I usually don't write a lot about the games on the forum but the Waratahs are to be congratulated for their win. It was good for an old Tahs' fan to see, but it wasn't worth the butcher's bill of George Smith and Tatafu Polota-Nau.
I thought the Brumbies strangled the Tahs in the first half and the Tahs didn't know how to respond: it was a bit like the Bulls game for them - and Round 4 in Canberra, of course.
As others have indicated: you don't get the vibe of thing watching on TV.
I thought the strategy of running from their own 22 was flawed, and nearly always will be for any team. There are exceptions, of course: to get go forward preparing for a clearing kick is one; or when there is an obvious hole, or if you can have a crack out wider, but pass to a team mate before contact if things don't work out, so he can reef the pill to the shithouse.
Cheika's comment that he expected to get penalties to be able to exit his 22 was naïve because the vibe was saying that the Brumbies weren't getting pinged enough for the strategy to work. But therein lies one of the Tahs' deficiencies this year: poor exits from their 22. Mitchell should have been OK with his left foot, but he was charged down for a try - and Crawford's right foot was missing.
There is no criticism of the Brumbies here: they were wading through and a bit around and, oops sorry, loitering for those precious clearing seconds near McKibbin and not being pinged a lot — it was like watching Liam Messam and Richie McCaw clones — and they would have been barking mad not to keep doing it.
The offside line of the Brumbies' backs was also more noticeable at the ground; mind you, I think that some of the Tahs' forwards must have astigmatism, or some such disorder, because they have been a step or two offside for most rucks in 2013.
Talking about barking mad: I wrote a while back that Deans would be such if he did not pick Barnes in his squad. I also wrote that it was a pity that Barnes had missed so many weeks because Cheika, and his system, could have turned him into a better flyhalf.
It seems that training with the Tahs has transformed Barnes into the type of flyhalf that is best suited to playing against the Lions - a game manager and yet a facilitator of flat attack - just in time for him to go offshore, unfortunately.
His influence against two Lions-like teams — the Stormers and the Brumbies — will have reassured Deans that he has such a player, either to start or at least to backup JOC (James O'Connor) or QC (Quade Cooper) should they be running on.
Unlike some other candidates: with Barnes you know that when he is in form he is just as likely to take that form up.
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