Black Ferns v Scotland RWC

[Crucial]

@canefan said in Black Ferns v Scotland RWC:

@Crucial said in Black Ferns v Scotland RWC:

@canefan said in Black Ferns v Scotland RWC:

@Crucial Holmes struggled against Aussie. That makes me nervous

Yep. She doesn’t fill me with confidence either. I can see why Smith is toying with playing someone who can run us out of trouble and link up. It gains more ground than a 20 metre kick.
This is often the case in FPC as well. A good tactic against many teams that try to play a traditional fullback is to kick deep.

Play to our strengths. I can't play Holmes when she isn't as effective on attack and falls of tackles in defence. Tui and Woodman are game winners

I am of that thinking as well. We need to present a game that the NH teams haven’t had to deal with. We can see that they don’t play that way and therefore aren’t used to defending against it. They might offload once or twice a game whereas we are connected well enough that we aren’t only offloading but the receiver can then move the ball into space straight away.
We must avoid getting sucked into the NH style and while scrums and mauls will be unavoidable at times we can at least not bother giving them lineout opportunities in our half.

[Jailbreak7]

Just watched the game. Tui an Woodman must start in the quarter but dP had a great game and Fitzpatrick also looks assured at 12. Tubic over-used the chip kick for mine leaving Demant as the front runner at 10. Wickliffe looked for work all afternoon and found space, exciting to watch. Has Hirini nailed that 7 shirt? MTu'u has to start, Bremner, Ngan-Woo and Roos also. An interesting headache for Smithy.

[Dan54]

@Jailbreak7 Agree mate, I really impressed with Fitzpatrick at 12, and think Demant was always going to be 10, she just steers team so well. I have to keep saying how much I have enjoye watching these girls, and keep getting surprised at just how good some of their skills and game awareness in. (mind you I probably only surprised because I an lod bugger who is still getting his head around it's not just a game for boys/men anymore and more power to it)

[Crucial]

I’d love to watch some of the training sessions to see what Smith does to build awareness of space and shifting the ball to it. These women had handling skills but he has developed instincts which is a very difficult thing to do.