Pass it to Dunning!
Bob Loudon (25)
I hope HJH (Harry Johnson-Holmes)'s mates are at every game this year. I could hear them from the other side of the stadium.
Waratahs 2018
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Micheal
Nicholas Shehadie (39)
Do the players get free tickets for friends and family?
They should give all the younger guys 10 free tickets each per week and seat all of their friends in the same bay.
If you get 10 friends from each of Foketi, HJH (Harry Johnson-Holmes), Vui, Hanigan, Kellaway, Newsome, Dempsey, Clarke, Gordon, Hegarty, Holloway, Latu, Mason, McCauley, Miller, Roach, Robertson, Simone, Sandell, Staniforth, Swinton, Wilkin and Wells, you'd have 230 or more vocal, passionate and invested >25 year olds who will go absolutely bananas whenever their friend scores / puts on a big shot / makes a linebreak etc.
Give 3 each to every member of the u20 NSW squad as well, nickname the bay the "Flower Bed" and grow a passionate youth supporter base from there.
(Jesus our squad is young - especially relative to the winning team of 2014. I think Beale / Kepu might be the oldest member?)
That leads to energy, which leads to better atmosphere, which leads to a better experience for everyone else, and slowly (and hopefully), more tickets sold.
dru
David Wilson (68)
Incidentally, I'm guessing that better than matches the sum total of attendees for Super Rugby in Jo'burg - over two games, Lions v Jaguares and Bulls v Crusaders.
Doesn't make the situation here any better, but we are not the only ones having trouble with gate receepts and stadium atmosphere.
One more week. The three games were the Tahs final trial and the first two Super Rugby games.
He could play in Argentina if they wanted him to.
Maybe they will fly him over if required. Does seem odd after the scrum display on Saturday night.
Also was impressed with Gibson trusting the bench players on Saturday night. A few of them made a real difference especially the front row. Real enthusiasm and looked like they were all enjoying themselves. I really want to see more of Holloway too.
Also was impressed with Gibson trusting the bench players on Saturday night. A few of them made a real difference especially the front row. Real enthusiasm and looked like they were all enjoying themselves. I really want to see more of Holloway too.
dru
David Wilson (68)
Scrum performance should be put into perspective, I think.
The Saffer teams all took a pounding in Round 1 and they generally regarded as reasonable scrummagers. The new laws, and the interpretations, are placing a lot of stress in this area. Resets and scrum penalties are up much higher right across the board. being belted by it in the opening game is one thing - something that should be calmed down a bit I think. 80 minutes of game time was a massive advantage to the Stormers props.
Ditto for next game game - although you WILL want to see an improvement in the scrum penalty for and against ratio. In fact you'd want to see general improvement across the first 4 games before starting some of the criticism we see on the starting propos.
Here are some of the scrum issues to be considered. I'd love to see any corrections from props who understand these changes:
The bind. Last year this a devolved to a quasie hit. Which is no longer permitted. A gap must be maintained, the ref's interpretation is all, and generally they are being pedantic. Do this like last year, you'll be lucky to get a reset, scrum penalty for "going early" for doing it exactly like last year. A game experience makes a huge difference.
Engage. Generally you can't wind up the scrum at this stage, which was standard for quite a few teams last year. "One, two, three four" at the engage was seen a little bit, but if the scrum moves slightly from the ref's set point, early engage, penalty. Not just a reset. For doing the same as last year. You can only go when the ball is put in.
The "attacking" front row must strike. Generally the hooker strikes. recently I got the feeling that the hooker role had changed to being part of a front row shove. I'm not sure, but it wouldn't surprise if the locks are heaving pressure to hooker as well as props. If so, that wont work on your own put in, as the hooker must be free to strike. Locks need to get off the bloke and shove the prop like they used to.
Along with this the two props in the put in team, are now taking the force for a front row that is not so limited. From my poor understanding of the mechanics, we used to talk about the THP job being "technical" - which I read as body shape and alignment so the scrum force is aligned through the body without buckle to hold position under huge force. If so - now the THP is not just fundamental, so is the LHP. If the locks aren't on board (as is claimed here about the Tah locks on the weekend) you have two fat blokes holding a coordinated 8 man shove.
Tough gig. And we have seen plenty of wins against the feed.
I thought the Tah bench front row has a long way to go. I might be wrong, but I'm not convinced that the Tahs starters were that different in performance to the Stormers were one week earlier.
Hold on for the ride, there is more to be seen here. it is too early to right off the guys. Give it a couple of weeks before making that call.
The Saffer teams all took a pounding in Round 1 and they generally regarded as reasonable scrummagers. The new laws, and the interpretations, are placing a lot of stress in this area. Resets and scrum penalties are up much higher right across the board. being belted by it in the opening game is one thing - something that should be calmed down a bit I think. 80 minutes of game time was a massive advantage to the Stormers props.
Ditto for next game game - although you WILL want to see an improvement in the scrum penalty for and against ratio. In fact you'd want to see general improvement across the first 4 games before starting some of the criticism we see on the starting propos.
Here are some of the scrum issues to be considered. I'd love to see any corrections from props who understand these changes:
The bind. Last year this a devolved to a quasie hit. Which is no longer permitted. A gap must be maintained, the ref's interpretation is all, and generally they are being pedantic. Do this like last year, you'll be lucky to get a reset, scrum penalty for "going early" for doing it exactly like last year. A game experience makes a huge difference.
Engage. Generally you can't wind up the scrum at this stage, which was standard for quite a few teams last year. "One, two, three four" at the engage was seen a little bit, but if the scrum moves slightly from the ref's set point, early engage, penalty. Not just a reset. For doing the same as last year. You can only go when the ball is put in.
The "attacking" front row must strike. Generally the hooker strikes. recently I got the feeling that the hooker role had changed to being part of a front row shove. I'm not sure, but it wouldn't surprise if the locks are heaving pressure to hooker as well as props. If so, that wont work on your own put in, as the hooker must be free to strike. Locks need to get off the bloke and shove the prop like they used to.
Along with this the two props in the put in team, are now taking the force for a front row that is not so limited. From my poor understanding of the mechanics, we used to talk about the THP job being "technical" - which I read as body shape and alignment so the scrum force is aligned through the body without buckle to hold position under huge force. If so - now the THP is not just fundamental, so is the LHP. If the locks aren't on board (as is claimed here about the Tah locks on the weekend) you have two fat blokes holding a coordinated 8 man shove.
Tough gig. And we have seen plenty of wins against the feed.
I thought the Tah bench front row has a long way to go. I might be wrong, but I'm not convinced that the Tahs starters were that different in performance to the Stormers were one week earlier.
Hold on for the ride, there is more to be seen here. it is too early to right off the guys. Give it a couple of weeks before making that call.
Jimmy_Crouch
Peter Johnson (47)
Silverado
Dick Tooth (41)
Great ideas. How about a ticket to all registered players in NSWRU, both juniors and seniors. Ground was only a quarter full yet atmosphere was great. Imagine 20k supporters. The WAFL proudly (rightly) promotes a 57k sell out, but they only charge $2 a ticket. Just a few thoughts
GTPIH
Ted Thorn (20)
All Juniors aged 16 yrs and under can apply for a free season pass on the Waratahs website
Silverado
Dick Tooth (41)
Yep, and that's a good initiative (particularly when the parents of the younger kids go too). I guess we're talking about grade players going along in numbers to support their mates. The ground was only a quarter full. Granted it was a SA opponent and last years performances hardly helped, but I reckon it's a good way to increase numbers and atmosphere. Also help bridge the divide between SS and Waratahs.
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Jimmyjam
Watty Friend (18)
Any info on Kalivate Tawake? Seems like he's on the plane to SA and Argentina with the squad. From what I can gather he's a capped Fiji player and was part of the Drua squad in the NRC.
Is he any good? Hopefully a Loose-head and can push in front to TR....
Our starting front row was minced on Sat night. Maybe in the not so distant future this bloke can play along side Kepu and Latu to give us a bit of scrum parity going forward this year. It was also abundantly clear against the Stormers our locks are physically not up to it....... if only we could have recruited one of Coleman, Philip or Arnold from the Force......:-(
Is he any good? Hopefully a Loose-head and can push in front to TR....
Our starting front row was minced on Sat night. Maybe in the not so distant future this bloke can play along side Kepu and Latu to give us a bit of scrum parity going forward this year. It was also abundantly clear against the Stormers our locks are physically not up to it....... if only we could have recruited one of Coleman, Philip or Arnold from the Force......:-(
Hawko
Tony Shaw (54)
To be fair, Gordon was having an absolute blinder. I would have been pissed off if he'd been replaced.
Jimmy_Crouch
Peter Johnson (47)
Rugbynutter39
Michael Lynagh (62)
Well Fiji national side no easy beats now days and known for having good scrum compared to years past with the more professional coaching influence in recent years and impact it has. Hopefully we see him get same game time.
Given Short isn't fully contracted I expect we'll only see him if we are winning easily or getting smashed.
Hopefully Phipps recovers soon although he will have his work cut out for him to win the starting gig.
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Hopefully Phipps recovers soon although he will have his work cut out for him to win the starting gig.
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In the trial, with no idea who he was, my first thought was "had Naiyaravoro shaved his head?, the fat bastard"
Bessa
Ted Fahey (11)
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