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Waratahs v Reds Match Thread

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waratahjesus

waratahjesus

Greg Davis (50)
sorry reg, but the festival of hate was for banter while the game thread was for this, your becoming a bit of a killjoy young sir.

anyway. reds have it cut out for them. Tahs seem to be overlooked as having any passion but i think they want to beat qld just as bad as qld wants them without question.

so much is made of the tahs centres, im not actually sure without go forward the reds have a centre pairing capable of anything, there biggest chance is cut out passes from quade to digby but the tahs defence out wide with turner and horne to mark him arnt going to give him much space.

this leads back tot eh forward battle and im sorry, but i dont see how bringing higgers on is going to save the reds at scrum time, the only hope they have is that the tahs dont turn up to play metally, and i just cant see that hapening.

reds to do better but i agree with RF, cant see them getting to within 10 at this stage.
 
Gnostic

Gnostic

Mark Ella (57)
I hope the Reds continue with Horwill at 6. Link seems to have a desire to match or at least get close to the pack weight of the Tahs. The problem for him is that in doing so he is sacrificing his pack's mobility and as we saw against the Force his heaviest pack isn't that powerful. The Reds looked ponderous and lacked impact at set peice. I have said on other threads that the Reds lineout struggled with three locks starting, how will they go against one of the best Lineouts in the competition (from last years stats) and the best Lineout Turnover winner (Mowen from last years stats)? Then we look at the scrum and ask how will the Reds handle a truly Wallabies class front row.

In also hope that Link continues to hide Cooper at fullback instead of demanding that he learn how to defend in his position. Having Cooper in the last line is a good thing for the Tahs, who have shown last year that they can make plenty of line breaks.

The only Reds I really worry about are Ioane, Genia and to a lesser extent Hynes and Chambers.
 
Penguin

Penguin

John Solomon (38)
I hope the Waratahs are as cocky as their fans, they'll be in for a big surprise. Beating an ad hoc new team by a large margin in the first game of the year could be the worst thing that could happen for NSW. I'll be grinning from ear to ear if the Reds finally put things back to rights. ;-)

Reds by 7 in another ugly game of 'trench warfare' type rugby.
 
vidiot

vidiot

John Solomon (38)
There is no doubt the Reds have to step up a long way, but I'm enjoying the confidence of the Tah supporters (and camp?) after a single round in which they were 'tested' by the Rabbles. Whereas the Reds have had an enormous kick in the backside at just the right time, and no cost.

The Tahs looked great last week. They looked like contenders that were playing a team that had barely played together, whose 1st choice 10 was injured in the first ten minutes, who were made up of converted mungos and near retirees and journeymen looking for redemption and a wannabe David Beckham.

All of things are true, in particular that the Tahs are contenders, and I love watching them for all that I support the Reds. But rugby is an arm wrestle where momentum has meaning (as the Poms proved over the wallabies on the EOYT) and momentum can come from motivation, from a coaching master plan, from the ref's whistle, from the roll of the ball.

Are the Tahs looking good? Hell yes, but they are not yet tested. Can the Reds get up? Well, yes.
 
DPK

DPK

Peter Sullivan (51)
Penguin said:
I hope the Waratahs are as cocky as their fans, they'll be in for a big surprise. Beating an ad hoc new team by a large margin in the first game of the year could be the worst thing that could happen for NSW. I'll be grinning from ear to ear if the Reds finally put things back to rights. ;-)

Reds by 7 in another ugly game of 'trench warfare' type rugby.
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Pfft. I'm looking forward to seeing the Reds forward pack getting eaten by the Tahs pack. Especially S. Finger, I'm hoping he gets his arse handed to him.
 
vidiot

vidiot

John Solomon (38)
The Konze said:
Pfft. I'm looking forward to seeing the Reds forward pack getting eaten by the Tahs pack. Especially S. Finger, I'm hoping he gets his arse handed to him.
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TPN is a weapon, no question, but Waugh/Dennis/Mowen is the problem for the Reds. I think that Link is trying to find an answer, but what has he got to work with? The Reds front and second row can battle it out fine.
 
waratahjesus

waratahjesus

Greg Davis (50)
vidiot said:
TPN is a weapon, no question, but Waugh/Dennis/Mowen is the problem for the Reds. I think that Link is trying to find an answer, but what has he got to work with? The Reds front and second row can battle it out fine.
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not sure the reds front row hung in there all that great on sunday and the tahs will be a step up, benn will probably be starting so it goes back to first choice, i cant see the reds having even equal footing there.

s.finger will have his work cut out for him, he is a very distant third when it comes to hookers in this country and im not sure he is even third as fitzpatrick is coming along nicely. TPN will eat him alive.
 
I like to watch

I like to watch

David Codey (61)
Gnostic said:
In also hope that Link continues to hide Cooper at fullback instead of demanding that he learn how to defend in his position. Having Cooper in the last line is a good thing for the Tahs, who have shown last year that they can make plenty of line breaks.
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It's a good thing for the Tahs whenever they play a team where the coaching staff have no faith in ALL the players they select. Link is kidding himself that they are contenders if he can't rely on each team member to do their own jobs.Winning teams are built on players believing in themselves & their teammates.Having said that QC (Quade Cooper)'s side on tackling is substantially better than his pitiful attempts at the front on stuff.
 
The Mayor of Perth

The Mayor of Perth

Ted Fahey (11)
Someone wrote the Tahs haven't been tested yet. I think they've been pretty bloody impressive since half way through last season and the personnel is pretty much the same. Since then a settled and confident Beale has come of age, Horne is back, Barnes may be back to his best and Cross has been added to the bench. And Douglass has grown!

Looking back at Qld's 22 from yesterday, where does the massive improvement that is required come from? Maybe Slipper could cause some problems for Kepu in conjunction with a ref treating Baxter as the usual suspect. They have to start Horwill at lock and change the back row. Genia should play better ergo Cooper could shine. Move Ioane to 13 and bench Chambers - probably not.

And the old 'Qld will get up for whatever match against NSW' may well have been buried at Suncorp last year, the Tahs seem to be smarter than that now.

I've always barracked for Qld in this match but I can't see them getting within 14.
 
RugbyReg

RugbyReg

Rocky Elsom (76)
Staff member
Looking back at Qld's 22 from yesterday, where does the massive improvement that is required come from?
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attitude I reckon. Intensity. Purpose. All those things. The Reds played poorly, so it seems obvious to say it, but massive improvement comes in playing better. Not many of those guys played at their best. So there's plenty of room for improvement.

qwerty51 said:
Kepu will be on the bench.

I hope TPN ends Fainga'a's season.
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that's a fairly harsh statement. Why? What's wrong with Saia?
 
DPK

DPK

Peter Sullivan (51)
RugbyReg said:
that's a fairly harsh statement. Why? What's wrong with Saia?
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While I don't agree with the severity of the original quote, I share the dislike of S Finger.

IMO, he is a lightweight poser, who's reputation is helped by the fact that he earned Test caps in the place of better players who were injured at the time, but in normal circumstances is unfit to play at the Test level.

Being part of the Reds balloon also makes me dislike him a little more.
 
Tangawizi

Tangawizi

Peter Fenwicke (45)
If Link's been reading all these posts about how the Tahs pack is going to completely dominate the scrum, it's a safe bet he'll opt for a 5/2 split on the bench. On the other hand, a 4/3 would show he's not too concerned.

Btw, who is the Ref? Hopefully not that dickhead from Sunday.
 
vidiot

vidiot

John Solomon (38)
waratahjesus said:
both actually, the tahs lineout as a unit is fantastic including TPN, and in the scrum he is second to none.
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TPN will have little direct impact on the Reds throws, but I'll grant you that his throwing has improved over the years from the pies he used to toss and now he throws as well as Fainga'a.

I have NFI about scrums but I have this preconception that there are 8 players from each side packing in them, and that I don't recall the Reds getting smashed last year or last week. I'm not saying the Reds scrum is a strength over the Tahs, but can they feed it and get the ball out? If they can, they are doing better than the Wallabies managed for 2010, and they won a few.

Retain possession, recycle, build phases. Avoid stupid errors. This was easy for the Tahs last week and hard for the Reds, and a big part of it was the work of the Force vs the Rabbles.
 
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