Tahs to test Mitchell under high ball

[KenyaQuin]

Tahs to test Mitchell under high ball
Bret Harris | April 09, 2008 Tahs to test Mitchell under high ball | The Australian


NSW WARATAHS five-eighth Kurtley Beale will launch an aerial assault against Western Force winger Drew Mitchell in Perth on Saturday.

Mitchell is one of the most brilliant attacking players in Australian rugby but he has difficulty under the high ball.

It would not have escaped the attention of NSW coach Ewen McKenzie that the Stormers successfully employed the tactic against the Force in their win at Subiaco Oval three weeks ago.

Beale has spent time at training this week practising high balls and cross-kicks towards Mitchell's wing in a clear indication of the intention to turn one of the Force's strengths into a weakness.

"We've absorbed a lot of information from watching other teams play against them and there are certainly bits and pieces," McKenzie said.

"The thing about kicking in the game is the type of kicking and when you do it, who you do it to, whether it is long or short or contested.

"Kicking tactics are part of an effective strategy, but it's not the whole strategy.

"We'll have a plan for the game. The trick is executing it. The plan is easy but executing is the hard bit.

"They (the Stormers) put a lot of pressure there (on Mitchell). That might have been just a bad day for him.

"There are other opportunities. We'll see how it goes."

McKenzie has no doubts the Force will try to exploit the inexperience of rookie outside centre Rob Horne who has replaced the injured Ben Jacobs.

The 18-year-old will oppose in-form Force centre Ryan Cross in his run-on debut for the Waratahs.

A former Australian Schoolboys team-mate of Beale, Horne was very impressive when he replaced Jacobs during the Waratahs' win against the Blues.

"We like what we see," McKenzie said. 'We've had him around the edges for a few weeks.

"We have liked him from the start. He played the trial games. He is just ahead of where we thought he was going to be.

"He is a pretty good rugby prospect because he enjoys the defence part of the game as much as he enjoys the attack part. He is the fastest guy in our team. He is one of the fastest guys in Australian rugby at the moment.

"I don't think he's not going to make mistakes out there but he won't lack enthusiasm. I've never seen a guy more pumped up at half-time after he nailed a couple of their blokes last week. They are all good attributes to take into a game.

"I'm sure they will (target Horne). We've got people we are going to target. I'm sure they will have some on our team.

"You tend to look at guys who haven't played as much. One thing that Robert doesn't lack is confidence. It doesn't mean he is over-confident but he is confident about what he can contribute.

"He's just got a really good head for the game. He understands it pretty well.

"He is at least six to 10 months ahead of where I thought he would be. We had targeted him to play next year, but it's all happening a bit quicker."

Force five-eighth Matt Giteau is unfazed by speculation the Waratahs plan to target him in the same way that openside flanker Phil Waugh harassed Blues' five-eighth Nick Evans in Sydney last Saturday night.

"Every game you go into there is no player you actually don't go in there with a focus of tackling, so I don't see that as being any different," Giteau said.

"If they do want to target me, we've got some other great players in our side who have been playing really well this year that will probably get a bit more space."

The head-to-head clash between Giteau and Beale will be one of the highlights of the game.

"That's the best thing about playing Super 14," Beale said. "You play the best of the best in the world.

"I was fortunate to play against Dan Carter (Crusaders five-eighth) two weeks ago and now I'm up against Matt Giteau.

"I'm not going to change my game. Obviously, he is a very important player in their side.

"He organises their attack very well and that's what I'm going to try and do for the Waratahs."

[BLR]

Beale should be the one watching out for the high ball...I can see the Tahs tactics really killing this game as a spectacle...

[jargan83]

Espeacially as Beale slips to fullback in defense. I know i posted this before, but Gits with the high ball, with brownie, bam bam, spanner and shep chasing and bearing down on Beale should be good viewing

[Jehna]

Mm i wouldn't worry too much BLR. I think there is a lot of talk which may not amount to much. I have faith in the boys to deal with anything that is thrown at them and to be honest I don't think what they're saying comes as a surprise to many - stop Gits, test players weaknesses... pretty standard really

[BLR]

Mm i wouldn't worry too much BLR. I think there is a lot of talk which may not amount to much. I have faith in the boys to deal with anything that is thrown at them and to be honest I don't think what they're saying comes as a surprise to many - stop Gits, test players weaknesses... pretty standard really

You misunderstood me, I see the Tahs playing a negative game, lots of kicking, not much running, basically playing not to lose. Our boys are good but aren't afraid to play these ugly games so it could really sink into a quagmire of a match...

[shasta]

Tahs to test Mitchell under high ball
Bret Harris | April 09, 2008 Tahs to test Mitchell under high ball | The Australian


NSW WARATAHS five-eighth Kurtley Beale will launch an aerial assault against Western Force winger Drew Mitchell in Perth on Saturday.

Mitchell is one of the most brilliant attacking players in Australian rugby but he has difficulty under the high ball.

It would not have escaped the attention of NSW coach Ewen McKenzie

Hope it has escaped his attention, though, that Mitchell is our best kick return runner & usually follows a dusty performance with a blinder. Even if he was a little shaky last week he still gained the most territory for the Force. Again.

Not that he'll have to worry much. If Beale targets him, most of the kicks will likely go straight down Shep's throat and he's as safe as houses.

[The InnFORCEr]

You misunderstood me, I see the Tahs playing a negative game, lots of kicking, not much running, basically playing not to lose. ...

I think you may be onto something here BLR, that is the way I see it. All they seem concerned about is who they will be targeting and they how they think they can stop us. That will play right into our hands, but for mine I expect a pretty close match, last year a draw, this year force by under 10.

[Skiza]

I think it'll be a close one too....makes me laugh though, that quite a few teams come out and say they're going to target Mitchell with the high ball. Do you think that maybe Mitchell and his team mates are aware of this and work on it??? Also, ive found that Mitchell generally does pretty well when this happens, so go get 'em Drew

[Stone Cold]

yeah, one bad match and all of a sudden he's got a weakness....give em what for drew...if they keep kicking to him he'll score so many tries we'll think its the world cup again

[gustafsl]

Hmmmmmm....seems to contradict this article here:

Beale keen to run ball against Force - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Beale keen to run ball against Force
Posted 2 hours 21 minutes ago


Kurtley Beale says he is looking forward to the challenge of playing against Matt Giteau. (File photo) (Reuters: Will Burgess)
Waratahs fly-half Kurtley Beale says he is keen to kick the ball less when New South Wales takes on the Western Force on Saturday in Perth.

The Waratahs had their best win of the season last weekend when they beat the Blues 37-16 in Sydney.

New South Wales has been criticised for playing boring rugby this season but Beale says he would like to run the ball if possible.

"Definitely, we're just going to see how we go, we're going to stick to our game plan," he said.

"Obviously kicking's an important thing to get your possession and position on the field so we'll just see how we go."

Beale also says he is looking forward to playing against Force fly half Matt Giteau.

"That's the best thing with playing Super 14's because you play the best of the best in the world so I was fortunate to play Dan Carter two weeks ago and now I'm up against Matt Giteau," he said.

"Obviously he's a very important player in their side, he organises their attack very well and that's what I'm going to try and do for the Waratahs."

[gustafsl]

As far as I'm concerned they can try whatever they want. The deciding factor in this game is going to be how disciplined the Warratahs can be on defence. Aside from the Crusaders game the Force games have been decided on two things:

1) Weird bounces against the Force. How many times this year have we seen a weird bounce off the lineout or a loose ball out of a ruck turn into a try for the other team?

2) Opposing teams defence. We haven't exactly put many points on the board this year. We've really been lucky to get the wins against the Cheetahs, Lions and Bulls. All of them won with late points. The reason for this is because those teams played really well on defence and didn't allow many linebreaks.

If the Warratahs can stay disciplined with their defence and don't let the Force get many breaks it is most likely they will pick up a few bad bounces or mistakes by the Force and get the points necessary to win the game. However, if they try to get too fancy or try to attack too much they will get beat.

I'd love to see Beale try a few cross kicks to Mitchell's wing. Drew has a habit of breaking a few tackles and if they are sending cross kicks to him, he'll only have to break 1 or 2 and it will be an open run for a try.

[BLR]

New South Wales has been criticised for playing boring rugby this season but Beale says he would like to run the ball if possible.

"Obviously kicking's an important thing to get your possession and position on the field so we'll just see how we go."

Those two sections are what you need to look at, it tries to say they are trying to play running rugby but obviously tactically they need to look at kicking....basically trying to make themselves look like they are just playing tactically, not boringly....

[Mambo No. 5]

Bring it on!

[jono]

and to give them an excuse for after the match when we beat us some tahs

[JediKnight]

Is it Saturday yet?