Waratahs vs Lions. Sydney.

[aussie1st]

Haha omg that score is massive. Was watching the NRL, saw the half time score at 30 something but never expected them to go on. Guess the attacking problems are long gone.

 

[spectator]

I bet the Waratahs turn up with their A game this weekend. It will be an open game and will be raining tries. Part of the frustration of being a Tahs supporter at the moment I guess.

Yep, as predicted. Lions looked like a team in the second week of a road trip.

All credit to the Tah's though, that's a lot of points. And well done Drew Mitchell.

 

[Jethro Tah]

Good stuff Tahs!

I had a crap live feed so only got about 70% of the game. From I saw, great to see; bonus points, ball in hand, having a run from their own half, a lot less aimless kicking away of possession, general support play, the scrum, Barnes finally finding some form. Anesi will surely be benched now (did he even see the ball?) with Beale, Mitchell or even Turner better options at 15. Still work to be done on ball handling. I haven't seen the stats yet but did they ever contest the Lions lineout - not from the bits that I saw. I think they could have gone up another gear if needed, which they surely will against better opposition.

 

[Lindommer]

None of the Uni coaches?

...Rob Egerton...

Coaching at Grammar last I heard. Some parents want Grammar to improve and stop getting flogged every year by King's, Joeys, Shore, et al. Their results the last few have showed an upward improvement. The overall numbers playing rugby at Grammar is another matter.

 

[Scarfman]

Really, full credit to the Tahs for playing 80 minutes, but very little to take out of this game. The Lions were non-competitive. Bring on the Spears.

 

[waratahjesus]

come on scarfman, the haters on here have never played any respect to the tahs opposition, its been about the tahs playing boring and to what the other teams want them to, so there fore, the tahs are the greatest team in the comp now, brilliant at everything and playing entertaining rugby not like the reds and there low try count

 

[Hawko]

The Lions are not a top-rated team, but their defense was not as bad as it looked on the scoreboard. The Tahs ran the ball with great power through the forwards and the backs finished well. They looked like they did in the first quarter against the Bulls, and that form has the potential to beat anybody! So, Scarfman, I don't think that performance should be belittled.

Neither should it be over-hyped WJ. There are still a lot of things wrong:

Our lineout work is still iffy on our throw and we don't contest the opposition throw in any meaningful way.
Our forward defense will have to be better against the good teams. Often we let the Lions make 4 or 5 extra metres after looking to have made a dominant tackle - body height too high and first tackler not going for the legs.
Burgess was better this week but still did his "Meerkat" impression on several occasions and his pass got us into trouble at least once.
Hangers and Barnes have not yet gelled as a pair, although tonight was better.
Our flow from 12 to 13 and onwards was not fluid until Horne came on.
Anese is not delivering the dynamic play from fullback that we brought him over for and he appears to have lost a lot of the pace he used to have.

The Tahs are in the easy part of the draw now, with the Force, Cheetahs, Blues etc. This is the time to consolidate our selections, try a few new things and prepare ourselves for the really tough last rounds: Crusaders, Brumbies, Chiefs, Hurricanes, they will determine our season result. Those four plus the Bulls and Stormers and the Tahs are the top seven teams and seven into four doesn't go. Also we desperately need bonus points - this years draw ensures the Bulls now will finish first unless their wheels fall off and that probably means the final on the high veldt. A home semi is essential as a launching pad if we have to travel there for the final.

And we should hope that the citing commissioners look as favourably on that tackle as Munro did, I didn't like the look of it much. We need Horne to use the next few weeks to to get fully fit and operational, not have another rest.

 

[waratahjesus]

i think it it should be overhyped, it was the wallabies in brisbane all over again.
the brumbies struggled to beat the lions and the Tahs put 70 on em.
if the Tahs had lost by 70 in the second week of a road trip and said it was cos there tired then according to previous posts they would have been "making excuses" so why not celebrate this like a reds fan celebrated the moral victory they had over the tahs in round one with there style of play?

 

[mark_s]

Our lineout work is still iffy on our throw and we don't contest the opposition throw in any meaningful way.
Our forward defense will have to be better against the good teams. Often we let the Lions make 4 or 5 extra metres after looking to have made a dominant tackle - body height too high and first tackler not going for the legs.
Burgess was better this week but still did his "Meerkat" impression on several occasions and his pass got us into trouble at least once.
Hangers and Barnes have not yet gelled as a pair, although tonight was better.
Our flow from 12 to 13 and onwards was not fluid until Horne came on.
Anese is not delivering the dynamic play from fullback that we brought him over for and he appears to have lost a lot of the pace he used to have.

Spot on comments Hawko
TPN's throwing is still a lottery. I can't see it getting better if Foley hasn't been able to fix it after 4 years.
I thought we looked better with Holmes at 9, I was dissappointed they broght burgess back from the blood bin so quickly.
Anese was the most surprising the selection of the week for me. I was discussing him with a kiwi at the game last ngiht, he reckons he was always afraid of contact and just tended to do one or two flashy things a game. Time to give him a rest and start Beale..

 

[Langthorne]

11 tries - win and bonus point - nice :yay , and considering that they were playing with a couple of selection handicaps it is even better. Imagine what they could do with their best 15 starting?!

Barnes and Mumm really turned it around from last week, and it is great to see the wingers come looking for the ball (their best chance of getting their hands on it). I loved the fast forward ball, the pop passes and the 'tap and go' s. Ball in hand rugby seems to have worked out.

-The restarts were still poor, but that is an improvement on utterly crap.
-Anesi seems to still be suffering from jet lag
-Carter is still a solid player, but isn't playing in his best position, so doesn't look as good as he could
-Opposition scrums seem to have learnt how to undermine the Tahs dominant scrum (the same way the Wallabies did to other teams under Eddie Jones)

A bonus point win is a bonus point win, even against the Lions. Onwards and upwards!

 

[fatprop]

Not perfect, but very "Crusaders like" in structure with strong defence, leveraging turnovers, strong forward passing movements with far better support.

Most importantly, they kept their patterns, a couple of time it got lose and they tightened back up and stuck to the game structure.

 

[Scarfman]

The Lions had a good lineout, Clever played with heart, but they were truly awful. They would run up in a zigzag line, the first tackle would be missed cold, and then it was all about basketball passes from one Tah forward to the next until Drew caught up with them.

Anesi was fucking awful. The reason Turner only got two pies is that he was doing Anesi's job for him.

Carter's dash for the line at 4:00 needs a highlight video with the theme music from Powaqaatsi.

On the positive side, can someone send a Herogram to Hangers for me? I've bagged the bloke for 3 or 4 years and the little prick has gone on improving behind my back. He is far from a complete 10, but he looks like the man to lead this backline in 2010. Full credit.

Scarf also wrong about Caldwell. I thought he should be starting but he really struggled when he came on. Surely the Mumm / Douglas / Mowen combo now picks itself.

Agree about Al Baxter - should have given him a point.

 

[RugbyReg]

I know he stuffed up too, but its a great sign that Drew is getting his hands on the ball - like that first try. Excellent stuff.

 

[Pfitzy]

Went looking for work which is a sign that the game plan has at least relaxed a little.

But you have to ask: why did we kick so much against the Sharks last week? Conditions were slightly different, but the Lions had the speed to punish anything bad we did in our own half and we didn't seem to care. Once we relaxed things started to pay off.

That said, against decent opposition (sorry Hawko, but the Lions defence WAS as bad as the score suggested) most of this shit isn't going to come off so we can't get too far ahead of ourselves.

 

[Spook]

Well done TAHS. Getting game...

 

[Godfrey]

i think it it should be overhyped, it was the wallabies in brisbane all over again.
the brumbies struggled to beat the lions and the Tahs put 70 on em.
if the Tahs had lost by 70 in the second week of a road trip and said it was cos there tired then according to previous posts they would have been "making excuses" so why not celebrate this like a reds fan celebrated the moral victory they had over the tahs in round one with there style of play?

I agree with you. Now that the Tards are being more like the Reds we should reward them. Well done Tah's.

 

[en_force_er]

Tahs showed signs of a classy team.

The fact the Lions were dead and buried at half time and the Tahs still put on the big hits in attack and defense in the 2nd half bodes well for them.

 

[Lee Grant]

On the positive side, can someone send a Herogram to Hangers for me? I've bagged the bloke for 3 or 4 years and the little prick has gone on improving behind my back. While they are at it add in my apologies about Daisy Dennis, though it was hard to assess him just on club form.

Scarf also wrong about Caldwell. I thought he should be starting but he really struggled when he came on. Surely the Mumm / Douglas / Mowen combo now picks itself. It wasn't Caldwell's type of game and anyway, Douglas is leaving him behind. I thought his benching may have been the consequence of his long illness, but that kite is no longer flying. Let's give Hickey some credit now for the Dennis selection despite the whinges - and for Douglas.

But you have to ask: why did we kick so much against the Sharks last week? Inexplicable last week and is still unaccountable. You can't blame travel on such a deliberate plan in the 2nd half. It would not have been so bad if the kicks were well placed but they were execrable.

I loved the fast forward ball, the pop passes and the 'tap and go' s. Ball in hand rugby seems to have worked out. As a good judge posted before the game: that was the way to beat the Lions, but the Tahs were guilty of a bit of helter skelter rugby in the 2nd half. To their credit they settled that down. Give Hickey some credit for a good game plan to mitigate the shocker he had last week.

-The restarts were still poor, but that is an improvement on utterly crap. Yes, and at least they had ample opportunity to practise receiving restarts. They will have to practise lineout attack also. The Tahs haven't had access to Vickerman's brain for some time, but they should be doing better in this area nevertheles.

looks like a training game for the tahs. even when trying to playing running stuff they lookng boring. Not all the time

This is the time to consolidate our selections, try a few new things and prepare ourselves for the really tough last rounds. If the Tahs paste too much newspaper copy in their scrapbooks after playing one good attacking game against a crap team they will slip on a few banana skins before they play the Kiwi teams. Alas, I have seen Tahs teams roller coaster too much in Super rugby.

Here is the blog on the game:

http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/much-better-but-dont-let-it-go-to-your-heads/

 

[TheRiddler]

The Tahs werent that good, the Lions were that bad!

Congrats for a great win but if anyone thinks we've turned a corner and all the problems of the last 18 months have gone away then they're kidding themselves. As more astute and insightful posters than myself have already commented, there are still a number of areas of concern and my worry is that last night's result will simply paper over the cracks - for the time being!

I did have a WJ moment last night. Was walking around the outside of the stadium as the Tahs we entering from their team bus (not sure why they have a team bus for home games - where does it leave from??), my phone rang and in an absent minded moment, I stopped dead to answer it, causing Carter to walk into me. I havent dry-cleaned the suit yet WJ so you can buy it off me if you want Just glad it was Carter rather than TPN who was walking with him - he is a very solid unit.

 

[Lee Grant]

You wear a suit to the footie? Had you just come from work? Righto, excused then.

So Carter walked right into you?