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Blues vs Reds, Sat 14 May, 2022. Eden Park.

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liquor box

liquor box

Greg Davis (50)
gel said:
My take is that Thorn has been trying to get the reds to play a more New Zealand game style of rugby which for the past 3 years has done pretty well against other Australian sides. The problem is that the fundamentals of the players skills are not there so when it comes to playing against the New Zealand teams we fold because we are basically just a very poorly skilled New Zealand team.

etc etc etc.........

But then what the fuck do I know: I'm just some guy.
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I think that is a good assessment, against an Australian team you can make mistakes and not pay for them, against NZ teams you go down by 5 points.
 
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liquor box

liquor box

Greg Davis (50)
dru said:
We are all just some guy. ;)

I don't think the evidence is there that we don't have the skill fundamentals. Certainly the expression of those skills, with the 23 we have been putting forward with the injury list, well that is lacking results in skill implementation. What I've seen on the fundamentals is that we don't seem to be implementing the game plan (or don't have an effective one?).
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We have skills, but make poor choices. Petaia is a great example, all the skill in the world but still is a bit loose on ball carry and deciding when to take a tackle rather than forcing an offload to attempt to set up a miracle try. Many players are in the same boat, we have to retain possession and not hope for miracles. It will change as young players get more experienced.
 
dru

dru

Tim Horan (67)
liquor box said:
We have skills, but make poor choices. Petaia is a great example, all the skill in the world but still is a bit loose on ball carry and deciding when to take a tackle rather than forcing an offload to attempt to set up a miracle try. Many players are in the same boat, we have to retain possession and not hope for miracles. It will change as young players get more experienced.
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This is where I sit exactly. But it means it isn't really skill fundamentals being a problem. Implementation and decision making possibly. But right now I keep going back to the game plan. There are questions with it against the Kiwis, albeit again it might simply be around implementation. I don't know.

But it's not pretty.
 
Dismal Pillock

Dismal Pillock

Simon Poidevin (60)
Tomikin said:
Come on Reds, do the Brumbies a favour and knock off the Blues.
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rave-viking.gif
 
gel

gel

Ken Catchpole (46)
liquor box said:
We have skills, but make poor choices. Petaia is a great example, all the skill in the world but still is a bit loose on ball carry and deciding when to take a tackle rather than forcing an offload to attempt to set up a miracle try. Many players are in the same boat, we have to retain possession and not hope for miracles. It will change as young players get more experienced.
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That is what I am talking about though. I think I am just using a different definition for fundamentals:

There's clearly enough *ability* in our players, but they do not have adequate training to develop the fundamental skills to be able to execute effectively. Passing. Kicking. Rucking.

A lot of teams commented on the increased speed of the game when playing against the New Zealand teams last year. The NZ players aren't generally faster, so it's not the physical attributes that is the issue. The NZ players tend to catch and release the ball somewhat faster than we do when spreading it wide and some of this comes down to how accurate their passing is. It also means when we are recognising the opportunity to spread it wide ourselves on attack, they are able to run up and turn the ball over and make it look like it was a bad choice on our part (it wasn't - it was poor fundamental skills). across 4 players it can be around 1 second all up. That's about 7-8m that the defence can gain in that time to snuff that attack.

How many of our box kicks are truly contestable compared to the NZ teams? Maybe 8 out of 15? Well what if the NZ teams make it 10 out of 15 against us?

Our defence also suffers by inaccurate rucking that leads to frustrating penalties all over the field gifting opposition territory. Different referees, different opposition, different fields (home and away) is not just a sign of a state of mind "we just have to be more careful" - that's poor execution of a fundamental skillset in the game.

People talk about the extra single digit percentages in professional sports that make the difference between winning and losing. We aren't even in the single digit territory - we are 20% off.

Occasionally the stars will align and it all goes right and our abilities shine through to show our true potential. Then it all crashes down the following week.

Lack of consistency is a sign of poor training.


How many of our players could hit the 5 targets in that video? And then factor in the speed as well.
 
gel

gel

Ken Catchpole (46)
TLDR - Blah blah blah Gel just sayin' what he always does anyways. Like I said, wtf would I know? I don't work at the Reds.

We'll find out tonight anyways
 
Dismal Pillock

Dismal Pillock

Simon Poidevin (60)
gel said:
How many of our players could hit the 5 targets in that video? And then factor in the speed as well.
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Wow, CC has a really nice pass, off either hand too. His dad's DNA. Almost like he could play..... centre.

In comparison, the French stickman passed like an anaemic child who grew up in calipers.
 
LeCheese

LeCheese

Ken Catchpole (46)
Refreshing to hear a bit of positive commentary around the state of Australian rugby from the NZ commentators - let's see how long into the coverage it lasts
 
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