Saw Fitzy in Elizabeth Street this Friday. He was going over to his car, looked to be moving OK. Here's hoping he got into it without injuring himself.....
Waratahs 2013
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Saw Fitzy in Elizabeth Street this Friday. He was going over to his car, looked to be moving OK. Here's hoping he got into it without injuring himself.....
ShtinaTina
Alex Ross (28)
Lindo, don't jinx the poor guy!!Saw Fitzy in Elizabeth Street this Friday. He was going over to his car, looked to be moving OK. Here's hoping he got into it without injuring himself...
qwerty51
Stirling Mortlock (74)
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/u...st-lured-izzy-to-waratahs-20121207-2b0yv.html
Roy Masters (a serial rugby hater mind you) reporting ARU topped up Folau's contract with 400k so 650k in total. This makes more sense to me, I couldn't believe we snagged him for 250k. Does this change everything? I think so...
Roy Masters (a serial rugby hater mind you) reporting ARU topped up Folau's contract with 400k so 650k in total. This makes more sense to me, I couldn't believe we snagged him for 250k. Does this change everything? I think so...
Ash
Michael Lynagh (62)
Masters always has a massive chip on his shoulder for anything that isn't league. Masters is one of the most opinionated writers around, and he doesn't hold back, quite often firing off as many cheap shots as he can land. Problem is, Masters is often wrong, but no doubt his brand of cheap and lazy journalism appeals to the league demographic it is targeted at. I would like to think that more discerning league supporters (and yes they exist) find the guy just as insufferable as everyone else.
T
TOCC
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Jason Allen(Waratahs CEO) has confirmed that the ARU did top up the salary, but gave no figure.
Lee Grant
John Eales (66)
I think Cooper is a wonderful player but that he was a goose for making the comments he did. I thought that the tough ARU stance was proper, but I'm glad that QC (Quade Cooper) couldn't find a well paying gig anywhere else and that he will stay in Oz rugby. Now that he has been through the wringer perhaps he will be a happier camper and be contrite.
A lot of the Masters' article rings true even though old Roy is a unionphobe.
If Quade can shift up a gear in big test matches - eg against the All Blacks - we will soon forget his goose behaviour. He is a unique player in Oz rugby. He has the long flat passes on the money both ways as Steve Larkham had, but his abillity to pass chest on, and thereby to add value to the threat of players inside or outside, is even better than that of the great Bernie.
The other Oz flyhalves fall short technically. Beale, like Giteau before him, is like a centre or back three player: wanting to do well for his team mates outside him, of course, but is by nature a seeker of the outside break. Like Giteau did, KB (Kurtley Beale) robs his outside runners of the space they need, though at least he recognises such an error earlier than Gits did, and passes the ball sooner. But those two or four extra steps (usually players like to pass off their inside foot) are enough to compromise a backline move.
JOC (James O'Connor) runs square; not to add value to his outside or inside men, but to be in a position to step either way. It should be his secondary role: to get defenders fixed so they don't drift onto the paths of support runners. But too often it is the step and not the pass that is his main interest. Not a bad trait at 12, but limiting at 10.
Barnes is more of an all rounder. He stands too deep to be a good facilitator of others; so the guys he passes to have too much to do before they get to the gain line. Most often they have to breach the tackle line to get there, and so Barnes tends to kick a lot. Michael Lynagh stood deep and old Naas Botha did too - but they knew how to kick and therefore were effective. Barnes has to play closer to the bulls and if he does he won't kick as much - won't be able to, and won't have to.
Above all, Aussie flyhalves, or first receivers, have to take advantage of turnover ball at which time opponents are not configured for defence. The Wallabies were better at transition play in the 1980s than they are now, 30 years later.
And did we not see Wales attack brilliantly from deep after a set piece move last weekend because they remembered that the defending fullback would most often be expecting the kick from runners in their own 22 -and be waiting back for it, and not be in the tackle line? The Wallabies would have seen the fullback back there and kicked to him more or less as a courtesy.
As for their tactical kicking generally: it is good to see a LF kicker, Tapuai, close to the action, but generally Aussie kicking, even when appropriate, is of poor quality. They were fortunate not to get any crap weather conditions on tour.
But I digress. If QC (Quade Cooper) can lift his game so that he can play his Super style in big test matches with team mates not used to him day in day out, he will make a huge difference to the Wobs. It's a big "if" and one that is maybe too early for the Lions tour, but you never know. If Tapuai can play at 12 with him every game next year in Super Rugby, Robbie Deans, not a vindictive man if I read him right, may think that combo is a goer.
This is a Tahs thread? Excuuuuse me.
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The Tahs would need help to pay for take away at the moment, let alone the money suggested
Dave Beat
Paul McLean (56)
How did this end up in a Tah's thead. 100% correct on all fronts, better place in a QC (Quade Cooper) thread.
A goose yes, and I'm sure we all have been. QC (Quade Cooper) lifting his game, or playing a great brand of rugby. What we have played has stiffled what he can bring to the padock.
A goose yes, and I'm sure we all have been. QC (Quade Cooper) lifting his game, or playing a great brand of rugby. What we have played has stiffled what he can bring to the padock.
Bruce Ross
Ken Catchpole (46)
In defence of the great LG, in the middle of his tour de force he did manage to slip in mention of 'Tahs player Barnes - twice.
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Dave Beat
Paul McLean (56)
I dont care where it sits, it was a good accurate read.
Bruce Ross
Ken Catchpole (46)
For the sake of marital bliss, LG, it's way preferable to always finishing first.
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Lee Grant
John Eales (66)
I wish I had taken more notice of the guys but yes, AJ was there. So was this guy.
Michael Ala'alatoa from Northern Suburbs, who played for Samoa in the IRB U/20 tournament in 2011, is the prop above - and the guy he's opposing is Wayne Borsak, a promising young prop from the Rats, though you'll have to take my word on the I.D.
Michael must be notching up 125kgs these days and has great legs for a prop. He looks a lot fitter than when I saw him on TV this year for his club.
Who else? The only other guys I can remember are flyhalf David Horwitz from Oz Schools in 2011 and 2012 and openside Kotoni Ale from Manly - but more next week.
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