^^^^ HTF can a FREE clinic be SOLD OUT?
Full, No Places Left, Oversubscribed, Booked Out - yes but SOLD OUT??
Full, No Places Left, Oversubscribed, Booked Out - yes but SOLD OUT??
Waratahs 2013
- Thread starter fatprop
- Start date
- Status
p.Tah
John Thornett (49)
I think the one at Chatswood tonight was just a visit by the players whilst the kids were training. I don't think it was a clinic.
EDIT: according to Twitter Benn Robinson was at Forestville tonight. Drew Mitchell and Grayson Hart were at Clovelly today. Palu and Skelton were at Parramatta. The players are attending a lot of junior training sessions.
EDIT: according to Twitter Benn Robinson was at Forestville tonight. Drew Mitchell and Grayson Hart were at Clovelly today. Palu and Skelton were at Parramatta. The players are attending a lot of junior training sessions.
Pfitzy
George Gregan (70)
As they should - Cheika is big on grass roots. And it's not like they train at night. Less white board seasons, more night time support for three community when they're not traveling.
17,000 after smashing the opposition with beautiful brutality a week before shows there is work to do, even if traditionally the Saffer teams don't rate as well as the locals or kiwis
17,000 after smashing the opposition with beautiful brutality a week before shows there is work to do, even if traditionally the Saffer teams don't rate as well as the locals or kiwis
Quick Hands
David Wilson (68)
This is just another example of the complete turnaround in everything associated with the Waratahs since the arrival of Michael Cheika. I'm sure there's been the odd thing go wrong, but the way he has gone about things is spot on.
He lets everyone know what his expectations are and how he wants to play, he brings Shute Shield players in and gives them a go pre-season, established players are given the opportunity to prove themselves first and gradually replaced if they are unable to get with the programme, the selections follow a logical, settled process which breeds stability and confidence amongst the players, he's asked a question and he gives a straight answer and on it goes.
I can't really remember one individual making such a difference to a club in such a short period of time. The whole vibe around the team is positive, they're playing as if they really enjoy it and Cheika seems to have the complete respect of the whole squad. No mean feat.
When he's finished coaching, he should run the place.
He lets everyone know what his expectations are and how he wants to play, he brings Shute Shield players in and gives them a go pre-season, established players are given the opportunity to prove themselves first and gradually replaced if they are unable to get with the programme, the selections follow a logical, settled process which breeds stability and confidence amongst the players, he's asked a question and he gives a straight answer and on it goes.
I can't really remember one individual making such a difference to a club in such a short period of time. The whole vibe around the team is positive, they're playing as if they really enjoy it and Cheika seems to have the complete respect of the whole squad. No mean feat.
When he's finished coaching, he should run the place.
WorkingClassRugger
David Codey (61)
That's great. However, when will they venture out to say Campbelltown on a Thursday. Hell, if anyone connected to the Tahs is ready this. I invite you to our Friday training sessions at St Greg's.
Richo
John Thornett (49)
Link set the standard for this with the Reds. It's great to see Cheika following a similar path.
Apologies for the delay but I've chosen to write this after some thought. Which goes to show I couldn't be a media reporter filing copy on this game four days after the event.
The Tahs win over the Stormers was an exemplary performance. The Stormers have been one of the best Saffer sides for the past few years with a hard game based on watertight defence. What the Stormers do, they do very, very well. That's lineout, mauling, kicking and defence. What they don't do, they're crap at. Which, as LG points out, should be for about 50% of the match when they have the ball: their attack.
Defence. I'm not trying to put reflected glory on the Tahs for scoring two tries against the "best" defence, without any qualification the Stormers' defence was outstanding. I was down the end they were defending at the death, side on at about the 5m line, and watched them hold the Tahs out as they pounded the Stormers' line those last eight or so minutes. The Stormers seemed to have two forwards to manhandle every Tah attacker, buggered if I know how we always seemed to be running into two big, low-numbered bruisers. Their pattern reminded me of that innovative "umbrella" defence Warren Ryan designed at the Bulldogs some 30 years ago: the Stormers made the attackers run to where they wanted to make the tackle. Their individual technique was clinically good: they employed two brutes at every tackle, approaching from 45 degrees and used their body strength to try and hold up the ball carrier. How many times did the Tahs lose the ball taking it into contact? About seven or eight? Testament to the Stormers' excellent tackling technique.
Timani. Big Sita doesn't put in enough for mine. I was slagging him to my son in the first half when he put on a big tackle about 15m in front of our posts. "There", said my lad, "what've you got against him. He's a very good tackler." My reply was to watch him carefully right now, after that tackle. Sure enough, he did bugger all for the next few phases, like a league forward who wanders back and has a breather after carting the ball up. In the second half I suggested my son watch Douglas, and, contrastingly, he hit twice as many rucks as Timani. Sita really doesn't do enough for a bloke his size, in attack he should be scattering opponents and in defence he should be ramming them back over their dead-ball line. Apart from his butterfingers he gives away far too many penalties and he's poor at the lineout. TBH, I won't be sorry to see him go. There are good second-rowers riding the pine elsewhere, Cheika should grab one of them.
McKibbin. After watching the summary of the weekend's matches I've come to the conclusion Brendan's got about the worst pass in Super rugby this year. Lucas looks so much better, with all the time in the world to decide who's going to receive one of his bullet-like missives. Didn't the Tahs attack look sharper when Lucas and Barnes were on the paddock? McKibbin doesn't get his feet into the correct positions, good halfbacks stretch their open leg and squat on the one they're going to throw from. This allows them to pass the ball cross their stance ending up over the foot on the side they're passing to. McKibbin doesn't do this, which seems to make him wind-up a pass across his upper trunk resulting in ordinary passes. And don't get me on to McKibben and McKibbon, they're just as bad!
Folau. Isn't it nice to see gradual improvement in a player? Izzy just gets better and better, especially his positioning at the back. Now the coaches have to give him some confidence to use his kicking skills. That run with the ball in hand from the goal-line in the first half was a shocker, but no harm was done. He MUST learn to clear the ball from a breakdown near his goal-line. When Folau did put boot to ball he looked quite good.
Foley. This was a testing match for Bernard, his ability to direct the backs' attack against a very well-organised defence was severely tested. And, to be honest, he was found wanting. As LG so rightly pointed out Foley brings his Sevens experience to the 15 man game, he takes the ball to the line as good (or better) as any Oz five-eighth and he's a dab hand at putting a player through a gap. But his overall backline generalship isn't good enough against a watertight defence like the Stormers', and he's got to drastically improve his open-field kicking. I sincerely hope Foley watches a replay of this game and works out what he can do better next time. Apart from this match his performances at 10 in 2013 have been very promising.
Barnes. Wasn't it nice to have someone of Berrick's calibre and experience come on late in the game and unlock this outstanding defence? He looked a bit rusty (funny spot to stand at the lineout and one forward pass) but class always shows, as it did with that lovely little feint to make a hole for Folau. But I'm not going to let him off for those two crap kicks he put up, one about halfway which resulted in a lineout back on our 22. I mentioned to my son after watching the Tahs attack the Stormers' Maginot Line too many times a couple of good kicks behind it might go a long way to unlocking their defence, or at least put a few doubts in their mind. And then Barnes puts up two shockers.
Robinson, TPN, Douglas, Hooper, Dennis, Palu, Horne, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) and Crawford. Played good, done strong.
Overall Tahs' performance. Cheika must be pleased with his charges' performances so far, and doubly pleased to see they're improving, but I imagine he'd like to have a few things to work on. The most important would have to be the lineout; two Saffer sides have taken us to the cleaners at the jump over the last three weeks. Yes, one was schooled by the best lineout technician of modern times at the Bulls and the other had two 6' 30" beanstalks. But we simply can't lose so many of our throws, something's got to be done to ensure we win our pill. This should be fixable by a competent coaching crew.
The other worry to raise its ugly head on Saturday was losing the ball when taking it into contact. The Stormers had excellent tackling technique, but, once again, we MUST retain our ball at the breakdown. Seven or eight turnovers a match is way too many. Another thing for the coaches to tackle.
I saw some derogatory remarks about the Tahs' scrum in other match reports. That seemed a bit harsh, we did OK, even snatched a tighthead. The scrum lost immediately after Ryan came on didn't look quite right to me (I was viewing on the other side), and NtA helpfully explained the Stormers played silly buggers to disrupt our put-in. Saffers rarely seem to use skill at the scrum, they overly rely on brute strength; maybe a bit of nefarious activity surprised our front row. You won't let anyone do that to you again, will you, Paddy? The Tahs' scrum has been one of their strengths this year, keep it up. Well done, coaches.
The Tahs' defence, based on enthusiasm rather than deadly technique like the Stormers, was praiseworthy. The attack next week from the Brumbies will be a step up from the Stormers, let's hope our defence is a match for them. Ditto.
It was nice to see the Tahs stop the Stormers mauling the ball all the way up to our goal-line the many times they tried it. We know Saffers are going to maul whenever they can, so it was good to see them not get any reward from it. Ditto.
The Tahs win over the Stormers was an exemplary performance. The Stormers have been one of the best Saffer sides for the past few years with a hard game based on watertight defence. What the Stormers do, they do very, very well. That's lineout, mauling, kicking and defence. What they don't do, they're crap at. Which, as LG points out, should be for about 50% of the match when they have the ball: their attack.
Defence. I'm not trying to put reflected glory on the Tahs for scoring two tries against the "best" defence, without any qualification the Stormers' defence was outstanding. I was down the end they were defending at the death, side on at about the 5m line, and watched them hold the Tahs out as they pounded the Stormers' line those last eight or so minutes. The Stormers seemed to have two forwards to manhandle every Tah attacker, buggered if I know how we always seemed to be running into two big, low-numbered bruisers. Their pattern reminded me of that innovative "umbrella" defence Warren Ryan designed at the Bulldogs some 30 years ago: the Stormers made the attackers run to where they wanted to make the tackle. Their individual technique was clinically good: they employed two brutes at every tackle, approaching from 45 degrees and used their body strength to try and hold up the ball carrier. How many times did the Tahs lose the ball taking it into contact? About seven or eight? Testament to the Stormers' excellent tackling technique.
Timani. Big Sita doesn't put in enough for mine. I was slagging him to my son in the first half when he put on a big tackle about 15m in front of our posts. "There", said my lad, "what've you got against him. He's a very good tackler." My reply was to watch him carefully right now, after that tackle. Sure enough, he did bugger all for the next few phases, like a league forward who wanders back and has a breather after carting the ball up. In the second half I suggested my son watch Douglas, and, contrastingly, he hit twice as many rucks as Timani. Sita really doesn't do enough for a bloke his size, in attack he should be scattering opponents and in defence he should be ramming them back over their dead-ball line. Apart from his butterfingers he gives away far too many penalties and he's poor at the lineout. TBH, I won't be sorry to see him go. There are good second-rowers riding the pine elsewhere, Cheika should grab one of them.
McKibbin. After watching the summary of the weekend's matches I've come to the conclusion Brendan's got about the worst pass in Super rugby this year. Lucas looks so much better, with all the time in the world to decide who's going to receive one of his bullet-like missives. Didn't the Tahs attack look sharper when Lucas and Barnes were on the paddock? McKibbin doesn't get his feet into the correct positions, good halfbacks stretch their open leg and squat on the one they're going to throw from. This allows them to pass the ball cross their stance ending up over the foot on the side they're passing to. McKibbin doesn't do this, which seems to make him wind-up a pass across his upper trunk resulting in ordinary passes. And don't get me on to McKibben and McKibbon, they're just as bad!
Folau. Isn't it nice to see gradual improvement in a player? Izzy just gets better and better, especially his positioning at the back. Now the coaches have to give him some confidence to use his kicking skills. That run with the ball in hand from the goal-line in the first half was a shocker, but no harm was done. He MUST learn to clear the ball from a breakdown near his goal-line. When Folau did put boot to ball he looked quite good.
Foley. This was a testing match for Bernard, his ability to direct the backs' attack against a very well-organised defence was severely tested. And, to be honest, he was found wanting. As LG so rightly pointed out Foley brings his Sevens experience to the 15 man game, he takes the ball to the line as good (or better) as any Oz five-eighth and he's a dab hand at putting a player through a gap. But his overall backline generalship isn't good enough against a watertight defence like the Stormers', and he's got to drastically improve his open-field kicking. I sincerely hope Foley watches a replay of this game and works out what he can do better next time. Apart from this match his performances at 10 in 2013 have been very promising.
Barnes. Wasn't it nice to have someone of Berrick's calibre and experience come on late in the game and unlock this outstanding defence? He looked a bit rusty (funny spot to stand at the lineout and one forward pass) but class always shows, as it did with that lovely little feint to make a hole for Folau. But I'm not going to let him off for those two crap kicks he put up, one about halfway which resulted in a lineout back on our 22. I mentioned to my son after watching the Tahs attack the Stormers' Maginot Line too many times a couple of good kicks behind it might go a long way to unlocking their defence, or at least put a few doubts in their mind. And then Barnes puts up two shockers.
Robinson, TPN, Douglas, Hooper, Dennis, Palu, Horne, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) and Crawford. Played good, done strong.
Overall Tahs' performance. Cheika must be pleased with his charges' performances so far, and doubly pleased to see they're improving, but I imagine he'd like to have a few things to work on. The most important would have to be the lineout; two Saffer sides have taken us to the cleaners at the jump over the last three weeks. Yes, one was schooled by the best lineout technician of modern times at the Bulls and the other had two 6' 30" beanstalks. But we simply can't lose so many of our throws, something's got to be done to ensure we win our pill. This should be fixable by a competent coaching crew.
The other worry to raise its ugly head on Saturday was losing the ball when taking it into contact. The Stormers had excellent tackling technique, but, once again, we MUST retain our ball at the breakdown. Seven or eight turnovers a match is way too many. Another thing for the coaches to tackle.
I saw some derogatory remarks about the Tahs' scrum in other match reports. That seemed a bit harsh, we did OK, even snatched a tighthead. The scrum lost immediately after Ryan came on didn't look quite right to me (I was viewing on the other side), and NtA helpfully explained the Stormers played silly buggers to disrupt our put-in. Saffers rarely seem to use skill at the scrum, they overly rely on brute strength; maybe a bit of nefarious activity surprised our front row. You won't let anyone do that to you again, will you, Paddy? The Tahs' scrum has been one of their strengths this year, keep it up. Well done, coaches.
The Tahs' defence, based on enthusiasm rather than deadly technique like the Stormers, was praiseworthy. The attack next week from the Brumbies will be a step up from the Stormers, let's hope our defence is a match for them. Ditto.
It was nice to see the Tahs stop the Stormers mauling the ball all the way up to our goal-line the many times they tried it. We know Saffers are going to maul whenever they can, so it was good to see them not get any reward from it. Ditto.
kiap
Steve Williams (59)
Damned good post, that.
boyo
Mark Ella (57)
You're correct: you'll never be a journo with that sort of attitude.
WorkingClassRugger
David Codey (61)
Very well thought out post. I like you think comment on the Tahs scrum was a bit unjustified. Apart from that one shocker, in which we backed it up immediately with a tighthead, I'd say we actually won that battle on points. You could actually see real pressure being exerted through our front row on to the Stormers scrum. Perhaps many have chosen to focus on that one scrum as a form of criticism of what otherwise was a very good performance.
WorkingClassRugger
David Codey (61)
Or analysis. It's almost as if he understands the game.
rugbysmartarse
Alan Cameron (40)
Darryl Gibson wrote in a member's email that they had picked hi on the bench due to his ability to get through and disrupt a maul, which he did as his first act in the game. He will probably struggle to cart that huge frame around for 80 minutes, but could become a potential Super Sub a' la Fotu Aulua
Badger
Bill McLean (32)
Great to learn the Tahs are planning to visit all the clubs participating in the Sydney juniors competition during 2013. Outstanding effort by the team.
http://www.waratahs.com.au/News/NewsArticle/tabid/157/ArticleID/9155/Default.aspx
For those who will be bringing their kids along to the Brumbies game, there will be a a skills and drills session on the training ground next to the stadium (I think it is on the western side).
http://www.waratahs.com.au/Waratahs/MatchDay/MatchDayInfo.aspx
http://www.waratahs.com.au/News/NewsArticle/tabid/157/ArticleID/9155/Default.aspx
For those who will be bringing their kids along to the Brumbies game, there will be a a skills and drills session on the training ground next to the stadium (I think it is on the western side).
http://www.waratahs.com.au/Waratahs/MatchDay/MatchDayInfo.aspx
southsider
Arch Winning (36)
its a 10min drive from parra, id say its very much part of western sydney
Ash
Michael Lynagh (62)
It's still on the east side of Parramatta, maybe half way to Blacktown from the CBD.
Yes, it's on the west, but there's still a lot of Sydney past Parramatta.
Nothing wrong with having a clinic at Carlingford at all, but they still need more to the west. It's a huge geographical area with lots of people.
Carlingford's in Metropolitan Western Zone in Sydney Junior Rugby Union's divisions. Western Sydney it is.
Nice one mate.
southsider
Arch Winning (36)
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