Force players in the Shute Shield

[James]

Eastwood versus Warringah this weekend so a hell of a lot of players in action. From Warringah we had Brett Sheehan, Sam Harris, Haig Sare and Pek Cowan (with Luke Holmes and Brent Murphy also playing). And from Eastwood Chris O'Young, Matt Dunning (at hooker) and from the bench Kieran Longbottom.

Warringah ended up getting flogged by Eastwood but suffered more from constant and stupid turnovers in attack rather than being outclassed. The Eastwood scrum dominated largely due to the Benn Robinson, Matt Dunning, Ben Alexander front row and put the Rats under a fair bit of pressure. In the line-out Warringah had the advantage and forced Eastwood to throw a lot to the front of the line-out. The breakdown was dominated by Eastwood and backrower Ben Coridas (from 7s) was an absolute wrecking ball. The amount of good attacking ball turned over in the Eastwood 22 must have heart breaking.

To the players..... Sheehan and O'Young both had strong games. Sheehan had some great runs while O'Young made some great ball strips and clearances when Eastwood were under pressure. Haig Sare was ok. Didn't see anything spectacular but wasn't terrible either. Pek Cowan didn't hold out too well in the scrums but thats not surprising given the opposition. Dunning seemed at least reasonable at hooker. He had a moment early on when he lay over the ball in a push-up/downward dog (for anyone who knows yoga) which gave horrible mental images of what sex with Matt Dunning would be like. I cried myself to sleep last night. Longbottom didn't spend long on the field. As for Sam Harris, he didn't really have a good game. Maybe its that he's just got back from Japan and that he hasn't had much time with Sheehan and his outside backs having taken over from one of the Kennedy brothers (Josh?) but he made a fair few bad calls. Mostly in choosing to run the ball and getting completely wrapped up when throwing it wide would've been harder to stop. He definitely seems better suited to a ball running/ball playing 12.

Have a good one.

[mudskipper]

Warringah boys are all playing well, saw them at rat park nail manly last week...

[Timbo]

Dunning @ hooker ??
Did he dropkick the ball into the lineouts?

[Sheikh]

Yeah, but a front row of: Fairbrother, Dunning, Pek would be a solid basis for the scrum. Not many Super 14 sides would move that trio backwards.

And unless they've changed the laws since I last looked (several years ago, mind) hookers don't have to take line-outs - can anyone else throw?

[bunter]

So what the hell is Kieran Longbottom doing in Sydney just warming the bench and getting minimal game time? RugbyWA????????

[travelling_gerry]

Damien Fitzpatrick was at #6 and took the line out throws.

[chertubler]

So what the hell is Kieran Longbottom doing in Sydney just warming the bench and getting minimal game time? RugbyWA????????

rugby wa doing agreat job as usual

[GIGS20]

Damien Fitzpatrick was at #6 and took the line out throws.

so they had a S14 contracted hooker on the field and chose to fill the slot with props all game??????

I guess they were worried about the power of the Rats' pack!

nice to know Dunny can hook though.

[Sheikh]

Well, with the way the scrum-halfs put the ball into scrums at 45-degrees hookers don't need to hook these days - props can do the job perfectly well. Would be nice if Dunning could hook at S14 level, though.

[GIGS20]

Dunno whether that was the case though, The two matches I watched on the weekend are getting confused in my head, was it Leonard who was picked up twice in a row for incorrect feed? or was it Chrisso?

I guess at least one ref would like to see the scrum remain a contest

[Timbo]

HEAR HEAR - Uncontestable scrums are as abhorrent as uncontested scrums

[GIGS20]

I think that's the one REAL difference between Rugby and League, rugby is passionate about retaining the competition for the ball.