It was certainly a hard day in the office as the Crusaders rolled out their "A" game.
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It was certainly a hard day in the office as the Crusaders rolled out their "A" game.
A number of forum members have commented on the value of stats. However, they do give us a base to work with as we do not always see everything happening. I have tried to make them more meaningful this week starting with the defence Defence Stats:
Most Tackles:
Attachment 6038
Best Tackle Conversion rate
Attachment 6039
Least amount of minutes between tackles:
Attachment 6040
Tizzano was a defence machine, and it is great to have him back. Small in stature but immense on the field.
Marley Pearce, say no more, this kid just goes from stregnth to stregnth. Shows the pathways are already bearing fruit and just how important the U16 and U19 programs with academy is going to be
Kaitu'u while he missed a couple of tackles was working hard again and must be a starter this week, he has earned it.
Stewart again great in defence, need him to stay at 12.
Didn’t see the game as I’m at work off the West coast of Africa. Not much rugby on TV in Mauritania & the internet is prehistoric.
The rhetoric on here basically mimics how the team does on the pitch. It’s been a very tough season. I fully accept we’re building for the future, and I fully accept we’re going to lose a lot more games than we’re going to win. We’re up against it (again) and it will take time to rebuild (again).
However, as a fan & member I will give praise & I will criticise unapologetically, sometimes constructively, sometimes not if someone doesn’t do their JOB to the required standards of their employer. It’s the same in any other aspect of working life. If I have an off day at work and make mistakes I expect to receive a harsh word or two from my boss. The difference with these guys is their chosen profession is under the microscope of the paying public. So, if they don’t perform, then it draws a lot more attention on themselves.
So yes, whilst I realise that we have to be patient. That doesn’t mean I’m going to accept it when (as previously mentioned) individuals continually make the same mistakes, or the team fails to throw any punches.
We have to be very careful how much mediocrity we accept. Inevitably it’s become engrained over the years because we always get the shit end of the stick, either from the East coast centric RA, the bullshit travel schedules, or being geographically somewhere where a lot of players don’t want to call home for more than a couple of years. These handicaps are always going to be a part of our team, and something we just have to get on with without making an excuse for. I don’t think the whole “I’m just glad to have rugby in WA” viewpoint does us any good and from what Cron said on that podcast “almost good enough” is certainly something they are trying to get away from.
I fully hope there are a few changes in leadership and personnel for next season. As Cron has obviously inherited some cattle he doesn’t want. We need an out and out leader to take this team forward, and that’s something IMHO we do not currently have. If we’re gonna pick a captain from stats alone you may as well give it to Tizzano.
Tizzano is a monster in defense! holey moley!
The travel yips has been an issue all year, which is really odd. not just better team, but poor execution.
On the hooker front, i thought it odd that Kaitu'u didn't start, i always thought of him as a really strong scrummager, and this pack needed our best scrum on deck. I would have brought him in earlier to shore up the scrum.
Cheers for the stats Tazz
If you ask me going by those stats 2 of your back 5 forwards are doing the work of the others.
Mt other point is why are we having to make this many tackles and why is Carlo having to make so many?
I know we have a bunch of lads that are inexperienced yada yada yada but again the lads keep busting out the same tactics that we have for 17 years. Please just take a chance on yourselves fellas and tuck the ball under the arm. If it doesn't come off at least you tried something different.
To me i don't find it an heroic thing having to defend so much i reckon it's just dumb logic.
Those tackle stats are eye opening-26 tackles none missed wow. Yes was great to have Feleti find his mojo at last-I reckon he seems to forget how to be more of a mongrel, so it was good seeing him bust a couple of times. Isaac is also improving every game, he doesn’t shirk from taking on the bigger boys. And as a ‘constructive’ criticism, I’m still not understanding kicking the ball away all the bloody time, especially as one of the coaches mentioned at half time that they weren’t to do it.
Attacking Stats.
Most carries:
Attachment 6041
Metres per carry:
Attachment 6042
Minutes between carries:
Attachment 6043
Attack was stunted to a large extent with little to no return for our carries.
Fines, Mataele, Tiatia, Williams and Naisarani tried hard but the stats reflect the end result.
Explains why they reverted to so much kicking, could not penetrate the Crusaders defence.
« Explains why they reverted to so much kicking, could not penetrate the Crusaders defence. »
Good summary - makes it all more glaringly obvious.
I mean yeah, but I've been saying it ever since we first played in New Zealand. The refs over there have a very specific way of ruling the breakdown, which all of their teams have adapted to and are using to their advantage, we've now had four? games over there to either address the issues which are routinely seeing three or four of our forwards completely removed from at least the next phase or copy the tactics and make their lives as hard as ours.
I haven't seen moves in either direction and trying to belt the ball through a defence that's rushing forward off ruck ball that is more often than not slow and moving backwards does not make for great attack numbers. Especially when you're three men down because they've blown them 2m past the ruck and lying on top of them
https://www.rugby.com.au/news/wester...ibextid=Zxz2cZ
This explains a bit about the scrum problems, pretty poor from the players to not have the right equipment.
I’m liking this level of honesty and explanation from Cron, whether it be admitting their mistakes and shortcomings or the future plans and decision making (check out his pick and drive interview).