Waratahs v Bulls, Round 12, 14 May 2016

[Groucho]

Good game Tahs. Good signs going forward. Better to be coming up at the end, as my old clubbing mates used to say. Great performance Dave Dennis. Kudos also to perpetual motion Phipps: all the scrumhalf the Wallabies need.

 

[Groucho]

I heard on the coverage that Beale has a patella tendon tear. If it's a complete tear then that's a surgery-type injury and possibly season-ending.

 

[ChargerWA]

Gibson commented it's a significant Patella related injury and he has been taken to hospital.

 

[galumay]

Gibson commented it's a significant Patella related injury and he has been taken to hospital.

I imagine there are a few furious phone calls to insurers in the UK happening as we ponder!

 

[Quick Hands]

Gibson commented it's a significant Patella related injury and he has been taken to hospital.

Just home from the game. The Beale injury was just about the wierdest injury that I've ever seen on a rugby field. Not quite sure what he was attempting to do, but whatever it was he mucked it up badly.

Sounds like a season ending injury which is unfortunate for the Waratahs and the Wallabies. Wish him a speedy recovery. He's just signed a deal which could set him up for life - hope he's able to fulfil it.

 

[Quick Hands]

Motm: Phipps, Foley, Hooper, Dennis?

Phipps for me.

 

[Brumby Runner]

Thoughts from an outsider.

Bulls were woeful in attack, but the Tahs had lost KB (Kurtley Beale) early and he is one of their attacking lynch pins, so good effort by them.

Phipps' first try was very doubtful. He was on the ground flat out with the Bulls' player lying on top of him. In my book, that means he was held, but not the way the ref saw it.

Thought Izzy was best on ground. In KB (Kurtley Beale)'s absence, he really stood up at 13 and provided the only real test of the Bulls' defense. In the end, he was instrumental in many of the moves that got the Tahs the bonus point. Foley was also very good.

 

[Quick Hands]

Good and bad coming out of this game for the Waratahs. Obviously the Beale injury is significant on a number of levels. The scrum oscillates between satisfactory and decidedly shaky and is still a concern. We seem to have cut out the dumb, poor discipline penalties, which is a positive. I like the intent that I saw out there tonight, it seems to me that Gibson is aiming for a style of play akin to what we saw from the Highlanders and the Crusaders last night. That's still a work in progress as there doesn't seem to be the same skill level at the speed and intensity required (players should have these before they get to super level, but that's another story). Too often players had to stop to catch a slightly ill-directed pass, or reach behind themselves or down below their knees - they were at least putting themselves in position to play that type of rugby, just a metre too shallow in many instances. Those momentary pauses just act to slow the whole attack down and give the defence that split second to reorganise or realign. Once this stuff becomes more precise, we should reap the benefits. It's a long term thing though. Defence and intensity at the breakdown were good.

Kellaway continues to impress - another solid game. Horwitz not quite there yet at this level - hope he can step up, especially after the Beale injury.

 

[Lee Grant]

I suspect you are right about KB (Kurtley Beale), that didnt look like a low level injury.

He has significant damage to his patella tendon.

When asked if Beale would be back to play for the Tahs this season Gibson said: "Hard to say at the moment but I image it would be extremely unlikely".
.

 

[Quick Hands]

Phipps' first try was very doubtful. He was on the ground flat out with the Bulls' player lying on top of him. In my book, that means he was held, but not the way the ref saw it.

Not really. What happened was that he was grabbed, and in the process of falling to the ground the person who was holding him let go and Phipps fell to the ground while not being held by anyone. A Bulls player then fell on him, but did not ever grasp or hold him. The momentum of the Bulls player meant that he rolled off Phipps, who was thus on the ground and not being held. He was never "on the ground" and "being held by an opponent" at the same time and thus he was never "tackled". (my bold and underline)

A tackle occurs when the ball carrier is held by one or more opponents and is brought to ground.
A ball carrier who is not held is not a tackled player and a tackle has not taken place.

http://laws.worldrugby.org/?law=15

 

[Quick Hands]

Some medical information:

Patella tendon tears are a relatively common and severe injury. There are many ways to tear or rupture your patella tendon.

You slipped on ice, fell downstairs or you simply felt your knee give out. In the case of Jimmy Graham of the Seattle Seahawks, you simply land awkwardly.

The patella tendon is an extremely strong tendon (actually a ligament) that connects the patella (knee cap) to the tibia. The patella tendon is an absolutely essential structure for walking or running. When the patella tendon tears you can not straighten your leg… or if you can move it, it is very weak.

If you have injured your knee and your knee can not support you because it gives out and feels weak then you may have torn your patella tendon. You will immediately need crutches and a brace to stabilize your knee and prevent injury from recurrent falls.

After your emergent treatment you will need to see an Orthopedist, preferably a Sports Medicine specialist trained in the management of soft tissue injuries.
Surgery is almost always recommended for patella tendon tears. If your patella tendon is not repaired, you will not be able to walk without your leg constantly giving way. For professional athletes this is a recoverable, but severe season ending injury.


At the time of surgery your patella tendon is reattached to the patella. Many of us will also incorporate additional tension relieving stitches so that we can start an accelerated rehabilitation protocol to get you up and walking faster. This surgery will lead to significant stiffness and weakness. The recovery will be long and requires a lot of effort on your part after the tendon heals and the physical therapy begins.

http://www.howardluksmd.com/orthopedic-social-media/patella-tendon-tears/

 

[Lindommer]

Phipps' first try: watching it live, albeit from the front of the upper deck on the halfway line (ie. about 75/80m away), it looked like he was held. BUT, a replay on the big screen showed he wasn't held while on the ground and Jackson was in an excellent position to adjudicate proceedings. Fair try every day.

 

[fatprop]

Nice to win, but that game was pretty dire, especially after watching the clan v 'saders the night before, too much one out stuff, not enough effort\structure in attack after a couple of phases.

We will have to improve by about 100% to get within a few points of the 'saders in Christchurch.

I thought Jackson was quite good at reffing the breakdown, although his fairness added a load of stop\start to the game.

 

[Froggy]

On the Phipps Try, the original tackler didn't ever have him held, the second man in was in contact for a short period, and then rolled off. No-one was in contact with Phipps when he got up and made the second effort for the try.
The question is, was the second defender in contact long enough for Phipps to have to release (or place) the ball. That, to me , is a bit of a judgement call and we all know what Jackson's judgement was, and to be fair, he was right on the spot.

 

[Quick Hands]

On the Phipps Try, the original tackler didn't ever have him held, the second man in was in contact for a short period, and then rolled off. No-one was in contact with Phipps when he got up and made the second effort for the try.
The question is, was the second defender in contact long enough for Phipps to have to release (or place) the ball. That, to me , is a bit of a judgement call and we all know what Jackson's judgement was, and to be fair, he was right on the spot.

Although "in contact" is not the same as "holding", which is the test.

 

[Brumby Runner]

In Beale's absence, I thought both Foley and Folau really had big games and covered his loss extremely well.

Another good sign for the Tahs was the intent of the forward runners to take the ball at pace and get over the advantage line. Very different from what was on offer from the Brumbies and Reds where mostly the forward receiving the ball was standing still and then had to try to run with the defense already up in their faces. Simple play really, but our teams seem to make hard work out of it.

The Tahs have a hard run home, but just need to keep winning (as is possible) to take the conference winner spot.

 

[boyo]

I imagine there are a few furious phone calls to insurers in the UK happening as we ponder!

Dai Young would be having conniptions.

 

[Lindommer]

The phrase, a curate's egg, comes to mind when I think about this match.

The positives

• The bonus point. And didn't they make us sweat, getting it at 70 minutes after waiting for the best part of half an hour (the second try was at about 42 minutes), losing it at 73 and then grabbing it back in the 79th minute! If they had've missed the BP not gaining one in two weeks would've looked liked profligacy; they were so close to no BPs/two BPs from two matches. On such fine margins are competitions won and lost.
• Foley and Folau stepped up to paper over the absence of Beale as best they could.
• Tahs defence when the Bulls bashed their line for most of the first quarter was magnificent. I got the impression watching it live they were enjoying tackling those big bastards.
• Lineout much improved.
• Hooper continues to show up Bob Dwyer..... Thanks, Bob.
• Dennis performed heroically, carted the ball up superbly with excellent technique, shoulder down with the ball well tucked up. Always made metres in contact.
• Folau continues to improve at 13. There were a few instances last night when he looked like an instinctive rugby player, some very good work at the breakdown.
• Horne did so much unseen stuff in both attack and defence, what a player.
• Kellaway looking very confident at this level. Apart from the missed tackle leading to the Bulls try.
• Hanigan looks like a Super Rugby player. We need a 6 like Ned to balance the backrow, especially when Holloway returns.

The negatives

• Beale's injury, 'nuff said.
• Passing still not good enough, too many at head height and/or to the man, not in front of him. A small adjustment here would make a huge difference to the running ability of this talented backline.
• Scrum put through a stern test and were found wanting. A negative on the night but they now know what's required to mix it with the better scrums.
• Gibson took too long to run on the reserves, for the second consecutive week. The front row were being dished up yet the benchies didn't make an appearance until the 70 minute mark.
• Palu and Mumm are both on the slide, starting to make mistakes. Cliffy's finding more than 30 minutes a problem, left on far too long last night.
• Robinson's still not comfortable with the subtleties of rugby, those two dinky kicks when running down the touchlines in the second half looked awful, and both gave up possession. The Saffer right winger showed how to do it when running towards Kellaway's Corner (formerly Campo's Corner) shortly after Robinson's second brain explosion: when cornered he cut infield, protected the ball in the tackle and trusted his teammates to make the breakdown. In this instance the Bulls retained possession.
• Big Willie. MMmmm. I don't think he's improved since his appearance in 2013, he's still at a level where he relies on his physical size, and that's it. Willie played colts against my son 5/6 years ago, I look at my son now and see a young man, when Willie was stripped to his torso last week I saw a big kid. OK, a VERY big kid, but a big kid nonetheless. He's much too high in contact (see above remark on Dennis) and his natural physical attributes aren't negating the attention he gets every week. Also, Willie, those four handling errors didn't look too flash.

 

[Pfitzy]

Woke up this morning, and strolled into the lounge room to flick on the TV and watch some FTA Super Rugby action.

Some pair of teams running 2nd and 3rd (apparently) in the Aussie conference were on. So I gave that 10 minutes and then wondered why the fuck they weren't showing something that would rate.

In any case, I'm watching highlights of the Tahs game now via youtube. Here is my summary, based on four minutes of footage, which is OK because I think 40 of those minutes at least were shit, based on what I've heard.

Plus I'm awesome.

Firstly, what the fuck is with the red and black strip for the visiting side? Go back to pink, you fucking wombles.

Great first try by Phipps. Being landed on doesn't count as held. Anyone suggesting otherwise is a cretin. Should have penalised the Bulls player for hitting a man on the ground if that's your issue.

How the fuck did the Bulls get a penalty at halftime when their blokes drove straight up out of that scrum?

Bulls look completely disinterested on defence. I'm sure they've got some bullshit excuse about the ref having it in for them or something.

Phipps' second try looked like everyone was running through treacle. Same move as Mumm's try - Hooper first receiver, out the back to a drifting Foley, take options from there.

 

[Gnostic]

To my biased eye (after the first 30 minutes) this was a step up from the Brumbies Rebels game which frustrated me so much with its slow pace and error rate, though that is probably influenced heavily by following directly from a brilliant Highlanders side.

The Tahs cover defensive work, especially by Phipps, Foley and Kellaway is fantastic, but many of those brilliant tackles should never have been required, with a very disorganised and staggered chase line. The Bulls inept attack was unable to find the line despite these clean break and the Tahs shouldn't kid themselves that the Crusaders will not have multiple options supporting the ball carrier so the break dies with the single carrier.

Straus in my view should have been yellow carded (and IMO a cogent argument can be made for Red) for fending with the forearm and contacting Hooper with it above the shoulder. It is dangerous in the extreme and reckless.

@ Lindomer - the starting front row wasn't replaced even though they were getting dished up simply because I doubt anybody would have much faith in the reserves being able to hold better than a totally stuffed starting front three. If Robertson hadn't come along and displaced Taavao (perhaps the worst signing since Tahu and Blacklock in terms of performance at core duties) then I would think the Tahs wouldn't be fighting for their conference win.
- Dennis and Mumm. I thought Mumm had a poor start to the game with the other 29 players on the field. I thought Denis had his best game for some time but hardly heroic and not that much better than Mumm, who is far behind his form from last year.

For mine the Tahs have improved greatly from where they were 6 weeks ago, still no where near the standard of the Kiwi sides, but moving in the right trajectory.

Looking towards next year there will be four big signings that need to be attended to. Two locks (or a dominant lineout lock and a 6 like Ben Mowen who can also dominate at lineout) and two props. Add in a decent scrum coach.