Plenty has already been written about the Tahs and how lucky they where to get over the Force. The Tahs are definitely a team with some issues.
I watched the games the other night over a few bottles of Red and was far from impressed but happy with the Tahs’ defensive effort in the dying stages to hang on. I watched the replay this morning and have found the core problem: Burgess.
Burgess needs to be moved to the bench. How often does he crab across field before he passes? Gregan did this a lot in the final stages of his career and it cause massive issues and he was heavily criticised for it.
Crabbing across field denies your inside backs a lot of space and the short passes/offloads to the forwards moving through channels 1 and 2 are easily picked off in defence. Hodgson had an absolute field day last night because of this and was easily the best player on the field and will really push for the back-up 7 spot this year and may well start.
Take a look at Genia when he is at the base of the ruck, he moves in, grabs the ball and fires it to keep the momentum up. The Tahs loose a lot of momentum with Burgess at 9.
The dynamics of the game have changed a lot under the new interpretations and most teams will only commit 1-2 players in defence to the breakdown. This places a greater emphasis on the attacking team to move the ball quickly when they need to. The Crusaders are the absolute masters at this and move the ball side to side much like a 7s team does.
Burgess needs to be benched. Holmes deserves his chance to start as he has added a lot every time he has come on.
Horne also needs to be moved into the 13 jersey. Carter has acquited himself well but is not a genuine 13. He lacks that break out pace to crack the defensive line and struggles to keep the pace of the wingers and provide inside support.
Hickey needs to have a really good look at his team and start making the necessary changes because if he doesn’t, it will be he who finds himself dropped altogether at the season end.
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