G&GRs Second Bledisloe Test Player Ratings

[greenandgoldrugby]

Always torture doing ratings on a thumping, but here goes. LINK

15 Adam Ashley-Cooper Looked solid at the back until went off with busted hand, even made a tackle after his injury. 5

14 Peter Hynes - Provided two of the rare running highlights 7

13 Stirling Mortlock (C), Trademark bust through Smith to make the only Wallaby try. Some good cover tackling as well 5

12 Berrick Barnes, Neither his defence nor his kicking lived up to recent performances 4

11 Lote Tuqiri, little ball and little opportunity to get involved 5

10 Matt Giteau, Considering what was going on around him, still had plenty of spark and skill. Some decent kicking as well. 7

9 Luke Burgess, needs to try to do less. 4

8 Wycliff Palu, found it a lot harder to make any yards this week. A couple of decent runs and tackles though. 5

7 George Smith, despite the usual a grad defence got frustrated with Lawrences ruling of the breakdown leading to a few too many penalties. 5

6 Phil Waugh, don't think he ever recovered from the head knock early on 4

5 Nathan Sharpe, gotta take some responsibility for the line-out calling 3

4 James Horwill, also went quiet apart from the nice shot on So'aiolo 4

3 Al Baxter, I think it was lucky we didn't have more scrums on our own ball 4

2 Stephen Moore, his throwing wasn't so bad and made a couple of good runs. 5

1 Benn Robinson, also below par 4

Replacements:
16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, - a very forgettable night for TPN. A couple of tackles and runs stopped him from getting less 2
17 Matt Dunning,
18 Dan Vickerman, - needs to play from the start, not as a late replacement
19 Hugh McMeniman - made some impact when he came on. 6
20 Sam Cordingley,
21 Ryan Cross,
22 Drew Mitchell - shmoo coming on highlighted the strength that AAC brings at the back 5

Rating system:
10 - A legendary performance to go down in the history books
9 - Man of the match worthy performance
8 - Outstanding
7 - Good game, great in parts
6 - Solid performance
5 - Average - ho hum
4 - Below par
3 - Had a bad game
2 - Tell your story walking pal
1 - A complete joke.

[oxleymoron]

Good comment on Burgess Gagger, he needs to remember he is wearing 9 and not 10, although the natural playmaker instincts that he needs to show in the absence of a strong 10 for the powder blues can take over his game.

[robyn <3]

good work gagger

i agree with the burgess thing, he's trying to do too much and it's really not working.

(i would write more but im off to school now)

[laura]

Dont get me wrong, I love Gits and think Hynes is pretty good, but I dont think they deserved a 7, I'd say a 6 for both. It might sound harsh but I really think compared to their own performance on previous occassions, I wouldn't rate either of them at 7.

Oh and bring Brownie on for Waugh.

[travelling_gerry]

Was Sharpe calling the line out from the bench?

7 of the lost line out's happened after he was subbed.

[BLR]

Was Sharpe calling the line out from the bench?

7 of the lost line out's happened after he was subbed.

But then that'd mean Sharpie couldn't be thier whipping boy like usual?

[gustafsl]

5 Nathan Sharpe, gotta take some responsibility for the line-out calling 3

Go back and watch the tape mate. When our lineout went to the shitter he was on the bench. Even missed some time in the first half for blood bin. Probably only had like 40 mins of game time.

I watched the game with my buddy that would jump at the oppourtunity to criticise a Force player and he thought that Sharpe was one of our better forwards while he was on the field. Had a few good runs.

[KenyaQuin]

Watched the game in its entirety last night for objectivity (I do try).

15 Adam Ashley-Cooper - I thought he was one of the few to have a solid performance. Good under the high ball and strong with ball in hand. Needs to reduce the wasted high kicks that achieve little. A 6, Gagger's a 5

14 Peter Hynes - Most runs were opportunistic and didn't get much if any good ball to hand. A 5, Gagger's a 7

13 Stirling Mortlock (C) - Missing in action for most of the game. A 5, Gagger's a 5

12 Berrick Barnes - Missing in action as well. Needs to work on his kickoffs as well. At present they seem to have no direction (ie, either kick short for the forwards to compete or kick long into opposition 22 for territory, not in between). A 4. Gagger's a 4

11 Lote Tuqiri - Same as Hynes, little balls so little to grade him on. None of his usual searching for the ball until late in the 2nd half. Touch and go call at the end of the game denied him a try-saving tackle. A 5, Gagger's a 5

10 Matt Giteau - Can't see how he got a 7 from Gagger. With all due respect to Git's, that was a poor show. Nothing seemed to go as planned and in many cases the play looked quite haphazard. Not expecting miracles from him and he is entitled to have a bad day. A 4, Gagger's a 7.

9 Luke Burgess - Not his passing this time round. Doing too much and not offering much direction to the forwards. First half was acting as a 9th forward by getting into too many rucks and forcing teammates to do his job. Quite a few dropped high balls..if you call it, take it safely. A 4, Gagger's a 4.

8 Wycliff Palu - Still struggling to dominate. Why is he in the team? Either its because he's a hard runner or a ball getter. At the moment he's neither. A 4. Gagger's a 5

7 George Smith - Got caught out this week by the ref. All calls I believe were spot on (coming in from side, not behind last feet, playing ball on ground, high tackle). Still, played a decent game, if the OzMob need motivation they should follow his lead. Best on park for the OzMob. A 6, Gagger's a 5

6 Phil Waugh - His performance confirmed my selection options, needs to be on the bench for 60 minutes then unleashed..any sooner and he's just ok. Didn't see much of him, but must admit he was involved in alot of the tackles. A 5, Gagger's a 4

5 Nathan Sharpe - Can't take too much responsibility for lineouts crumble if 1. not in field, 2. if not throwing. Saw a bit of him in the first half but thats it. Both he and Horwill were outclassed by an omni-present Ali Williams. A 4, Gagger's a 3.

4 James Horwill, Only saw him come in to protect ACC, when called by ref for a chat and towards the end had a small run on the wing. As above, outshone by opposing Ali Williams. A 4, Gagger's a 4.

3 Al Baxter - Wasn't outmuscled however was on receiving end of ref's whistle. I looked at his binding and as ref called was binding on other's arm. Pretty life these props lead. Not solid enough on breakdowns. A 4, Gagger's a 4.

2 Stephen Moore - Lineouts were more controlled while he was in and he did have a few runs. A 5, Gagger's a 5.

1 Benn Robinson - As with Al, solid on scrums but not on breakdowns. A 4, Gagger's a 4

Rating system:
10 - A legendary performance to go down in the history books
9 - Man of the match worthy performance
8 - Outstanding
7 - Good game, great in parts
6 - Solid performance
5 - Average - ho hum
4 - Below par
3 - Had a bad game
2 - Tell your story walking pal
1 - A complete joke.

[greenandgoldrugby]

Was Sharpe calling the line out from the bench?

7 of the lost line out's happened after he was subbed.

Fair point.

I put the losses down to TPN (hence a 2), but still thought some of the lineout decisions while he was still on were nuts e.g. 2 return throws to Burgess at the front, at least one of them being in our 22. Crazy.

[travelling_gerry]

One of them was incorrectly penalised and had it not he would have been away. But mostly those quick calls like that are called by the hooker or the guy at the 5.001 m line.

[GIGS20]

One of them was incorrectly penalised and had it not he would have been away. But mostly those quick calls like that are called by the hooker or the guy at the 5.001 m line.

The 4.99997 m line Gerry, it wasn't 5 remember?

Personally, I wouldn't have given anybody on the park a 6 this week, Given that though the respective comments and rankings Gagger came up with were about the same, just everyone was rated a bit higher this week. It is a definite mark in the "forgettable stinker" column from me!

[NTT]

Go back and watch the tape mate. When our lineout went to the shitter he was on the bench. Even missed some time in the first half for blood bin. Probably only had like 40 mins of game time.

I watched the game with my buddy that would jump at the oppourtunity to criticise a Force player and he thought that Sharpe was one of our better forwards while he was on the field. Had a few good runs.

My thoughts exactly, TPN had 11 throws for 9 turnovers. How is this Sharpes fault. I struggle to see how TPN gets selected after being dropped previously for below par lineout throwing and still no improvement has been made.

[prop53]

Mirror image of the game the week before, scrum was still not disgraced Baxter i would go the 5 Robinson deff the weaker and would have had Dunning on early for him. The rest about right not our best by any means.