Watching the Tahs A game I think Tafa and Gamble should get a run in Super. Tafa ran hard and defended well. Gamble ran hard, defended well and loved the pilfers
Harris went well too. Good hard running and played smart football.
I think Tepai is improving. Will make a great hard running 12 soon and was great at defending the ruck.
Short had a good game while Ramm and Walton played well. The set piece again went well
I think Mason was ok. Not going to lead the side around and won't take the game by the scruff of the neck which is a problem.
Beanpole was good at the lineout but still nothing else. No go forward.
I think Clark had some shocking moments. Had a good run and scored the last try but overall kept making too many errors.
Still good to watch the players coming through.
Gamble looked really solid in this game and showed a lot more than in the Rebels game. Some great pilfers though I think the Brumbies ruck work was rather poor. It was great to see some of his NRC form flow into this next level. Tafa had a less dominate performance than the Rebels game but still was looking good. It was a shame he was subbed off at around 30min mark, though he did reappear towards the end of the game. I would have liked to have seen more of him. I actually thought Hugh-Sinclair had a decent game too. Helped setup some very solid mauls. I don't think he's necessarily Super Rugby level yet but fairly solid.
Tepai still not the finished product for me. I can see the potential but you can see he's having to think too much about things and is a little off the pace for it. A few opportunities to offload that I thought went begging. I kind of wish he'd have had a season of NRC before the Super Rugby started just to get up to speed because hes got the right physical shape to make an impact.
Short was great, very solid performance from him. Walton is a mixed bag for me, some nice hands and supporting lines at times and then a few really poor kicks through or dropped balls. He was similar in the Rebels game dropping way too much ball. Ramm likewise was really good but needs to work on some aspects. His left to right passing out to Clark was really poor early in the game and probably lost the Tah's two early opportunities to score. I think you are being a little hard on Clark as he wasn't always on the end of quality ball. Similar for Lisala.
Agree, Mason ok. I like that he's got some different aspects to his game like those pass kicks but some of his general play needs work and you're right, he's no maestro yet but I think that's a byproduct of his lack of game time over the last couple of years.
I think Wil Harris continues to impress as does Tizzano who I think the commentators were calling as de Crespigny at points in the the game. I'm liking Triston Reilly's pace. It was great to see a player really chasing the kicks and he generally looked good out on the fringes.
The set piece is looking good and the forwards are obviously operating well as a unit which is really encouraging. That said, there were a few sequences on the Brumbies line where we just didn't seem able to get over. I'm not sure why we don't employ techniques like latching more rather than this one out pick and drives that fall short.
As you said, overall just great to see how the players are going and to have another data point for who might be ready to step up. Wonder when the next game will be?
