Western Force Defeated by Hurricanes in Wellington

[Rodent]

Missed the game due to a 30th. How did Hunt go? did he get much time?

[Burgs]

He only had a few minutes Rodent, about five I recall.
Made a few runs, a couple of fumbles.
He certainly didn't look out of place though he was probably moving a bit quick and maybe wanted a bit more control.
Reminded me a little of O'Young when he comes on, the ball suddenly starts flying around but not always for a better result.
He needs time to develop away from the pressure of starting, as has always been the plan, but certainly exciting for the future.

[Stone Cold]

Definitiely had some good bits (regardless of the scoreline)...it was just some sloppy tackling that killed us

I thought Inman was especially good - Crossy may some difficulty getting back into the side based on that performance.

[Woody]

I have read and kept my mouth shut as I had my son's engagemnet do and buggared up the recording. It was just replayed (left work early to see it since I can't seem to programme the DVD).
Initial thoughts;
Murray Mexted continues to be a huge embarassment to kiwis. God he's awful.

Wankery (good word Dog) gang signs are actually 1. Tialata thanking his god 2. Jane signalling a 'T' for try (why I don't know but it not gang shit).

The 5 or 6 variations for the backs in attack or defence are confusing them. DHP wing to centre, Tatupu 12 to wing, 10 to 15 (ok) 15 to 10 (ok) 10 to 12. I reckon that confusion created overlaps on occassion.

JOC went to the boot too often. At times he was brilliant. I think he feels the weight of expectation (he should, everybody expects something brilliant at every touch, like Shane Warne's bowling)

MOM Hodgson, outstanding, hard, tough, huge workrate.

Sharp worked hard, in good form, spoke very well after match.

Shennan nuggetty, pain in the arse, perfect 9. O'Y was a little out of sorts.

Harris was strangely invisible.

Pek was good without being as good as last week.

DHP was very good but was lucky not to get carded for coming off his line.

Mitch Inman, who is this guy? He went great, love guys that don't die in the tackle, strong legs. Big future methinks.

Loosies went well without being really tight as a trio.

Dunning looked ticked off when the hook came out, but what did he think? Just settle down and do the bizo.

Vinny Munro decisions at times were most strange (scrums, tackle and the word to Cane skipper where he lets them have a long chat with drinks, that's crap). A scrum free kick on Force 5m line, why? Canes take scrum and score in oppersite corner.

Summary;
No shortage of courage, have the forwards to support backs that will only improve with time together. There are plenty of teams for the taking.

[Tazzmania]

Great post Woody, you have summed it up perfectly.

[palitu]

i think there was a lot of promise when the forward took the ball up, a lot of pressure was applied and a lot of phases built up. though i dont think they trusted the backs to finish off welkl enough.

Sheehan, PITA 9, which can be good as long as he doesnt get offside with the refs. He seemed to be controlling whats going on, which i suppose is fair enough considering the backs were always getting rearranged.

I think a lot of back line stability will come in with a decent 10 and spandex coming in to settle them.

Mitch Inman had an absolute blinder! really great to watch, good in attack and defense, love the strong running. I think he will give crossy a run for his money at 13, cross seems to start too slowly in the season...

DHP is a strong runner though he can't fall off tackles like he done, one of the better gamese i have seen him play.

I think the lack of cohesion in the loosies may have lost us the game. I dont recall any pilfered ball, not really their fault, not enough time playing together. but when they click it'll be good. Mcalman played out of his skin, he had some great defense, thoguh i think got caught pushing too hard in the scrum and missed a snipe from the opposition 9.

C'OY didn't impress me.

Well, better get back to work...

[GIGS20]

Can't wait to see Hill get #10, push Harris to 12, Inman at 13 and Spanner at 11/14

That'll take a lot of pressure of Rabbit, and he'll have a field day with much of the hard work being done by a rocklike defensive line in front of him.

Dane will flourish with the responsibility taken off, his attack was brilliant on Saturday.

I'd even be happy with rookies like Dane and Joelin, push Spanner into 12 and just smash sledgehammers into them from the midfield for about 60 minutes.......let the rockets run around them when they're too bruised to do anything about it!

Happy days!

[Burgs]

#12 Staniforth for mine Gigs, best option in both defence and attack, need to stop the ball getting out to the Chiefs speed men in D and expose them through the guts in A.

[AndyS]

Okay then:

On the whole, the guys played with commitment, guts and good on them. But while the result was predictable given the team situation, I can understand Mitchell's post-match frustration. While they would have had to play to the top of their (current) ability, they could have given that game a shake. It might bode well for the future, but even so...

Still, I thought Mitchell's identification of the defense alone was a little simplistic. Sure one-on-one tackles are crucial when you play a flat defensive line, but that is hardly news. Any time a flat line gets broken there will trouble so I would have called it a fairly risky strategy with a scratch team of youngsters, especially against a team like the Hurricanes.

So an equally important part of the strategy should also have been to deny them the ball on all occasions, but I'd've said they failed at that. They handed the ball back at scrum time (on the whole I thought they got a bit dished there, although some of the penalties were just stupidity) and, while they didn't kick often, they also didn't kick at all well. By my count watching the game they put up 9 up-and-unders and recovered one, briefly, before then kicking that to touch. Two aimless kicks downfield, both from within the defensive 22, didn't go into touch and were run back by the 'Canes for a penalty and a try. And two clearances that did go into touch from the defensive 22 didn't go far, with tries from both the subsequent runs of play. Throw in a couple of toe throughs to give the ball over uncontested rather than trying to recycle and I was started to get a bit....let's say pensive. When they ran the ball they looked dangerous, drew penalties and proved they could score tries. Kick like that again this week against the Chiefs though...well, we've just seen what can happen then!

The forwards need some work too. The pick and drive was entirely predictable, especially with Sheehan standing over the ball and yelling to everyone exactly what was going to happen next. Both the SA and NZ teams eat up pick-and-drive moves; they need to be better (or a damn sight sneakier).

Still, Bart and Crossy back this week apparently. Again leaving the forwards to do their thing with whatever rotation, a backline of...?:
....Sheehan
....Bartholomeusz
....Inman
....Harris
....Cross
....Haylett-Petty
....O'Connor

....O'Young
....Hill
....Staniforth
....Tatupu

Hill and Staniforth take time to get up to speed on plays, and may not be 100% match fit - when was their last match?

[GIGS20]

The forwards need some work too. The pick and drive was entirely predictable, especially with Sheehan standing over the ball and yelling to everyone exactly what was going to happen next. Both the SA and NZ teams eat up pick-and-drive moves; they need to be better (or a damn sight sneakier).

or quicker, they had a couple of quick ones where they didn't try anything fancy, just battered it up for a couple of phases, they made plenty of metres then!

[AndyS]

Yeah, that too. They have the size and ability, but it seems that if they don't do it in about 3 or 4 phases they bog down and invariably turn it over.

[BeeJay]

The key moments for mine were early in the second half before and after the try to DH-P. We were 5 m out and battering the line, but didn't score. (The Highlanders made it look so easy when they were in the same position.) Then came the scrum feed to us when O'Young was monstered and lost the ball. That led to a try and the floodgates opened.

We need to keep up our intensity in defense when in attack close to the line. We simply need to convert what pressure we build into tries.

[MI5_Dog]

Wankery (good word Dog) gang signs are actually 1. Tialata thanking his god 2. Jane signalling a 'T' for try (why I don't know but it not gang shit).

I was being facetious

But still did Jane not think we knew that try started with a 't' and while I respect Tialata's right to express his religiousness, personally I feel that there is no room for god on the rugby field.
That's reserved for the supporters

[travelling_gerry]

What was the butcher shop one????