Friend unhappy after Tahs wrangle Brumbies

[mudskipper]

Friend unhappy after Tahs wrangle Brumbies
BY PETER FITZGERALD
RUGBY UNION

6/02/2009 1:00:00 AM


The NSW Waratahs last night mauled the ACT Brumbies in their second and final trial game of the year.
It may only have been a practise match and the 17-14 scoreline in the Waratahs favour may suggest a tight tussle between two evenly-placed teams, but there can be no sugar-coating the ACT's performance.

The Brumbies were at full strength and expecting to come away victors in their first interstate clash of 2009.

While two late tries almost afforded them a miracle win, the first 70 minutes of their performance was well below coach Andy Friend's expectations.

The Brumbies' pre-season had travelled smoothly until last night. The senior squad was injury-free and the team had enjoyed a comfortable victory against the Wellington Hurricanes a week earlier.

There was an aura around training, a feeling that something special was to unfold this season.

But on last night's performance, it became a whole lot clearer the Brumbies have a long way to go before they can consider themselves genuine title contenders.

And Friend was in no mood to suggest otherwise after the match.

''It was tough,'' the coach said. ''It was a very physical game and I thought we were outmuscled in the physical contest, something we need to work on as a matter of urgency.

''A few players appeared to stand up, a few didn't. I was surprised by our lack of physicality but we'll have a good look at the video tomorrow and try to make some sense out of our disappointing performance.''

The Brumbies' scrum was hopelessly dominated by the Waratahs last night.

Time and time again the front-row combination of Ben Alexander, Stephen Moore and Nic Henderson failed to outmuscle its NSW opponents.

The substitution of Guy Shepherdson for Henderson after half-time improved the situation.

The lineout was scrappy with both hookers Moore and John Ulugia struggling to give the team a solid platform.

The back line wasn't a great deal better. Mark Gerrard had a night he'd rather forget, dropping the ball several times from NSW kicks while uncontested at fullback.

Even the centre pairing of Stirling Mortlock and Adam Ashley-Cooper as inside and outside-centre respectively failed to work, possibly forcing Friend into a rethink of his starting back line for next week's round one contest.

The main positive for the Brumbies was the performances of flyhalf Christian Lealiifano and winger Francis Fainifo.

The duo backed up their solid efforts of a week earlier against the Hurricanes with another strong showing, making it tough for Friend to leave them out of his starting XV for next weekend's season-opener against the Otago Highlanders in Dunedin.

Meanwhile in yesterday's earlier match a Brumbies 2nd XV easily defeated a Waratahs II team 37-14.

The Brumbies side included 11 players with Super 14 experience, compared to the NSW outfit which had none.


lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll llllllllllllllllllllAT A GLANCENSW WARATAHS 17 (Rob Horne, Kurtley Beale tries; Kurtley Beale conv, pen; Daniel Halangahu conv) bt ACT BRUMBIES 14 (Christian Lealiifano, John Ulugia tries; Mark Gerrard, Christian Lealiifano conv) at the SFS. Crowd: 8321


Generally a pretty scrappy affair by the Brumbies... they'll have to do better... It was a dull match...

[Cowboy]

Too much time spent paddling canoes?

[jargan83]

doesn't look like he is making many Friends

[oxleymoron]

Generally a pretty scrappy affair by the Brumbies... they'll have to do better... It was a dull match...

Were you one of the 8321 spectators, Mud?

[mudskipper]

Were you one of the 8321 spectators, Mud?

Yep I was one...

[jargan83]

How did Mortlock go at Inside Centre?

He would be hard to tackle on that gopher

[waratahjesus]

was a good game for the first 30 or so till the replacements started to get involved. horne and tahu had aac and mortlock pretty much contained, robbie horne was sensational and tahu was a totally different player to what he was last year. the tahs depth seemed a bit non existant really, we struggled big time after waugh went off which reminded me alot of a couple of years ago when he was out for the season and we came second last! hopefully he can stay fit.
gerrard pretty much insured he would never be in a rep side again as he had an absolute shocker.
the brumbies fly half was a much better player than he seemed last year but the tahs just had to much pressure on them in defence and caused them to cough up alot of midfield ball.
fava had a bit of a shocker at the back of the scrum and i hope palu is back for round one.
was a good night though, traffic was shocking and i got into an argument with a policeman who wouldnt let me cross a closed road! moron!!!!
was also good to see matty burke back were he belongs!
and big ups to clyde rathbone to, we were in the corner and he gave us a big smile when he came on. if you like him or not, to go through the injuries he has and come back takes a hell of alot of effort and he played solid for a pretty physical match.

[jargan83]

i got into an argument with a policeman who wouldnt let me cross a closed road! moron!!!!

Isn't that why roads get closed around events?

[waratahjesus]

the road was fully closed, no cars, nothing and the dude wanted me to walk a couple of hundread metres to use a pedestrian crossing, it was rediculus, he actually slapped my chest and i fired up at him, so he threatened to book me for j walking then abusive language!

[jargan83]

quite obviously your a trouble maker

[.X.]

Reminds me of a Wallabies fan that got drunk after a wallabies match, tried to climb on stage to sing with the band and fell over the fence - I think he broke his wrist

[waratahjesus]

i do what i can to entertain the masses!

but honestly, i think the cop wanted to fight me, i was sober, maybe a little short after sitting through 2 hours of traffic on my half hour trip, but he was psyched up for someone standing gaurd at a baracade!

[mudskipper]

gerrard pretty much insured he would never be in a rep side again as he had an absolute shocker.

the brumbies fly half was a much better player than he seemed last year but the tahs just had to much pressure on them in defence and caused them to cough up alot of midfield ball.

and big ups to clyde rathbone to, we were in the corner and he gave us a big smile when he came on. if you like him or not, to go through the injuries he has and come back takes a hell of alot of effort and he played solid for a pretty physical match.

I thought the game was low key... and not so hard... The Refers and assistants weren't wired and the Tahs were off side for most of the match. This slowed down the match or stop any ball movement wide...

Brumbies 10 Lealiifano looked good as did Beale. So thats a good sign for both teams.

Both sides dropped the ball or lost in in tackle so there was to much multi phase play.

Horne played well and put a excellent hit on AAC in the first half. I wouldn't right off Gerrard he usually has safe hands. The Brumbies didn't kick and chose to hang onto the ball. In the end it was the one penalty that won the match for the Tahs. The one where Waugh gave up going for the try early in the match... pretty average decision for trial match.

Players just looked like there wanted to play but not get hurt...

[waratahjesus]

bit harsh on the offside call, smith was his usual self so the calls ewnt both ways, i thought the ref was pretty even!

the kick for penalty came as two tahs players were recieving treatment, i think he just did it to buy some time.

turners run around rathbone was one of the highlights of the second half, both those boys were moving and it was a sight to see.

the defence was pretty harsh for the first thirty or so and the tahs had someone running from the line all night at the 12, be it morts or aac that was causing the brumbies to through cut out passes that were crowding and isolating there outside backs, it caused alot of mistakes

[mudskipper]

Smith and the refers have a special arrangement...