Waratahs forwards go missing in action, again
Roar Guru By stillmissit, 1 May 2010 stillmissit is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- Alistair Baxter, dean mumm, Rugby Union, Super Rugby, Waratahs
If the opposition is tough, or the weather is wet and cold, then the basic rule of rugby applies: if the forwards go missing when the going gets tough, then the team will lose.
The Waratahs showed the truth of this with several of the forwards going missing at the breakdown. We normally talk about the players who went well, but in this instance of semi-capitulation, I think it is more pertinent to mention those who were missing in action.
Dean Mumm: A perennial player for the easy game and always MIA when the going gets tough.
Kane Douglas: A youngster, but from the first breakdown where he tapped a Highlander on the shoulder and took his place as a pillar, you just knew he was going MIA.
Alistair Baxter: Another perennial under-performer in the tough, and not only was he MIA, he was also worked over in the scrums.
Ben Mowen: Definitely the man for the dry track and taking the inside pass and sprinting upfield. He proved last night that he is not the man for wet, cold and hard tough work in the breakdown.
This completes the forwards who went MIA.
The end result was a pack who were always one or two seconds behind the ball carrier, failed at any level in both rucking and counter rucking, refused to compete at the lineout, and decided the pushing was too hard after the debutant Dan Palmer had given this bunch the go forward that they didn’t deserve and couldn’t respond to.
On a wet and windy night, these forwards proved to me once and for all that they are not man enough for the tough jobs.
The non-player who was mostly to blame for this gutless display is Chris Hickey, who has proved several times this season that he is incapable of getting this bunch of individuals up for a hard game or even to play as a team.
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- Alistair Baxter, dean mumm, Rugby Union, Super Rugby, Waratahs
May 1st 2010 @ 6:07am
Rugby1 said | May 1st 2010 @ 6:07am | Report comment
MIA ain’t the the truth! Their performance was a disgrace. I was frustrated and angry! If the waratahs have more than 3 players in the Wallabies run on side, then the selectors are a joke. Lucky for the Reds or rugby would be a flop like last year.
Sick to death off listening to Hickory’s crap!!
What even annoys me more was the Waratahs win against the Reds in the first round
May 1st 2010 @ 7:30am
warrenexpatinnz said | May 1st 2010 @ 7:30am | Report comment
Only if the Tahs dropped that game against the Reds, we would be almost certain of a home semi final for the Queensland boys which would be thoroughly deserved.
Actually the the NSWRU need to look at themselves, their underperforming coach and some of their high profile player roster
as think the balance in the side is wrong.
Barnes has been an abject failure and without going to much further down the list suggest Beale to replace Barnes at 12 and push Barnes to 15. At least his kicking game will have a benfit at 15 as he is either a guy with no confidence or does not trust any player around him.
At least Beale throws the defense into uncertainty where as the current 9, 10 (not Daniels fault) 12 combination telegraph moves two plays out. Yes Beale is a bit like Cooper and that spontainaety doesn’t always come off but when you have the right combinations as the Reds have in play at the moment it does 90% of the time.
May 1st 2010 @ 6:50am
mungo said | May 1st 2010 @ 6:50am | Report comment
Backs were just as bad, most times they kicked it away because (a) they prefer tacking then attacking and (b) they have no clue what to do when they try to run the ball, You just have to shake your head in amazement and with 15 to go and 13 points behind Capt Courages tells the troops “Chaps we need to score some tries so lets run it” and of course they say back to him “Gee whats that boss”, If my TV was black and white and I had no sound I would swear it was the Keystone cops chasing the Three stooges and Abbot and Costello in fast motion. The good thing for the Tah fans is there is now only 2 weeks of misery to go before Waugh and Hickey are put down.
May 1st 2010 @ 7:42am
Colin N said | May 1st 2010 @ 7:42am | Report comment
Well, to be fair, their forwards were pretty woeful (although credit must go to the Highlanders who dominated the contact area) which didn’t set them a platform. Nevertheless, like they have been for much of the season, the backs were indeed terrible.
However, there seems to be a complete lack of structure. When the ball is recycled, there’s no depth from the outside backs for the fly-half to work off (aka they don’t have a clue where to stand). That could be down to the coaching (I would argue this is the main problem), or the players aren’t communicating the plays they want to execute on the field. This leads to confusion and therefore, they just end up going backwards.
The Stormers don’t have the most inivative backline or the most expansive, but the forwards make the ground, get quick ball, the scrum-half (Dewaldt Duvenhage) whips out an excellent flat pass and they have runners from midfield. It’s simple, effective rugby and a model I believe the Waratahs should look at.
May 1st 2010 @ 8:55am
Harry said | May 1st 2010 @ 8:55am | Report comment
Yeah agree Mungo the backs were also very poor, watch Barnes and Mitchell in the first 20 minutes boot the ball into touch/over the dead ball line a few times and ensure the Tahs remained on the back foot.
Fully agree with the MIA list.
May 1st 2010 @ 7:28am
Short-Blind. said | May 1st 2010 @ 7:28am | Report comment
Agree SMI et al, this game just proves how far off the pace the Tahs are in attitude and nous. My young daughter knew the Highlanders were going to come out direct and tight in the conditions but the Tahs pack offered nothing in return (PN and a few other aside). Tactics were dreadful and no cohesion evident. Poorly led again by PW and Hicks coaching is just going backwards. Backs too were awful. How many times does the coach need to see Holmes crab across the field and throw a slow sucker pass to a forward…he is not up to this standard and McKibbin needs to be given a go. Halangahu was solid but stodgy and unspectacular. Barnes again was very average – he is turning into a two trick pony – dummy and go or short grubber through and hope. The men outside were equally bad and if NSW cannot find another 13 better than Carter (to back up Horne) something is wrong. Mitchell proved again why he shouldn’t be a Wallaby – critical errors at critical times ie too hit and miss. There needs to be a revolution at the Tahs for this team to improve and the first two heads to roll next year need to be PW and the coach. New Style, new attitude and major clean out required. Fury vented feel better now.
May 1st 2010 @ 7:32am
stillmissit said | May 1st 2010 @ 7:32am | Report comment
Rugby1- It’s like Hickey is on a different planet to us. He seems to be delighted to be the NSW coach and acts like he expects to be shot any day, and frankly doesn’t care.
If the Waratahs played the Reds now they would not have a chance of beating them. The kick first process is so deeply ingrained in them the Reds would run up 20 points on them.
Having said how bad several of the players were I was impressed with the scrummaging of Dan Palmer. It always worries me when a youngster talks himself up but he absolutely destroyed the opposition and his side of the scrum shot forwards whilst Baxters either stayed where it was or went backwards.
Still the great ‘get out’ for a gutless forward was on display last night and the rallying cry was “DON”T OVER COMMIT TO THE BREAKDOWN” so only a couple of them committed and we got our backsides spanked. On the other hand we had lots of forwards in the D which didn’t help us at all.
If the Waratah forwards can’t work out when to commit to the breakdown and when not to, they are not forwards we want in the Wallabies.
May 1st 2010 @ 7:37am
equalizer said | May 1st 2010 @ 7:37am | Report comment
Hickey can only work wih the players he is given. The forwards stilmissit named as MIA always play like that even at club level, but they are still selected. They don’t have to try because they will always be in the team.
May 1st 2010 @ 7:46am
stillmissit said | May 1st 2010 @ 7:46am | Report comment
equalizer -Dropping them is the only way and I would drop a couple for next weeks game.
I think that it has been proven at the Wallaby level that you can take either a youngster, a player on the outer or even from club rugby and build them into something. It seems like there is nobody in NSW who can pick potential talent.
How do you put pressure on these guys? They can always up stumps and play in Europe for a squillion?
May 1st 2010 @ 9:04am
Red Rooster said | May 1st 2010 @ 9:04am | Report comment
Hickey & Co (don’t forget Foley is the fwds coach) choose the players so whoever runs out is entirely at their discretion. This cannot be an excuse. The selections were poor for the match. Adding rookie fwds to the bench and leaving out the likes of Caldwell was just poor. Caldwell would have been perfect for the second half playing into the wind when a direct pick and drive effort was required. Instead they were relying on Thomson, McCutheon (debut) and Tilse. Good players but an impossible task as they had not played in the team all year. Add Sonisi, who has not made a linebreak all year, and playing catch-up was impossible
May 1st 2010 @ 8:01am
eastboy said | May 1st 2010 @ 8:01am | Report comment
I think the Highlanders were on fire they had it completely over the Tahs in nearly every aspect of the game.
What was quite obvious from the hype all weak and the attitude displayed by the Tahs and Tahs supporters here at the roar was that this was going to be an easy win. Basically turn up grab the points trot off to Hamilton give the injury plagued Chiefs a touch up then head home to ambush the Hurricanes.
Sadly reality is starting to hit, the Highlanders were far too good and had the Tahs measure the entire match, the pic and go is a simple tactic which the Otago boys mastered last night maybe they watched some of the Blues vs Bulls match a few weeks back and realised if done right how effective it can be.
Jason Rutledge was a man possessed and he was invaluable, Israel Dagg and berqhuist were a constant threat and Vanikolo was all class and he schooled his opposite.
Give credit where credit is due the tahs weren’t just dreadful thats a cowards copout, they were outplayed by a far superior team on the day.
It really is that simple
May 1st 2010 @ 8:09am
Justin said | May 1st 2010 @ 8:09am | Report comment
Can we get a journo to ask why Waugh is packing at 8 on attacking ball please!
Waugh has signaled that he wants to to everything! And I mean everything. Waugh at 8 is laughable. He is a midget, with poor skills, short reach and an average runner. At least 2 scrums in the second half when they Tahs were under pressure were eith turned over or lost due to his incompetence at 8.
Even worse is that if they are awarded a free kick at scrum time he is the man charging off. I intend to email Growden and see what he comes up with. Is he a Waugh man?
Barnes showed exactly what last night? A kicking game (a poor one at that) and anything else? Might be lucky to make AUS A this year.
May 1st 2010 @ 8:16am
cookie said | May 1st 2010 @ 8:16am | Report comment
A good hard boot up the clacker is what some of these idiots need.
Did anyone sit down and explain that you’ll have to ‘work’ for the win and it will be won at the breakdown?
These idiots wouldn’t have beaten a bunch of old women at a picnic as my grandfather used to say.
Shame on them, It’s not the loss that bugs me its the ‘do not try’ attitude
May 1st 2010 @ 8:24am
Rickety Knees said | May 1st 2010 @ 8:24am | Report comment
Invercargill was cold and wet – only one team turned up to play and it was NOT the Tahs. In conditions that suited the Tahs signature ugly style of play, the Tahs were out kicked, out muscled and out enthused by a team coming 12th. The Force did the Australian sides a favour last week by knocking off the Crusaders, the Highlanders have obliged the Crusaders and Hurricanes this week. What Hickey sees in Carthorse completly escapes me.
It is time for Messrs Hickey, Weismantel and Waugh to move on.
May 1st 2010 @ 6:38pm
Rockin Rod said | May 1st 2010 @ 6:38pm | Report comment
Why on earth havent they given Chris Alcock another game after his awesome debut when Waugh was out against the Cheetahs??????? And Locky McCaffrey
May 1st 2010 @ 9:04am
Tock said | May 1st 2010 @ 9:04am | Report comment
SMI
Tahs did not compete from first breakdown. It was obvious from start that the highlanders were up for it and Tahs needed to respond aggressively, which is exactly what they didn’t do. I will watch Mum more closely if I get a chance as I have always been a bit of a fan.
As far as Baxter is concerned I’m sure he is nice bloke but?!!!
I think the Tahs are a classic example of a poorly run institution with the people at the bottom of the totem pole, the players, copping all the criticism when clearly the ineptitude is endemic throughout the organisation. This has gone on for years and until the Tahs get a professional and efficient administration in place nothing will change. I suspect that if you brought the same group of players through an organisation such as the brumbies of a few years ago we would be thinking that they are all world beaters. Poor administration is a cancer and it seems to me that in the case of NSW Rugby it appears terminal.