Usual Ruck Stats
The Bulls weren't just too good on the night - THEY WERE JUST TOO GOOD.
The Bulls out-sized and out-muscled the Force in almost every position and were more effective in most facets of the game. Played with cohesion and continuous support.
Our set piece held its own against a Springbok standard outfit. But had to work hard to do so.
117 Tackles at 93% compared to the Force's 62 tackles at 78%.
The Force's 16 Penalties to 8 for the Bulls tells another story.
The Ruck Involvements display the usual main contributors.
I reckon that they are one of the best indicators of work rate and effort.
They can often show the players who have a strong team focus rather than self focus.
Check out those who actually lifted, or maintained their involvement in the 2nd half (for me a good indication of "ticker").
Hodgo moving back to something like his normal self after last week (when I reckon he must have been recovering from some bug. Did anybody else see him dry retching as he was coming off last week??). He had a team high 16 Tackles (zero missed) and 2 Turn Overs Won (TOW). The Force only had 5 TOW.
The Bulls out-worked the Force at the breakdown (and we don't see that too often). Bulls had 14 TOW.
The next most tackles for the Force was Benny McM with 8 and then Dane H-P with 6, Scoble and Coleman 5 then Prior with 4.
Dane H-P had 15 carries for 95m - pretty good in a losing side.
He combined well with Morahan.
Gobsmacked that Rasolea is carrying so much weight/and was so slow that he couldn't make that try with some smart move at the end (or maybe by having another Back running support)
Rusty impressed with his first run-on game.
Matuauto will be better player for the experience and didn't seem phased by the opposition.
Liking the energy and passion that Coleman has added to his game.
Rapt that Kyle could continue his return with a try. Did others notice how well he was kicking on goal during the warm-up?
Prior didn't let us down with his first run-on for the Force at 10. His kick on goal is now 5/5 - with the team still kicking at 94%.
Some strong Ruck Involvements from many of the Backs including: Prior - 16; Morahan (1TOW) & Rasolea - 11; DHP and Matuauto - 9; Brache (1TOW) - 8; Godwin - 7.
Refs continue to NOT CALL the grabbing of players around the neck/head in rucks.
For me this game changed little.
The guys did very well to stay as close as Force 13:18 Bulls at half time.
2 tries scored during Stander's Yellow Card.
We just haven't the depth in the squad and missing a hand-full of key players including the essential "finishers".