Waratahs vs Chiefs Super Rugby Rd 10, Fri 19 April 2013

[Hawko]

Pass to Crawford in the lead up to that last try was about half a metre forward, should've been denied on a TMO review like a Crusaders 'try' was last week.

Chiefs looked flat as a tack for most of that game.

The Chiefs were made to look flat! The first half from the Tahs was great rugby. I doubt that any team this year would have withstood that and only been 15 points down. Then they came back in the second half with a flea in their ear and upped their workrate and some of their close passing on the break was absolutely fantastic. They are the best NZ team by a wide margin.
The fact that the Tahs could win after the Chiefs comeback says that they are a better team than many give them credit for.

• If there has been a better performance by a 15 this year I haven't seen it. If Folau can improve as much in the second half of the comp as he has in the first then he will be capped against the Lions for sure. He was absolutely sensational, constantly breaking the line against one of Super 15's best and stingiest defences. And he puts his supports away, he's not a ball hog.
• TPN threw straight all night, only one judged crooked and the Chiefs threw plenty just as bad. No doubt the haters will find fault.
• Horne also had a good game, especially as he was marking Kahui. Another one the knockers will probably find fault with
• AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) was superb as was Foley,
• Cam Crawford looks like a keeper. Does he kick for goal? If he can, he'll be hard not to pick. McKibbon's passing was again very variable. I really want to see Lucas start against the Kings.
• I was glad to see big Willy didn't make the 22. This was not the game for a rookie.

This was the best, most enjoyable game I've watched with the Tahs since Link was shafted.

 

[ChargerWA]

Congrats Waratahs. Very happy for you. Everyone played extremely well.

They say the best players look like they have all the time in the world. Folau looked like that tonight. Really hope he stays in Rugby.

 

[ACT Crusader]

Geez folau is looking good, probably mom for me just as much for his work in defence. He makes things look very easy. For the forwards, I thought Douglas and Robinson were good and hooper had his moments. Kepu seems to be lazy more often than not at the ruck now and is a regular penalty risk.

All in all, probably the best performance by the tahs so far this year but still plenty to work on and the 80 min performance continues to allude us.

That try saving tackle on Ngatai was fantastic play. Got the team fired up as well which is great for Folau.

Chiefs were always going to make a run, given they do have some class players and Tahs have inexperience out there, so it was a hard fought win to hold on.

From what I saw (was watching the League test up until the floodgates opened) it had a good intensity and was a step up from the Canes v Force game.

 

[qwerty51]

Folau's defence was the most striking point, against the Reds and Brumbies he was shown up but he looks to have fixed it up, he looks really comfortable and aware at the back now. He was great in positioning and cleaned up well. I dare say he's looking odds on for the Lions series. Problem is now what is he doing next year...

His ruck work was also very good, he followed the ball and got in low and drove over, was useful and looked like he knew what he was doing. Big tick for his development.

I'd also like to point out again this is Folau's 1st season in rugby. IMO he is having a greater impact than SBW did at the Crusaders and that was his 3rd year in rugby. Incredible what he could be if he sticks around.

 

[Sully]

I look forward to hearing how the Chiefs lost that game and the 100s of post about how good Folau was. He was pretty good wasn't he?

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk HD

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

The Chiefs were made to look flat! The first half from the Tahs was great rugby. I doubt that any team this year would have withstood that and only been 15 points down. Then they came back in the second half with a flea in their ear and upped their workrate and some of their close passing on the break was absolutely fantastic. They are the best NZ team by a wide margin.
The fact that the Tahs could win after the Chiefs comeback says that they are a better team than many give them credit for.

• If there has been a better performance by a 15 this year I haven't seen it. If Folau can improve as much in the second half of the comp as he has in the first then he will be capped against the Lions for sure. He was absolutely sensational, constantly breaking the line against one of Super 15's best and stingiest defences. And he puts his supports away, he's not a ball hog.
• TPN threw straight all night, only one judged crooked and the Chiefs threw plenty just as bad. No doubt the haters will find fault.
• Horne also had a good game, especially as he was marking Kahui. Another one the knockers will probably find fault with
• AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) was superb as was Foley,
• Cam Crawford looks like a keeper. Does he kick for goal? If he can, he'll be hard not to pick. McKibbon's passing was again very variable. I really want to see Lucas start against the Kings.
• I was glad to see big Willy didn't make the 22. This was not the game for a rookie.

This was the best, most enjoyable game I've watched with the Tahs since Link was shafted.

Totally agree with everything but especially on Horne. The only thing he failed on was a pass he should have thrown but to focus too much on that would be disingenuous toward his efforts. He has found his best position at 12. Been very good so far this season.

Not a complete performance. About 35 minutes short of it but against any other team we could have run away with that. We are about 70% there I'd say.

 

[kiap]

Go Tahs!

Go Izzy!

 

[Richo]

Obviously stoked with the result and particularly the fight back. We've already seen that the Tahs can play at a high level, but doing it when the chips are down is impressive. While it was disappointing to see the slippage after the break, the Chiefs are bloody good and were playing very well on that passage. The sin-binning (thoroughly deserved) did not come at a good time in that regard. A good team like the Chiefs is always going to make a fight of it -- the question is how you respond. The Tahs did so emphatically tonight

Some thoughts:

-Hooper was excellent and more effective at the break down, the latter probably because he wasn't stuck cleaning up everybody else's tackles so much.

-scrum was excellent. Not sure how it didn't draw a penalty or two - the Chiefs were on the back foot all night.

-maul defense was drastically improved from the Brumbies debacle. Timani was good in this regard in what was a meh game for the big fella.

-Drew. Hope it's not too bad.

-Foley continues to be dangerous taking the ball to the line, but I'd really like to see his kicks from hand improve.

-Palu bent the line and added some welcome starch to the back row. No idea on the stats, but it seemed like Hooper had more time to attack the ruck (rather than getting stuck as the primary tackler).

-Really rueing the loss to the Cheetahs right now.

 

[Richo]

I look forward to hearing how the Chiefs lost that game and the 100s of post about how good Folau was. He was pretty good wasn't he?

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk HD

Not sure if this is snark or not, Sully, but Izzy wasn't bad.

 

[qwerty51]

Timani and Douglas showed why they get Wallaby selections over Pyle/Neville/Jones. Maul defence. They used their big frames and worked their way through the Chiefs mauls and disrupted them before they got going.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

Obviously stoked with the result and particularly the fight back. We've already seen that the Tahs can play at a high level, but doing it when the chips are down is impressive. While it was disappointing to see the slippage after the break, the Chiefs are bloody good and were playing very well on that passage. The sin-binning (thoroughly deserved) did not come at a good time in that regard. A good team like the Chiefs is always going to make a fight of it -- the question is how you respond. The Tahs did so emphatically tonight

Some thoughts:

-Hooper was excellent and lore effective at the break down, the latter probably because he wasn't stuck cleaning up everybody else's tackles so much.

-scrum was excellent. Not sure how it didn't draw a penalty or two - the Chiefs were on the back foot all night.

-maul defense was drastically improved from the Brumbies debacle. Timani was good in this regard in what was a meh game for the big fella.

-Drew. Hope it's not too bad.

-Foley continues to be dangerous taking the ball to the line, but I'd really like to see his kicks from hand improve.

-Palu bent the line and added some welcome starch to the back row. No idea on the stats, but it seemed like Hooper had more time to attack the ruck (rather than getting stuck as the primary tackler).

-Really rueing the loss to the Cheetahs right now.

I thought he had a reasonably good game. He made plenty of tackles and was strong in the contact actually getting over the advantage line. Adds real power to the scrum. I really don't see the value of the big bloke from the Chiefs. Yes, he scored a try but his work rate isn't good and for such a large man he is very average in the scrum. Robinson had his number all game.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

Timani and Douglas showed why they get Wallaby selections over Pyle/Neville/Jones. Maul defence. They used their big frames and worked their way through the Chiefs mauls and disrupt them before they got going.

Douglas had a great game. Got through a tonne of work. Their combination is coming good at the right time leading into the Lions series.

 

[Richo]

Timani and Douglas showed why they get Wallaby selections over Pyle/Neville/Jones. Maul defence. They used their big frames and worked their way through the Chiefs mauls and disrupted them before they got going.

Timani also showed that he's got concrete hands and doesn't make great decisions. To my mind, he shouldn't be in the Wallabies frame unless there are lots of injuries.

 

[Hawko]

Timani also showed that he's got concrete hands and doesn't make great decisions. To my mind, he shouldn't be in the Wallabies frame unless there are lots of injuries.

He'll likely make the squad, but Horwill/Douglas is likely to be first choice, or maybe Douglas on the bench with MMM/Horwill.

 

[terry j]

Well colour me impressed by quite a few I had expressed doubts about (or at least 'did not see what others have seen')

The first time I was actually impressed by israel, palu was pretty damned good too, the first half was brilliant from basically all the side.

If thay can work it up to a full game then well, who knows

 

[Hawko]

Well colour me impressed by quite a few I had expressed doubts about (or at least 'did not see what others had seen').
If thay can work it up to a full game then well, who knows

I reckon there are a couple of coaches consulting the schedule to see when they come up against the Tahs and hoping that their form goes down from here. If it goes up from here a lot of teams are going to drop points.

 

[Shiggins]

I'm 20 into this game and iZzy is fucking unbelievable. For his first year Sony bill wasn't this good ( in francE) bloody impressive.

 

[jason08]

Go Tahs !!

Izzy was great

 

[Shiggins]

Wasnt the try scored after 2+ phases? I know there was a debate about the phases last week in the Force game

Nope. He is right. Lucky break
For the tahs

 

[something]

jeez, ive really liked watching the tahs there past 3 games. that was the best though. Throws out my betting but i dont really mind. Always good when the aussies get the win.