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Waratahs vs Reds - Round 1 - 2012R01

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Schadenfreude

Schadenfreude

John Solomon (38)
darkhorse said:
I just can't understand why you would kick the ball away with 30 seconds to go. I said to my Dad as McKibbon went for the box-kick that it was 'a fucking horrible idea'. He disagreed. 30 seconds later I won my first argument against my Dad.
Click to expand...

I don't think you can judge decisions on their outcomes, decisions should be judged on the information available at the time of the decision...

... that kick though was a fucking horrible idea.
 
barbarian

barbarian

Phil Kearns (64)
Staff member
Interesting a lot of people think that the game last night was not of high standard, especially compared to the NZ and SA games.

I disagree.

Whilst last night was not one for the ages, I thought it was a tight physical contest with a reasonably low error rate. It's also worth considering NSW/QLD are NEVER great spectacles, with last night true to form. But once the teams found their feet the game flowed well, especially in the second half.

Its sort of ingrained in a lot of Aus rugby fans to bow to the Kiwis, but I thought the standard of play was just as good as that in the Blues vs Crusaders. Where that game was a bit more open it also had a fairly high error rate. This was tight and defence from both sides was top notch.

Anyway, I might be alone there. But I think both of those sides will feature at the business end of the season.
 
Slim 293

Slim 293

Stirling Mortlock (74)
And as usual being the first round the refs are being pendantic around the breakdown which saw a lot of penalties...

This will probably ease up over the weeks...
 
Lee Grant

Lee Grant

John Eales (66)
Staff member
The strict attitude of the referees will be laudable if it continues, though it is nothing more than the reprise of the 2011 law crackdown dressed up in different guise.

Last year the crackdown weakened during the season or mutated into a crackdown directed against just the defensive players. This gave attacking teams too much licence. So far it seems about even.

At least watching the game at the ground you could see more events when you knew the ref would ping the players rather than think they would get away with it. Coming in from the side was especially noticeable as an occasion for the whistle, before you heard it.

Sure the ref missed stuff; refs always will - but I found the relative clarity of this aspect of the ruck an improvement.

Apart from Kaplan, referees over the weekend were not so good at enforcing a clear release of the tackled player, nor of ensuring that there was a break between that release and the arrival of the second defender who may otherwise have acted legally. Release should mean team release otherwise the tackled player has no show of letting go of the pill.

If referees are looking for a clear gap of release by one defender, or a tag team of two, they are also looking at a clear gap between a defender's feet and the line across the park at the end of the defender's side of the ruck. This is traditionally called "last feet" (of the ruck) but often it is last head or last shoulder.

If referees enforce this law it will get rid of defensive pillars creeping up. Perhaps then they may see their way clear to get rid of the pillars of the side with the ball. We can hope.

The Reds observed Crackdown Series 2, Episode 1 better than the Tahs did. The matter of the crackdown should be the first item on the agenda at Moore Park come Monday.
 
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barbarian

barbarian

Phil Kearns (64)
Staff member
I thought that was the right call. Ball went slightly forward off Kingston, was made to look better by the fact Kingston continued forward after touching the ball.
 
AngrySeahorse

AngrySeahorse

Peter Sullivan (51)
Well I watched the replay of the game. Credit to the Reds for hanging in there (& yes I know Reds were ahead most of the game but I felt the Tahs were going to go on with it at the end), my Crusaders pretty much did similar against the Blues - you take victories like this. A win is a win. I thought by comparison the Saders-Blues game is the best of this round but I'm biased obviously.

Just a few observations: Sarel was very good & I don't think he should have come off (did he have a cramp or something?). B. Foley was also good. The loss of Barnes turned out to be the biggest loss for mine. The winger replacements held their own (against my own expectations). Tahs forward pack did well, particularly TPN. The TPN denied try looked to me like the pass went backwards (the movement of bodies may have created an illusion of going backwards however looking at slo-mo replay). I think the call for McKibbon to kick & thus put that idea into his mind in the first place was worse than the kick itself.

I haven't always been a big fan of Higginbotham but I thought he had a very good game. I expect that in attack any good loose forward is going to have the nous to inject themselves where they think they can add some extra fire power, whether that's in support of a ball carrier being ready for a potential breakdown, as a link man, or as the first up ball carrier themselves. If that so happens to be down one of the wings than so be it. He's a loose forward, not in the tight 5. I know some game plans call for tighter back rowers but I cant see anything really wrong about what Higginbotham is doing. Aside from that I thought Digby had a pretty good game & alot of the Reds were quiet compared to what I've seen in the past. Harris' goal kicking is a real find. As I said above they hung in there well.

Agree with Slim re: the commentary, had to turn it down.

Very gutting loss for the Tahs but it's very early in the season.
 
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