As much as I love the idea of watching rugby at Ballymore…… I now remember the problem with watching from XXXX hill. Numb bum, drunk idiots & only seeing the game from one end. Sigh. The memories.
Apologies for the lateness but travel, lack of sleep and technology have all conspired……..
The Match
The game was messy, messy, messy. There were dropped balls, knock ons, knock backwards, passes to not going to hand, collapsing scrums, lost line outs…….
I made a comment during the Junior Gold Cup game that the coaches would be running passing drills during the next training – I’m thinking the same will be waiting for the seniors. The lights seemed to cause some problems for the players with the high balls, or was that just problems with taking the high ball?
We should have known that it was going to be a long night when the opportunity for first points for both side came from penalties – and both were missed. The score board wasn’t troubled (do you like that sporting cliché?) until the 17th minute when Quade landed a penalty and then 2 minutes later with another.
Fairly soon after that Will Genia scored off a Liam Gill grubber. Who said that forwards couldn’t or shouldn’t kick? So the score was 13-0 and looking good for the Reds. But that was where they stayed.
The next try was down to Angus Roberts and the Rebels were on the board. This was followed by a successful penalty to make bring the score to 13-10. Then through smart work, and a blink from the touchy, they took the lead just before the second half through an unconverted try.
Not long after the half time break the score keeper was troubled for the last time when the Rebels landed another penalty and that was how the score stayed as the standard of play declined with changes to the sides and fatigue. 18 – 13 to the Rebels.
There were a lot of penalties from the scrums. Since I was watching from the end of the ground it was difficult to work out what the problems were. I spoke to one of the forwards, rousing on him for attempting to referee the scrums during the game, and was met with the reply of ‘Well he [the ref] wasn’t’. Hmmmmmm, that can’t have been the entire problem. Has anyone got a view?
The Game Changer
The kicking from both sides was not all that attractive. The Rebels seemed to struggle with their kicking from hand. Whenever they took kicks for touch they did not gain much ground. The Reds attempted to use the box kick with little success from both Genia and Frisby. Cooper missed one of his penalty attempts but Hegarty had a bad night with the boot. Yes, the score could have been worse for the Reds.
It pains me to say it, but it really looked like the Rebels were a more ‘together’ team. Certainly, one of their best attacking moves ended in the ball being dropped and they were penalised a few times for silly errors, but their passes generally stuck and support play was passable.
I lost count of the number of passes from the Reds that seemed to end up in the first row of the crowd. The standard of play from the Reds was certainly a step down on what was turned on against the Chiefs last weekend in Toowoomba.
The G&GR MOTM
Mikey Harris was probably the standout for the Reds. He was replaced by Ant Fainga’a at half time but only for a short time before Ant had his nose adjusted. One of the memorable moments of the second half was Mikey introducing himself to Bryce Hegarty. [Bryce, I found your solar plexus on the field after the game, let me know your address and I will return it.]
For the Rebels, Scotty Higginbotham showed that the form he displayed before injury in 2013 was not a fluke. Most of their forwards followed him in solid performances around the park, (excluding the scrums) but some of the backs struggled. Ellison showed why the Rebels have bought him being the standout among the backs and I think he will be causing some headaches.
Wallaby watch
JJ Taulagi also made an impression on his first outing. Coming on in the third quarter he displayed some excellent foot work to score a try which was, unfortunately disallowed. Does anyone know why? It doesn’t really matter though, remember his name. JJ is one of our ‘poor’ recruitment choices for this year – I feel you will be hearing more about him this season.
Injury Roll Call
Quade was taken from the field on a stretcher less than 2 mins from the end. We are told that this and the neck brace are the new protocol for head knocks this season so are not to be too concerned. He had scans overnight and preliminary results are that there is not a serious issue. We will hear sometime this week what the results are and if he will be available for next weekend’s season opener.
Beau Robinson didn’t play in the main event but in the earlier curtain raiser of Reds A vs Australian Barbarians, (which the Reds A won 34-33 with a converted try on the full time bell). I believe that he was also having scans for a possible broken cheek bone. [Don’t worry Beau, chicks really do dig scars….]
As I mentioned before Ant was taken off soon after taking the field spilling some claret from his schnozz. [Ant – see above advice to Beau.]
Dom Shipperly (leg) and Ed Quirk (arm/shoulder) also left the field before the end of the game. Adian Toua warmed up with the reserves but I did not see him come one during the game. Hopefully they will all be available for next weekend.
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So, it was only a trial but the performance of the Reds did not instil much confidence in me for the game against the Brumbies in Canberra next weekend. How about you?
