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February 15th 2009 @ 7:07am
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Reds fumbles cost them dearly in Pretoria
The Queensland Reds were made to pay dearly for their mistakes as the Bulls scored a 33-20 opening round Super 14 victory at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
The home side scored four tries to two but didn’t have things all their own way in a match they only secured in the last 11 minutes.
Two soft Bulls [...]
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Harry said | February 15th 2009 @ 10:08am | Report comment
We weren’t humiliated but its going to be another long hard year of disappointment for us Reds fans.
Stupid play Adam Byrne for the yellow card that removed any lingering hope – he apparently specialises in this sort of cheap shot? When’s Horwill available? Ioane was strong.
tarpo said | February 15th 2009 @ 10:29am | Report comment
Genia was a revelation in the 2nd half, best of all the Aussie 1/2s this weekend.
Don’t know where Greg Holmes has been hiding in preseason trianing, he looked so unfit he could barely walk between set pieces!!
Cooper showed his development, Laurie Weeks looks to be handling the step up well, I can see some big things for him in the future at tighthead.
Old Van Humphries turned in a good honest performance I thought.
McLinden showed some pace
If the Reds continue to play with this enthusiasm, at full strength they are quite capable of unsetting some of the more fancied teams.
Harry said | February 15th 2009 @ 10:51am | Report comment
Maybe tarpo but too many players were sub-standard – Holmes as you nominated, I also thought Braid was disappointing, And Houston doesn’t look as fit as he should be. I can see lots of ” we are gutted about the close loss but we played really well tonight and are moving in the right direction” speeches from Mooney and Barnes coming up this season – in other words, a repeat of the last 5 years as we occupy the cellar with the Lions and Cheetahs once again.
Harry said | February 15th 2009 @ 10:56am | Report comment
Of course I hope I’m wrong but it looked the same old underpowered Reds leaving it too much to individual players and undoing momentum with silly errors (the yellow card) and set-piece failures (scrum disintergrating at half time led to Bulls try) to really have a chance at a win.
matta said | February 15th 2009 @ 12:34pm | Report comment
the Byrnes send off was pathetic and ironic given who he was playing against and where… he just hit a ruck hard because a bulls player was messing around with the ball when he shouldnt… soft ref …very soft
Harry said | February 15th 2009 @ 1:23pm | Report comment
How come the Saffa’s got both home ground and home ref advantage? I don’t think this new system works. They need to revert to neutral refs, which I think makes a fairer contest.
OldManEmu said | February 15th 2009 @ 1:26pm | Report comment
I understand the cost associated with neutral refs is the true reason behind the development. Personally I dont see the big deal. Referees are non humans, but not cheats.
Bay35Pablo said | February 15th 2009 @ 2:55pm | Report comment
When you think about it, with their poor performances over the last few years, going to the Bulls and losing like that wasn’t a bad effort for the Reds. Didn’t they get massacred by the same team 2 years ago away?
I didn’t see the game, but the Reds should do OK this year. If they truly expect to make the finals they are probably overly optimisitc, but I think the mid table finish the all knowing media are predicting is about right, and a decent improvement given where they have come from.
The supposed reason behind the refs was merit. I.e. the best game gets the best ref, 2nd best game, etc. But OME’s point is probabkly closer to the truth. Personally I don’t have a problem with bias. I think almost all of these guys are professionals and won’t let themselves be swayed by nationality. The more concerning thing is the differences between the different’ countries refs, and their interpretations. An SAF team is more likely to know wheta to expect from an SAF ref, and same for Kiwis or Aussie, so there may be some advantage there. But the same applied with neutrals to a certain degree. At the end of the day what is needed is consistency. If they are consistent (and consistently right) I don’t care if they from the Northern Hemisphere!!!
stillmissit said | February 15th 2009 @ 3:12pm | Report comment
I think the reds backs looked disorganised and lacking in direction. The sooner they go back to Berrrick Barnes at 5/8 and put Cooper in the centres (although I dont think he is quick enough) the better off that backline will be.
They also need to involve Hynes a lot more and maybe he is wasted at FB.
I thought Houston played one of his best games but he faded in the early part of the second half. He needs to loose the truck tyre he is carrying around with him. Contrary to a couple of commentators I thought Lucas was superior to Genia. I thought that apart from the try he let in (where at least the Bulls breakaway was offside or more correctly not bound) he played a very constructive and attacking game. His all round game seems to be improving and he looks a lot bigger. I was looking forward to watching Daniel Braid but he went missing in action.
The send off was amazing with the Bulls forwards all off their feet and playing the ball and Adam Byrne just cleaned them out. If the ref had done what he should have done there would have been no clean out needed. The penalty for a high? tackle (not Van Humphreys) in front of the posts in the second half was strange I thought the player got him around the chest and dumped him quite ligitimately.
All in all not a great start but the team has a lot of talent there and this season will be a big improvement on last year, I reckon.
El Capitan said | February 16th 2009 @ 8:36am | Report comment
The Reds have the hardest way to travel of all the Aust sides. So many new players, all have to gell sooner or later. I think it will be a tough season, but we will see glimpes of brilliance from this side. I’m not expecting top four, but I believe that they will do better than 12th.