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Exile
Port Macquarie
"Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done! Now if you know what you’re worth then go out and get what you’re worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain’t you! You’re better than that!" - Rocky Balboa
Cheers and thanks for that report Rick .
Good to see you back and look forward to many more of your reports this season.
Nothing to be corrected. Pocock did join the Force squad in 2006 but the ARU ruled that no player under 18 can play professional rugby (even ones built like American TV wrestlers).
Which is why I said "Last year he fielded exciting young ex-Zimbabwe powerhouse, David Pocock" -- that was the first time Pocock could take the field as a fully fledged Force player.
Christ, someone call a lawyer.
Yes, he did come on a couple of times late in 2006.
He wasn't an integral member of the team in 2006. He was in 2007. That was the point I was making.
He'll probably be a Wallaby by the end of the year, and no one will care what year he first played for the Force.
gits made more tackles, ran further and opened way more gaps in the play than barnes did.Barnes looked dangerous every time
he touched the ball and won the battle of the running flyhalves
gits didnt miss a tackle all night and was pretty much all over every play that was made, whether it was created by him or not.
good, sorry great to watch rugby in a rectangular stadium, as for the gits barnes arguments gits won hands down.....
I was going to point out the Gits vs Berrick battle as well Rick....I was going to mention though that it was a small difference of opinion ina a typically excellent and strongly crafted report though (Unlike my crass offsider)
Gits certainly won the battle of the flyhalves, both running and kicking, it did appear to me though that Berrick was looking to capitalise on players other than Gits when running with the ball so Direct one-on-one tackles, Gits probably didn't grass Barnes as much as Barnes Grassed Gits. That being said, Barnes spent a helluva lot more time going backwards than Gits and threw a lot more panicked desperation balls as well!
C'mon the
Well I was pretty close to ground level, There were a lot of bodies between me and the ball for much of the match so an elevated perspective could well have changed my opinion.
Dunno, I can agree to disagree
C'mon the
Jehna, James O' Connor might be small; but Dane certainly is not. According to Linebreak he is 189cm tall and 93kgs- either he aint small or you have very high standards?
Was great to see all the boys play again!!!
Two Hale boys in the squad, Dane and Justin- both nearly scored tries!!!
Every forwards dream is to become a back...
When you're Red you're embarassed..but don't forget it was only a trial.
Enjoyed watching the game with my 2 Force Member daughters and a rectangular stadium is the only way to go - hope that Kitchener park is an improvement on Subi.
Thought the Force forwards played well after the initial Qld onslaught and I groaned when Hardy came off after a couple of minutes but was relieved to see him return.
The duel in the first half between the old bull at no. 7 Croft, and the young bull Pocock (hasn't he developed into a mini Hercules) was great.
The Force looked pretty cohesive and I thought better conditioned than their opposition.
Anyway it was only a trial, but we had a lot of positives. On the subject of trials, new Wallabies Coach Deans put things into perspective when his side Canterbury was beaten by the Waratahs last night. "It was another workout for us," Deans said. "There was some good stuff that we were happy with. It was certainly good match-conditiioning, which is what the pre-season is all about."
Good luck to the Force for their tour to South Africa and look forward to their first home game.
Here was my take on the trial match.
I thought the force played well. Even the young ones showed signs of potential greatness. Really impressed with staniforth at the centres and all the more believe john needs to play him there and not in the wing now that pelesasa is injured. Pocock adapted really well to the new rules and showed his skills when he suddenly appeared out of a ruck with the ball in his hands. Not really a big fan of Cummins, he didnt really get the ball much yesterday. With the 2 hale boys and the nudgee boy, i was quite impressed. I was kinda looking forward to seeing 'rabbits' famous sidestep, but didnt think he got the chance to do it. Dane was impressive. His acceleration was tops and his line break showed why he deserved to be in the squad. Justin had his moments of brilliance and overall played well, BUT as it was in his schoolboy days, he was a bit slow with the pass out. And the no.18, i think was Sitaleki, was outstanding. I hope the ARU really lets the force bring him in even without his residency confirmed yet.
I enjoyed the new rules. But i think there still needs to be a few changes to it. I realised that the game could drag on with free kick after free kick, cos teams just can't retreat 10m in time. But it was exciting watching this new era of rugby.
I cant wait for the new season to come. With the Force set at $4.50 at TAB to be the final 4, im going to place a massive amount of money on them cos ive got a good feeling we'll get there. And along with this, invest in Foxsports to watch the away games. Go The Force.