How about the stats on Tuquiri? ………………………………Did I miss them?

The oppostion seem to worry about him.

Yep, give Tahu a start on the wing, a full game, with the brief to get involved.

OldManEmu, I agree about Caldwell. I thought Hocking and Kimlin would come through but they havent. Chisholm has also been invisible. Another to have stepped up is Mowen. Although e appears light for a 6, he is courageous and quick. Waugh has stepped into the leadership breach left by Vicks. Overall, the forwards have stepped up. Unpredictable? Geez, that may be the problem! No one knows what they are doing…..

There is a middle ground between the Red Koalas and the 10 man rugby of the Tahs. We know that they can do it. They have done it on a few rare occasions this season. remember Horne going through in mid field and passing to SNK to score under the posts untouched.

Easy with the dinosaur comments. The whole idea of the backs is to move it wider and at speed where the defence is thinner.

Bofore the Force, dont forget we will see the Bulls V tahs. critical game for both teams.

I am a fan of Sheehan. He is tough, competitve and has a good pass. He’s not Burgess and that is good.

StillMissit, I suspect Palu’s drop in form/workrate has something to do with the court case. I agree, they are not playing as a team. I would lke to see some more straight running from everyone and with support play.

Those underperforming are 1. TPN (throwing) 2. Palu, 3. Horne, 4. Tahu, 5. Tuqiri, 6. Beale, 7. SNK, 8. Halangahu (last week’s goal kicking)

Overperforming: 1. Robinson, 2. Palmer, 3. Caldwell, 4. Mumm, 5. Mowen, 6. Waugh, 7. Burgess, 8. Carter, 9. Thomson and 10. Turner.

I worry about the bonus points or the lack of them.

Tuquiri, well enough has been written here and elsewhere, so it must be a marketing thing those marketing types are always impossible to pin down.

This week Turner truly stood up, whilst Palu was not up to his form last year. Who will it be next week? will it be Tuquiri’s chance to throw us all a curve ball?

The bottom line is they just aint playing as a team and havent for ages. Having 3 to 5 players going well whilst the others are out of sorts aint a bloody team 15 is a team.

They’ve got good defensive forwards and they’re strong in the set pieces. They’re rubbish on attack, but it’s offset by the strength of their pack. They’re not a balanced side, but neither are the other sides in the Super 14.

The emphasis from here on out will be a home semi not running with the ball.

Caldwell’s emergence puts the lie to all the doomsayers who were predicting a bottom half finish for the Tahs this season. The line was being put around that becsue of the loss of Vickerman, Elsom and Lyons the Tahs forward were going to struggle. What a load of absolute hooey. Lyons played no meaningful role in the Tahs line up last season, so scrub that as a loss. Elsom has been adequately replaced by Mowen. Mowen is not as good as Elsom, but he has done his job week in and week out. At the beginning of the season I predicted Scott Fava would take on the Elsom role and how wrong I have been, but the fact is the loss of Elsom has not been felt. The true potential loss was always going to be Vickerman; hard, uncompromising on and off the field, a true leader, excellent set piece technician, dominat physical presence – on and on it goes. A once in a generation second rower all said. And yet Caldwell has some how filled these big shoes. No, Caldwell is not in the same league as Vickerman, but he has done a great job.

The Tahs scrum is absolutely feasting on opposition scrums. The Stormers reverted to all the dirty tricks on the book on Satdee night and a cynic would suggest they pulled the ultiamte dirty trick by refusing to contest. The lineout has been effective. The Tahs are turning over opposition ball at the tackle at an acceptable level. All in all it would have to be said that contrary to pre season predictions the Tahs forwards are the team’s strength.

The backs. Interesting to note Rassie Erasmus’ comments that the Tahs are actually playing quite an unpredictable style. He would know I guess, assuming that he has studied the Tahs videos in preparation for his team’s game on Saturday night.

I have only one major gripe with the Tahs backs. If there is not a better back up half back in NSW than Brett Sheehan we are in serious poo. Please tell me there is.

Turner was magnificent on Saturday night and in fact has been all year. His pace off the mark is incredible and he does so much running off the ball getting back for kicks and on the kick chase.

I think all is going okay wih the backs. Certainly there have been no sweeping backline trys from set piece that dinosaurs seem to regard as the holy grail, but which team has scored those sort of tries this season? The Tahs back line does not take too many risks and does not run the ball from its own half, but so what? The team is winning. I’d rather the Tahs approach than that being adopted by the Reds. Sure the Reds threw it around against the Force – have a look what it produced on the scoreboard. Nada!

The greatest aspect of the Tahs backline is the defence – it is rock solid and IMHO could well be the decisive factor when the whips are cracking.

The game against the Force is going to be a cracker.

Why not start Turner/Beale at full back and give Tahu a start on the wing with Sam Norton-Knight up 5/8.

I believe that he is seen as untouchable. Heaven knows why. 7 Runs; 1 Offload; 3 Tackles made; 1 Long arm penalties; 1 Error. Oh, and bombed two tries. Hardly worth $800,000 a season.

When it comes to SNK, and I am a fan of his, he has done very little this season and in particular, in the past 4 weeks. I suspect contract negotiations have played a part and frustration at not being given a go at 10. But, his form has hardly been attention grabbing.

Runs: Rnd 5: 3; Rnd 6: 3; Rnd 7: 2; Rnd 8: 2;
Tackle busts: 0, 2, 1, 0;
Line breaks: 0, 1, 0, 0;
Errors: 1, 1, 1, 2;

Tahu needs more game time, he has the skill, appears to be very nervous and trying too hard when he gets the ball.

Get him on the field on the wing and blood him. he should be doing 80 minutes every week, and if his hammies dont stand up, well, bad luck. better to know it now!!!!! As they say, kill or cure it!!!

Agree Tuqiri has not performed at his best this year. Why is he seen as untouchable (as in being dropped)? Beale at his best should be in front of Halangahu. So, it’s a question of whether he has refound his touch? Horne is another struggling with his form.