The Brumbies defensive lineout looked very sharp early. Charlie Cale does a good job there and, from memory, Neville at the back as well.
I think the ball retention issue in part is a product of trying to play a more expansive game and accepting that the players will make some errors pushing things at times. Although there were a couple of times on Saturday we just dropped it cold and at least two times (Campbell & Petaia) where the ball was dislodged in the tackle when I feel ball security should have been better.
Whilst I thought it was a very good game and I thought the Reds did plenty well I think there were also a bunch of basic, fixable mistakes. My hope is that the attack will be much more clinical in 3-4 weeks with a bit more
Thought it might be interesting to compare the possession stats in this line of discussion.
Reds/Brumbies
62% / 45% | Possession 1H/2H | 38% / 55% |
56% / 50% | Territory 1H/2H | 44% / 50% |
Also the turnovers conceded - Reds 15 to Brumbies 10
So ball retention was a real issue.
Still, if you recall the Eddie Jones thinking - make it happen in the first 3 phases or move on (or some such); we are chancing our hand looking for opportunity when it presents. This is going to chance the ball. At the same time, some of those turnovers were simply losing the ruck, and I think that is the specific issue.
The game plan has some strengths as well as the noted issues:
Clean breaks Reds 8: Brumbies 4
Defenders beaten Reds 27: Brumbies 11
At the end of the day we lost by one point where the Brumbies kicked 10 points (2 penalties and 2 conversions) to the Reds 2 points (1 conversion). I'd suggest where we lost this game is obvious and while Brumbies strengths (such as the ruck or claimed individual performances such Wright) set aside, we lost this from the kicking tee.