Super Round 2, 2018 - Rebels V Reds @ AAMI Park

[emuarse]

Looks like

Be still my racing heart , so excited about tonight's opener SOOO many reasons the Rebels need to win you all know them ,, in our conference who are we going to beat to avoid another spoon , Tahs ,, possibly , Brumbies ,, possibly , our best chance though is the Reds and if you have forgotten it is on TONIGHT ,, hoping for big performance from the pack , on paper they stand up ( but so do i on paper ) ,, looking forward to Amanaki causing havoc Tomani using the great hands i feel he has and hitting hard and to the captain being mean and ruthless ( yeah he has a mean streak ,i love it now it is our mean streak ) The backline will be there as well of course and as long as they tackle and kick goals we should be good ,, this must be the most anticipated Rebels season yet ,, ohh my heart ,,

I'd say you should have a fibulator handy.. just in case.

 

[Ballboy]

Ha Ha , Yes exactly , i usually use Rum for my fibulation ,,

 

[Derpus]

Have to say, really hope the Rebels win this. I think Australian rugby needs Rebels to do something big this year.

 

[Tex]

Be still my racing heart , so excited about tonight's opener SOOO many reasons the Rebels need to win you all know them ,, in our conference who are we going to beat to avoid another spoon , Tahs ,, possibly , Brumbies ,, possibly , our best chance though is the Reds and if you have forgotten it is on TONIGHT ,, hoping for big performance from the pack , on paper they stand up ( but so do i on paper ) ,, looking forward to Amanaki causing havoc Tomani using the great hands i feel he has and hitting hard and to the captain being mean and ruthless ( yeah he has a mean streak ,i love it now it is our mean streak ) The backline will be there as well of course and as long as they tackle and kick goals we should be good ,, this must be the most anticipated Rebels season yet ,, ohh my heart ,,

Slainte!

 

[Ballboy]

Slainte Agad sa !

 

[Zero_Cool]

So amazingly (although I'm somewhat sceptical of it) apparently the Rebels pack is listed at 940kg, a staggering 9kg heavier than the Reds, listed at 931kg. Although this is helped by a their back row bing much bigger; Timani apparently weighing 123kg (with Cottrell @ 105 and Mafi @ 112) whereas the Reds have a much lighter back row with Higgers @ 110 (apparently Hanigan's weight!), Korczyk @102 (Hanigan's real weight) and Timu @ 108.

The tight five weights are very close with the Rebs coming in at 120kg per, and the Reds having the slight edge at 122.2kg (although I don't think Slippers weight has been updated recently, he looks much bigger, I'd guess closer to 125 than the 117 he's listed at).

How does this impact people predicting the Reds will dominate the Scrum?

I have no doubts the Reds will control their own lineout and Korczyk and Higgers will disrupt a lot of Rebs ball.

 

[dru]

I really think it is too early to call a scrum advantage. They were all over the place last weekend and these boys havent had to front up with a ref in a competition game yet.

Stiles is no slouch down in Melbourne. Brad may well have culture and mongrel with him but I suspect that with loose head and feed, the props' job has gotten a whole lot more technical - with the Hooker out of the shove and striking. A good defensive 8 man shove is going to win a lot of scrums this year.

We need to see this in action before calling scrum domination.

 

[Tex]

So amazingly (although I'm somewhat sceptical of it) apparently the Rebels pack is listed at 940kg, a staggering 9kg heavier than the Reds, listed at 931kg. Although this is helped by a their back row bing much bigger; Timani apparently weighing 123kg (with Cottrell @ 105 and Mafi @ 112) whereas the Reds have a much lighter back row with Higgers @ 110 (apparently Hanigan's weight!), Korczyk @102 (Hanigan's real weight) and Timu @ 108.

The tight five weights are very close with the Rebs coming in at 120kg per, and the Reds having the slight edge at 122.2kg (although I don't think Slippers weight has been updated recently, he looks much bigger, I'd guess closer to 125 than the 117 he's listed at).

How does this impact people predicting the Reds will dominate the Scrum?

I have no doubts the Reds will control their own lineout and Korczyk and Higgers will disrupt a lot of Rebs ball.

Speaking with all the authority vested in me by my experience as a flyhalf, I reckon it won't matter too much.

Because:

1. I suspect those weights aren't updated regularly, and
2. Technique will have a greater impact than those 9kg.

 

[Scoey]

As far as scrum weights go that's pretty much equal. Both big packs. I'm not going to go all out and say we will dominate but we should hold our own at scrum time. Once the reserve front rows come on though, we should get the upper hand which will be important to closing the game out if we are still in it at that point.

The lineout battle should be good and something i'm looking forward to. While I don't know a lot about Mafi or Cotrell in terms of lineout ability, I feel like we have more options. It will be all about accuracy and I expect both lineouts to compete heavily on defensive lineouts as field position tonight could prove decisive.

 

[Zero_Cool]

As far as scrum weights go that's pretty much equal. Both big packs. I'm not going to go all out and say we will dominate but we should hold our own at scrum time. Once the reserve front rows come on though, we should get the upper hand which will be important to closing the game out if we are still in it at that point.

The lineout battle should be good and something i'm looking forward to. While I don't know a lot about Mafi or Cotrell in terms of lineout ability, I feel like we have more options. It will be all about accuracy and I expect both lineouts to compete heavily on defensive lineouts as field position tonight could prove decisive.

I do worry that we don't have the kicking game (mostly in our back 3; 10 & 12 are good to very good kicking options) to really support our lineout being a real weapon, but I really think it should be a major feature of the Reds this season. Higgers, Rodda, Tui, Korczyk and Timu are all superb lineout targets and all 3 of our hooker options have good throws on them. Mix in that besides Korczyk everyone of the forwards are real power house forwards with plenty of grunt a maul anywhere from 10 meters out should be almost unstoppable.

 

[dru]

The lineout battle should be good and something i'm looking forward to. While I don't know a lot about Mafi or Cotrell in terms of lineout ability, I feel like we have more options. It will be all about accuracy and I expect both lineouts to compete heavily on defensive lineouts as field position tonight could prove decisive.

Agree with this. We have line out options that in the past Cheika didn't care about and then just didn't have available. The query will be on who is calling and their experience in that department.

To be honest, while I bicker around in maudlin tones swallowed by a rugby nadir - I am still genuinely interested in seeing certain things at the Reds. Set piece is number 1 on that list.

 

[liquor box]

Speaking with all the authority vested in me by my experience as a flyhalf, I reckon it won't matter too much.

Because:

1. I suspect those weights aren't updated regularly, and
2. Technique will have a greater impact than those 9kg.

3. We have Taniella's thighs...Reds win the scrum

 

[TOCC]

Apparently Rebels have their fingers crossed that 10,000 turn up tonight, and over 12,500 would be terrific...

 

[swingpass]

Yeah thats the number i thought would be telling. < 10 K and a loss would set alarm bells ringing. > 12 would be something to build on throughout the year if they have some early success. The social media push and some positive press and radio coverage is hopefully going to get some bums on seats. Also its a beautiful evening in Melb. Go Rebs

 

[Scrubber2050]

Shit - if they don't get more than 12,000 then it has been a poor marketing campaign, particularly when they have been given such a leg up with extra players. First game and all of that,

Betcha the Force would have had more !

 

[RugbyReg]

Part of me understands that it would be a slow build for crowds but aren’t ticket prices (or perhaps just membership prices?) cheap as chips?


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[Zero_Cool]

Part of me understands that it would be a slow build for crowds but aren’t ticket prices (or perhaps just membership prices?) cheap as chips?

Yeah my understanding is those 3 game memberships start around $60. Although that's apparently about what tickets cost in New Zealand.

Shit - if they don't get more than 12,000 then it has been a poor marketing campaign, particularly when they have been given such a leg up with extra players. First game and all of that,

Betcha the Force would have had more !

I would be shocked to see more than 10k, last year they only had like one game with an attendance over 10k and then they only had 3 games with attendance announced (likely because it was too low). But my real worry for the Rebels is that they are financially screwed, they likely have more in salary than last year, they showed no financial discipline during the off season, and if the on field performances don't come you can guarantee the people of Melbourne won't.

 

[JT0406]

I hope this game is entertaining as the NZ clash (blues v highlanders)!

 

[dru]

Did Horan just say that the key was Kerevi, get the backs going forward and the forwards will profit from it?

Surely I mis-heard.

 

[lou75]

We have ex Rebels Higginbotham captaining the Reds partly coached by ex rebels coach McGahan with the new Rebels Force team coached by ex Force coach Wessels so I am expecting some points to prove.