Waratahs V Brumbies @ Homebush

[waratahjesus]

Brumbies are going OK without a well-established combination. Must be an exception.

It's all about the 9, tahs have no one on the books capable of the decision making at 9 that would get that one extra try that would see us on 11 wins right now.

 

[No4918]

So, how did the Tahs manage to lose that?? Farking hopeless.

Also nice to see Kearns call bullshit on Clarkies claims that the Aus sides know each other so well. Worst excuse for shithouse derbies and an insult to the fans.

Won't be at all surprised to see the Blues beat the Brumbies this week. Let's just hope the Reds manage the bonus point as the Brumbies are no chance of progressing on the back of there last few games.

 

[Slim 293]

Won't be at all surprised to see the Blues beat the Brumbies this week. Let's just hope the Reds manage the bonus point as the Brumbies are no chance of progressing on the back of there last few games.

By winning their last few games?

 

[No4918]

By winning their last few games?

Who have they played?? Oh yeah.... the Force, Rebels, and Tahs. They are a long way from being good enough to get past week one of the finals.

 

[Slim 293]

Who have they played?? Oh yeah.. the Force, Rebels, and Tahs. They are a long way from being good enough to get past week one of the finals.

But the Reds are?

 

[No4918]

You really believe the Brumbies form is better than the Reds?

 

[Slim 293]

You really believe the Brumbies form is better than the Reds?

Over the season?

Yes.

And that's all that matters.

The Brumbies deserve their spot on the ladder.

 

[cyclopath]

If you want to have a pissing comp about the Reds and Brumbies, start a thread, but don't do it in this one.

 

[Paradox]

Who have they played?? Oh yeah.. the Force, Rebels, and Tahs. They are a long way from being good enough to get past week one of the finals.

The Force put 40 on the Reds.

EDIT: Sorry cyclopath

 

[Hawko]

Some random thoughts on the game, some of which others have raised in prior posts:

• The Tahs should have won that game based on their domination but they didn't. That they failed to convert their dominance into points (again) is a coaching/managing issue. Axel needs to get a good mentor who can tell him what he is just not doing as a head coach to direct his team to convert dominance into points. He's got six months to do this and I'd like to see it happen, but the first thing he needs is a better coaching team behind him.
• The alignment and attacking prowess of the backs was particularly poor. On a number of occasions they looked like they were about to open up the Brumbies like a sardine can, you could see it starting to happen, but then players took bad options, ran bad lines, passed to no one, didn't back up, passed behind the player. Bowen and Gaffney have to go, they don't have a clue how to construct a good backline attack. McKay or Larkham would have this backline singing.
• Barnes did some good things last night but they were cancelled out by some horrible passing that completely wasted the attacking momentum. He plays much better for the Wallabies than he does for the Tahs and this needs to be addressed next year or we should sell him to the Force. Foley at 10 and Barnes at 12 does have great potential, so maybe another pre-season together will fix it.
• I absolutely agree that S&C is an issue. The amount of mistakes in the last ten minutes screams out that there are fatigue issues. Given that the pace of the game was well below the Crusaders/Chiefs outing the previous night, S&C has to be a cause. The two S&C coaches need to go. Incidentally, and I have posted this before, how can you have two S&C coaches? Who gets to set the actual conditioning plan and what does the other guy do?
• Ryan completely owned Alexander last night, it was almost painful to watch and Brown was especally lenient. Given that Ryan was dusted up last week in the Shute game against Eastwood by all reports, it does not say much for Alexander's scrummaging ability. Ryan had an excellent game and if properly coached and mentored he will be a very valuable player in a few years time and a potential Wallaby.
• I thought Douglas played particularly well and justified his selection completely. He is a more complete TH lock than Sita Timani, that's for sure. Lopeti Timani is still developing and a couple more years might just do it but he's not there yet.
• We were out of the race for the finals so Hart's selection was justified just to see how he'd go. But he is still a work-in-progress and definitely not ready to start. So we now have three halfbacks who are not obvious starting picks. That's going to be a real headache for someone figuring out what to do. Maybe next week will tell us more.
• It seems that issuing yellow cards for repeated flagrant breaches in the red zone has been consigned to the dustbin of history. Also, as was also evidenced in the Saders/Chiefs match (and pretty much everywhere else), a ruck is where players dive onto the ground and continue to play at the ball. Ah for the good old days, when rucks were something you did on your feet. I thought Brown was particularly poor last night and significantly contributed to the dull and boring spectacle through his leniency, but others have posted that he's been great all year. They have certainly seen something that I didn't see last night.

 

[TSR]

Over the season?

Yes.

And that's all that matters.

The Brumbies deserve their spot on the ladder.

Agree - Thats the whole idea of a points ladder.

Also find it strange that many seem to be questioning the ability of the Brumbies to go further. They have played some great rugby over the season and, if the win next week, will have the benefit of a home final first up. Jake White has a proven ability to bring teams together and be successful.

Of course, if the stars do align and the Reds sneak in and play the Brumbies first up, I hope the Brums fold like a cheap suit.

 

[Paradox]

Jake has mentioned a few times that he been training the hell out of the boys in the break to peak for the finals. Hopefully they get there. I again thought Fardy was impressive.

 

[BPC]

It seems that issuing yellow cards for repeated flagrant breaches in the red zone has been consigned to the dustbin of history. Also, as was also evidenced in the Saders/Chiefs match (and pretty much everywhere else), a ruck is where players dive onto the ground and continue to play at the ball. Ah for the good old days, when rucks were something you did on your feet. I thought Brown was particularly poor last night and significantly contributed to the dull and boring spectacle through his leniency, but others have posted that he's been great all year. They have certainly seen something that I didn't see last night.

I know the feeling. Clarke was blathering on at the end of the match that Brown had done an excellent job but I felt his handling of the rucks varied from non-existent to random rulings. I thought both sides were screwed over at the rucks and perhaps that contributed to what was a fairly dull match. That side, most Australian derbies are pretty dour at the moment.

Well done to the Brumbies. As Kafe (I think) put it, you can spot a quality team when the other side leads most of the possession/handling etc statistics but the team still finds a way to win matches. I think that they might be a little raw to go far in the finals this year but with a years experience in the current team they could be very dangerous next year come finals time.

 

[BPC]

Do they really hate Queenslanders that much?

Does a bear shit in the woods? Is the Pope a Catholic? Does Richie cheat constantly?

 

[Hawko]

Just flipped over to my fantasy results. Thanks to Brown's leniency, Alexander was the second highest scoring prop this week. I watched the match and I still don't get that.

 

[It is what it is]

The Waratahs NEVER play 'ready rugby'.
They are never ready to;
- Counter attack......their players don't (can't?) make the effort to get back in numbers to launch anything.
- Take the quick tap.....they ponder, walk back away from the mark, put their hands on hips and each find a blade of grass to stare at.
- Attack after any more than 4 phases......they are exhausted and the backline loses shape and would fit under a beach umbrella.

My simple question is…..What do the Waratahs do all week at training?
They are disjointed, unfit, lack structure, cannot pass (Barnes), cannot catch (Mumm), cannot kick (all).

They played like they had been thrown together for the first time.
Stop the BS excuses, there were 15 players on each team and the scoreboard read 0-0 at kick off

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Rugbyheaven is reporting a crowd of 22844 in the Homebush Canyons last night.

Not surprising and it looked empty on the tele last night.

22844 is still a pretty ordinary crowd for SFS but at least it looks like there is a bit of a crowd there, and in that venue you can get a bit of atmosphere going.

The bean counters in Tah HQ at Moore Park must be worried about those crowd figures and impact on revenue.

Maybe that is the only way to get change within the franchise - through the hip pocket.

 

[I like to watch]

S & C leaps out as a reason why the Tahs are constantly outperformed in the 2nd half regularly,but I also belive that they "tighten up".
They have been in a position to set up for field goals or do as other teams do & play the pick & drive to ''bait'' a penalty.
But they don't. That is a leadership issue they should have resolved after the first 5 or 6 close losses.
That they can dominate a game everywhere but the scoreboard just highlights that they are non winners.
The coach publicly announcing that he would settle for a assistant role next year, just demonstrates that the whole joint too easily adjusts to working with failure and poor results, without any consequences.
When the coach can't believe he won't be sacked,and he is wrong.
What does that say about the joint?

 

[tragic]

Over the season?

Yes.

And that's all that matters.

The Brumbies deserve their spot on the ladder.

Your turn to take the white glasses off slim. The bumbles haven't beaten any of the current top seven sides this year, and this includes the reds. They have benifited from not having to play the crusaders or sharks and having multiple games against the lower ranked sides.
I would like to see an Aussie side progress but unfortunately I can't see the brumbies reversing their form against the top sides.

 

[Slim 293]

Your turn to take the white glasses off slim. The bumbles haven't beaten any of the current top seven sides this year, and this includes the reds. They have benifited from not having to play the crusaders or sharks and having multiple games against the lower ranked sides.
I would like to see an Aussie side progress but unfortunately I can't see the brumbies reversing their form against the top sides.

Oh dear, not this hypothetical rubbish again.......

Also, you're wrong....... the Brumbies didn't play the Crusaders or the Stormers.

They played the Sharks, who we had a close loss to.

Based on last years draw, the Brumbies would've played the Crusaders at home, and the Stormers in Cape Town.

Have you looked up that history?

I could easily counter that by saying the Reds have benefited from not playing the Hurricanes, who they lost against last year, and again a few weeks ago in an exhibition match.

They also didn't play the Cheetahs, who they would've played away when they were out of form. And the Cheetahs beat all the other Aussie teams aside from the Brumbies.

The Reds record against the top 8 this year is not much better.

There's only one fact here, and that is the Brumbies have been the better team over the course of the season, and that is highlighted by their deserved position on the ladder.

The Brumbies have not lost to a team by more than 7 points, and have thus been awarded with points from EVERY match.