Photo Credit – “Delphy”
In this edition of the Tuesday Top 5 we see which teams made the grade, delve into the disappointing results from round 2 and ask a bunch of questions, offer up our selection of the good, bad and ugly from the weekend, look at more refereeing decisions and have a laugh at one of the strangest yellow cards ever. Enjoy!
Report Card
Reds: C. This week the Reds seemed to regress a little towards last season. Their kicking in play was poor, and the big names were all but anonymous. The further the match went one, particularly once the Force hit the lead, they appeared lost and without a plan. Not the worst we have seen them, but definitely not great.
Force: B. The only Aussie team to record a win this round earns the Force the highest grade of the 5. But still only a B because they weren’t totally convincing. They played well but there is a lot of room to improve. They took their opportunities and were solid in defence. In their favour, the fact that they stuck it out and didn’t give up. The players had a positive attitude and the club looks to be on the up.
Rebels: E. the only reason I’m not giving them an F is because I don’t want to back myself into a corner in case they actually play worse than they did this week (which would be a pretty impressive effort really). They took all the things they needed to work on from last week’s game, and rather than improving on them they actually made them worse. Defence was entirely optional, with most opting out, and there was no attack to speak of. At this rate the bye would have to have pretty good odds for beating them next week. The players do not look like a group who are potentially playing for their lives (if current gossip and rumours are to be believed).
Brumbies: C. They had their chances but completely blew it in the end. Until the 81st minute their defence was pretty solid, but some major screw ups and poor decision making in the last 5 minutes when the scores were level let them down. Some good signs in attack out wide and solid over the ball. Their new guys seem to be slotting in well.
Waratahs: D. The Lions did their best to keep the Tahs in the game but the boys in blue didn’t take them up on the offer. Discipline was an issue, defence was just as optional as it was for the Rebels. Like the reds, their big names (Kepu, Horne, Hooper, Folau etc) were very quiet (they may have scored tries, but where were they in defence??) in fact it seems like the 1st time I heard Folau mentioned was after the siren as he scored.
Coaches, Players and Leaders. What’s the deal?
So looking at the results for Aussie teams this round and we are left asking “what the f### is going on?!” With the Force getting the only win and some of the losing margins being a little on the blowout side of things, where do we look for answers?
Is there a problem with coaching in Australia? Or are the players themselves to blame?
Let’s start with the Rebels. They have plenty of cattle but just didn’t get it together. This is a similar situation to past seasons no matter what cattle they import, so does it come down to a coaching issue?
The Force had change of coach this year with some changes to the roster. They are showing signs of success and look like they might have turned things around this year. Similar playing roster to last year so is it the impact of a new coach?
As for the Reds, when they were under pressure towards the end of the match they went back to RG ways, but that also showed last year when they had co-coaches. How does such a list of players with heaps of experience and leadership go same way as the last 2 seasons? Is it a coaching issue or are the players just not “gelling” (too many individual stars rather than a star team?)
The Brumbies made some poor choices in the final minutes of the game. Rather than go for a short lineout 5m out from the line they threw to the back, losing the ball. There was an attempted field goal with 2 minutes still left on the clock and another poor lineout really helped hand the win to the Sharks. Was this a case of not knowing what to do in that situation? Lack of leadership?
The Waratahs were a coach’s nightmare. Poor discipline, stupid penalties and they pretty much cost themselves the game. Is the poor discipline a hangover from previous coaching aggression? The players looked tired as early as half time, was it an over training issue? Again, was their lack lustre performance a player or coaching issue?
An interchange between captain Michael Hooper and referee Jaco Van Heerden highlighted the importance of strong leadership at crucial points of the match!
We are seeing innovative attack from teams like the Lions and Chiefs, so what is the difference between them and us? Do we have the ability to create moves the way they do? Do we have the same skill set? Or do our coaches not have the will/ability to coach this type of play?
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly of Round 2
The Good
How can you go past a forward outstepping a back? Check out the step Charlie Faumuina puts on James Lowe to score for the Blues.
The Bad
A quick/short lineout is usually a pretty safe bet … but not in this case
The ugly
Sorry Rebels fans, I’m not picking on your team (yeah, I am really!). But you have to admit this score line is one of the ugliest things from round 2.
Refereeing
This week saw the first red card of the competition given. At the 40-minute mark of the Chiefs v Blues match, Steven Luatua was shown red for a high tackle. The referee referred the incident to the TMO and upon being shown a replay stated that Luatua had “played a player off the ball, with force, had direct contact around the head”, meeting the threshold of a red card.
Luatua has been banned for 4 weeks for the tackle.
From the same game, just after half time, we saw the ref award a try which was over ruled by the TMO due to a forward pass. I believe this 1st time we have seen TMO over rule on field decision. Due to the fact that the TMO needs to see “compelling evidence” in order to overrule the referee’s decision, the majority of decisions have been going with the referee.
And not to harp on about it, taking a player out in the air raised its ugly head again this week. Last week we went into it, and this week during the Highlanders v Crusaders match, Malakai Fekitoa was shown a yellow card under similar circumstances. Like James Dargaville last week, Fekitoa had eyes for the ball but did not jump unlike his opponent. Complicating it even more, Fekitoa seems to run into other players (look at the position of the Crusaders 23), preventing him from properly competing for the ball.
The referee gave the ruling of a yellow, saying “it was not a fair contest in the air, you jumped into his space”.
Compare it then to this one, which was not even looked at. What is the difference?
Crusaders assistant backs coach Leon MacDonald believes these types of calls are correct, saying “… the person that wins the race into the sky, and who dominates the air, has got all the rights.” So I think we can expect to see the Crusaders players consistently attempting to out jump their opponent to get the ball, instantly putting opposition players in danger of receiving a yellow unless they too jump. Are we going to see players throwing themselves into the air in the hope of NOT getting a yellow? Are the rules now requiring players to take more risks when competing for the ball?
Ball Boy in the Firing Line
Speaking of refereeing decisions … in a fairly unprecedented move Nigel Owens dished out a yellow card during the Scarlets v Leinster match … to a ball kid!
The ill-disciplined youth threw the ball back on to the field after a stoppage, hitting Owens in the head. The referee then turned and carded the boy, much to everyone’s amusement.
Owens himself, again proving what a decent bloke he is, took to twitter to track down the boy after the match.
This is why rugby is the greatest team sport in the world. Anyone know the ballboy? Will send him my match Jersey to keep. #goodsport https://t.co/2Hk2zjXIcI
— Nigel Owens MBE (@Nigelrefowens) 4 March 2017
Thanks all for your help. Have made contact with the ball boy and the jersey will be posted to him asap. Washed of course . #rugbyfamily https://t.co/NvGbmzHjRq — Nigel Owens MBE (@Nigelrefowens) 5 March 2017
Definitely one of the great characters in Rugby (except when he is reffing the Wallabies of course!).
