Final Trial - Reds v. Force

[Lee Grant]

OK got it working now?

 

[Lee Grant]

Soft try to the Force awful defence Reds

 

[Lee Grant]

Pek Cowan throwing to the lineout OK oops - one too long.

Ground looks a lot better than Subi for watching rugby.

 

[Lee Grant]

Shepherd penalty 20-0 Force. Sorry no game clock.

C'mon Reds pull you finger out. Reds forwards getting mullered.

Sheehan looking good. Brown taking a lot of lineout ball.

 

[Lee Grant]

Nice grubber kick from Cooper and Davies scores. Cooper kick misses 20 - 5 Reds

 

[Lee Grant]

Queensland scrum crap Force push them off their own ball near their goal line.

Another Force try - Richard Brown beautiful hands from Force. Including Campese pass from JOC (James O'Connor).

JOC (James O'Connor) conversion hits upright - Force 25-5.

 

[chief]

Nothing short of embarrassing, I actually pity the Reds and their confidence.

 

[Lee Grant]

Qld near Force goal line but Genia knocks on.

Force scrum superior. Maul defence good.

Half time Force 25-5.

Reds shocking; Force strong forwards. Brumbies watch out.

Some hope for Reds when Cooper gets ball - needs more of it.

 

[Lee Grant]

Sharpe not calling ball to himself; Brown getting big share.

DHP looking more seasoned after U/20 tour and a season in Sydney club rugby.

2nd Half - another nice kick through by Cooper. Lineout. Reds get it back - try Genia in corner.

Conversion by Cooper from touch. 25-12 Force.

Ioane got the ball. this is news.

Good to see the the good Shepherd playing healthy.

Reds on Force 22 but accidentally offside. Until then all Qld 2nd half.

 

[Lee Grant]

Qld attacking again - shocking pass Cooper - have obviously been instructed to get it wide and not compete in the forwards.

Handbags !!! Gracious fellows. Sheehan called to account. Shock. He doesn't look worried. Almost as though he has been in such situations before. Penalty kick Force. JOC (James O'Connor) goes for goal !!! Over - 28-12. Query - will Sharpe be a criticised as much as Waugh was last night??

News - A Fainga'a received the ball.

Reds 5M out - maul - Force penalty.

 

[Lee Grant]

Nice grubber JOC (James O'Connor) and Reds have to take the ball out 12 M out from Reds line.

PK Force right in front 15M out. JOC (James O'Connor) goal 31-12 Force.

Sam Harris good kick. Lineout on Reds 10M line. Reds clear.

JOC (James O'Connor) slippery nearly thorugh again. High shot from Daley. Kick for touch this time.

Dunning and OÝoung on. Sheehan good game.

Here come Reds but they knock on. Sharpe down. Surprise - shock - he hurt his shoulder. He's up.

 

[Lee Grant]

Force steal lineout. on Reds 10M. Get ball again. JOC (James O'Connor) chips to goal line but Qld clear.

Stephano Hunt for JOC (James O'Connor), Stanford and McCalman on.


Qlders better 2nd half but forwards still not up to par. Still 31-12. Scrappy.

 

[Biffo]

Those who believe the scoreboard matters in trials please tick.

 

[Ash]

Lee - Reds still really weak at the breakdown. Not sold on Taylor yet, and the backrow of Taylor, Horwill and Braid was outclassed, and the tight 5 went missing for much of the game, Weeks being maybe the more notable.

Force forwards dominated all night. Some champagne rugby at times from J'OC too. Force scrum got the better of the Reds.

Stu Dickinson was over pedantic at times, but no surprise there.

Force will be very pleased with Bartholomeusz. Bartholomeusz at 10 with J'OC at 12 to provide the spark looks like a good partnership - based on the single sample of this game, of course.

 

[Lee Grant]

Final score 31-12. Reds poor 1st half but came back in 2nd.

Cooper looked good for Qld.

Force had more good players: JOC (James O'Connor), DHP, Brown, but the pack was MOTM. Bartho was good which is no surprise as he's always been a good footie player.

Biffo

The scoreboard didn't matter - never does in trials, never will; we said it last year and we'll all say the same next year and the year after.

What will be significant is the performance of both sets of forwards - especially for the Reds if they don't compete better. That was the main point from this game even if if the Reds had somehow won it.

Ash

God comments.

 

[Biffo]

Biffo

The scoreboard didn't matter - never does in trials, never will; we said it last year and we'll all say the same next year and the year after.

What will be significant is the performance of both sets of forwards - especially for the Reds if they don't compete better. That was the main point from this game even if if the Reds had somehow won it.[

Absolutely. I was just making a gentle point to those who have been irrationally exuberant about the scoreboards in other trials.

It's the little things that matter in trials. As ever, coaches are working on the jigsaw puzzle, which is complicated a little in rugby by pieces already placed being able to shift a little.

 

[Gagger]

Reds in for another long season on the back of that forward display

I also through Barto had a surprisingly good game and with the pack's commitment, their season doesn't look over before it's begun

 

[TOCC]

well realistically for the Reds, out of the tight 5 there will be 3 positional changes, so it was hardly the final lineup

 

[tranquility]

can anyone tell me what has gone wrong with greg holmes? he went from being a potential world class loose head had an injury and is now a footballer of club standard.

We looked stronger when Daley and Hardman came on. Weeks didnt look too bad.

Link why the f**K did we have three locks on the field??

so atleast when we only have one of those knitwits on the field who were playing in the second row we can control the damage.

Add Higginbum and or Tomiki into that backrow and get some more balance.




failing that.. im just not sure where to look.

c'mon quirk come and save the day!

 

[spectator]

Biffo

The scoreboard didn't matter - never does in trials, never will; we said it last year and we'll all say the same next year and the year after.

What will be significant is the performance of both sets of forwards - especially for the Reds if they don't compete better. That was the main point from this game even if if the Reds had somehow won it.[

Absolutely. I was just making a gentle point to those who have been irrationally exuberant about the scoreboards in other trials.
It's the little things that matter in trials. As ever, coaches are working on the jigsaw puzzle, which is complicated a little in rugby by pieces already placed being able to shift a little.

Wins have been as scarce as rocking horse shit in the past few years for Reds supporters so some of us might have got a little over exuberant after back to back trial wins. Actually it wasn't so much the final scoreboard result that got me excited but how the team applied themselves in achieving those results. That same application didn't seem to be there in the bits of the live feed that I saw last night.

Maybe it is everything to do with the jigsaw puzzle? Hope Link has found the pieces....