Great win for the Tahs especially considering they were down by 14 points at half time.
Clearly the biggest disappointment was how easily we gifted tries to the Blues in the first half. They should have never been in the game.
On the plus side, the Tahs scored three of the better tries they've scored in the last year or so. Scoring off the first phase from a lineout in the opposite corner was particularly great. Superbly executed backline move.
Dennis had easily his best game of the season and finally showed the physicality we need from him. He worked hard all game and made some telling runs late in the game, constantly getting over the advantage line.
I thought McKibbin's passing was better prior to his injury than it has been so far this season. He made plenty of good passes out in front of the game. Lucas got better as the game went on but his defence is really weak and he absolutely gifted 7 points to the Blues out of nothing. He definitely has a better pass than McKibbin but his overall game is far from perfect. His pass to put Folau over was brilliant, threading the needle between two defenders at full pace. I expect McKibbin will start again next week if his shoulder is right.
Losing three attacking lineouts on our own throw after penalties was really poor. Execution at the lineout has to improve. These are golden opportunities to score points.
Folau and Mitchell had really strong games. The only thing Folau did wrong was not either pinning his ears back for the corner when the big break was made late in the game or coming in field and trying to put Kingston over in the corner.
I thought the centre pairing was really good. Horne had a very strong game, particularly in defence and our outside backs got plenty of opportunity. AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) had a very solid game, defended well and made some strong runs. At least until Barnes comes back, this combination will be the first choice at 12 and 13.
Good points, with which I mostly agree.
Halfback is still a problem as evidenced by the signing of Phipps. McKibben is not the answer long term. He's been given the opportunity to make the position his and hasn't. Lucas has a better passing game on yesterday's evidence and is able to get the team moving at speed more consistently. I find it difficult to understand how both halves gave 7 points to the Blues by not diving on the loose bouncing ball with their body. They each dived or slid at the ball and tried to grab it with their hands, and as rugby balls do, the balls bounced out of their grasp. This fundamental should have been addressed long before their arrival in professional rugby. If any position on the field is going to be able to get back to a loose bouncing ball with the opposition pouring through, it is at half.
On the positive side, the Waratahs played some very good, enterprising rugby, dare one say brillant at times, with some 2nd rate stuff thrown in. Fortunately, week by week the good parts seem to last longer and the bad bits seem to be further apart.
I certainly enjoyed the match, as did the rest of the crowd around us. The size of the crowd indicates the damage done by Hickey/Foley/adminstrators in the past 4 years. It really should have been more than 16,000 on a sunny Sunday afternoon - no Friday traffic to worry about. More of this should bring the crowds back. The players also deserve top marks for spending some time pre-match with the fans.
