Super Rugby Au Rnd 4 - Brumbies V Reds Gio Stad Canberra 13Mar

[TSR]

Interesting comments on the back row.

Hats off to Valetini - he was superb tonight. Work rate & impact. Looking very good for the Wallabies 6 jersey.

I thought ASY (Angus Scott-Young) was outstanding too. Not as good as Valetini & a very different role, but still very good.

But I thought McReight was the best back rower on the field. As good as Valetini was, and Samu had his moment too but his thought McReight was outstanding.

 

[Dan54]

Well fellas, I got to say that was a bloody good enjoyable game of rugby. Didn't finish here until midnight, but well worth staying up for. Brumbies looked bloody good, but Reds deserved win even if maybe because they had the depth to finish job off. Just thinking all the discussion on red cards, and being allowed to have replacements etc, the Brumbies got paid out last night when they ran out of experienced props. That was what cost them the game, Tupou could absolutely hammer the inexperinced prop that came on, and hadn't done a lot earlir. That was the game in a nutshell.

 

[redstragic]

I've just read the last page of this thread, and it seems that the match result is up to interpretation....

Having said that, if I blacked out at the 78th minute mark.... did the Brumbies really lose?

We are showing bias' by commenting on the perceived match result that 40 points is more than 38 points. We need a debate where both sides can present their cases, after proper ventilation the winner will emerge. And don't believe the left wing media fake news.

Seriously though, the Reds took a massive step, these young men have in the past not found a way to win those games against quality opposition. I'll let you know if it is possible the wear out Stan from rewatching something too many times.

 

[Adam84]

Reds have won the last two weeks despite been behind on the scoreboard for 70-75 mins of the match in both games.
That’s good character building stuff right there

 

[Rugbynutter39]

And as much as it pains me to say it, O'Connor showed tonight the importance of taking your kicks for goal when available - something Hooper/Cheika never learned...

#oconnorforwallabiescaptian

O’Connor as wallaby captain...the fact that does not sound silly is credit to how far James O’Connor has come full circle as I bet very few would have predicted him being Reds captain and seeing such praise for his leadership.

I think the captaincy suits him as also think one of best controlled games at 10 seen him play as well

 

[PhilClinton]

The Reds didn’t really change their play style to fit the centre pairing and I’m thinking it may help going forward. Petaia like all good attacking players thrives in the 1 v 1 situations, the Reds play deep and when Petaia gets the ball it is usually with a shifting defensive line that can cover more easily.

In saying that, they’re 3-0 so what they’re doing works.

 

[Rebels3]

Balance? Drewprint, do you dispute the Brumbies were on top until they lost their front row? After the replacements came on, the Reds scored 24 points and still only hit the front with a minute or so on the clock. I have no doubt at all the Brumbies would have held on had they been able to field an adequate replacement front row.

The Reds are a very good side, and the game actually turned out as I predicted, though a bit closer on the scoreboard.

Sounds like last weeks game for the Rebels but instead of bringing on a fully contracted player in Archer Holtz they have had to bring on a teenager that’s not even in the main squad. Don’t think you were pointing out the inadequacy of the Rebels stocks when the Brums got dominance in the set piece then.

Looking forward to Rebels winning the trans-Tasman comp

 

[formerflanker]

There is some bad blood between JOC (James O'Connor) and LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto). Bit of push and shove in the celebrations

I saw that briefly, but assumed it was horseplay.

 

[formerflanker]

This has happened with Australian rugby for as long as I can remember, we have never valued easy points.

I don't think we take shots at field goals when we have advantage as much as we should, don't get me wrong, I love tries but from a money ball perspective taking a filed goal attempt knowing you will get a penalty if you miss if not utilised enough.

It appears to me that teams are taking advantage of long periods of penalty advantage to score a 5 pointer. Plan B is to get the 3 when the 5 doesn't materialise.
Therefore drop goals become plan C.

 

[Set piece magic]

Cheers Brumbies, enjoyable game. When the brumbies scored that try i thought ten points down seven minutes to go reds had fought hard but couldn't do it. Imo, a great decision by O'Connor to take a penalty. It was a high probability of 3 points versus a medium probability of a try which would have come potentially after several minutes.

 

[Ignoto]

Despite not having Slipper and Ala'alatoa, the Brumbies were dominant all game until both Sio and Ross left the field with injuries.

Nice how the past Reds No 9 kept the Reds in the game when the Brumbies were clearly dominant.

At full strength, Brumbies would have won by three tries at least for a bonus point. Looking forward to the final already.

The Reds last season had a prop who had been pulled from Reserve grade and a 19 year old at tight head. Yet our scrum was just as strong.

The Brumbies blew a 17 point lead at home. That's a classic Australian choke while the Reds were very Canterburyesque in finding ways to still be in the game and ultimately win.

Perhaps that's where Australia goes wrong, too many Brumbies in the squad that know how to lose rather than not having enough blokes who know how to win

 

[Rugbynutter39]

Cheers Brumbies, enjoyable game. When the brumbies scored that try i thought ten points down seven minutes to go reds had fought hard but couldn't do it. Imo, a great decision by O'Connor to take a penalty. It was a high probability of 3 points versus a medium probability of a try which would have come potentially after several minutes.

It was also clear as assured them of at least a bonus point knowing they had to score again in any case whilst the attempt to score a try could have got no points and hence not even a bonus point.

 

[Dan54]

The Reds last season had a prop who had been pulled from Reserve grade and a 19 year old at tight head. Yet our scrum was just as strong.

The Brumbies blew a 17 point lead at home. That's a classic Australian choke while the Reds were very Canterburyesque in finding ways to still be in the game and ultimately win.

Perhaps that's where Australia goes wrong, too many Brumbies in the squad that know how to lose rather than not having enough blokes who know how to win

Love the fact that noone on here tries to wind any other supporters up Ig

 

[TSR]

Another highlight for me across the board was the performance of the kickers. Not sure what exactly has changed - maybe it is simply a changing of priorities from the top, but its been a long time since we’ve had a group of Super Rugby level kickers look so assured.

 

[Rugbynutter39]

Sounds like last weeks game for the Rebels but instead of bringing on a fully contracted player in Archer Holtz they have had to bring on a teenager that’s not even in the main squad. Don’t think you were pointing out the inadequacy of the Rebels stocks when the Brums got dominance in the set piece then.

Looking forward to Rebels winning the trans-Tasman comp

Yep you won’t get many more one eye supporters then BR but gotta love his passion and conviction for his team.

 

[TSR]

It’s worth listening to the post-game press conferences. McKellar’s was very classy and, while he wasn’t overly revealing in regards to tactics this week it is clear the strong sense of purpose and faith they have in their squad.

Highlight though was at the end as he was walking out and he asked on of the others in the room if they played tight head.

 

[Derpus]

Another highlight for me across the board was the performance of the kickers. Not sure what exactly has changed - maybe it is simply a changing of priorities from the top, but its been a long time since we’ve had a group of Super Rugby level kickers look so assured.

Came on here to say this. Shit even the Tahs have an accurate kicker.

 

[Cancelled Account]

The biggest win for the Reds is that not one player played poorly. Yeah there were a couple of handling mistakes but nothing that cost us the game. Every player deserved that win.

 

[Zero_Cool]

I think we can all agree after that the winner was RUGBY! Because this was our big advertisement to all of Australia telling them "How good is Rugby!" while the NRL had 19-6 and 24-0 sludge fests we were treated to EVERYTHING that makes Rugby great. But also the Reds .. the Reds won because JO'C has some kind of Vulcan mind meld with The Universe or God or Rugby Jesus (AKA Jonah Lomu) or something!

O'Connor seriously put on an absolute master class on how to manage a game, the clock was out by more than he was! He was telling the boys still plenty of footy to play we've just gotta play our game. Honestly, this year, right now is the perfect time to replace Hooper as Wallabies Captain. We don't know if Hooper is even in our best starting XV we've got McReight although hasn't been as blinding as he was last year he's still exceptional (or maybe we just expect him to be 'as good as Pocock' now), Tizzano has looked really impressive for the Waratahs, as well as both Stander and Lee-Warner for the Force and at least IMO Hooper just throws our back row balance out. While O'Connor is probably your first choice in multiple positions. O'Connor breaks the Hooper chain allowing you to have the ability to change captain before heading into the 2023 RWC and having an ego-less O'Connor stepping will create far fewer waves than trying to remove Hooper in the lead up to a World Cup.
Oh, and perhaps most importantly he can actually do the job of the captain very well. I'd MAYBE like to see him talk with the Ref a little more like the Kiwis would with McCaw & Read but to be fair Berry would have been having none of whatever anyone was selling he knows all the tricks because he's already tried them all as a player!

 

[Derpus]

I'd prefer To'omua myself.

Happy to see McReight given a run at 7. Not sure he brings any more 'balance' to the backrow than Hooper. It's not like he's a lineout target.

It's exciting to have 2 or 3 players in form and pushing for each position. Long queues forming in every backline slot except maybe fullback.