Reds vs Sharks Rnd 4 2012

[Sully]

Genia, Despite looking like a fish out of water at 5/8, played better than you give him credit for RH. Despite kicking possession to the sharks for one of their tries.
Morahan on the other hand is a real worry. He is turning into a turnstile in defence and seems to have lost some pace.

 

[kiap]

Genia looks overconfident to me when pressured, rushes, overplays his hand too often, and poor open field kicks. And wouldn't Taps have better to take that final penalty kick?

Agreed with the rest of your post but this is the worry. His 1st half was good when the team were on a roll but when under pressure Genia has been out of sorts for quite a while. He needs to up his game.

 

[Penguin]

Agree Sully, Morahan has been shocking in defense & hasn't been good under the high ball either. Genia had a great game until he was forced into ten, anyone else wonder why Taps didn't shift there? Would have been a far better option imo.

 

[qwerty51]

So 5 is pretty close to 6

 

[kiap]

Fair enough he was out of position at 5/8 for the last 15 mins or so, Sully. Maybe I miss-saw a few things but thought he put his runners into obstruction situations a few times and put in a high pass on attack 5 mins from the end that was the coup de gras for the side. I'll concede he had some good moments in the 1st half.

 

[Penguin]

He moved to flyhalf just after halftime Kiap, Lucas came off before Diggers returned from his yellow card.

 

[kiap]

He moved to flyhalf just after halftime Kiap, Lucas came off before Diggers returned from his yellow card.

Yeah, sorry you're right, I just thought it was later.

Apols to him. He went alright at 9, but not at 10.

 

[redstragic]

What did the injuries to Harris and Lucas look like? What did they injure? They must have been bad enough not to have been sent back on in the last 20 to try and win the game.

Any hope for them against the bulls?

 

[Scotty]

Agreed with the rest of your post but this is the worry. His 1st half was good when the team were on a roll but when under pressure Genia has been out of sorts for quite a while. He needs to up his game.

Watch the first half again. Genia was responsible for a lot of the forward momentum and half breaks. He was the best player on the field in the first half.

 

[Scotty]

What did the injuries to Harris and Lucas look like? What did they injure? They must have been bad enough not to have been sent back on in the last 20 to try and win the game.

Any hope for them against the bulls?

Both looked like knees. They aren't allowed to go back on.

 

[Scotty]

I didn't mind kaplans refing in the way he controlled the scrums and favoured the attacking team but there were a few clear cases of the defender being on their feet and over the ball where penalties should have their way. One was in the lead up to the sharks second try - two reds players not involved in the tackle, on the ball and Kaplan signals advantage the other way. There needs to be more consistency from the refs in this area.

 

[biggsy]

Despite the fact Harris and Lucas went down, the game should have been sealed in the 1rst half.
I'm not to worried with the loss more worried if Lucas and Harris are unfit for next week

 

[liquor box]

I thought Slipper had a great game, Genia was impressive in the first half when we finally got some ball to Digby.
I had Higgers as man of the match but cant understand why he was subbed for Gill. I thought that the 10 minutes before he was subbed the only Reds making plays were Daley and Higgers, was he too tired to play the last 10?
I actually see some positives in this game, remember before you slash your wrists that it would be extremely rare for any team to lose both play makers AND have a yellow card and win a game, nevermind how hard it is to win in South Africa. The Reds fans have been spoilt in recent years by our performances in SA and at least we still got a point for the game.

I thought Davies in the first half had that "electric" look to his running, he dropped a ball dead and was costly but he was safe under the high ball which seemed to be the big talking point during the lead up, his 2 kicks were not too bad, I was expecting shockers but they were average or a little better. He looked close to breaking free a few times and is worth keeping at 15 for mine.

Digby had a great game, he looked back in form in the first half and always looked dangerous. He reminded me of 2011

Old man Van deserves to keep his spot, its nice to have a tough nut to bash the opposition

I thought Genias first half was good, I think he kicks a little too often and I dont know if on the field it is as obvious as on camera but you can tell 10 seconds before he is going to kick so the opposition has time to adjust.

I saw enough positives in todays game to be happy with where we are going. I would have liked a win, but if we can get a BP win somehow against the Bulls we will have 6 points for the trip and since we are on top of the ladder in Australia it means that with a bye in hand (win!) that other teams will be forced to win both games when they travel to SA to keep up. I think if you can get 6 points when in SA and NZ then you have a great chance of securing a finals spot.

 

[Reddy!]

Good to Nick Frisby snag a try

 

[tigerland12]

A little dissapointed or are you posting pissed? This post is a little out of character for you mate.

Not pissed.

It was a sequence of about 30seconds that summed up all of Genia's flaws. Firstly he threw a hospital pass to Tapuai, after the previous phase passing to a player flat footed (for the 2000 time in his career). The following kick down field was cleaned up by Davies (?) but Genia stood back and watched Morahan try and clean out 3 Sharks eventuating in a turnover. Then when he is forced to make a tackle, he gets up and slowly walks into the defensive line as the Sharks start a big push from the try line.

He can be a world-class player but his in-ability to get involved physically when he needs to is pretty poor. This includes not wanting to take the tackle and instead passing to some poor flat footed player who gets belted. The amount of times I've seen him stand off a ruck when a player is isolated is ridiculous.

That aside I thought Slipper, Horwill and Tapuai all looked strong, the Reds mentality was good and it was unfourtunate that they lost their only two Fly Halfs.

Young Frisby was impressive when he came on.

 

[Dan54]

Interesting to see comments, I say I have to agree a bit with Tiger here, I said last week I been a bit disappointed with Genia, thought I was going to have to eat my words in first half, where he played bloody well, I know he was out of position in 2nd half, but I too worry about some of passes he chooses to throw. Still Reds went well in patches, and losing both 10s is real bad luck (mind you real bloody good luck that Digby only got yellow), but thought perhaps they lost game when the Sharks were to physical for them.

 

[gel]

I thought the reds played pretty well. Given the conditions, the reds threw the ball around and looked pretty frightening in attack. Our forwards scrummaged well (I missed why they went to rugby league scrums though, what was that?) and higgers was fearsome in attack and defense. Lucas was incredible and Harris looked way more comfortable in the centers.

Pretty annoyed with the recent habit on some other forums of saying "our team is playing crap" when losing though. The way the reds played in that first 25, would have troubled almost any team in defense. Fast, front foot ball is something generated by the attacking team, and the reds played like a team posessed to obtain it, not the shorks playing crap. Both teams played a great game and the better team on the day won.

I thought the ref too was pretty ok, sure there were some things missed to both sides (when aren't there), but the game flowed nicely.

Very entertaining game with a high skill set given what appeared to be atrocious weather conditions. Great work both teams.

 

[Ruggo]

Fair enough he was out of position at 5/8 for the last 15 mins or so, Sully. Maybe I miss-saw a few things but thought he put his runners into obstruction situations a few times and put in a high pass on attack 5 mins from the end that was the coup de gras for the side. I'll concede he had some good moments in the 1st half.

That's fair. The problem being that Genia at nine puts those runners into the positions. Genia needed to stay at nine for these reasons. It's a poo sandwhich which ever way you look at it but more a consequnce of circumstance rather than any particular player.

Players who impressed me were

Van
Chibba
Slipper
Holmes
Higgers
Taps
Lucas.

Frisby looked good for a debut thrown into a scene of chaos. Handled himself very nicely and I look forward to seing what he can do in more normal circumstances.

 

[Ruggo]

Not pissed.

It was a sequence of about 30seconds that summed up all of Genia's flaws. Firstly he threw a hospital pass to Tapuai, after the previous phase passing to a player flat footed (for the 2000 time in his career). The following kick down field was cleaned up by Davies (?) but Genia stood back and watched Morahan try and clean out 3 Sharks eventuating in a turnover. Then when he is forced to make a tackle, he gets up and slowly walks into the defensive line as the Sharks start a big push from the try line.

He can be a world-class player but his in-ability to get involved physically when he needs to is pretty poor. This includes not wanting to take the tackle and instead passing to some poor flat footed player who gets belted. The amount of times I've seen him stand off a ruck when a player is isolated is ridiculous.

That aside I thought Slipper, Horwill and Tapuai all looked strong, the Reds mentality was good and it was unfourtunate that they lost their only two Fly Halfs.

Young Frisby was impressive when he came on.

That makes perfect sense and I agree with your points regarding Genia.

 

[RedsHappy]

Despite the fact Harris and Lucas went down, the game should have been sealed in the 1rst half.
I'm not to worried with the loss more worried if Lucas and Harris are unfit for next week

Too right Biggsy if Harris and Lucas remain out, and not just for the Bulls, the game v Force on the way home will need an able 10! Let's hope for the best on the injury front...but Harris coming off early and after 2 knee operations last year...

Dallan Murphy who's in SA is a very talented player at 10 on the rise (as anyone who's seen his contribution at Brothers knows), but putting him into the Bull ring would be the ultimate baptism of fire. If both Lucas and Harris are out next week, a loss looks likely, especially given the problems this gives us with place kicking resources.