Sio got subbed for Ruan Smith with maybe 10 to go. If Alexander came off it was in the dying minutes.
Thought that might be the case. The Brumbies bench front row was really going to be a sore point. For a couple of Saffer rep players, the Smith brus are pretty shit scrummagers.
But the cheer quieter thing has been around for a while. I actually have been told to shut up on several occasions by those around me in the past. Not for abusing players or officials but for cheering to loudly. One eve. Told me I was distracting h from his conversation. Who pays $100+ to not watch a test match?
There are some real pillocks out there.
OK back to the game - I haven't seen a replay and will probably never get around to it, not being a Fuxtard subscriber. But from my seat a dozen rows back on halfway:
Nic White had a poor start to the game, with a few errant passes early on resulting in the Tahs having time to rush up and smack the carrier, or pick up a loose ball for Alofa's try.
I felt the Waratahs had the edge in the scrum. The early short arm against us for "pushing early" made us a bit gun shy, and Fardy took full advantage by sliding up onto the front row every time Peyper wasn't watching. I'm told that Joubert was giving Peyper advice on the scrum but he appeared to be ignoring it. Tahs were penalised a couple of times but got the heave-ho going as well really effectively.
Fucking lineout. JEEZ! Too slow setting up is the first issue, giving the opposition plenty of time to line them up. Also the throw versus the lift has the jumper in the air too long, allowing him to get beaten by a quicker lift. Not enough throws were called to Douglas or Palu, and Hoiles got picked off multiple times calling himself. Chapman improved things noticeably. Brumbies did some good quick moves off the front which should have been a lesson to us.
General play was just fucking furious. Peyper gave no fucks for the offiside line, but here is the biggest issue the Tahs had: Phipps.
In the first half, he was step-passing (and sometimes step-step) which was allowing the Brumbies tons of time to get up in our face (including some very nice shooter work by Kuridrani, To'omua, and Lilo). In the second half he cut that shit out which improved our attack noticeably. There was one period where we were getting some pretty serious gain line runs going because the pace was back on the ball.
The 6-2 bench worked out perfectly. Douglas busted his arse all around the park in a largely unsung performance, then Skelton came on to destroy the Brumbies' maul prospects and cause some damage in midfield. And the offload - HOW WAS THE OFFLOAD?
Folau was very well looked after but created a little space towards the end. Couple of silly offload attempts that fortunately bounced the right way for us.
Brumbies seemed to fall back on "chuck it to Henry" as their first and second attack plans. He looked dangerous all night too with Kuridrani out there helping.
Peyper, in case I hadn't mentioned it, was a useless c**t. The knock-on by Foley, the scrum shenanigans, the high tackle on AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) where advantage expired almost instantaneously - the list is long. No shot of a spot in the final and shouldn't even be running the line.
That's all pretty random except for one more thing: HOOPERMAN!
