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Super Rugby Trial Rebels v Brumbies 23JAN20 Greenfield Park Albury 345pm

Dctarget

John Eales (66)
Game thoughts:
- I actually thought the starting Brumbies 10 looked quite decent.
- Brumbies depth good to see.
- Kata looked damaging
- Pleased with the Rebels homegrown talent, the young ones look up to standard
- Deegan put in a better shift than last week
- Still don't think To'omua is a quality 10
 

Adam84

Nick Farr-Jones (63)
Brumbies are the Aussie team to beat in 2020, pre-season favourites, doesn’t matter if they have a rookie fly-half they have the best forward pack in Australia with enviable depth, and experienced players like Kuridrani and Banks in the backline.
 

molman

Peter Johnson (47)
- Deegan put in a better shift than last week

Agreed. Deegan looked a lot more comfortable this week. He still seems to stand a little deep for me, but his kicking out of hand and general service was really good. The short restart was on the money.

What did people think of Lomani?

It was good to see Isi and Koroibete carry in their form from last year. I think those too are going to be important for the Rebels this year. Meakes also continues to impress me.

Glen Vaihu shows promise and I feel Asaeli Tikoirotuma had some nice moments for an old boy.
 

Dctarget

John Eales (66)
they have some?

Aha, I'll bite:
- Fereti Sa'aga
- Rob Leota
- Trevor Hosea
- Esei Ha'angana
- Harry Potter
- Matt To'omua (we'll cop him)

Then from the WTS that were playing last night.
- Alex Sa'aga
- Ola Tauelangi
- Mahe Vailanu
- Mosese Tuipulotu
 
B

Bobby Sands

Guest
I didn’t realise Glen was the same year as Reesjan. It’s a major step forward getting all year 12s at the same age for talent ID.

Can’t help but be proud of the Brumbies program, I hope the Reds start creating a similar professional culture.
 

Dctarget

John Eales (66)
I'm actually quite impressed with that list. I think for such a young team with a very, very small rugby catchment area they've done quite well.
 
B

Bobby Sands

Guest
Aha, I'll bite:
- Fereti Sa'aga
- Rob Leota
- Trevor Hosea
- Esei Ha'angana
- Harry Potter
- Matt To'omua (we'll cop him)

Then from the WTS that were playing last night.
- Alex Sa'aga
- Ola Tauelangi
- Mahe Vailanu
- Mosese Tuipulotu

To'omua!!? That’s some Rodney Dangerfield material - rate it.
 

The Nomad

Bob Davidson (42)
^ Can remember Hosea playing his schoolboy rugby at BBC up here in the Qld GPS comp, went to Melbourne straight out of school, didn't realise he was originally from there.
 

The Nomad

Bob Davidson (42)
I didn’t realise Glen was the same year as Reesjan. It’s a major step forward getting all year 12s at the same age for talent ID.

Can’t help but be proud of the Brumbies program, I hope the Reds start creating a similar professional culture.
Big number of recent school leavers in the trials yesterday.

Billy Pollard and Lachie Albert finished school last year as did Reesjan Pasitoa and Glen Vaihu .

Zeph Tuiona same age but finished school in 2018 along with Dennis Waight and Luke Reimer.
 

Brumby Runner

David Wilson (68)
Wouldn't get too carried away with the Brumbies based on that game. Seven-all at the break when both sides were at their strongest. The Brumbies reserves however were a big step up on the Rebels reserves.

The Brumbies still have to sort out their second row, No 10 spot and the wings. While both Douglas and Neville had some good moments, I don't think either matched up to Matt Philip, so I expect Blake Enever to partner Darcy Swain when he's fit.

Personally, I was more impressed with Bayley Keunzle than Noah Lolesio at 10. I think BK has better game management and is an all round No 10. Noah is probably the better ball carrier, but maybe No 12 suits him better than 10.

After the showings on the wing yesterday, my preferences would be to start with Tom Wright and Andrew Muirhead. Tom is very solid and has excellent footwork while Andrew is very pacy and slippery with a nose for the tryline. Pulu and Hanson both excellent options as well, but I'd prefer to see Kata get more time at training and with his Club to adjust back to Rugby.

Forward pack will go good while both Samu and Valetini are fit and in form. I really like the look of Brown at No 7, but despite also having Miller, Cusack and McCaffrey in the squad, injuries to any of these three will weaken the whole.

For the Rebels yesterday, I thought Naisarani was outstanding (MOTM), Leota lost nothing to his Brumbies counterparts, and Philip was very strong. Koroibete showed his Wallaby class while on the ground, but they have some big problems at set piece, and the backline attack was rather toothless.
 
B

Bobby Sands

Guest
Wouldn't get too carried away with the Brumbies based on that game. Seven-all at the break when both sides were at their strongest. The Brumbies reserves however were a big step up on the Rebels reserves.

The Brumbies still have to sort out their second row, No 10 spot and the wings. While both Douglas and Neville had some good moments, I don't think either matched up to Matt Philip, so I expect Blake Enever to partner Darcy Swain when he's fit.

Personally, I was more impressed with Bayley Keunzle than Noah Lolesio at 10. I think BK has better game management and is an all round No 10. Noah is probably the better ball carrier, but maybe No 12 suits him better than 10.

After the showings on the wing yesterday, my preferences would be to start with Tom Wright and Andrew Muirhead. Tom is very solid and has excellent footwork while Andrew is very pacy and slippery with a nose for the tryline. Pulu and Hanson both excellent options as well, but I'd prefer to see Kata get more time at training and with his Club to adjust back to Rugby.

Forward pack will go good while both Samu and Valetini are fit and in form. I really like the look of Brown at No 7, but despite also having Miller, Cusack and McCaffrey in the squad, injuries to any of these three will weaken the whole.

For the Rebels yesterday, I thought Naisarani was outstanding (MOTM), Leota lost nothing to his Brumbies counterparts, and Philip was very strong. Koroibete showed his Wallaby class while on the ground, but they have some big problems at set piece, and the backline attack was rather toothless.

Agree. My comments were more around the stability of the program rather than what we saw yesterday. The fact that Pasitoa & the like want to be down there speaks volumes.
 

Rebels3

Jim Lenehan (48)
To'omua!!? That’s some Rodney Dangerfield material - rate it.
Haha

If the Force fans can claim people that lived in WA for less than a year we can claim someone that was born here lol. We also want to claim Higgers, Liam Gill and Tawera Kerr-Barlow ;)

Slightly off topic for this thread, but I tried to create a genuine Melb product (did the majority of their rugby education in Victoria) starting XV using active players.

1 Faulkner (Rebels / Force / Tahs)
2 Uelese (Rebels)
3 Fa’amasuili (Rebels)
4 Hosea (Rebels)
5
6 Valetini (Brumbies)
7 Samu (Crusaders / Brumbies)
8 Leota (Rebels)
9
10 CLL (Brumbies)
11 Potter (Rebels)
12 Tapui (Reds / Force / Bath / Harlequins)
13 Tuipulotu (Rebels / Japan)
14 Paisami (Rebels / Reds)
15 Tui (Rebels / Stade Français)

Others

Ulugia (Tahs / Clermont)
Iona (Force / Brumbies)
Sa’aga (Rebels)
 

Rebels3

Jim Lenehan (48)
Wouldn't get too carried away with the Brumbies based on that game. Seven-all at the break when both sides were at their strongest. The Brumbies reserves however were a big step up on the Rebels reserves.

The Brumbies still have to sort out their second row, No 10 spot and the wings. While both Douglas and Neville had some good moments, I don't think either matched up to Matt Philip, so I expect Blake Enever to partner Darcy Swain when he's fit.

Personally, I was more impressed with Bayley Keunzle than Noah Lolesio at 10. I think BK has better game management and is an all round No 10. Noah is probably the better ball carrier, but maybe No 12 suits him better than 10.

After the showings on the wing yesterday, my preferences would be to start with Tom Wright and Andrew Muirhead. Tom is very solid and has excellent footwork while Andrew is very pacy and slippery with a nose for the tryline. Pulu and Hanson both excellent options as well, but I'd prefer to see Kata get more time at training and with his Club to adjust back to Rugby.

Forward pack will go good while both Samu and Valetini are fit and in form. I really like the look of Brown at No 7, but despite also having Miller, Cusack and McCaffrey in the squad, injuries to any of these three will weaken the whole.

For the Rebels yesterday, I thought Naisarani was outstanding (MOTM), Leota lost nothing to his Brumbies counterparts, and Philip was very strong. Koroibete showed his Wallaby class while on the ground, but they have some big problems at set piece, and the backline attack was rather toothless.
I thought Lolesio was good against much superior competition than what Keunzle faced. Only weakness shown (considering it was a trial) was the wing play. Rebels kicked poorly but against a team with a good short kicking game there was plenty of space outwide and will be punished against a better team. Rebels left 2 try’s out there with poor kicks.

Kata out wide was very good. He’s quicker than many think. Only weakness as a winger would be his lack of height
 

Slim 293

Stirling Mortlock (74)
Yeah, I think Kuenzle may eventually take the 10 jersey off Lolesio, but Lolesio is currently the stronger option......... and agreed that he played well against a superior team.
 
B

Bobby Sands

Guest
Yeah, I think Kuenzle may eventually take the 10 jersey off Lolesio, but Lolesio is currently the stronger option... and agreed that he played well against a superior team.

Did Reesjan do anything at 12?
 
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