Crusaders vs Waratahs
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Plenty of good play by us, perhaps our best first half of the season - but then a few crucial lapses stop us from completely kicking away.
Crotty has been bloody good - three or four huge plays in that half - and now he's off. Be nice if we stopped losing midfield backs.
Havili has been pretty good as well - but, slightly spoiled his half by trying for a miracle no-look reverse pass. As I've said before - he's so much better when he just eliminates those attempted miracle plays from his game.
Drummond going well. Ioane going well. Bridge going well. Bateman making good decisions. Forwards as a unit going well - Taufua notably good. I'd like to see Codie Taylor a bit more dynamic.
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@Chris-B. how long is Goodhue out?
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LOL at the fend right in the Warratah 9's face
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Great covering tackle by Taufua...
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Nick Phipps on, great news for Crusaders
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Hall takes his time at ruck and loops ball to widest player standing still...
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@antipodean said in Crusaders vs Waratahs:
Hall takes his time at ruck and loops ball to widest player standing still...
race to the bottom between Hall and Phipps
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fuck a duck
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@Stargazer said in Crusaders vs Waratahs:
The world according to Hooper (he must live in another reality):
Hooper believes the classy and grit of the Waratahs' victory, featuring four unanswered second-half tries, was the ideal preparation and confidence booster for the Crusaders. He even believes facing the winless Rebels after three straight defeats posed a bigger challenge than opposing the seven-times champions from Christchurch.http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/super-rugby/91110613/waratahs-to-put-crusaders-to-the-sword
Hard to have accurate foresight when your eyes are too close together
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The ruck really is a mess aye.
Anyway, always good to win in Sydders. Havili a mixed bag overall, but his good was quite good tonight. Ran hard and straight. Bateman is a smart footy player.
Our forwards were pretty good.
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@taniwharugby said in Crusaders vs Waratahs:
@Chris-B. how long is Goodhue out?
I think he - and several others - should be back after the bye and in time to find their groove against the Sunwolves.
Leaking those two quick tries was pretty annoying, but - aside from one attack - the tahs couldn't put us under pressure and eventually we get the bonus point. Nice to see Romano thundering up the touch line and a good effort to get there and get the pass to Hall.
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@Stargazer before the Blues game, Aussie teams had won 3/34 games v NZ teams...so will now be 3/37, hugely concerning.
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@taniwharugby Yes, the decline of Aussie rugby is not good for NZ rugby either. We need them to be stronger to become stronger. NZ rugby can't improve from walk-overs, only from real contests. That's why the NZ derbies are so important at the moment. Hopefully, the Stormers, and in the finals the Lions and the Jaguares (based on current rankings) can still offer some real opposition, although it's a pity that they will be helped by the travel factor which will disadvantage the Kiwi teams (except for the NZ conference winners).
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Oh ... and on tbe game ...
Crusaders were easily better and more than deserved the 5 pts.
Yes Tahs got close but IMO more by good luck than by good management.
Half or even two-thirds of the way through I wanted to say how well Marius van der Westhuizen had controlled the game. Then he lost his perception of parallax allowing the Tahs to get away with virtually any old line at lineout ... add in a couple of ruck infringements that allowed the Tahs to get close and I got a touch angry with him. But not the worstest ref going.
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Very happy with the season to date. Team looks much better than last season, with a good bit of artillery to return (Read, Dagg, Tamanivalu, Goodhue, Mo'unga). Hunt is making decent fist of 10, though.
There will be tough competition from the Chiefs & Canes especially, but we look in with a shout.
I'm liking George Bridge - looks like a spitting image of McNicholl, but he's better, quite a bit better.
Australian sides are just consistently off the pace this season - no 80 minutes performances in any of them.
Anyway, kudos to Robertson.
