Waratahs v Brumbies, SFS Saturday 26 July

[Braveheart81]

I think Pfitzy could be right that Peyper and Jackson referee in the second week of the finals. The best out of the four finals refs would then get the final.

If we play the Highlanders or Chiefs it will be Peyper. If the Brumbies we could get anyone.

If the Crusaders end up hosting the Sharks that probably means Steve Walsh is the referee unless they ditch the neutral refs they've had for the first week of the finals.

I reckon Lindo's team is probably accurate except I think Naiyaravoro will be on the bench and so will one of Cararro and Lance.

I think Naiyaravoro has made some good impacts in the last few weeks and I can't imagine they'd have picked him for the last three games to qualify him if they didn't want to use him ahead of Crawford.

 

[TahDan]

I reckon Lindo's team is probably accurate except I think Naiyaravoro will be on the bench and so will one of Cararro and Lance.

I think Naiyaravoro has made some good impacts in the last few weeks and I can't imagine they'd have picked him for the last three games to qualify him if they didn't want to use him ahead of Crawford.

He's still a little sloppy in defence, but the guy looked pretty good against the Reds I thought and definitely has a lot of power and will come in handy in the closing stages of big matches.

I've been quite surprised about his passing ability to be honest - quite good for a bloke his size.

 

[Pete King]

Is Carraro available, I had heard he was out for the year. Think Lance if uninjured offers greater utility

 

[Braveheart81]

Is Carraro available, I had heard he was out for the year. Think Lance if uninjured offers greater utility

Apparently Carraro will be available.

 

[Pete King]

Regardless I think he will/should go with Mckibbon, Lance and Naiyaravoro

 

[Quick Hands]

If its the Brumbies we might end up with a 6/2 bench. Follow me on this:

The appointment of Joubers and Walsh this week means its likely Peyper and Jackson for the next week. That means we get more of a free-for-all at the breakdown, and that is bad if we're up against the Brumbies because they want negativity.

Therefore, we need more forwards to smash them silly and prevent To'omua et al getting clean ball and fucking ours up.

Theory at this point. Let's see what happens on the weekend.

Jackson would be a disaster for us - no matter who we play because he's shown in the past that when the pressure is on he goes missing. This leads to mayhem and slow ball - see Reds/Brumbies 2013. Peyper just makes it up as he goes along - so expect the unexpected there. Has Chris Pollock fallen out of favour?

 

[Pfitzy]

He's still a little sloppy in defence, but the guy looked pretty good against the Reds I thought and definitely has a lot of power and will come in handy in the closing stages of big matches.

I've been quite surprised about his passing ability to be honest - quite good for a bloke his size.

First sentence is the issue: this is finals footy and defence is going to be key. I still think we can win with the attacking style we have had this season, but the Crusaders, Brumbies, or Clan can out-attack us if we have a hole somewhere.

 

[Marcelo]

Do you expect an Allianz Stadium sell out for the semi-final?

 

[Pfitzy]

Tahs twitter feed has gone very quiet since announcing the first 1200 general sale tickets in 10 minutes yesterday.

I'm not expecting a full house sign, in part because the snow set will find hard to resist any chance to hit powder at the moment, as well as other pursuits to get out in the Sydney winter.

People have simply made other plans, maybe due to not expecting the Tahs to still be in the hunt at this time of year. After all, based on past results, why would they?

And few of them possess anything like my prescience and willingness to support the team

 

[fatprop]

Do you expect an Allianz Stadium sell out for the semi-final?

I expect it to go very close, but not to next week when the real build up actually starts

 

[Pete King]

Tahs twitter feed has gone very quiet since announcing the first 1200 general sale tickets in 10 minutes yesterday.

I'm not expecting a full house sign, in part because the snow set will find hard to resist any chance to hit powder at the moment, as well as other pursuits to get out in the Sydney winter.

People have simply made other plans, maybe due to not expecting the Tahs to still be in the hunt at this time of year. After all, based on past results, why would they?

And few of them possess anything like my prescience and willingness to support the team

be pretty disappointing if its not a full house at Aliianz, I think the last couple of home games suggest it will be though. tipping also lots to be sold week of.

 

[Antony]

Tahs twitter feed has gone very quiet since announcing the first 1200 general sale tickets in 10 minutes yesterday.

I'm not expecting a full house sign, in part because the snow set will find hard to resist any chance to hit powder at the moment, as well as other pursuits to get out in the Sydney winter.

People have simply made other plans, maybe due to not expecting the Tahs to still be in the hunt at this time of year. After all, based on past results, why would they?

And few of them possess anything like my prescience and willingness to support the team

This is a good point. I made other plans months ago (the ice hockey) without even checking whether there could be a rugby clash, because I thought "it's late July, how could there possibly still be rugby in Sydney?". Idiot.

 

[TahDan]

Tahs twitter feed has gone very quiet since announcing the first 1200 general sale tickets in 10 minutes yesterday.

I'm not expecting a full house sign, in part because the snow set will find hard to resist any chance to hit powder at the moment, as well as other pursuits to get out in the Sydney winter.

People have simply made other plans, maybe due to not expecting the Tahs to still be in the hunt at this time of year. After all, based on past results, why would they?

And few of them possess anything like my prescience and willingness to support the team

To be fair, Twitter isn't overly representative of Australia - only about 10% of the population use it - so silence on Twitter might not be that indicative of the attendance.

I seriously hope we get close to a sell-out though... first home semi since 2008 and the potential setup for a home final, so it would be a shame if the core Waratahs fan base had decided to piss off to go skiing.

 

[Braveheart81]

be pretty disappointing if its not a full house at Aliianz, I think the last couple of home games suggest it will be though. tipping also lots to be sold week of.

Yes and no.

We got a season best crowd at Allianz in the last game there against the Highlanders of 24,500. To achieve a sellout for the semi final we need to find another 20,000 people. That's a huge increase.

I reckon not getting 35k would be disappointing.

If we reach 40k it will be amazing.

The atmosphere will be fantastic with anything over 35k though.

 

[Braveheart81]

To be fair, Twitter isn't overly representative of Australia - only about 10% of the population use it - so silence on Twitter might not be that indicative of the attendance.

I seriously hope we get close to a sell-out though. first home semi since 2008 and the potential setup for a home final, so it would be a shame if the core Waratahs fan base had decided to piss off to go skiing.

Pfitzy was talking about the Tahs twitter account tweeting how well sales went at the start yesterday morning and then not tweeting anything about ticket sales after that.

 

[TahDan]

Pfitzy was talking about the Tahs twitter account tweeting how well sales went at the start yesterday morning and then not tweeting anything about ticket sales after that.

Oh I see... yeah, well that is a bit of a bummer. But as has been pointed out, the real build-up will probably start next week.

 

[Pfitzy]

The atmosphere will be fantastic with Pfitzy

Fixed.

Where you sitting BH? Western side with WJ the snob?

 

[Braveheart81]

Where you sitting BH? Western side with WJ the snob?

Yep, Western side. Bay 10, Row GG. Just behind @BPC

We've had the same seats for 7 years or so. Watching the game from anywhere else in Allianz just feels weird.

I would like to one day have life membership so I'm closer to halfway.

 

[matty_k]

I managed the snob side as well. Bay 14 row D.

 

[Pfitzy]

Ah well, you might still hear me. If you're lucky.

Or if I get some of the crowd to actually fire up, you'll hear the results. Any opposition lineouts that get near my end of the park are going to cop an absolute sonic hammering.