Good afternoon all, sorry my two cents is coming late but thats is what happens when you spend the days at the rugby other things need to be done. NSW looked good from the outset, for the first 20 minutes they were all over the baas like a cheap suit, but it must be said that 10 mins of that was 15 on 14. Jones was on the end of some great lead up work but finished very well. After the sides evened up again there was some brutal rugby, big hits, intense end to end stuff and the baas gave as good as they got. After 18 minutes NSW were 16 - nil up but went into the sheds at 16 - 6. The baas were in the game up to their ears. As reported above almost straight after half time Ta Hosea was sent off for his second infringement. I have no problem with the ten he coped in the first half, it is not world championship wrestling and you can't suplex a bloke. But the so called late tackle I just can't agree with. He was committed to the tackle and hit him just as the ball left his boot. I am not saying that he stayed down but he seemed to get better when he saw the red card. And as they say in the classics that was all she wrote. The baas tried hard for the rest of the game but were not in the contest it was a sheer numbers game and unfortunateley for J. Kotz, who replaced Cudd on the right wing at half time and was running on one leg after Saturday, was on the end of NSW putting Jones over in the corner for another three in the second half taking his total to five. I spoke to a couple of the NSW guys after the game who said it was a lot more physical than the Tonga match. NSW were very good and their combinations were crisp. I am not taking anything away from them but I would have liked to see the game 15 on 15. If there was an area to work on they need to convert their tries but the fact that 5 of them were scored on the wing didn't help. The reason I bring this up is that overall the goal kickers in this series have been very very impressive.
The baas were missing JR (K Morgan) with an ankle injury and one of the big units who was knocked out on Saturday and therefore had to sit out. On that note they will be without Harrison LLoyd for the Fiji game after he was concussed today.
I stayed for the QLD game and thought that Fiji might upset them when they took the the lead into half time but after the break Qld were camped in the Fiji 22 for the entire half scoring three tries to nil and taking the chocolates.
From what I have seen NSW will beat Qld and end deserving winners of the comp they will also dominate the Aussie selections.
If the baas can field a decent side after three bruising encounters I think that they have the side to score enough points against Fiji ending 2 and 2 from their games and better for the experience. Don't count on these guys missing selections in the Aussie side too. They will get some don't worry about that.
As for Jamie Kotz he will need to pick himself up dust himself off and get ready for the Under 18's Australian 7s camp. As far as I know he is the only bloke from this comp in the 25 man training squad to go to the youth Commonwealth Games in Samoa. And yes I Am biased, he is my nephew.
