Waratahs 2014
- Thread starter fatprop
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It's a game I don't want to miss. But I will be missing it live, but will be sure to park myself in front of a TV in Thredbo with a horribly overpriced beer in hand to watch and shout like a loon at the screen.Tough call mate - first trip away we've had since my old man passed away and we bought this nice new house with a correspondingly bigger mortgage.
Plus I might get lucky, and if she has a few vino it might be a good one
Hmmm, ski on the topped-up snow from Snowmageddon / Snowzilla systems AND watch my team hopefully lock up top position. Yeah, not so sucky. I'll cope.
Hawko
Tony Shaw (54)
Sources said 35-40K here, but the weather would have scared a few off.
Parked back of the Novotel on street, dinner at the Brasserie, and cheap tickets. Great night out. Shame about the temperature!
But as the great man once said: uts not tuddlywunks bro!
Georgina Robinson reported the crowd as 29,000. On the TV it looked to be half full, so an official 29K is a bit disappointing, but its the best crowd of the season. I think that will be beaten next week though - Sunday afternoon footy and the Sydney bandwagoners starting to get on board will make it a 35K plus crowd I think.
Personally, this is not good news. I plan to fly up for the semi and stay on for the final. My hopes of a good seat near the centreline, having lost my membership seat when I moved interstate, appear to be at risk from the johnny-come-latelies!
GunnerDownUnder
Jim Clark (26)
GA members were allowed into those sections for some reason on Saturday.
If you went to the members bar before (as we did) no matter what ticket you had they let you into the box area and the guy said as long as nobody had an actual ticket anyone could sit there for this game.
We got a nice box in line with the 22.
boyo
Mark Ella (57)
Tough call mate - first trip away we've had since my old man passed away and we bought this nice new house with a correspondingly bigger mortgage.
Plus I might get lucky, and if she has a few vino it might be a good one
Maybe tough, but fair.
P.S. You don't have a mortgage on the old man dying.
Pfitzy
Nathan Sharpe (72)
Agreed, but after him it was my grandmother (his Mum). Those are the last two times I've gotten on a plane to anywhere and both were funerals! Besides one camping trip its been ages since we had the time or cash to do anything.
I'll be twitchy as fuck on Sunday morning don't you worry, and might even drive straight to Moore Park to get into it.
T
Train Without a Station
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Dennis doesn't get enough credit as a player full stop. Perhaps it was a stretch when Deans said he was Australia's best blind side (Perhaps - conjecture between him and Mowen at the time. Perhaps there should have been more competition for him to keep the jersey ever week), but he's a very good Super Rugby player. Because he doesn't have the big hits of a Palu, Skelton, TPN and Potgeiter and the speed of a Hooper people disregard him.
Great all round Super Rugby 6 and I'd feel more than comfortable with him playing 6 for the Wallabies if we had one or two injuries in that position.
Great all round Super Rugby 6 and I'd feel more than comfortable with him playing 6 for the Wallabies if we had one or two injuries in that position.
brilliant work by Dennis. Great insight to the man himself and his leadership skills.
Disagree somewhat with TWAS as to him in the Wallaby pack. There are many I'd prefer to have there above him at the moment, but that shouldn't take from his importance to the Tahs.
Disagree somewhat with TWAS as to him in the Wallaby pack. There are many I'd prefer to have there above him at the moment, but that shouldn't take from his importance to the Tahs.
T
Train Without a Station
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Reg, personally I'd have him behind Fardy and Jones for 6 (With Mowen going). Does the unglamorous work, is reliable, consistent and a very good line out operator.
Surely he was an injury outside the squad this year.
Surely he was an injury outside the squad this year.
Fardy does that Dennis/Thorne role better than Dennis, but the role has to be filled by someone in every decent side.
Some players have to do the work constantly at 90% of their ability to allow those special ones to fluctuate in and out of the game
wamberal
Phil Kearns (64)
The ABs seem to expect all their piggies to work at 90% plus, and also to do special stuff as well. Maybe we need to aim for those heights.
Who was the last Thorne to play for the ABs? Thorne.
For the last year or so, McCaw, now they have Kaino as well who takes it to a whole new level.
qwerty51
Stirling Mortlock (74)
Very good Super Rugby player is a stretch but he's a victim of the pack he plays in. It's pretty hard to stand out when your backrow partners are Hooper and Palu and then there's Potgieter, Skelton and Douglas so people think he's not doing anything or having no impact. If he was at any other franchise he would be getting more plaudits. He's extremely valuable and plays consistently, same impact George Whitelock had in the Saders pack when Read and McCaw were constantly there.
T
Train Without a Station
Guest
He's not a great ball runner so it won't matter what he does, nobody will notice.
Pfitzy
Nathan Sharpe (72)
Ex-fucking-zackerly.
And this is what shits me about a lot of rugby observers - they simply can't see the work that guys like Dennis do.
I criticise Rob Simmons a lot for NOT doing the grunt work. Now let me just say he runs a great lineout, and is visibly doing that because he calls himself nearly all of the time (and even when he obviously shouldn't). He can also push in the scrums a bit by recent evidence. He also gets spotted running in open space and gets a bit of RnT for that as well.
"Look! There he is - running the ball and being involved in a try*! What a great player".
But in contact, he's fucking ordinary - I watched the third France game again in detail as you'll see from the thread. Every time he goes into contact he doesn't get over the gain line. He can't clean out at rucks. He turns up at some breakdowns and just puts his hand on the nearest bloke and sucks in the big ones, having gotten up from his recent ball carry two metres back. (Interesting to note that Skelton is the one criticised for his fitness
)I'm a bit traditional when it comes to this stuff - while its nice for props and locks to run the ball occasionally, they really should be in doing the donkey work, along with the flanker(s), and really laying down the physicality so the ball can be run up by the number 8 or hooker, or given to the backs. If Simmons isn't doing that, then I don't give a fuck how many times he runs the ball with no-one within 10 metres of him.
Dave Dennis isn't a world beater on the carry either before I drown in the tide of angry banjos - the Brumbies tackled fucking well and he didn't make many yards. But this season, he was there for the key plays, scoring tries to shut out games when we needed them, or helping set up others. You hear the comments from the other players IN HIS TEAM about he varies his game around who they've got out there. If there are several big boppers to run the ball, he's head-down, making sure its available to them. If the game opens up, he does his share of ball running and interplay to make sure the right people are getting it.
He runs a pretty slick lineout for the Tahs, but apparently while that is good enough for Simmons at any level, DD has to aim higher. If he played for Queensland, he'd be that steadying, leadership influence that holds together the back row and makes sure others can play their role.
* Note: Bernie Foley on either Wallaby or Tahs duty can have five or 6 touches leading up to a try, resulting in key field position and the opportunity for other players to capitalise. But he doesn't get any fucking credit for it outside the Great New South and doesn't throw the last pass enough, apparently.
Rant over
T
tranquility
Guest
HAHAHAHAHAHA
T
Train Without a Station
Guest
Pfitzy can even manage to stick the boot into Simmons whilst we're talking about the Waratahs! Outstanding!
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