What you need to know is @Braveheart81, @Lindommer, @badger, @waratahjesus and I (as well as some people identifying themselves as Kiwis
) were at the Taphouse for pregame beers and erudite rugby discussion, if you didn't know already. And the rest of you missed out, so suck it.
Those of you lining up to blow Phipps: I agree his running game was better (in that it was present), but you must have been watching on TV, because his passing was utterly dire for someone who has represented his country.
Only when you're sitting down at ground level can you see how loopy his pass is, sailing into an arc about 2-3 metres off the ground, and quite often hitting the target player above shoulder level; this is NOT good halfback play. The Tahs don't help the situation by playing their first receiver in the 2nd channel or targeting that area way too much for their phase play.
But this is a team of backline weapons and potent forward runners. And if you're not delivering flat, sympathetic ball in front of the man and onto the chest, you're going to get picked off against better defensive sides, especially the second- and third-channel rush defense. I personally think we need to play the first receiver in a little closer, with options either side, because we know we can attack like few other teams in this competition.
It was really interesting to see Izzy playing a distribution role tonight, which shows Cheika and crew are adapting to how people defend against us. When Folau gets the ball, he usually has one defender in his face and another two hovering - opposing coaches have realised that we're not supporting Izzy in contact as much as we need to, and decided he's a prime isolation target.
So the easy way to fix this is let him use his hands, and it worked a treat tonight, shifting the ball away from clusters of black shirts and letting the other backs run their game.
Those saying Horne isn't a winger - you're right. Yet, watch that first try when Cory Jane realises his inside man (the invisible Lam) has missed AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper): Jane turns and starts a couple of metres behind Horne, but gains ZERO metres on him as Horne steps the fullback and wanders in. Jane is no slouch and Horne's acceleration, if not his top speed, can be useful there.
As I was also saying to the gents at the pub before the game, one advantage of the selection of two guys with centre experience at wing, is their added punch on the set piece moves. I also lamented, during the game, our lack of first-phase tries.
Two minutes later Carraro smashes over off a nice inside ball from Foley off the scrum. So what do I know? I know it was a fucking awful pass from Phipps - go watch it again if you don't believe me.
I also know the lineout still needs work, mainly to do with speed of execution. The scrum started poorly but built into it nicely. Ryan needs a slap for letting JTA stroll through for that try, but his set piece work kept the highly overrated Franks at bay, and he was prominent in the loose. Kepu on the other hand was average.
Robinson got more involved but was still standing still a bit too much. As a former loosehead I think he should adopt perpetual motion - my best games were ones where I just kept moving so my O2 saturation stayed high. Stop-start games are awful.
We still need to cover up our rucks better or teams with a more clinical approach (Crusaders, Brumbies, Chiefs) will kill us there.
But thankfully the composure problems have gone on the back burner for now. That was really irritating me, and the gift try for Barrett? Ugh...
But we fought back. And in another prescient moment, I said to badger and Lindommer, "how good would it be for attendances if we could fight back from this point?" when we were 24-7 down.
Dead. Set. Nostradamus.
Beale can shove his fucking chip-kick from his own 22 right up his arse though. While I thought he did some good things, I still don't think the 10/12 combination we have is greater than the sum of their parts, and would like to see Horne start 12 against the Lions, with either Beale or Foley at 10 and the other off the bench.
