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Waratahs v Brumbies - Round 8, 2016

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Groucho

Greg Davis (50)
I see from today's G&GR news that the Waratahs are now chanting the Hickey/Foley mantra "we have to persevere, we're on the right track."

Maybe there's a vat of the kool aid left in storage.:)

What do you expect them to say? We're doing it wrong and are going to stop trying now?
 

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
I know Kellaway had a mixed bag for his run on debut, that first tackle attempt on Tomane was woeful. But those little things, dare I say it, X factor just can't be taught.


Are we talking about Tomane's second try?

Much like his first try where he beat Beale in a similar missed tackle, he had enough space that either going for the corner or cutting back inside were an option to score the try.

Tomane is clearly the form winger in Australia and it shows in his finishing.

I really think the defender gets made to look silly there if the ball carrier finishes well. Unless they really miss-time their step and run straight into the defender it's incredibly hard to stop.

I thought Kellaway generally had a good game. Hopefully he continues to get a chance with Guildford out injured and keeps his place in the team.
 

fatprop

George Gregan (70)
Staff member
I know Kellaway had a mixed bag for his run on debut, that first tackle attempt on Tomane was woeful. But those little things, dare I say it, X factor just can't be taught.

He seems to have time and space in traffic. He has a way to go, but if I was Gibson I'd be shoe horning him into that Tahs side every week now it's a (mumbles under breath) rebuilding season for the Tahs.


Being beaten by Tomane one on one this season?

Shit the that victim list is pretty extensive whenever he has been given space at speed this season
 

cyclopath

George Smith (75)
Staff member
I see from today's G&GR news that the Waratahs are now chanting the Hickey/Foley mantra "we have to persevere, we're on the right track."

Maybe there's a vat of the kool aid left in storage.:)

They're on the right track as far as the intent to play an attacking game, but the sat-nav might need resetting.
 

fatprop

George Gregan (70)
Staff member
I see from today's G&GR news that the Waratahs are now chanting the Hickey/Foley mantra "we have to persevere, we're on the right track."

The words maybe the same, but the direction is pretty solid. The are trying to play attacking ball in hand rugby, I have no problem with that at all.

This season (and next season as Dennis, Beale and probably a couple of others are hopefully moved on) was always been about rebuilding, too many old heads\leaders who had a lot of caps have left; and some of that experience which is left simply hasn't stood up.

Next season the Ponies will actually have some of the same issues with no Moore, Matt To'omua & Pocock taking a large chunk of the stability out of the side
 

Scrubber2050

Mark Ella (57)
Well, Folau at 13 went OK but just OK. The bloke is a fullback and a fucking good one.

I don't think Gibson's experiment worked.

The Tahs lost and the Ponies deserved the win.

Tahs season now re-railed.
 

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
Well, Folau at 13 went OK but just OK. The bloke is a fullback and a fucking good one.

I don't think Gibson's experiment worked.


Can you please let us know what the better alternative was?

Carraro played 13 against the Rebels and was average there and the structure of our defence changed because he wasn't on the wing to then be moved infield.

You seem to keep ignoring that the selection decision has been made due to injuries, not due to wanting to experiment.
 

fatprop

George Gregan (70)
Staff member
Well, Folau at 13 went OK but just OK. The bloke is a fullback and a fucking good one.

I don't think Gibson's experiment worked.

The Tahs lost and the Ponies deserved the win.

Tahs season now re-railed.


Folau did pretty well considering he was head knocked early.

He didn't look out of place in defense or attack against as good a centre pairing as there is in the comp
 

Scrubber2050

Mark Ella (57)
Can you please let us know what the better alternative was?

Carraro played 13 against the Rebels and was average there and the structure of our defence changed because he wasn't on the wing to then be moved infield.

You seem to keep ignoring that the selection decision has been made due to injuries, not due to wanting to experiment.


Are you kidding. Gibson is persevering with Folau at 13 and there is talk of him at 13 for the Wallabies...

There are obvious better choices at Wallaby level. I am not bagging the bloke - he's the best 15 we (collectively) have. Let him play there.

You are better placed than m,e to finding an alternative 13 at the Tahs. You cannot be that short of players.

You have the best 15 in the whole fucking world playing out of his best position. Gibson is crazy
 

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
Are you kidding. Gibson is persevering with Folau at 13 and there is talk of him at 13 for the Wallabies.

There are obvious better choices at Wallaby level. I am not bagging the bloke - he's the best 15 we (collectively) have. Let him play there.

You are better placed than m,e to finding an alternative 13 at the Tahs. You cannot be that short of players.

You have the best 15 in the whole fucking world playing out of his best position. Gibson is crazy


A decision has been made that the best backline that was available to be selected given injuries etc. meant moving Folau.

Gibson will probably keep Folau at 13 next week because the same situation exists whereby the first choice 13 (Horne) is still injured.

They have made a decision that based on the players available and where they play, the best backline they have available has Folau at 13.

Given the backline performed much better both in attack and defence than the previous match against the Rebels (where Folau played 15 and Carraro played 13), I can't see how you can be so critical of the decision.

You are acting like the choice of where to play Folau is completely independent of every other selection.
 

cyclopath

George Smith (75)
Staff member
Are you kidding. Gibson is persevering with Folau at 13 and there is talk of him at 13 for the Wallabies.

There are obvious better choices at Wallaby level. I am not bagging the bloke - he's the best 15 we (collectively) have. Let him play there.

You are better placed than m,e to finding an alternative 13 at the Tahs. You cannot be that short of players.

You have the best 15 in the whole fucking world playing out of his best position. Gibson is crazy

Squad is a bit short on players that can play 13 - Carraro obviously but hasn't been flash, Horne injured, others are more wing, FB or 12 options. I highly doubt he'd be playing Folau there if he had Horne fit or Carraro was bossing it. I think it is a reasonable thing to try, given the way the Tahs try to attack is not orthodox 9-10-12-13-etc anyway, and they shift around on defence / counterattack too. It's just a number.
 

wamberal

Phil Kearns (64)
You have the best 15 in the whole fucking world playing out of his best position. Gibson is crazy


Folau is probably the best under conditions, and in a contest, that suit him.


He cannot kick, which most observers would agree is a fairly important attribute under all conditions, but absolutely critical on the high veldt.
 

Hawko

Tony Shaw (54)
Folau is probably the best under conditions, and in a contest, that suit him.

He cannot kick, which most observers would agree is a fairly important attribute under all conditions, but absolutely critical on the high veldt.

Yeah but we don't play on the high veldt this year. Stormers is our only SA game in Cape Town.
 

Hawko

Tony Shaw (54)
You have the best 15 in the whole fucking world playing out of his best position. Gibson is crazy

As I posted a couple of pages back I would not have put Foley at 13 till the Force game because it was too big a step for Kellaway to debut start against the best Australian team. And after twenty minutes all I could say was "I told you so". But the boy has talent and certainly got better as the game went on. (Still wouldn't have done it but I'm a stubborn bastard at the best of times.)

But it is not crazy and I reckon that until Horne gets back that backline will be the one selected against the Force and the Stormers. Having seen it work compared to the configuration selected for the Rebels, I think its worth sticking with. The Force and Stormers will not present the sort of challenges the Brumbies do.

IMO the problem at the moment is that Mr Reliable, Matt Carraro, isn't playing well. He bombed an easy 5 pointer that I thought was the turning point of the match; the sort of thing that last year would have been money for jam for him. And with Guildford not in the right headspace, we are looking rather thin. Time to blood another debutant I think.
 

barbarian

Phil Kearns (64)
Staff member
I hate the Folau at 13 talk, because it just distracts from the Tahs biggest problem - the effectiveness of the pack.

Against the Brumbies we just couldn't get any go-forward once the Brumbies defensive line was set. Roach, Mumm, Dempsey just kept running into brick walls, and getting smashed behind the advantage line.

It's been our problem all season- we just can't get the opposition line going backwards. Add on a struggling lineout and a scrum that gets to parity at best (though it is improving) and it doesn't matter who wears the 13 shirt, you aren't going to win games.
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