Tahs Vs Blues

[fatprop]

Horan agrees with me, but want Beale at 15, I would bench him.

Sam Norton-Knight at pivot could unleash Tahs' attack: Tim Horan

By Iain Payten
March 24, 2009

Australia legend Tim Horan believes Sam Norton-Knight must be moved to five-eighth to fix the New South Wales Waratahs' misfiring backline.
Horan's comments come in the wake of alarming statistic that NSW's attack is the worst in the Super 14.

His call for a reshuffle in the backs - with Kurtley Beale moved to full-back and Timana Tahu given a wing spot - came as the full extent of NSW's dysfunctional offence was laid bare.

Statistics show that in key attacking indicators, the Waratahs are ranked woefully low among all teams in the Super 14. They are last in average linebreaks per game, 13th in tackle busts and just 11th in average tries scored.

Their inability to attack proved costly at the weekend when, after doing a sterling job to hold the Crusaders to 17 points, they could only manage 13 themselves.

Speculation is mounting that coach Chris Hickey will make changes to his backline for Friday's clash with the Blues and Horan believes that Norton-Knight should be given the steering wheel.

"I have heard people say Sam Norton-Knight at 10 and Kurtley at full-back, and I think that's a good option," he said.

"I don't think you can blame Kurtley for how they're travelling. Not at all, but I think Norton-Knight is better suited to that position. He is more of a playmaker.

"He has good vision, and good teamwork vision. Whereas Kurtley is trying to play for the team, but also trying to put plays on for himself. Kurtley is more of an individual playmaker."

Horan also believes Tahu should be given extended game time, and suggested a wing berth.

"Ideally I think he is a winger, who should be given a roving commission," Horan said.

The stats tell a sorry tale for NSW's attack in the six games of 2009. They have averaged just 2.7 linebreaks per game, 19.3 tackle busts and 2.2 tries. Their 515 run-metres per game is also bottom tier.

Luckily for NSW, their next opponents are the Super 14's worst defensive side. After getting hammered 63-34 by the Chiefs on Saturday, the Blues have conceded an average of 32 points a game.

The clash at Eden Park - where the Waratahs have not won in 14 years - could be decided on who fixes their problems first: NSW's attack or the Blues' defence.

Hickey will name his final team on Thursday. It appears likely that Phil Waugh (achilles) will play; Hickey named only Ben Mowen and hooker Damien Fitzpatrick as back-up No.7 options.

9 Burgess
10 SNK
11 Tiquiri
12 Carter
13 Horne
14 Tahu
15 Turner

my back line would do me

 

[RugbyReg]

well be very careful Tahs. Beau is off contract this year. Daniel Braid has an option after his 1 year. I reckon Beau would look pretty good in Maroon.

 

[Moses]

I thought TPN was solid in the scrums, could have been gamemanship but I recall the Saffas stating exactly that when he was new on the International scene.. can't find the quote now though..

 

[formeropenside]

TPN is a pretty good scrummager, certainly better than the hobbit. Its his lineout throwing that is a potential concern.

Jeremy Paul was the beginning of the problem - the notion that "work around the park" could make up for deficiencies in the set piece.

 

[fatprop]

Sekope Kepu returns in extended squad

Tuesday, 24 March 2009
NSWRU Media Unit
Wallaby prop Sekope Kepu has been named in a 24-man squad ahead of the HSBC Waratahs clash with the Blues in Auckland on Friday night.

Sekope Kepu at the 2009 HSBC Waratahs Season Launch.

Kepu, who proved his fitness in a pre-season trial for Randwick on Saturday, is available for selection for the first time since tearing his pectoral muscle in the Wallabies victory over the Barbarians at Wembley Stadium in December.

Following a calf injury to Al Baxter and with Dan Palmer under an illness cloud, Kepu has been named as one of four props to make the trip to Auckland along with Palmer, Benn Robinson and Jeremy Tilse.

Flanker Beau Robinson has also been called into the squad as cover for Phil Waugh who will have until the Captain's Run on Thursday to prove his fitness after injuring his lower leg in the closing stages of Saturday's clash with the Crusaders at ANZ Stadium.

"Naming a 24-man squad to fly to Auckland tomorrow might seem a little bit different, but we just need to put a couple of contingencies in place," said Head Coach Chris Hickey. "Having Sekope back is a bonus, but with Dan Palmer being a bit crook we thought we should play it safe by taking an extra prop tomorrow rather than flying someone in late if the need arose.

"We're also a bit unsure about Waughy. He won't be able to do much on his feet until late in the week, but with someone like Phil you give them every opportunity to play.

"If he pulls up short, Beau will come into squad and it would probably be between him and Benny Mowen for the No.7 jersey. At this stage, though, we're hopeful Phil will be good to go."

The HSBC Waratahs fly to Auckland tomorrow ahead of Friday night's clash with the Blues at Eden Park.

2009 Super 14 - Round 7
BLUES V HSBC WARATAHS
Friday 27 March 2009 (Kick-off 7:35pm NZDT)
Eden Park, Auckland

HSBC WARATAHS
Kurtley Beale (Northern Suburbs), Luke Burgess (Sydney University), Will Caldwell (Sydney University), Tom Carter (Sydney University), Luke Doherty (Manly), Damien Fitzpatrick (Eastwood), Daniel Halangahu (Sydney University), Rob Horne (Southern Districts), Sekope Kepu (Randwick), Ben Mowen (Randwick), Dean Mumm (Sydney University), Sam Norton-Knight (Northern Suburbs), Dan Palmer (Southern Districts), Wycliff Palu (Manly), Tatafu Polota-Nau (Parramatta), Beau Robinson (Warringah), Benn Robinson (Eastwood), Brett Sheehan (Warringah), Timana Tahu (West Harbour), Chris Thomson (Warringah), Jeremy Tilse (Sydney University), Lote Tuqiri (West Harbour), Lachie Turner (Eastwood), Phil Waugh (Sydney University).

 

[Pfitzy]

TPN is a pretty good scrummager, certainly better than the hobbit. Its his lineout throwing that is a potential concern.

Wrong on both points - the hobbit is actually about as good as TPN in the front row, and TPN's throwing has improved in leaps and bounds this year. He's certainly closer to Moore than he's ever been at the set piece, and remember only a couple of years ago Moore was woefully inconsistent at lineout time.

 

[Dormouse]

They made the wrong change, as usual. Should have been Beale paired with Tahu in the start-up and the (boring) consolidators Carter and Halangahu brought on late in the game. Beale was clearly under orders to kick last week. Time to let him play his natural game and for Tahu to get some opportunities early in the game when it matters.

 

[Lindommer]

Welcome aboard, Dormouse. Looking for a tea party? Or a Cheshire cat?

I think Beale reads the press and reacted to the criticism of his short passing. He tried to put a bit of muscle behind his passes on Saturday night, which resulted in his bullet passes to 2m being impossible to catch. The dropped pass to Horne and the poor pass to Turner were made by the two players who should be the best passers in the team, Beale and SNK. The backs need a lesson from Mark Ella on how to do nice soft, perfectly-timed passes. This lack of basic skills in the backs speaks volumes for the coaching staff: Axle's got the forwards purring along like a well-tuned Mercedes-Benz but the backs keep fucking it up. And then this contagion spreads to the forwards leading to disaster.

 

[fatprop]

Hangers is starting apparently ..................................

 

[PhucNgo]

Welcome aboard, Dormouse. Looking for a tea party? Or a Cheshire cat?

I think Beale reads the press and reacted to the criticism of his short passing. He tried to put a bit of muscle behind his passes on Saturday night, which resulted in his bullet passes to 2m being impossible to catch. The dropped pass to Horne and the poor pass to Turner were made by the two players who should be the best passers in the team, Beale and SNK. The backs need a lesson from Mark Ella on how to do nice soft, perfectly-timed passes. This lack of basic skills in the backs speaks volumes for the coaching staff: Axle's got the forwards purring along like a well-tuned Mercedes-Benz but the backs keep fucking it up. And then this contagion spreads to the forwards leading to disaster.

Lindommer

This is most certainly true of the set-piece which has been the Tahs backbone so far. The problem is tho I suspect that they've become unidimensional, in that they've strengthened this facit of their game and let other aspects lapse. My impression is that both the Brumbies and Crusaders games were lost at the breakdown; not necessarily the tight stuff, mauling has been good, but in general play I'd have to say that the tahs forwards were outplayed on those occasions.

Everyone's been on about the lack of skills across the park at the Tahs, but the Crusaders were I think, just gob-smackingly good. What about the f....g catch-pass from the f...g Crsaders' forwards and that f...g long ball from Keiran f...g Reid. Amazing. :thumb

 

[Pfitzy]

They dropped a lot of easy shit too Phuc - they just made it count when they got into space. If they'd hung onto three more passes it would have been a far bigger margin.

 

[mark_s]

Apparently Kurtley is not on the flight over due to illness. He is due to fly over later in the week. Also, Waugh is apparently fit to play.

 

[mark_s]

PS, not happy about the mustard rank. I spend too much time cleaning back door mustard for my kids.

 

[Scarfman]

Eww.

 

[fatprop]

Daniel Halangahu to dictate strucuted game clash with Blues

By Adrian Warren
March 25, 2009

The NSW Waratahs are looking to new five-eighth Daniel Halangahu to dictate a tightly structured game in their Super 14 rugby clash with the free-running Blues on Friday night.

After two long years playing second fiddle to Kurtley Beale, Halangahu gets his chance after being handed the reins for the clash at Eden Park - where the Waratahs have never won a Super rugby match in five previous attempts.

Struck down with tonsilitis, Beale didn't travel with the NSW squad to Auckland on Wednesday and was expected to join them on Thursday, subject to fitness.

However coach Chris Hickey had already decided to start Halangahu - who will also assume the goalkicking duties from the benched Beale - as the Waratahs look to rebound from back-to-back losses against the Brumbies and Crusaders.

It's Halangahu's first start in a Super 14 game since round two in 2007 but Hickey believed he was a good fit for the controlled style of game the Waratahs aim to play on Friday.

"Daniel played really well for us when he came on against the Crusaders," Hickey said.

"We felt that perhaps Daniel's strength suited the game plan we wanted to utilise (against the Blues).

"I think Daniel's strength is that he's able to play quite a structured game of football.

"That's probably, particularly playing against the Blues, really important that we maintain our structure in this game."

The Waratahs were buoyed on Wednesday by news inspirational captain Phil Waugh was cleared to play after suffering a lower leg injury against the Crusaders.

In a further boost, NSW's depleted front row has one less headache to contend with after powerful All Blacks prop Tony Woodcock was ruled out with an ear infection and again replaced by rookie Tevita Mailau.

That's a handy break for the Waratahs, who have front-row issues of their own with Wallaby stalwarts Al Baxter and Matt Dunning unavailable.

As always, the Blues have plenty of talent, especially in the backline, but they've proven soft against good opposition this year.

They have leaked more points (196) than any other Super 14 team in 2009 and last week conceded a season-high 63 against the Chiefs.

Blues coach Pat Lam has reshuffled his backline, moving utility Isaia Toeava to outside centre from full-back and restoring Paul Williams at No.15.

Lam has shifted Anthony Tuitavake to the wing in place of dumped Rene Ranger, while Jamie Helleur comes into the side at inside centre.

While Hickey won't name his starting side until Thursday, in addition to confirming Halangahu's promotion, he said Ben Mowen would return to blindside flanker, with Mumm moving to lock in place of youngster Chris Thomson.

 

[Blue]

"dictate a tightly structured game"

Does that mean "kick the thing all night"? :nta:

In a srtuctured sort of way I guess.

Run the thing for crying in a bucket.

 

[fatprop]

Yep we will play no rugby until we get near their 22.

We will then "play rugby" which at the moment means Waugh as ball distributor off lineouts :angryfire: or "Hangers" chucking a ball to Carter with the following phase going to ground.

 

[naza]

Fantastic news for the Tahs

Flanker Justin Collins is out with a hamstring strain and Onosai'i Auva'a takes over at No 7.

All Blacks prop Tony Woodcock remains troubled by his ear infection and isn't listed in the mix at all this week, meaning he will have missed three consecutive rounds.

BLUES: 15 Paul Williams, 14 Anthony Tuitavake, 13 Isaia Toeava, 12 Jamie Helleur, 11 Joe Rokocoko, 10 Jimmy Gopperth, 9 Taniela Moa, 8 Jerome Kaino, 7 Onosai'i Auva'a, 6 Chris Lowrey, 5 Ali Williams, 4 Kurtis Haiu, 3 John Afoa, 2 Keven Mealamu (captain), 1 Tevita Mailau. Reserves: 16 Tom McCartney, 17 Charlie Faumunia, 18 Anthony Boric, 19 Peter Saili, 20 Chris Smylie, 21 Michael Hobbs, 22 Rene Ranger.

That should make life easier for our tighthead.

 

[Ash]

Actually, makes life easier at the rucks too. I remember the whining on the TSF a few years back over Nucifora not playing OTA...well, not that I'm praising Nucifora (because he definitely didn't do a shit hot job at the Blues), but he was right. OTA has been damn average this year, probably about 0.7 - 0.8 Carters. He's not shown much promise, or much of anything at all.

Losing Collins and Blackie is surely not a good thing for the Blues at ruck time and around the park, especially when OTA comes in.

 

[Spook]

Fantastic news for the Tahs

Flanker Justin Collins is out with a hamstring strain and Onosai'i Auva'a takes over at No 7.

All Blacks prop Tony Woodcock remains troubled by his ear infection and isn't listed in the mix at all this week, meaning he will have missed three consecutive rounds.

BLUES: 15 Paul Williams, 14 Anthony Tuitavake, 13 Isaia Toeava, 12 Jamie Helleur, 11 Joe Rokocoko, 10 Jimmy Gopperth, 9 Taniela Moa, 8 Jerome Kaino, 7 Onosai'i Auva'a, 6 Chris Lowrey, 5 Ali Williams, 4 Kurtis Haiu, 3 John Afoa, 2 Keven Mealamu (captain), 1 Tevita Mailau. Reserves: 16 Tom McCartney, 17 Charlie Faumunia, 18 Anthony Boric, 19 Peter Saili, 20 Chris Smylie, 21 Michael Hobbs, 22 Rene Ranger.

That should make life easier for our tighthead.

He's only a "Myth"