Week three has hit and so too has a dose of reality perhaps. The Reds were back at Ballymore and back to losing a tight one they should have won. The Tahs are back running the footy but the Bulls were just too strong. The Brumbies were back to their clinical best, showing the other teams how to shut out a game (despite a late try). And the Force? Well, they’re back to the drawing board.
The Brumbies, with two wins out of their first three games on the road has set the up very well for the rest of the season, considering their draw, as we predicted in their season preview. The Tahs have also been on the road for their first three games, winning the one against the Reds, and losing two over in South Africa, albeit with a try scoring bonus this week against the Bulls. The Force are yet to trouble the scorers as they once again must deal with the dual edged sword of a loss and countless injuries.
But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let’s look back to Round 3 and the weekend that was.
Team of the Round
15 Adam Ashley-Cooper (BRUMBIES)
14 Drew Mitchell (WARATAHS)
13 Ryan Cross (FORCE)
12 Christian Lealiifano (BRUMBIES)
11 Lachlan Turner(WARATAHS)
10 James O’Connor (FORCE)
9 Luke Burgess (WARATAHS)
8 Wycliff Palu (WARATAHS)
7 George Smith (BRUMBIES)
6 Ben Mowen (WARATAHS)
5 Nathan Sharpe (FORCE)
4 Van Humphries (REDS)
3 Laurie Weeks (REDS)
2 Stephen Moore (BRUMBIES)
1 Benn Robinson (WARATAHS)
Ok, it’s still not the team we want to be called the Wallabies, but its an indication of form somewhat. Tell you one player that must be getting closer to a Wallaby shirt and that’s Ben Mowen. I am not saying he’ll be taking Rocky’s jersey, but a bench spot has to be a strong possibility. It was also the weekend of the scrumhalf with Will Genia (Reds), Brett Sheehan (Force), Josh Valentine (Brumbies) and Luke Burgess (Waratahs) all have ripping games. Quade was an option for 10, but ended up playing a fair bit of fullback, and was outplayed by his opposite number, in the conditions. Al Baxter pushed Weeks for the Tight Head spot too, whilst a wing and lock position was far from certain.
Player of the Round
Will Genia is once again in contention. Was his debut captaincy performance dominant enough to earn your vote? But was he matched, or bettered, but Luke Burgess who seemed to have a hand in everything and whose running game was back to its most dangerous. Was he the Week 3 stand out? What about George Smith and his match winning try? In fact his performance went way beyond that and he was back to the George of old having looked off the pace in the first two weeks. Or was it James O’Connor, continuing on his promising early season form, this time in the flyhalf position, for the struggling Force.
Vote below and have your say
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Try of the Round
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzWhk2TF6mM[/youtube] [poll id=”65″]
Moment of the Round
There are probably a few key moments we could have considered here this week. In the Reds v Blues game I reckon it was almost the Genia try, 55 seconds in. It can all happen to easily sometimes and for a young team like the Reds, who like to throw it around a bit, perhaps they lost the intensity they needed too early. For the Tahs, it seemed to be when Tatafu Polata-Nau came off, just half time. His replacement, young Damian Fitzpatrick, played well but the Tahs lost their physicality. For the Force? Well it probably happened when they had their pre-season training session involving chasing black cats under ladders balancing mirrors.
But for me it came down to the only game the Aussies won and that man George Smith. The man is almost the Patron of Green and Gold Rugby so much do we love him, and it was great to see him back to form this week, in his last season of ruby in Australia. Fittingly, the win was sealed (or so it seemed) with his intercept try in the final minutes of their game v the Stormers.
