Waratah lambs to the Cheetah slaughter
Roar Guru By stillmissit, 21 Mar 2011 stillmissit is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- cheetahs, Rugby Union, Super Rugby, Waratahs
The Waratahs effort has me almost speechless. Saturday night I was all rage and smouldering murderous intent. This morning I am at a loss, same as the Waratahs. There is a sort of emptiness inside, I have been here before.
The Waratahs do not believe that if you win the breakdown you win the game. They commit one player, maybe two, and the rest are bludging in the “D”.
Avoiding the breakdown to reinforce the “D” has to be one of the most stupid coaching calls in history and allows the Waratah forwards jump straight off the hard work hook.
Others know when to put into the ruck and when to stay out, Waratahs see it as an opportunity to have a bludge and give the ball to the opposition unchallenged or, last night many turnovers to Brussow.
Make no mistake this effort should be sheeted home to the forwards who gave Barnes and the backs such poor ball, if any, that the end result was on the cards after 25mins.
The lineout was nonexistent, the scrum poor, their aggression a bleating sound. Mumm was the epitome of the “Silence of the Waratahs” and must NEVER captain a side again.
What really got me fired up was to see Burgess, normally a player who stands up when the Mumm’s of this world sit down, give up with about 15 mins to go and just farted around at the back of the breakdown with no idea what to do.
It is a bad night when my partner mentions that Baxter is one of the few forwards to try hard.
It is really futile to discuss those who played well they were in the smallest of minorities.
The Cheetahs realised that if you get up and into them they were lost, a bit like the Randwick of old. Unlike Randwick, this lot could not pass and catch.
The Cheetahs enjoyed raw lamb last night and will still be full of it.
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- cheetahs, Rugby Union, Super Rugby, Waratahs
March 21st 2011 @ 8:51am
jacko said | March 21st 2011 @ 8:51am | Report comment
at least twice in that match I screamed at the TV hoping Tom Carter would pass the ball to the man on the outside of him who had space to spare. But of course he didn’t pass – It seems he cant turn his head to see if anyone is in support to the left or right of him. I’ve seen horses at Randwick with blinkers on with more freakn vision than Carter.
March 21st 2011 @ 10:43am
ptovey01 said | March 21st 2011 @ 10:43am | Report comment
I am not a fan of fat bum Carter, but at least he held the ball and went forward. Unlike Barnes and Krapalani who couldn’t catch or pass but decided trying the same kicking drill a hundred times and thought that would reap benefits. Maybe it would have should they have been able to do the first to things on the list.
Why did we have so much loose ball. Everytime we went into contact the ball came out the back of the ruck at a hundred miles an hour 10 metres behind and/or was turned over. Beale for all his hard work was the worst for this.
Pathetic all round.
March 21st 2011 @ 9:49am
stillmissit said | March 21st 2011 @ 9:49am | Report comment
But Jacko – his stats are fantastic just ask the coach, most ball carries, breaks and so it goes. He is called carthorse for a reason and now you want to add blind to carthorse. Very true!
March 22nd 2011 @ 4:19pm
formeropenside said | March 22nd 2011 @ 4:19pm | Report comment
For the first and only time, I will venture an opinion on Tom Carter.
Having thought about this – and I am decidedly not a Tahs fan, so please feel free to discount the analysis accordingly – Tom Carter has a very narrow skillset, but plays strongly within that skillset (trucking up the ball, defence).
To be honest, what about that mix of talents screams “inside centre”? Maybe I grew up watching too much Tim Horan, but I would have though attacking skill and speed was important to a 12. I loved Sean Hardman as a hooker for the Reds: a very limited player, certainly compared to TPN, but great skill at doing his core job.
Carter seems to me to have somehow ended up at 12 because he did not fit anywhere else in the backs. Perhaps early intervention could have created a forward Tom Carter who played prop, hooker, or blindside – arguably better uses of a narrow player who never stops trying (this assumes he could have been taught to scrum, throw a lineout, etc).
Having said all that, Carter was one of the better players for the Tahs against the Cheetahs, as he is solid and dependable within his skillset. You know what you are getting with a Tom Carter – and so does your opposition.
March 21st 2011 @ 10:03am
PyrmontLunch said | March 21st 2011 @ 10:03am | Report comment
I have always considered Dean Mumm a reasonable club rugby player. What he is doing wearing a Waratah and Wallaby jersey is beyond me.
As a captain he was woeful Saturday night. There was no game plan, no leadership and no ticker.
It was a disgraceful performance. Somehow all through the first half I thought that someone would stand up and we would run away with the game in the second half.
Methinks Hickey doesn’t know how to use a baseball bat at half time.
March 21st 2011 @ 10:15am
stillmissit said | March 21st 2011 @ 10:15am | Report comment
I think Hickey is a nice guy with a reasonable rugby brain but that is not enough when the players enter the arena like they did on Saturday night. They played like they needed a couple of strong macchiato’s, whilst they watch the game collapse around them.
If Waugh and TPN are not there to show them the way they wander around like lost sheep – to keep my thread heading running.
March 21st 2011 @ 10:24am
jameswm said | March 21st 2011 @ 10:24am | Report comment
Hickey doesn’t run the show down there anyway. He doesn’t even turn up to some of the training sessions. It’s Foley and Waugh.
Barnes probably has the best brain in the whole set-up – including coaches.
I had that same emptiness stillmissit. The Tahs just expected to turn up and win, esp after the first 5 mins when they dominated.
March 21st 2011 @ 10:30am
stillmissit said | March 21st 2011 @ 10:30am | Report comment
Jameswm – that emptiness inside is the sound of ‘One Fan Clapping’
March 21st 2011 @ 10:37am
sheek said | March 21st 2011 @ 10:37am | Report comment
So James,
Hickey the Tahs head coach apparently doesn’t have any hands-on role? We were told Friend got the chop from Brumbies because he had stepped away from a hands-on approach?
Makes a total farce of the multi-coach concept, doesn’t it!
I was talking to a mate yesterday, & we reckoned we had it better in the amateur days. Sure, we didn’t get paid for playing, but at least you didn’t have the set-up today where both players & coaches are more concerned with protecting their incomes than going out & just playing rugby.
If only they let go their selfishness, & realised if they brought the fans in to games live, & increased viewing share, everyone would benefit.
As the Kiwis demonstrate every week – you don’t have to play running rugby all the time (a fantastic fallacy in Australia anyway) but go out there & show commitment to the cause. The cause being team, country & code…..
March 21st 2011 @ 10:43am
stillmissit said | March 21st 2011 @ 10:43am | Report comment
Sheek – that is so old school mate, it is the stuff we were brought up on. It is now the American model – salute the flag, talk yourself up, get all emotional with the media and fans but never forget where you can rip off more money.
March 21st 2011 @ 10:58am
EP - Rugbywits said | March 21st 2011 @ 10:58am | Report comment
Its not the American model though.
If you look at the NFL a little bit you see that the head coaches in different teams all have varying degrees of hands-on of hands-off approach to coaching the team.
BUT, and a massive but, is that the NFL owners usually give the head coach (which is really what Hickey and Friend are/were) the right to fire the assistants and hire another one when they step out of line.
What we have here is a set up that is good, but the emphasis is the wrong way around. Hickey sounds like a person who is decent at finding some talent and a man manager with a grasp on overall standards of play etc. But he delegates the work of the detail to some blokes who are exclusively trained in that area. Now, if Foley starts to step out of line and try to run the team outside of his delegated authority then Hickey should have the right to fire him as he is ultimately responsible.
At the Brumbies the head coach wasn’t given that right and now you see what comes of it. In professional sport a platoon of coaches is always going to happen, you just need to delegate the authority well.
March 21st 2011 @ 11:04am
stillmissit said | March 21st 2011 @ 11:04am | Report comment
Interesting insights EP. Never thought of the need to control asst coaches and always thought the head coach hired and fired them.
March 21st 2011 @ 10:58am
the other Steve said | March 21st 2011 @ 10:58am | Report comment
I enjoyed watching the Waratahs game because it bacame a 75-minute comedy caper after a great first five minutes.
The mighty ego’d were humbled, and the team with the best spirit and best tactics were rewarded.
Someone needs to tell Burgess to tone down the yelling at the ref and touchies because he is acting like a porkchop out there. It was not just at this match, but also several others that Burgess has lept about behind the ruck like a schoolboy with ADHD.
March 21st 2011 @ 11:06am
stillmissit said | March 21st 2011 @ 11:06am | Report comment
other Steve – like you I went from madness to a place where laughing was all that was left. In another post on Spiro’s thread someone suggested big bets by insiders on the Cheetahs winning. This comment shocked me but it should not have.
March 21st 2011 @ 11:40am
warrenexpatinnz said | March 21st 2011 @ 11:40am | Report comment
There is only one team that you could back 100% of the time and that is the Crusaders, frustratingly good and even if they have an off game they generaly will win. The only thing in the Tahs defense is that any team that played that ineptly can get beaten by the lowest ranking teams in this competition especially if they turn up to play and give 100%.
Are the Tahs that bad, no they aren’t but they lacked a whole heap of purpose on Saturday and played as individuals thinking that their brillance alone would beat the Cheetahs.
I assume the Tahs will not get one bit of rest this week and the leadership group on the park on Saturday will have reducation classes with Waugh and Hickey.
As a Aussie rugby fan does it bother me how bad the Tahs played? Nah, they had a very poor game but showed enough in the games prior that they can play structured and dominanting IF they stay true to the game plan and play as a TEAM. Overall the pleasing thing for me is that the spots for RWC Wallabies will heat up with some of these ‘superstars’ who aren’t playing well actually now having to get off their arses and fight for their spot. Case in point is Cooper understanding that O’Connor is more than just a 10 fill in now and Beale having a hopefully injury free Shephard breathing down his neck will snap these guys from their 2010 hangover into RWC mode form sooner than later.
Four games in (three for some) and some people are already commentating the doom and gloom for sides but really can you be that certain more upsets like trhe ones we have seen so far, Highlanders v Bulls, Rebels v Brumbies (plus almost doing the Sharks and making my tipping look far better!) and the Cheetahs v the Tahs won’t continue to happen?
Go the Force, go all the Aussie sides with the Crusaders and the Stormers looking the toughest to beat but they do happen.
March 21st 2011 @ 11:47am
johnny green said | March 21st 2011 @ 11:47am | Report comment
Johnny’s Theorem of Recent Rugby and Sport Generally: up to last century, it was called “sport”; this century (and some of last) it’s now “product”, bought with “money”.
They still get paid and don’t give a sh1t. Applicable to all professional sport.
After an apposite number of years and associated injuries (varies with “product” and proclivity towards nightclubs), the smart ones become commentators, the rest fade away or hang around the “product” and its club; rarely cellar men any more but can be useful as bouncers (varies ibid.).
Some (esp. boxers) become crooks.
Then they die and become legends.
QED.
March 21st 2011 @ 11:53am
sheek said | March 21st 2011 @ 11:53am | Report comment
I’m fascinated how today’s players manage to digest all the well meaning but often contrasting & occasionally conflicting information coming into their heads from a head coach, forwards coach, backs coach, defence coach, attack coach, scrum coach, kicking coach, spacial awareness coach, phycologist, physiologist, strength & conditioning coach, & so on & so on & so on & so on……….
No wonder so many of today’s professional players so often look dazed & confused……….
Of course, not everything was better in “my” day. Gee, I would have loved the internet 20-40 years ago! However, the most coaches I ever had was two. If the senior coach was an ex-forward, then the assistant coach was an ex-back, & vice-versa.
If the coaches felt you needed specialist help, they would get an ‘expert’ in their field or position into talk to the guys, present a different perspective perhaps. Also, if you didn’t think the coach was quite on top of his game, you could quietly seek out someone whose opinion & knowledge you respected.
But generally, one or two coaches was sufficient. The message was usually clear & concise, even if you personally didn’t always agree with it.
March 21st 2011 @ 2:35pm
Cliff (Bishkek) said | March 21st 2011 @ 2:35pm | Report comment
Sheek – oh how you are so right!!!!
Same in my day – A Forwards Coach & A Backs Coach – and as I was a forward – I was not allowed to listen to the Backs Coach as I was not smart enought to understand waht he said.
Also specialist coach – reminds me of University Days – we had a shocker and our tackling was atrocious. We knew how to tackel but we were not doing the correct basics of placing our defence and commiting to the tackle. The Coach called in Ripper Doyle – one of the great Toowoomba, Queeensland and Austrlaian locks (league) who was renowned for his tackling.
Training – tackling, tackling, tackling – not bags – MEN – run, run, ruck, maul, then more tackling, tackling, tackling – forards running at backs and backs running at forwards. Oh and we never got a rub down – we went home sore, had dinner, did assignments, did study, went to bed. Nect week – we tackeld. Why – not becasue we had to – BUT – becasue we did not want Ripper to return.
March 21st 2011 @ 12:03pm
Blinky Bill of Bellingen said | March 21st 2011 @ 12:03pm | Report comment
I’m not sure that contributing here will make me or you guys feel any better, but here goes nothing.
First-up I strongly doubt that there is anyone who didn’t know how the Cheetahs would approach this game. Yet even with so much advanced warning we still failed to devise a game plan that had the essentials of ‘avoid their strengths play to yours’. Pretty simple stuff really.
While others may applaud Burgo’s quick tap & go in the early stage of the match that resulted in zero points when 3 easy points were on offer, personally I was dumb founded. And may I say the idea of ‘building pressure & playing smart’ never came out of the box for the Tahs on Saturday night after that. Instead the Cheetahs grew in confidence with holding us out and they built the pressure and we folded and failed to adapt.
To quote my Grandmother here ‘it was as plain as the nose on your face’ that the Tahs failure to battle at the breakdown by not committing numbers & without the likes of Phil Waugh scavanging, was simply not working. That along with our woeful scrums, our crap lineouts, the dropped balls, etc, etc, meant that come half time the coaches would finally get a chance to put things right and get this game back on track.
So what was said at half time? What ever it was it seemed to make no difference at all as the Tahs just kept on playing to the Cheetahs strengths and the Cheetahs (through in your face defence) ensured we never played to our strengths.
Finally when quick ball was available Burgo continued to stand over the pill allowing the opposition defence to get set and robbing our lighter mobile forwards from getting quick ball and running their bigger forwards around the park. That I’m afraid was our last roll of the dice and we blew it.
Sorry guys but that’s how I saw the game.
The Missus on the other hand saw it another way.
She is seriously not happy with me because she said that “it’s not nice listening to you screaming and carrying on when the Waratahs are playing”. She wants me to be doing something that is enjoyable and easy on the nerves. Clearly Rugby being a fan of this team is not the answer. Bingo anyone?
March 21st 2011 @ 12:16pm
stillmissit said | March 21st 2011 @ 12:16pm | Report comment
I’m up for a game Blinky next time I am in Bellingen. The calls will be interesting ’2 little lambs – a Tahs breakdown’ ’15 big Cheetahs – claws are out’ ’10 turnovers – a quick Brussow’ ‘A fumble of tries – #5′. What do you think??????