The Pack..

[rihannafan1]

Yeah it was a fascinating battle. Souths are some tough bastards. So good to see the boys running so hard. Cayless is the first one to be to extended/upgraded for mine bc he has really added resolve to our defense. I do not know where this effort was 2 weeks ago against Sharks.

 

[SeanT]

I thought the same at the game but having then looked at his stats he was clearly out on his feet. South’s have a huge pack that never stopped running hard.

Ofa is a big boy. We had 60% possession. He shouldn't be that tired. Maybe he's got a niggling injury.

 

[Furious1]

I thought the same at the game but having then looked at his stats he was clearly out on his feet. South’s have a huge pack that never stopped running hard.

We were lucky in a way that Souths had the injuries they did. Four forwards on the bench for them and 2 backs on our bench. I think the boys did a great job off a very short 5 day turnaround from a physical game that wasn't decided until the 80th minute compared to Souths flogging of the Dogs off an extra 3 days recovery.

 

[BAGNF05]

Ofa is a big boy. We had 60% possession. He shouldn't be that tired. Maybe he's got a niggling injury.

I think the 16 hit ups and 41 tackles just ruined him. He also got absolutely smashed at one point there cos he couldn’t get his legs going.

 

[diedpretty]

Cayless certainly seems to have given our defence much more resolve

There also seems to be some structure and purpose in attack when we are inside the opposition 20. We are actually getting numbers on teams and really testing their defence. i like how Brooks appears to now actually count the numbers and gets in to a position to use it.

 

[Spartan117]

Stef must be champing at the bit.

I hope so, he will make the Pack stronger

 

[Spartan117]

Cayless certainly seems to have given our defence much more resolve

Dont forget that there was another round of dead wooding done last off season.

Were jeeping the right ones it seems

 

[BAGNF05]

Luciano needs to show our other forwards some footwork and how to bend the line. He’s really the only one who doesn’t get rag dolled consistently

 

[stryker 69]

We are still averaging around 4 tries conceded per game but increasingly, a lot are lucky I.e. last night Walkers fumbleathon try and the ricochet for the Mansour try. Our defence is looking better and better.

 

[TigerSJ]

Agree with many posting that we were dominated in the middle but kept fighting. A couple of points however:
It seemed part of our game plan to be receiving the ball very flat - forwards mostly not winding up so often losing the tackle.
Their line speed and effort in D was enormous and in A they were able to deliver more yardage. Bigger and tougher pack - may have been a different outcome if they didn’t get as many forward injuries in that game.

 

[Zach]

Tamou is playing some really solid hard rugby atm its great to watch.

Mikaele - i dont know whats happened to him, he used to be a hard runner, looks very soft and uninterested the last couple of seasons

 

[stryker 69]

Mikaele - i dont know whats happened to him, he used to be a hard runner, looks very soft and uninterested the last couple of seasons

Doesn’t play as his size and supposed strength would dictate.
Need to get him angry.

 

[Viking Warrior]

Do we look at Tamou for 1 more season if he can keep this form going? Seems to be getting fast play the balls and running hard atm

 

[weststigerman]

I actually think we were dominated physically, but we played with a lot of resilience and heart.

We’re missing Stefano in the middle, but to his credit Tamou has stepped up.

 

[old_man_tiger]

The hit ups that got them rolling were from 3/4s and second rowers made their middle look better. Player for player our middle was better imo, except Mikaele.

 

[Geo]

The hit ups that got them rolling were from 3/4s and second rowers made their middle look better. Player for player our middle was better imo, except Mikaele.

Yep Campbell-Graham 179m Mansour 121m and Koala-Matungi 205m made the bulk through the edges..our middles matched up for the most part..

 

[SeanT]

I think the 16 hit ups and 41 tackles just ruined him. He also got absolutely smashed at one point there cos he couldn’t get his legs going.

Yeah true. He still played well don't get me wrong. Just with Stefano out we don't have a post contact metres gainer apart from Musgrove but he isn't fit enough to be going hard for a.long time.

Forwards done really well just feel th bench is definately not right. We need another front rowers with power and speed.

 

[balmain boy]

I think we average the least amount of metres per set out of all the teams in the comp. Around 34m per set, pretty awful. It all comes back to crap service from dummy half and players catching the ball standing still and then staying to run. Our players don't have the skills to run hard, catch the ball (with no forward passes) and storm into the opposition.

This and our complete inability to dominate the ruck makes it almost impossible to win. Low metres, poor play the ball speed and kicking from well inside our half, it's just embarassing. Combined with us being the only team that doesn't use line speed but again prefers to stand still, it's just chaos

 

[Roar_Power]

Kelma and Stef to come back. Musgrove has really improved the last few weeks...

 

[bathursttiger1]

I noticed last night that we seemed to concentrated more on locking the ball up to stop them offloading at the expense of PCM.