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Round 2 - Reds vs Highlanders at Forsyth Barr

'Tattsy'TaylorFan1

Ward Prentice (10)
I loved seeing the Reds do the Irish pick and go grind from 10m out to get the Fotuaika try. Felt so good to see Aaron Smith helpless and screaming in panic at the ref as the try seemed inevitable. The Reds deserve to win a heap of fans because after all the floggings from the kiwis recently it’s nice to see an Aussie team just giving it to them physically.
 

Dan54

David Wilson (68)
Well after a night's sleep and thinking a bit on the game my main thoughts are that this Reds team could go alright this year, forwards certainly getting stuck in, bloody good scrum, lineout looks ok, and backs seem to have a bit of attack in them, the Kerevi-Petaia combo looks pretty good in midfield, I believe Hegarty will give them stability, so if they keep it up, work on their kicking game ie; don't just kick to opposition back 3, they will hurt a few teams. Perhaps defence needs a bit of work too.
The Clan , I thought the same with defence, though I think losing Thompson and Walden for a while upset their midfield defence, but young Ioane at 10 looks a fairly competent player at this level, and the backline in general pretty good, especially with A Smith putting his psses to the right person generally. Their forwards are again ok without being world beaters in tight 5, although all 3 loosies went well, with Frizzell just playing a monster of a game, best player on field I thought, and perhaps those that wondered what Shag and crew saw in him may be noticing it now, he tore into everything , great workrate!! Still it early and takes more than a couple of games to prove a point, but a bloody good start.
 

biggsy

Chilla Wilson (44)
Since RA has blown there budget by giving away good money on Folau. I’ve started a Go Fund Me page to raise money to keep JP in QLD and Australia for his entire career.

Also happy to eat humble pipe after that game.
It’s was so good to get excited about the Reds, I have missed it and not enjoyed being a negative prick.
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But......Reds Would have won that game if Quade was playing though. ;)
 

emuarse

Chilla Wilson (44)
Unfortunately two poor line out throws by Alex Mafi towards the end of the game took away the Reds momentum at a crucial stage. He was probably suffering from nerves coming on fresh, but for throwing accuracy, he needs to practice, practice, practice.
 

TSR

Andrew Slack (58)
For me, the most pleasing thing was the performance of Sorovi & Stewart + Fotuaika & Hoopert. My biggest question marks were around our halves and our depth at prop. On the evidence of last nights game those boxes are ticked. Kerevi & Petaia both did well.
 

swingpass

Peter Sullivan (51)
great effort from the Reds. Rodda was immense. I thought the Highlanders backrow were more dominant, Frizzelle in particular, ASY (Angus Scott-Young) defended very well, Timu had a couple of runs but thought Wright fairly anonymous. Petaia in attack was great but his poor defensive read led to the first Clan try and in the match winning try he shot out of the line and missed the tackle. i think he chose the right option but didnt execute. DP had earlier in the movement missed a tackle on Ben Smith. lots to like about the boys in Maroon last night.
 

TSR

Andrew Slack (58)
To be fair to Petaia’s defence, on the last one he was on a hiding to nothing. He shot out of the line in the hope that he would hit the guy at the same time he caught the ball and shut it down but the ball got past him. When I saw it the first time I thought it was an error, but I don’t know what else he could have done. The only thing that maybe would have helped is if the guy outside him (Kerevi??) jammed at the same time.

On the first try, yes there was more chance to shut it down but, again, the damage had already been done on the inside.
 

TSR

Andrew Slack (58)
The Reds dodged a bullet on the knock down by Petaia not being a card & the last pass to Sorovi could have had more scrutiny too. Personally I am happy for them to leave it to the refs Call and save the video ref for ‘on the line’ decisions and/or serious foul play.

My bigger concern what is being reffed and what is being let go is the amount of block runners taking defenders out and the number of illegal clean outs, particularly the dangerous ones. The first one was definitely an issue in last nights game and I saw a couple of examples of the second from both teams.
 

dru

David Wilson (68)
For me, the most pleasing thing was the performance of Sorovi & Stewart + Fotuaika & Hoopert. My biggest question marks were around our halves and our depth at prop. On the evidence of last nights game those boxes are ticked. Kerevi & Petaia both did well.

For me the stand out playmaker scenario was the relationship between Stewart and Hegarty. Hegarty seemed to almost start at 10, and certainly took some pressure off Stewart. That could have huge bearings on the next phase of Stewart’s development and may even have fans like myself needing to wind the neck in.

Hegarty getting a lot of flack over kicks but they looked coached rather than brain-farts. Don’t mind and intentional kicking game, though obviously needs fine tuning.

I’d also add my concern over of starting DP proved completely groundless, love the guy but once on looked listless and anxious.

Sorovi was fine, but as I criticised Powell for the same thing consistency in criticism - Sorovi was often too slow. We will need that improved. He still had a good game.

Two guys who were stand outs were Fotuaika and Hoopert. Outstanding work from the boys with a palpable lift in energy when Hoopert hit the deck at 97mph.
 

Dan54

David Wilson (68)
The Filth have taken their systematic cheating to a new level this year. The off season obviously spent working on the game plan essentials re live broadcasts ensuring that any New Zealand try is not exposed as being dubious. Wait till the game officials ignore forward passes before discussing reluctantly and briefly the forward passes leading to tries. The pass at the line out from Smith was a yard forward. The process from that point on is so familiar

Show end on footage
Talk about the exciting play and rewarded dominance
Smother with late discussion of pass being forward
Play on
Reward match officials with more key games for following script
Move on

The WWE would be embarrassed by the sustained and unrelenting CHEATING that is on display

This is not “rub of the green”, this is THEFT!!!

Lol I will pretend that made some sense, but it was such a whinge I can only pity you for being an idiot and let it go Lost!
 

Derpus

Nathan Sharpe (72)
Derpus I’m interested in your thoughts on the Reds’ kicking game?
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Erm, Hegarty lost ground regularly, most notably in his kicking contest with Ioane starting on the Highlanders tryline and ending near the reds 22.

He didn't seem to look for touch very often (despite a dominant lineout) and when he did, didn't get very far. If you are looking to relieve pressure, kicking right to Ben Smith doesn't seem like a good idea. Didnt find grass very often when keeping it in. Goal kicking seemed good though.

Sorovi's box kicking looked a lot better.

As a team they kept kicking it away on set piece, which was obviously trained but pretty ineffective. There was the early blindside play off the scrum which was terrible. Sorovi also kicked it away off the scrum after 70 minutes where holding it seemed far wiser.

In my opinion their kicking game should be aimed at their strengths more. A conservative clearance strategy with pressure on the lineout, a strong running game off set piece etc.

Edit: i'd like to add that's its literally the only criticism i have of their entire game. They were otherwise fantastic. Pretty excited by Petaia. TK and Kerevi have some real competition for the 13 jersey.
 

Rugbynutter39

Michael Lynagh (62)
Yes if you had to look at where the Reds lost the game it was with their kicking game. I agree with Derpus that this can be addressed by being more conservative and playing to their strengths with set piece and strong running game.

I guess we have been so starved of seeing such quality rugby from OZ teams against high quality NZ opposition we cope with losses like this.

Highlanders played well and they had to as Reds gave them a really contest.

The Reds keep playing like that they will bring back the fans for sure as that was best game watched so far in Super Rugby of all games played.
 

Adam84

Rod McCall (65)
View attachment 10444

Erm, Hegarty lost ground regularly, most notably in his kicking contest with Ioane starting on the Highlanders tryline and ending near the reds 22.

He didn't seem to look for touch very often (despite a dominant lineout) and when he did, didn't get very far. If you are looking to relieve pressure, kicking right to Ben Smith doesn't seem like a good idea. Didnt find grass very often when keeping it in. Goal kicking seemed good though.

Sorovi's box kicking looked a lot better.

As a team they kept kicking it away on set piece, which was obviously trained but pretty ineffective. There was the early blindside play off the scrum which was terrible. Sorovi also kicked it away off the scrum after 70 minutes where holding it seemed far wiser.

In my opinion their kicking game should be aimed at their strengths more. A conservative clearance strategy with pressure on the lineout, a strong running game off set piece etc.

Edit: i'd like to add that's its literally the only criticism i have of their entire game. They were otherwise fantastic. Pretty excited by Petaia. TK and Kerevi have some real competition for the 13 jersey.

Prior to this post I had assumed you didn’t like the performance or the game because you seemed focussed on the negative aspects of the kicking, which I agree was poor but I also found many other positives in the game. Perhaps that was the subtle undertone in RugbyReg’s question towards you.
 

Rugbynutter39

Michael Lynagh (62)
And we still have JP Smith to come back....gees a form prop at risk of not being selected for matchday 23 - nice problem to have I guess.
 

TSR

Andrew Slack (58)
I don’t think Reg was aiming for subtle.

I would prefer we keep kicking, but execute much better. Great teams, including teams with excellent running games, have strong kicking (and chasing) games. It appeared to be a tactic - and it was actually good initially. Even as the game wore on it was okay when we kept our chase line intact. When we hacked aimlessly or had a broken chase line we paid.
 
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