Interesting stuff there. Looked pretty loose but a bunch of players really put their hand up. Betham looked very sharp and in the first half in particular every time someone had the ball they seemed to be looking for The Player Formerly Known As Ratu so they could give it to him. It'll be very interesting to see him up against some quality opposition tomorrow night.
Meanwhile Hangers actually looked very good when he came on and Holmes seems a lot more sharp. No more meerkating at the base of the ruck.
The burning question, however, is still what's happening with Caldwell and Horne?
We haven't heard much from the Tahs camp about either, which isn't a good sign. If Caldwell's out for the first part of the season who steps up at lock? Kane Douglas has been getting good reviews but he's still only a young buck. Chris Thomson's an oversized marshmallow and Roodt doesn't seem to have made much of an impression. If Mowen isn't fully fit against the Brumbies and Mumm has to switch to 6 then we're looking at a serious crisis at lock.
13 looks a little more secure. I'd love for Robbie Horne to be back up and running but I'd be more than happy with Carter at 13 on that evidence. Sidey apparently didn't make much impression in the first trial but he's a quality footballer and an able back up.
What's going to be really interesting, though is the make-up of the backs reserves. If Horne is out we can probably assume at this point that the backline will be Burgess, Barnes, Beale, Carter, Turner, Mitchell and Anesi. In that case you'd have to have Holmes on the bench, but beyond that it's a bit up in the air. You already have 2 players on the pitch who can play 10, 3 who can play 12, 1 who can play 13, 3 who can play wing and 4 who can cover fullback. If that was the starting side you would need Sidey on the bench to cover 13 and then it comes down to whether you want to cover the inside backs or the outside backs. Bit of a pickle I reckon.
