Reds vs Bulls Rnd 5 2012.

[Brisbok]

If we try win this in the forwards we will lose this badly, we just don't have the pack for it and the Saffas have been doing it for years. Width will win this for us. Backup can be called in for verse Force if anyone is fit, this is still a better backline than the Force can put on the park on their best week. Asssuming Digby is suspended and no one is flown in as cover which will likely have been announced at this time.

9. Genia
10. Murphy
11. Morahan
12. Lance
13. Taps
14. Shipperly
15. Davies

21. Prior
22. Samo

Despite the injury situation at the Reds, I'm not sure Jake White would let them have use of Prior for this game!

 

[RedsHappy]

http://www.superxv.com/news/super15_rugby_news.asp?id=34349

Anyone heard of these guys. The article says they were standouts for the Queensland 2nd 15. They are both in their 20's which is nice. Are they hard heads? Will say a lot about the type of footy link intends to play.

You can be sure Lee Grant will have something for us re Rapana. He's played with the Rats:

http://manly-daily.whereilive.com.au/sport/story/insert-web-head-here46/

And here's a bit re Eyres-Brown:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Eyres-Brown

 

[tigerland12]

I thought Rapana was still contracted with the Force?

 

[RedsHappy]

I thought Rapana was still contracted with the Force?

Apparently no longer so...

 

[AlexH]

Harris and Lucas are out, Kafe isn't looking so stupid is he..

Yeah, Kafe must have looked into his crystal ball and known we were going to be down to our 4th string flyhalf.

 

[qwerty51]

So we're now at the injury excuses? You let in tries you know, pack was outmuscled.

 

[Brisbok]

Yeah, Kafe must have looked into his crystal ball and known we were going to be down to our 4th string flyhalf.

Regardless of the circumstances, Kafe predicted they would come back from South Africa without a win. He is only 50% of the way there though, still one big game to go!

Incidentally, if you're betting on a horse race and you back the favourite and then the 2nd favourite has to withdraw....is your bet still valid?

 

[liquor box]

I was pretty much resigned to us losing both games in SA before we left, I was dreaming of a win and a bonus point, we got the bonus point so hopefully we can get a win.

My biggest worry now is how we will go against the force, it was one I thought was a certainty and needs to be won, the Bulls game would be nice but the Force game is concerning me more.

It is hard to pick a score for this one, I think Bulls by 17

 

[AlexH]

Regardless of the circumstances, Kafe predicted they would come back from South Africa without a win. He is only 50% of the way there though, still one big game to go!

Incidentally, if you're betting on a horse race and you back the favourite and then the 2nd favourite has to withdraw....is your bet still valid?

I think it is reasonable to assume that Kafe made his prediciton on the premise that the Reds would field a close to full-strength team for the two games in South Africa. I'm sure he had not accounted for the contingency of Genia playing at flyhalf for a good part of the second half, with first and second choice flyhalves and kickers sitting on the sideline, in his prediction. That is to suggest that the Reds would have likely won against both the Bulls and Sharks but for the injuries of Lucas and Harris as well as the likely suspension of Ioane for the Bulls game.

 

[RedsHappy]

Regardless of the circumstances, Kafe predicted they would come back from South Africa without a win. He is only 50% of the way there though, still one big game to go! Incidentally, if you're betting on a horse race and you back the favourite and then the 2nd favourite has to withdraw....is your bet still valid?

Bb, you make many good and thoughtful points on GAGR. But, IMO, you'll undermine their integrity and credibility over time if you increasingly mix them with what appears more like Saffer schadenfreude v an Aussie team, than good constructive analysis.

 

[RedsHappy]

So we're now at the injury excuses? You let in tries you know, pack was outmuscled.

q51, no one here (as of now) has suggested these injuries are 'excuses'. But there can be no doubt whatsoever that these latest injuries and Diggers' likely suspension will have a serious impact upon the winning potential of the Reds in SA (and possibly beyond). You'll no doubt in this context recall your own extensive posts last year regarding your sympathetic assessment of the Tahs' 2011 chances given the various injuries the Tahs incurred last year.

 

[Brisbok]

I think it is reasonable to assume that Kafe made his prediciton on the premise that the Reds would field a close to full-strength team for the two games in South Africa. I'm sure he had not accounted for the contingency of Genia playing at flyhalf for a good part of the second half, with first and second choice flyhalves and kickers sitting on the sideline, in his prediction. That is to suggest that the Reds would have likely won against both the Bulls and Sharks but for the injuries of Lucas and Harris as well as the likely suspension of Ioane for the Bulls game.

That is largely your opinion and I, along with many others, would dispute that. However, none of us can be proved correct or incorrect as the players mentioned will not be playing. The fact remains, the Reds have lost their first game and they have one more game to go.

 

[Brisbok]

Bb, you make many good and thoughtful points on GAGR. But, IMO, you'll undermine their integrity and credibility over time if you increasingly mix them with what appears more like Saffer schadenfreude v an Aussie team, than good constructive analysis.

I stand by my comment and I don't feel it undermines the credibility of anything I've posted previously. Your comments on the topic suggest that if the Reds had not suffered the injuries, they were almost guaranteed to win both games.

You and other Reds fans cannot seem to handle anyone tipping against your Reds. Any time someone does (including Kafe), you believe it is because of some anti-Reds sentiment. You cannot accept people's opinion that the Reds simply aren't as good a team this year as they were last year.

 

[Jets]

For the Bulls game I would go with this team

1. Holmes
2. Saia
3. Slipper
4. Horwill
5. Humphries
6. Higgers
7. Robbinson
8. Shatz
9. Genia
10. Lance
11. Davies
12. Tapuai
13. Morahan
14. Shipperly
15. Murphy

16. Hanson
17. Daley
18. Simmons
19. Gill
20. Samo
21. Frisby
22. Is there anyone fit??

I am guessing Diggers will get a few weeks off. Not sure about the replacements. Toua is injured again I seem to recall. Anyone know the status of CFS? He must be out.

I have Murphy at 15 as he can run and kick, something the other options can't seem to do. Lance is at 10 as he can play the wide game the Reds will need to get away from the Bulls pack.

I am actually feeling ok about this game. The Reds have a week to work out what they are going to do with the personnel available and Link and his coaching team are masters of working out tactics to win games. With the speed in that backline they may score a few points too if they can get in space.

 

[tigerland12]

Yeah I'm with Jets on that one, except I'd have Lance and Murphy swap, just because Jono has experience at fullback and we know the Bulls would test Murphy if he was there.

 

[RedsHappy]

I stand by my comment and I don't feel it undermines the credibility of anything I've posted previously. Your comments on the topic suggest that if the Reds had not suffered the injuries, they were almost guaranteed to win both games.

You and other Reds fans cannot seem to handle anyone tipping against your Reds. Any time someone does (including Kafe), you believe it is because of some anti-Reds sentiment. You cannot accept peoples opinion that the Reds simply aren't as good a team this year as they were last year.

If you talk of me, that's (sorry) rubbish and backs my last post re your inner spirit here.

At no time have I stated that the 'injuries were the sole, or dominant, reason we lost v Sharks'. See my extensive post yesterday listing the Reds' multiple failings in the Sharks game. But of course the particular injuries to a 10 and 12 in the same match + Diggers' yellow + Genia at 10 + a rookie at 9 have in aggregate some real negative impact on the Reds' chances, any objective observer would certainly agree that. It's not an excuse, just raw fact.

Re Kafe. I quoted the Kafe story here. At no time did I say Kafe had 'anti-Reds' sentiment, in fact, in 2011, he was greatly praising of the Reds (mostly). I am on record as posting that QC (Quade Cooper)'s loss is a major negative for the Reds, and that we'd (somewhere, somehow) suffer for his absence. I also posted after the Force game that the Reds were showing many defects and we were at risk of losing games due to them and over-confidence, etc.

You are distorting my opinion and others here to gratify an obvious self-sense of your own superior game/team calls in early 2012. Or you're borderline trolling, and enjoying it. That demeans the integrity of those calls, IMO.

 

[tigerland12]

See my extensive post yesterday listing the Reds' multiple failings in the Sharks game. But of course the particular injuries to a 10 and 12 in the same match + Diggers' yellow + Genia at 10 + a rookie at 9 have in aggregate some real negative impact on the Reds' chances, any objective observer would certainly agree that.

Unrelated, but I thought Frisby was awesome when he came on, didn't look out of place at all. Hope to see him get alot more game time in the future.

 

[Jets]

From what I have seen of Murphy I think he would add some spark from the back. He has the pace to beat defenders and could link up easily with the other outside backs.

 

[Jets]

Unrelated, but I thought Frisby was awesome when he came on, didn't look out of place at all. Hope to see him get alot more game time in the future.

He had a good impact but a few passes went astray. It would have been hard to come on for your first game with a 9 playing at 10 though. He has a bright future in the game.

 

[No4918]

Brisbok, kind of agree with RH, been surprised at some of your comments in this thread and the Sharks one. They may have been directed at those who believe the Reds were a sure thing for 8 or more points this tour but when has being impartial ever been a pre-requisite for being a sports fan. Don't think any Reds fan has issue with people tipping against the Reds, i did myself, and believed initailly 4 points would have been a successful tour. Will now be happy with 2 and a win over the Force. Also took the Reds +5.5 on a multi that the Tahs f*ed up.

I also criticised the Kafe story, not for the 'anti-Reds' sentiment, it was just a bad story, very little objective comment on the games and just his opinion that seemed to be taken from a few comments made on 'The Rugby Club'. My criticism lies with Fox for putting out these sort of articles weekly to fill a few news pages in the rugby section. Many times comments get taken out of context and appear to be more controversial than initially, storm in a teacup stuff.