Round 1 - Brumbies v Rebels - Fri 15th@7:45pm

[fatprop]

BTW this story that DHP is not right a captain from FB is a blinkered view imo. You MUST have leaders up front. Don't think this is missing. At all. And a captain who really sees the shape of the team could be valuable.

I posted this in another thread re the value of "captains"

"Right, half of the decisions making on the field, like kicking for goal and stuff like that, are dictated by the coaches. You see them going, 'Run the f***ing tee on! Get the tee on!', and you see the kicking coach come on.
"Ideally, there are 14 other people on the field who make the decisions [too]. If you listen to these people, you'd think we're trying to herd cats! Like if someone doesn't motivate us we'd go, 'Ohh, what are we here for?' It's not how it works.
"You have to have multiple leaders and it doesn't matter who tosses the coin. It doesn't matter as long as you've got other, stronger characters. And the beauty of this current English team is that there are a lot of guys now with a lot of experience.
"While it is important to have a figure-head. and that's why everyone got their knickers in a twist about co-captains. [Mimics voice] 'Well, I think you should just have one captain'. F**k off! You can have as many captains as you bloody want; it doesn't matter.
"Who's going to lead the team out? Who cares! It's about winning the game and making the right decisions on the field. And people get so bogged down about this.
"[It's] normally people who don't have a f***ing clue about rugby, who think, 'Oh, the captain is the most important person on the field'. It's not. [For England] you've got Billy speaking well, Maro speaking well, George Ford making the right decisions."

 

[Ballboy]

Replacing both flankers at the same time was interesting move ,, seemed to add momentum to the Rebels against a tiring Brumbies , good job Matt Phillip ,,
Quade passing to Powell without looking was dumb but overall if we can keep Genia and Quade on the ground we should do ok

 

[fatprop]

This game highlighted the ponies 10 issues, Lealiifano is just playing too deep He has monsters all around him, he needs to play flatter and hand off closer to contact

 

[Brumbieman]

Yep, he needs to play flatter. When he does he's amazing at it - take the ball to the line, pass flat and sharp or step through and offload - but for some reason seems to be playing too deep. He flattened up at the end of last season and the results spoke for themselves.

 

[griffins]

Yep, he needs to play flatter. When he does he's amazing at it - take the ball to the line, pass flat and sharp or step through and offload - but for some reason seems to be playing too deep. He flattened up at the end of last season and the results spoke for themselves.

Has anyone considered that your depth at 10 is dictated by the speed and quality of the ruck ball? Rebels slowed Brumbies ball so Brumbies 10 stands deep to give himself time. Rebels got quicker/cleaner ball so Rebels 10 plays flat.

 

[dru]

Has anyone considered that your depth at 10 is dictated by the speed and quality of the ruck ball? Rebels slowed Brumbies ball so Brumbies 10 stands deep to give himself time. Rebels got quicker/cleaner ball so Rebels 10 plays flat.

It definitely helps!

All the same the Rebel halves were heavy in traffic, there is an element of dealing with it. And of course an element where going forward teams will look to target.

 

[KevinO]

Was looking at stats on ESPN earlier, one that was of real interest was Joe Powell did not make a single meter when he tried to run the ball. Rebels back row was shutting him down to quickly.

 

[fatprop]

Has anyone considered that your depth at 10 is dictated by the speed and quality of the ruck ball? Rebels slowed Brumbies ball so Brumbies 10 stands deep to give himself time. Rebels got quicker/cleaner ball so Rebels 10 plays flat.

He had Speight, Simone & Kuridrani to dump the ball to get some meters inside and outside of the 10 channel

So back to my hobby horse and the lack work off the ball in all Aus sides to give the ball player options, inside and out, running lines etc.

 

[Brumbieman]

Well!


What a result to come back to - was out bush and missed it. A bit apprehensive before checking the score, then a bit confused when I saw it.

Still haven't found a full replay but the tries looked sharp, and a great mix of expansive running mixed with brutality up front.

Cant wait to see us go at it with the Reds after watching their game too, and with the Rebels seemingly looking good, maybe there is some hope on the horizon?