We lost badly last night, but I don't think many knowledgeable fans expected the Tahs to win this. In Canberra, with the full squad available for selection except McCabe and Ita Vaea with George Smith as the perfect replacement, Brumbies fresh after the bye was always a bridge too far. The Tahs have not managed to win in Canberra many times, only a couple I think. Third game of the new season, with a new coach and new gameplan. People should have a cup of tea and a good lie down, especially those Reds fans who are trying just to rub it in. I tipped the Brumbies by 12 because I knew two things:
- We were not yet ready to play one of the competition heavyweights.
- The Brumbies are an exceptionally good team with the best overall coaching team in probably the whole comp. Maybe the Chiefs coaches are equal but lets not start an argument. Right now if you had to pick the Grand Final it would be Brumbies/Chiefs with maybe the Sharks the smokey.
So it was expected the Brumbies would win. The main concern was how much and it turned out to be pretty comprehensive. But that is no reason to toss all 22 players on the scrap heap, we can do that if the players are still delivering to that level after round 10. We were NEVER going to win the comp this year, the best we could hope for was between 6th and 10th. Next year is a different kettle of fish.
We've now got three home games in a row, followed by a trip to Wellington. We are a good chance to win three of those and get our season back on track. Every potential Wallaby in our squad will now know they are a good chance to miss the Lions tour unless they show massive improvement. That will be a huge incentive to perform better.
I've driven down to Canberra to watch a Tahs/Brumbies game three times and have always gone home disappointed. Its not unusual or end-of-the-world. Most of those defeats were pretty comprehensive too and pretty galling. A couple of those games I thought we were hot favourites. So last night was bad, but not so bad we won't be back.