Waratahs vs Sharks. Sydney.

[Langthorne]

Re: Waratahs vs Fush 'n Chups

The bench strength is great, but that is mainly because 3 of them should really be starting: Mowen, Beale and Horne.

Horne is apparently recovering from injury, which leads me to ask why have him on the bench? If Carter is injured in the first minutes, is the coach saying Horne is not up to coming on? Surely if that is the case he is not a prudent choice as a reserve. Also, I think Mitchell lacks the defence for 13.

The consensus at G&GR seems to be that Mowen has been one of the Waratahs' best players (I agree). I generally think it is a good idea to have your best players playing as it is very difficult to have an impact on a game whilst sitting on the bench.

It may be that Mr Hickey doesn't think it would be fair on the Sharks if the Waratahs put out their best team.

Great to see TPN is OK to play.

 

[Moses]

Re: Waratahs vs Fush 'n Chups

Horne has recovered from his hamstring injury, but is lacking match fitness.

Mowen is also recently back from injury, perhaps with Mumm raring to go he's getting a bit of a rest against an out of form sharks side?

Couldn't agree more about :nau:

 

[Lee Grant]

Re: Waratahs vs Fush 'n Chups

• Mowen/Dennis?? - I thought that Mowen played OK against the Bulls, but I see some sense in the Dennis selection. Despite playing well in the 2nd row against the Bulls in a game where Hickey, correctly, wanted to increase the tempo of the game, Dennis' long term prospects in professional rugby are linked with the 6 position. Why not give him a go against the Sharks who haven't won a game yet?

And yep - the Sharks could play to their potential and bite me on the bum for that comment but Dennis has to get a gig on the blindside flank to show us what he can do. We already know what Mowen can do - and it's a lot.

• Horne - I was disturbed by Hickey's comments that Horne wasn't ready to start yet. I forget the context of the comment but if he's talking about whether Horne is physically fit or not, I would be disturbed that he was even in the 22, as he was last week. This fellow has had such a history or hamstring problems in the last 12 months that it beggars belief that he was used when not physically fit. If it's just a matter of not being match fit - different story.
Agree Moses - but I had started this post before i saw yours and will post it anyway.


• Douglas - If he keeps progressing like he has done to date, put this guy's name down as a smokey for the Oz EOYT even though he's only 20 years old. And we haven't seen yet in Super14 rugby the big hits he can do. Watch this space. What a luxury to have somebody of Calwell's stature on the bench.

• Robinson. I'd like to see Kepu get to start a game or two to let Fat Cat rest his shoulder a bit. If Smit is starting at THP, he should go OK.

• Beale. He deserved to be dropped for his poor relieving kick against the Stormers which Habana charged down and scored from. IMO he has to earn his starting spot back and it will do him no harm to wait. As for the charge down: he kicks almost exclusively with his right foot. Last year he tried a LF kick and it was charged down for a try, but at Newlands he elected to take the extra step so he could kick with the RF. If he had to kick in extremis with the RF he should have kicked it low under Habana's armpit, but he wasn't savvy enough to do so.

 

[CanadianRugby]

Re: Waratahs vs Fush 'n Chups

Again, Hickey with weird selections. There was some quote that Mowen would come on to impact the last part of the game. Surely your best players should start, no matter what, right? I'm pretty sure Mowen is better than Dennis, so play Mowen. Dennis can come on later as the impact player.

Horne needs to start at 13. Maybe he and Carter can split halves or something? Horne is just a better 13 in every way.

Lee, I'm conflicted about your statement that Beale need to earn his spot back. On the one hand, I agree that he needs to work hard and get his spot back. On the other hand, I think I prefer him at 15 to Anesi right now, mostly because Anesi hasn't really done much to impress me. Shouldn't your best players play?

Hickey did earn a reprive with a better showing against the Bulls. He needs a (good) win this week to keep it going.

 

[Langthorne]

Re: Waratahs vs Fush 'n Chups

Dennis.......Why not give him a go against the Sharks who haven't won a game yet?

And yep - the Sharks could play to their potential and bite me on the bum for that comment but Dennis has to get a gig on the blindside flank to show us what he can do. We already know what Mowen can do - and it's a lot.

• Beale. He deserved to be dropped for his poor relieving kick against the Stormers which Habana charged down and scored from. IMO he has to earn his starting spot back and it will do him no harm to wait.

No doubt the Sharks' hopes of winning will be bolstered by teams treating them with contempt.

It is interesting that the teams leading and winning the competition don't seem to have the same attitude to team selection - "yeah, we know Habana is good, why don't we see how good the back up is"......"Matfield is good in the lineout, but maybe we should give this other guy a run, just to see how he goes". What they tend to do is make sure the game is won, using their best possible stating 15, and then bring on reserves to preserve their starers, replace an injury, or give experience and exposure to fringe players.

It may not do the Waratahs any good having Anesi (in what way has he 'earnt' his starting place) on the field instead of Beale.

 

[Lindommer]

Re: Waratahs vs Fush 'n Chups

Who's going to see the sardines get canned? First home game of the year, I think a beer, or two, is called for.

 

[Moses]

Re: Waratahs vs Fush 'n Chups

I could be thirsty!

 

[Lee Grant]

Coaches have to keep a balance between finding their best team for a certain game and their best team for the season. If Dennis is Wallaby material according to Deans he is worthy of a spot in what I think will be his best position in pro rugby to see how he goes. One game is not too much to ask.

At the beginning of the season coaches don't necessarily know who is the best player for a certain position nor which combination is best; so I would allow a little leeway for a few games; but after the 4th round the team should become settled. If he keeps changing players for the whole season he would have done a poor job.

As for Anesi - who knows; maybe Hickey is giving him one last chance. Also, maybe he is not yet convinced that Beale is fullback material. I'm not meaning to defend Hickey, who has been a slow learner IMO. Some of his selections have been unaccountable in my eyes also, but I'm just mentioning that things are not as simple as they seem to we average punters.

The response may be the Tahs selection issimple, but that is brave talk.

IMO it is team play that is more important than individual selections; always has been. If the Tahs forwards can, as a group, counter ruck for most of a game as they did for some of it in Pretoria, and the backs in particular can figure out which player to tackle near their goal line, they will win a lot of games.

 

[PhucNgo]

Re: Waratahs vs Fush 'n Chups

I was hoping horne beale or even Nadolo would be in there!... Carter is still in there and for me he's a good bench player but nothing else. Has anyone ever thought about putting Mitchell at 13? I recon he's got the size, speed, n skills for 13.

Hmmm, defence?

 

[Scotty]

Not to mention passing and the ability to hold onto the ball in contact.

 

[TheRiddler]

Re: Waratahs vs Fush 'n Chups

Who's going to see the sardines get canned? First home game of the year, I think a beer, or two, is called for.

This weekend is the Audi Sydney Harbour Sailing regatta so a full day of racing on Saturday (with accompanying libations), celebrations at the clubhouse afterwards (with Kate Cebrano - and accompanying libations) and then a dash over to the SFS to good old bay 10 - with, of course, accompanying libations.

I have a feeling the second day of racing on Sunday could get off to a bit of a slow start. But nothing that a good libation or three cant sort out.

How's the abstinence going Scarfman?

 

[BRIX]

16. Damien Fitzpatrick (Eastwood)
17. Sekope Kepu (Randwick)
18. Will Caldwell (Sydney University)
19. Ben Mowen (Randwick)
20. Josh Holmes (Warringah)
21. Kurtley Beale (Northern Suburbs)
22. Rob Horne (Southern Districts)

I always think you can judge sides by their bench, that is pretty solid

Mate, I agree with you if your talking 'big picture' and a long, gruelling season. But it doesn't mean shit when you're down 27 points with 30 minutes to go. Trust me

 

[PaarlBok]

Fush & Chups team
1 Deon Carstens 2 John Smit 3 Jannie Du Plessis
4 Steven Sykes 5 Johann Muller
6 Keegan Daniel7 Willem Alberts
8 Ryan Kankowski
9 Ruan Pienaar 10 Andy Goode
11 JP Pietersen
12 Riaan Swanepoel 13 Adrian Jacobs
14 Odwa Ndungane 15 Stefan Terblanche

Bench
16 Bismarck du Plessis 17 Tendai Mtawarira 18 Wilhelm Steenkamp 19 Jean Deysel 20 Jacques Botes 21 Rory Kockott 22 Waylon Murray

Captain - John Smit
Carstens in for the Beast
Smit back to hooker with Bismarck du Plessis replaced by his brother Jannie in the front row
Keegan Daniel comes in for Jacques Botes
Pienaar moves to scrumhalf with Goode coming in and Kockott dropping to the bench
Swanepoel comes into the midfield in place of Murray with Jacobs moving to outside centre
JP Pietersen to get 50th cap

 

[cyclopath]

Re: Waratahs vs Fush 'n Chups

Who's going to see the sardines get canned? First home game of the year, I think a beer, or two, is called for.

Don't have a ticket - how hard can they be to get? I mean there should be 20000 spare seats, you'd think. Might give it a crack.

 

[RugbyReg]

they are running scared of Robinson aren't they? Moving Smit back to hooker.

 

[PaarlBok]

they are running scared of Robinson aren't they? Moving Smit back to hooker.

No reason for that really, they just have to watch the Stormers vs Tah match to see what needs to be done.

 

[RugbyReg]

which is?

 

[PaarlBok]

which is?

Our scrum did well on the day, no reason why Smit and the Guppies should start shaking with fear.

I am pretty glad they play Smit in 2, Thats the place he should play and also one big problem with the Sharks coaches are that they try way to much to accomodate Bismarck in 2. At this very moment they should play the best player in the position and Bismarck is out of form lately.

 

[the gambler]

Really have to disagree with all of this Mowen love. Yes he has played fairly well but I dont think he has been exceptional. His jumping at 2 is very handy but Dennis should be able to offer something similar, and I believe Dennis will provide more around the field. He was heavily involved in a few of the counter rucks against the bulls and I think will provide some strong ball running now he is at 6. Could be wrong and will be the first to own up on Monday if he has a shocker.

As for putting your best players on the bench argument, I dont think that is the issue here but I do believe that at times it has merit. Some times players offer more value coming off the bench. Matt Rogers is a prime example. His style of play was perfectly suited to coming on with fresh legs against tiring defences. Rugby is an 80min game and if you are able to improve the last 20mins by holding a player back, then you are a quarter of the way there. Of course you need to have depth to do this, as it will only work if there is a player capable of doing the job for the first 50-60mins. For a more recent example look at the 08 Twickenham game and see the impact Palu made coming off the bench.

 

[Newb]

smit at hooker is a blessing in not so much disguise. having his shell of a self on the field over a destroyer like bismark is the best thing the tahs could hope for, especially with TPN being a bit dodgy and fitzy potentially having to play big minutes. dumb dumb dumb to bench the best hooker in SA.

i don't get the kockott move either. even if he is an abrassive little shit, i've never seen a low-effort game from him. he usually holds their rag-tag bunch together.