Trial: Waratahs v Highlanders, Hunter Stadium, Newcastle, 14 Feb, Fri, 7:30 PM (EST)

[Lee Grant]

Highlanders​

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Ben Smith (captain); Patrick Osborne, Malakai Fekitoa, Shaun Treeby, Kurt Baker; Lima Sopoaga, Aaron Smith, Shane Christie, John Hardie, Gareth Evans; Josh Bekhuis, Jarrad Hoeata; Chris King, Ged Robinson, Kane Hames.​

​

Replacements: ​

Brayden Mitchell, Matias Diaz, Craig Millar, Joe Wheeler, Tom Franklin, TJ Ioane, Lee Allan, Frae Wilson, Hayden Parker, Phil Burleigh, Winston Stanley and Richard Buckman.​

.​

 

[p.Tah]

Match program for tonight

http://www.futuretahs.com.au/programs/Waratahs-Highlanders-Program-A4.pdf

 

[Lee Grant]

Cool, humid and overcast at the ground—smells like rain.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Cool, humid and overcast at the ground—smells like rain.

Remember the last big game up there - Wobs v SCO.
Hope the weather doesn't match.

 

[Lee Grant]

I was there and before I bought my ticket I made sure that my seat was under cover.

The problem was that the rain was going sideways so I had to retreat up the stand.

The only good thing about the night was that the wind changed before the game and the folks on the other side copped all the rain sideways and I was able to go back to my official seat..

Australia was like the babes in the woods in those conditions and the Scots deserved their win.

Not to the point but I thought our skinny win against Argentina last year (in Perth?) in the rain was one of the best efforts I have seen from the Wallabies in the wet for some time.
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[Hugh Jarse]

Staying on the wet weather theme for a bit, several teams did not handle the Wellington rain all that well at the recent IRB sevens over there.

Meanwhile you wouldn't think it was wet at all the way the Kiwis and Saffers and a couple of other teams played.

I thought that the Wobs 7 fell in the "didn't handle the wet" well category.

 

[#1 Tah]

Waratahs hold on to take the match 19-16 with tries from Betham, Hooper and Foley.

I mean, why even bother playing out the Super Rugby season? May as well just hand us the trophy now.

 

[Lee Grant]

The Tahs played some bad rugby. They had more good moves than Bobby Fischer had but they kept dropping the ball or having the play break down for many goofy reasons.

The Clan took as many penalty kicks as goal as they could, which did not endear then to the crowd.

Hooper was outstanding: a class above—his first 20 metres are magic.

The crowd liked the attacking play of the Tahs but there were too many miracle balls thrown in a game when the Tahs even dropped the good passes.

Alofa had another magic move which will be on You Tube—for getting the Tahs out of a bad spot. Look for it.

Crawford had his first game for a while and did OK.

Well, I'm heading home now.
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[Hawko]

The Tahs played some bad rugby. They had more good moves than Bobby Fischer had but they kept dropping the ball or having the play break down for many goofy reasons.

The Clan took as many penalty kicks as goal as they could, which did not endear then to the crowd.

Hooper was outstanding: a class above—his first 20 metres are magic.

The crowd liked the attacking play of the Tahs but there were too many miracle balls thrown in a game when the Tahs even dropped the good passes.

Alofa had another magic move which will be on You Tube—for getting the Tahs out of a bad spot. Look for it.

Crawford had his first game for a while and did OK.

Well, I'm heading home now.

Man that's disappointing! If I know Cheika there will be some colourful language at the next training session!

Any injuries to report?

 

[boyo]

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/u...trial-against-highlanders-20140214-32rtn.html

 

[Lee Grant]

Man that's disappointing! If I know Cheika there will be some colourful language at the next training session!

Any injuries to report?

We may hear "Gosh" and "Darn" a few times.

Will Skelton got a bad knock but he came on for an extra quarter; so it can't be too bad.

Jono Lance damaged his ribs in the warm-up and did not play.

I have done a blog on the trial here:

http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/trial-wartahs-v-highlanders/

As usual, please make any remarks on the blog there and not here. Thanks
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[Lee Grant]

Alofa had another magic move which will be on You Tube—for getting the Tahs out of a bad spot. Look for it.

Indeed it is on You Tube now (at about 0.23):

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[Hawko]

Indeed it is on You Tube now (at about 0.23):

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Alofa must be pushing very hard for a wing spot. That was a piece of magic and the pass shows he is not a ball hog. It should have been a try if Beale had drawn his man and passed back to Lofa. With Crawford a bit underdone (though I loved the line he ran for his break) and with Carraro looking a touch slow last week, maybe Cheika will go with Betham and Alofa for the wings and Crawford on the bench?

I've never seen Hooper in a conventional lineout jump before, but he did pretty well. Its another good variation up our sleeve.

 

[Lee Grant]

On Hooper: That was a remarkable lineout take wasn't it, because it looked like the Clan were going to nab TPN's throw. He's an athlete isn't he?

I don't think that Crawford will start in any event because he hasn't had the opposed training that the others have had.

You never know though: it all depends on how valuable Cheika thinks his long kicking from hand is—it's not as though it's a element of strength in the Tahs' game.

I don't think Carraro is a chance to start. I saw him play some fine rugby in the EP but it was more of the Steady Eddie brainy style—and he didn't play a lot for Montpellier when he left Bath.

He was never very fast and he showed last week (against the Blues) that time has not made him quicker.

Betham will definitely start: he is playing the best rugby of his career and is starting to show the dominance he had in his school days.

We must not forget either that a spot should be found for Beale and that could be on the wing; could be. He tried a bit too hard last night against the Highlanders and forced a few passes when the Tahs were even dropping the easy ones.

Cheika may mark that down more in a flyhalf and give the spot to Foley who has anyway been playing up to his 2013 form in last the two trials.

One thing for sure: Alofa has overtaken Volavola for the reserve outside back role, unless either Foley or Beale are injured and V is needed as a bench utility.

Alofa is so light on his feet that he can make a big step at top pace—and he works off the ball, and bounces off the deck to support.

Had you said early in the 2013 Shute Shield that he could take his West Harbour form into Super Rugby I would have looked at you oddly, but not any more.

Had Anthony Minichiello not lingered on so long at the Roosters playing at a high level, Alofa might have stayed in league; so it is good to see him back in our code—he's a keeper.
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[AngrySeahorse]

I was at the game with Ma. It was black in the sky & I was thinking "please not again" thankfully the rain stayed light but could have had something to do with some of the bad handling - had to be a bit greasy.

I thought the Tahs played with some good attack & liked that they tried to play that kind of game. This trial got a pretty good crowd for something that I saw barely any advertising for. As always I'm appreciative of any Rugby games I get in my neck of the woods.

I like the look of Alofa. Hooper had a good game I loved that break he did from the restart (I think it was from a restart). I was in the strands right in the corner that Cam Crawford went over for his denied try (actually looked like he got it from where I saw it).

Oh & I forgot to mention one other small thing that was quite amusing was Jeremy Tilse getting plenty of crowd support during his warm up run. Big smile on his face, seemed to enjoy it, lol. We certainly remember players that come from our area & let them know whenever they get the chance to come back

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Gee some of that handling was good in that clip above. Where's all this running rugby coming from at the Tahs? It feels like about 15 years since we've seen it.

 

[Nusadan]

Wonder who's the Tahs player with the white tape around his head, he seemed to be involved in everything...can't be Hooper as that bloke's hair is much darker?

 

[#1 Tah]

What number was he? Could be Hoiles

 

[Intruder]

Not too sure many invited players played against the Highlanders and from watching the clip maybe AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) or McCutcheon.

 

[Lee Grant]

Wonder who's the Tahs player with the white tape around his head, he seemed to be involved in everything.can't be Hooper as that bloke's hair is much darker?

There are a lot of blokes with white tape on their heads these days aren't there? They should get different coloured tape for us punters to recognise them.

Which event are folks talking about?

Somebody mentioned Hoiles. It couldn't have been him because he was wearing white headgear. He was one of the lifters of Hooper who nabbed that lineout take, before delivering to acting scrummie Pat McCutcheon (who also had white tape) who passed to Alofa just before the last try on the clip, scored by Foley.

McCutcheon was also crouching to protect the ball after Crawford went to ground.

Douglas and AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) (yellow boots who passed to Betham for the first try) also had white tape and are on the clip but they are more distinctive.

If not sure about guys with tape on their head who did good things, give the credit to Hooper (who is the first white tape guy on the clip and passed to white tape guy Douglas, and who scored the second try and backed up Alofa on his long run on the right, but Alofa passed left to Beale, who passed to AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper)): he was omnipresent.

I always wanted to use that word and there it is.
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