OK. Now I have watched the replay, and alledgly calmed down a bit. I repeat one of my coments from last night - that would have to be one of the most depressing games of rugby I have watched in years - from a Reds perpective. From a Australian perspective however...... there are some positives I am sure. But from a weekend where the Force was the only Oz team to win, they are few and far between.
Reds work on the restarts, lineouts, posession, support and ball handling were generally shocking. Having said that there were some improvements from last week.
Defence I think was better, however there is still an element of of what appears to be mistrust in the line. This can only improve as the boys play together. At some point in time we have to be able to keep a similar team on the park for more then one week.
Dallan Murphy I think had a better game this week. Yeah there were a few stuffups on the tackle front but over all he was better. Needs to ditch the grubber kick.
Other then a couple of knock ons I think Davies actually had not a bad game either. Starting to think that perhaps he needs to stay at Full back and settle into the role. Morahan definitely performs better on the wing or in the centres, so maybe this is the solution.
Holmes, Hansen, and Slipper have to be our starting front row, at least until Daley gets his mojo back. Higgers still playing well.
Shatz had a poor game.... but I think this was as a result of his knock to the head early in the game.
Genia needs to start concentrating on playing his game and not trying to get a penality out of the ref. The pass that Morahan (?) put down at the 29 min mark from the scrum was meant for him. You need to play the ref. If the ref doesn't blow the whistle no amount of handwaving is going to get him there. This is starting to piss me off from Genia. And yes maybe a game or two on the Bench behind Fisby might be good, but can we afford his experiance to be sitting on the bench?
I was going to make this short but well...........
Positive, patient play from the Force. Sheehan played outstandingly. Seymour took his opportunity and should make a good fist of the 10 position if Stannard is out for a few weeks. Stannard was playing well until he was injured. There seems to be a lot of ankle injuries this year from players legs being caught under the tackler. Some worse then others. Is this a sutle technique thing?
Poey is sickeningly good. He seems to be running the ball up more this year. One thing we can be happy about is that Aust rugby is in good stead for openside flankers at the moment. In no particular order Poey, Hooper, Gill, Robinson, Hodgson....... Am thinking that it might be time to play two on the field at once. It worked well last night for the Force, and improved the Reds play as well. That would mean pushing Higgers to 8, but I think I would be able to live with that the next time we have to deal with the Force. We could then have Shatz and Quirke on the bench for fresh legs in the second half. Poey does have a lot of strapping on his back/shoulders/neck, and I have noticed this increasing over the weeks. I hope there is not a problem here that is going to lay he off for a little while.
Sharpie has a fair bit of niggle in him this year. Is still playing well adn it would be nice if he gets a couple of gold shirts this year. Had it all over the Reds lineout last night.
On the reffing. I actually didn't think it was to bad. There was a few tough calls on both sides, but that is going to happen. From my viewings there was nothing glaringly amiss.
Last comments:
Second half was better from the Reds.
I think Big Kev's nose bleeds from February to November every year.
Beau has found his razor, or at least stolen Higgenbothem's.
At least it wasn't a pants down.
