We have been nailed by injuries but what it has done is exposed our lack of depth in a traditionally strong area - the back row.

I think SA depth is not looking great this year. We can put out a 23 that can win the Rugby Champs but lose a few more key players and we are in deep shit.

I make the point again that this is probably the worst Bulls 23 in about 7 or so years. The Tahs are a great team on paper. They absolutely killed us at the breakdown and with 70% of possession in the first half could not do shit. You can try and shy away from that as much as you like but I would be pulling my hair out if I were a Tahs fan. They are the single most frustrating team I am aware of in any sport. Everything is in place but it just doesn't translate when it has to. I sincerely hope they can string it all together. Their inability to perform and live up to all the hype hurts the game in this city. Big time.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Your second last sentence is interesting @Blue.

Conversely the NSW Blues Loig team has failed to live up to the hype for a decade, and yet the Loigies still turn up in droves for the ritual humiliation called State of Origin.

 

[Dave Beat]

I was at the game, from the sideline it looked like Hooper was leading the team.
Both by performance, but also the chatter and the drive.

 

[Brumby Jack]

Flip van der Merwe from the Bulls has been cited for an alleged striking incident in the 75th minute.

Haven't seen it myself so not sure how bad it is.

Other commented on Dean Greyling's flying elbow but there has been no news about that

 

[Brumby Runner]

Am I the only one who thinks Dennis fell into the penalty trap? Whenever we were building momentum the bulls would concede a penalty and Dennis took the shot every single time, stopping the flow, giving the tourists a rest, and receiving the territorial pressure. There were a couple of instances where you felt putting it into the corner would have had the bulls really under the pump

Nah. Bulls would in all probability have won the lineout and relieved the pressure themselves. Points are important if you want to win.

 

[Brumby Runner]

Yeah, Beale seems to be running the game from 10 90% of the time

The problem is that Beale fails to take on the line at the moment, he runs laterally or stops before the line to pass whenever there is any traffic.

Foley last season was going straight from 10 and passing in traffic to great effect, we really benefited from that directness

Beale either has to start taking on the line or be benched

Beale has been gun shy in attack since his mauling from Matt To'omua.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Beale has been gun shy in attack since his mauling from Matt To'omua.

That coupled with the fact that a couple of teams since have put massive pressure on him (mainly on the inside shoulder!) so that his wayward cross field running has come to the fore again.