Brumbieman
Dick Tooth (41)
OK, so I decided to watch the kiwi/Aus test in Wellington again. Not sure why, just chucked it on.
Within 10 minutes, I had noticed a few things, most of which were to do with To'omua. His taking on the line in the 2nd test, was actually outstanding. I missed it the first time round because he'd been so passive in his debut, but this 2nd test he really was excellent. I've gone through and noted the times on the match clock for all these passages of play he was involved in, and put a brief description of it, a little like Kepu's 'efforts' against the Boks.
This, however, was much more enjoyable even if we lost. So, we start the match and at:
4:50 - Dummies outside, and has a run himself on the NZ 22. Clean past the first defender and is through the line when he is tackled, with his arms free and looking for the offload, however no one appears. Shame, because they'd have scored if someone had been on his shoulder.
Play drifts side to side and eventually Moore scores, and Prat awards us a penalty.
9:45 - clearance kick doesn't go out, Dagg counter attacks and makes everyone look foolish until To'omua makes the last ditch tackle on Savea. Gets penalised for being off his feet, while quite clearly standing on the fucking things by Prat. Makes the teckl, gets to his feet, there is separation and he's got his hands on the ball and is penalised?
12:40 - decent kick into space the bounces along in the kiwi 22. Smith returns it, Mogg receives and puts up a 2nd massive bomb that he chases all the way and then puts a great hit on the receiver, turning him in the tackle and we almost score a turnover. 2nd time Mogg has done this in the game, the first bomb/chase/tackle won us a turnover.
14:12 - To'omua takes another hit up to the line and makes nearly 5 metres, with assistance from Fardy.
17:40 - Puts a big hit in on Nonu. Questionable arm use, maybe he appreciates irony?
19:35 - Takes a pass from Genia, throws a nice flat ball out in front of his target in Mogg.
19:54 - Same again, good pass.
20:15, same again
23:03 - Good pass to Moore who has to accelarate onto it, and puts a nice short pass on Mowen's chest and backs up. This is what our backline, and the rest tbh, are missing. Our passes are not in front of the target, and it really is throwing everyone off their timing. For example, if that pass had not been where it was, but 3m behind and on Moore's inside shoulder like a lot of our passes (especially Genia of recent years) are, Moore would've been flat footed, and Mowen off with his timing which could easily have resulted in Moore getting smashed 5m behind the gainline and no one in support, as Mowen would now have to backtrack and lose valuable seconds to avoid infringing. Because it was a good pass (Cooper is also very good at doing this) Moore is running at full speed and draws two defenders, which puts less heat on Mowen so he takes the ball flat from Moore and ON the advantage line, smashes into it and makes another 3-4m. From this, we get very quick, clean ball, and it's in To'omua's hands again about 3 seconds later.
.....for another good phase play and we end up with a ruck at 23:12. Here is the perfect example of how the kiwi's operate at the ruck. We've just had 2 phases of good, quick ball, with passes in front of the man and made good ground. NZ recognise this, and Smith and Luatua team up for a tackle. Luatua does the McCaw and slowly regains his feet exactly where Genia is trying to stand. Tom Taylor comes in from the side, right in front of Prat, and pushes Genia off his feet. He retreats very quickly, so of course he's done the right thing and gotten back onside, but the damage has been done!. Genia's now tangled up with Luatua, while O'Connor and AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) try and make it a little more obvious to this fucking idiot Prat, that they're on their fucking feet and forming a ruck and so according to the laws and challenge to this breakdown has to come from in front of them! IE, through the two Wallabies at the ruck, yet Taylor is allowed to just jump in from the side and push Genia over?! What the fuck?! It's over in 2 seconds, yet that's all NZ need to realign and set their defense so we have to start again.
23:25 - To'omua puts it out in front of his target again, good pass. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand we get quick ball. This is basic shit, why do our players struggle with it so much? Oh here we go, Moore takes another pass out in front of him and is therefore much more of a running threat, attacks the reforming defensive line and offloads again to Lealiifano who steams onto the ball on a very good angle back in towards the line and goes straight through. Gets tackled 3 metres out and Smith should be penalised here, another example of kiwi cheating. No release and he goes for the jackal, al la George Smith 2001. We arrive in numbers, and Read recognises the threat of the very quick ball and unorganised defence, jumps over the top and takes out Genia. If that's not a professional foul and yellow, I don't know what is.
Off topic, but high ball receipt: wtf is going with this? 28:38 a box kick goes up, and his returning to earth exactly where Simmons is standing. For some reason Genia charges up, calls for it, puts Simmons off and the both fucking butcher it. Is that Simmons' ball or Genia's? What is going on with this, all year it's been happening with Genia involved in almost every single one of them.
Anyway, Fardy puts 'the kick' through at 28:55
30:40 - To'omua throws a poor pass and it ruins the excellent backline move that was building. First error.
30:50 makes another good pass for Fardy to hit up.
30:56 takes it to the line again and same thing. Half through, arms free but no support runner. Hore lies all over him, holds onto the ball with his feet in the air ffs, and Prat blows it up. McCaw looks resigned to losing Hore to the bin, only for it to emerge that Joubert (who else?) has picked up the most innocuous bloody penalty i've seen since Drew Mitchell's red card after Ruchie's hollywood.
31:54 - To'omua puts a great shot on Nonu, trying to rattle the youngster. Gets zero change out of it. Maybe this inspires everyone, as the next 30 seconds are NZ making not a cm of ground and repeatedly getting smashed in contact. They try to regroup, but have got nothing going on and Taylor puts a shit chip over the top that To'omua cleans up, passes to Genia, and he puts a big kick through that goes all the way down into the kiwi 22. This is what aggressive defence does, it puts attackers off and creates confusion and turnovers.
Mogg takes on the Kiwi back three in a kicking duel, which ends with an average kick that he turns into a good one, with an excellent chase. Taps it back infield to prevent the kick out on the full, Hooper pounces on it, but gets turned in the tackle and turned over.
35:16 To'omua makes the tackle on Smith, slows him and the ball down but gets done for not releasing in the tackle.
41:04 - Takes it to the line again, steps one and struggles through the 2nd. Again, support runner would've gotten a fantastic opportunity with the offload.
42:17 - takes it to the line, is almost through and just looking for the support runner, AGAIN. Yet, Prat blows it up and says Hooper was running an obstruction, which baffles even Mexted.
Incidentally, penalty count is 9-3 against Australia. Hmm...
52:12 tackles Ben Smith
Incidentally, another observation that i've been banging on about for years, and been largely ignored. Mogg takes on Dagg's legendary right boot at about 54:40. He out-kicks Dagg. 22 to 22 kicking battle that Mogg wins, clearly, with us getting a lineout about 5m further out than the 22. One of the things that Dingo was hopeless at with the Wallabies, was getting our tactical kicing right. He was blessed at the Crusaders, with Carter and McDonald, and their gameplan was built around it. Taking over the Wallabies, he deemed Gerrard (2008/2009 form, btw, when he was by a laughably large distance the best fullback/tactical kicker in Australia) not good/fast enough and ignored him. Instead, we had AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) back there, who is great at everything except kicking. How many fucking timedid we lose tests, because Carter just kept us pinned in our 22 with his kicks, and we just couldn't get out? With Mogg injured now, it's a bit moot, but his boot really is invaluable for us, and I really, REALLY hope that Link recognises what an asset he has in that left foot. Being able to win a kicking duel against Israel Dagg is going to be incredibly important in the next few years.
56:08 - another good ball inf ront of Lealiifano, who in turn puts a good pass in front of Folau, who attacks the line and gets us within 5m of the tryline. Cue Conrad Smith standing in OUR FUCKING BACKLINE to stop the quick ball to AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) who was charging on to it and almost certain to score. Yellow card every day of the week, but no. This is all coming from some slick, well placed passing.
That was To'omua's last involvement of the game, Cooper comes on after that.
All in all, I think very good. Not average like the reports and impressions seem to have been, but actually very good. 4-5 times, if someone had been running support lines, we'd have been in, and watching that Reds/Blues clip from the 90's ish the other day, i'm starting to get an impression of where we're failing. We'd have had 3 extra tries in this match, if we'd done NOTHING else but have a support runner following To'omua and taking those offloads. That's it. We could have been smashed in the scrum, lost lineouts, not taken the initiative and bent any cheating kiwi in 7 different directions if they tried to slow the ball down, dropped passes etc etc etc. We could have played exactly as we did, and won that game by just running some support lines for our 10. 5 half breaks, and 3 of them would almost certainly have resulted in a try and failing that, points from the inevitable kiwi infringing to slow it down.
Why have we lost this art of running support lines?
Thoughts, fellow tragics?
Within 10 minutes, I had noticed a few things, most of which were to do with To'omua. His taking on the line in the 2nd test, was actually outstanding. I missed it the first time round because he'd been so passive in his debut, but this 2nd test he really was excellent. I've gone through and noted the times on the match clock for all these passages of play he was involved in, and put a brief description of it, a little like Kepu's 'efforts' against the Boks.
This, however, was much more enjoyable even if we lost. So, we start the match and at:
4:50 - Dummies outside, and has a run himself on the NZ 22. Clean past the first defender and is through the line when he is tackled, with his arms free and looking for the offload, however no one appears. Shame, because they'd have scored if someone had been on his shoulder.
Play drifts side to side and eventually Moore scores, and Prat awards us a penalty.
9:45 - clearance kick doesn't go out, Dagg counter attacks and makes everyone look foolish until To'omua makes the last ditch tackle on Savea. Gets penalised for being off his feet, while quite clearly standing on the fucking things by Prat. Makes the teckl, gets to his feet, there is separation and he's got his hands on the ball and is penalised?
12:40 - decent kick into space the bounces along in the kiwi 22. Smith returns it, Mogg receives and puts up a 2nd massive bomb that he chases all the way and then puts a great hit on the receiver, turning him in the tackle and we almost score a turnover. 2nd time Mogg has done this in the game, the first bomb/chase/tackle won us a turnover.
14:12 - To'omua takes another hit up to the line and makes nearly 5 metres, with assistance from Fardy.
17:40 - Puts a big hit in on Nonu. Questionable arm use, maybe he appreciates irony?
19:35 - Takes a pass from Genia, throws a nice flat ball out in front of his target in Mogg.
19:54 - Same again, good pass.
20:15, same again
23:03 - Good pass to Moore who has to accelarate onto it, and puts a nice short pass on Mowen's chest and backs up. This is what our backline, and the rest tbh, are missing. Our passes are not in front of the target, and it really is throwing everyone off their timing. For example, if that pass had not been where it was, but 3m behind and on Moore's inside shoulder like a lot of our passes (especially Genia of recent years) are, Moore would've been flat footed, and Mowen off with his timing which could easily have resulted in Moore getting smashed 5m behind the gainline and no one in support, as Mowen would now have to backtrack and lose valuable seconds to avoid infringing. Because it was a good pass (Cooper is also very good at doing this) Moore is running at full speed and draws two defenders, which puts less heat on Mowen so he takes the ball flat from Moore and ON the advantage line, smashes into it and makes another 3-4m. From this, we get very quick, clean ball, and it's in To'omua's hands again about 3 seconds later.
.....for another good phase play and we end up with a ruck at 23:12. Here is the perfect example of how the kiwi's operate at the ruck. We've just had 2 phases of good, quick ball, with passes in front of the man and made good ground. NZ recognise this, and Smith and Luatua team up for a tackle. Luatua does the McCaw and slowly regains his feet exactly where Genia is trying to stand. Tom Taylor comes in from the side, right in front of Prat, and pushes Genia off his feet. He retreats very quickly, so of course he's done the right thing and gotten back onside, but the damage has been done!. Genia's now tangled up with Luatua, while O'Connor and AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) try and make it a little more obvious to this fucking idiot Prat, that they're on their fucking feet and forming a ruck and so according to the laws and challenge to this breakdown has to come from in front of them! IE, through the two Wallabies at the ruck, yet Taylor is allowed to just jump in from the side and push Genia over?! What the fuck?! It's over in 2 seconds, yet that's all NZ need to realign and set their defense so we have to start again.
23:25 - To'omua puts it out in front of his target again, good pass. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand we get quick ball. This is basic shit, why do our players struggle with it so much? Oh here we go, Moore takes another pass out in front of him and is therefore much more of a running threat, attacks the reforming defensive line and offloads again to Lealiifano who steams onto the ball on a very good angle back in towards the line and goes straight through. Gets tackled 3 metres out and Smith should be penalised here, another example of kiwi cheating. No release and he goes for the jackal, al la George Smith 2001. We arrive in numbers, and Read recognises the threat of the very quick ball and unorganised defence, jumps over the top and takes out Genia. If that's not a professional foul and yellow, I don't know what is.
Off topic, but high ball receipt: wtf is going with this? 28:38 a box kick goes up, and his returning to earth exactly where Simmons is standing. For some reason Genia charges up, calls for it, puts Simmons off and the both fucking butcher it. Is that Simmons' ball or Genia's? What is going on with this, all year it's been happening with Genia involved in almost every single one of them.
Anyway, Fardy puts 'the kick' through at 28:55
30:40 - To'omua throws a poor pass and it ruins the excellent backline move that was building. First error.
30:50 makes another good pass for Fardy to hit up.
30:56 takes it to the line again and same thing. Half through, arms free but no support runner. Hore lies all over him, holds onto the ball with his feet in the air ffs, and Prat blows it up. McCaw looks resigned to losing Hore to the bin, only for it to emerge that Joubert (who else?) has picked up the most innocuous bloody penalty i've seen since Drew Mitchell's red card after Ruchie's hollywood.
31:54 - To'omua puts a great shot on Nonu, trying to rattle the youngster. Gets zero change out of it. Maybe this inspires everyone, as the next 30 seconds are NZ making not a cm of ground and repeatedly getting smashed in contact. They try to regroup, but have got nothing going on and Taylor puts a shit chip over the top that To'omua cleans up, passes to Genia, and he puts a big kick through that goes all the way down into the kiwi 22. This is what aggressive defence does, it puts attackers off and creates confusion and turnovers.
Mogg takes on the Kiwi back three in a kicking duel, which ends with an average kick that he turns into a good one, with an excellent chase. Taps it back infield to prevent the kick out on the full, Hooper pounces on it, but gets turned in the tackle and turned over.
35:16 To'omua makes the tackle on Smith, slows him and the ball down but gets done for not releasing in the tackle.
41:04 - Takes it to the line again, steps one and struggles through the 2nd. Again, support runner would've gotten a fantastic opportunity with the offload.
42:17 - takes it to the line, is almost through and just looking for the support runner, AGAIN. Yet, Prat blows it up and says Hooper was running an obstruction, which baffles even Mexted.
Incidentally, penalty count is 9-3 against Australia. Hmm...
52:12 tackles Ben Smith
Incidentally, another observation that i've been banging on about for years, and been largely ignored. Mogg takes on Dagg's legendary right boot at about 54:40. He out-kicks Dagg. 22 to 22 kicking battle that Mogg wins, clearly, with us getting a lineout about 5m further out than the 22. One of the things that Dingo was hopeless at with the Wallabies, was getting our tactical kicing right. He was blessed at the Crusaders, with Carter and McDonald, and their gameplan was built around it. Taking over the Wallabies, he deemed Gerrard (2008/2009 form, btw, when he was by a laughably large distance the best fullback/tactical kicker in Australia) not good/fast enough and ignored him. Instead, we had AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) back there, who is great at everything except kicking. How many fucking timedid we lose tests, because Carter just kept us pinned in our 22 with his kicks, and we just couldn't get out? With Mogg injured now, it's a bit moot, but his boot really is invaluable for us, and I really, REALLY hope that Link recognises what an asset he has in that left foot. Being able to win a kicking duel against Israel Dagg is going to be incredibly important in the next few years.
56:08 - another good ball inf ront of Lealiifano, who in turn puts a good pass in front of Folau, who attacks the line and gets us within 5m of the tryline. Cue Conrad Smith standing in OUR FUCKING BACKLINE to stop the quick ball to AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) who was charging on to it and almost certain to score. Yellow card every day of the week, but no. This is all coming from some slick, well placed passing.
That was To'omua's last involvement of the game, Cooper comes on after that.
All in all, I think very good. Not average like the reports and impressions seem to have been, but actually very good. 4-5 times, if someone had been running support lines, we'd have been in, and watching that Reds/Blues clip from the 90's ish the other day, i'm starting to get an impression of where we're failing. We'd have had 3 extra tries in this match, if we'd done NOTHING else but have a support runner following To'omua and taking those offloads. That's it. We could have been smashed in the scrum, lost lineouts, not taken the initiative and bent any cheating kiwi in 7 different directions if they tried to slow the ball down, dropped passes etc etc etc. We could have played exactly as we did, and won that game by just running some support lines for our 10. 5 half breaks, and 3 of them would almost certainly have resulted in a try and failing that, points from the inevitable kiwi infringing to slow it down.
Why have we lost this art of running support lines?
Thoughts, fellow tragics?
