Waratah lambs to the Cheetah slaughter

Its fine to blame the backs or the pigs, but really what were the positives. Hard to find any. You would have to say the entire team played without direction, commitment or to a plan. Do you blame the players the captain or the coach. We always appear to go out with one game plan and if that fails we never have plan B or C. We went out on Saturday to score a hundred points, but unfortunately plan A didnt include taking control of the game and the ball. when this failed after 5 minutes we were gone. there was no plan B. We just kept turning the ball over, and were never a chance of controlling the game. What is with these little chip kicks in the opposition half, it rarely comes off and all you do is take the pressure off the other side. Is the problem the backs dont have faith in the forwards. It is obvious that the forwards dont have faith in the backs as they spend more time in the back line than in the front line. This side is not playing like a team. It looks as though they have never played together before. The worst game I have seen for a long time. I am one of the fools that went to the game, $128 for my son, his mate and I, $46 in food and $56 for grog (sorry the game turned me to drink). Im going back to watching Junior Rugby, its a better quality and the food and wine is cheaper. Tah Tah, Tahs Ive had enough.

I blame the pigs. The backs did play with low levels of skill, Beale's inability to catch highballs has been seen before and is a major concern and the inability of the backs to adjust their play to different styles was concerning but if the pigs don't turn up then what chance has the team got. I've always been a big believer in the old adage - Forwards win matches, backs just determine by how much. Front row given the injuries and personnel should be Tilse to LHP, Kepu to THP and Ryan given a chance on the bench. Hookers just hope that TPN is back or persist with Fitz spending most of the week working on Ulugia's throwing in case he is needed off the bench Second row - Timani, Jowitt or O'Connor should be given a go, Douglas told that unless he makes twenty strong cleanouts he loses his starting spot. Backrow - am worried about Waugh playing with one arm, depending on injury the starting backrow while outplayed last week is probably the best we have at the moment - they need to improve. One of the most frustrating things in both the Crusaders and Cheetahs games is that the Tahs managed to set up couple of strong well protected mauls and changed the point of angle such that there was little opposition in front. However the few opposition players in both cases were able to withstand the initial drive and there was no further effort from the Tahs. If a maul is not moving then you don't just strain away without moving the feet. There are two options, either a co-ordinated snap ala a good scrum - which you almost never see - or the more traditional 'little feet' - taking tiny steps, and indeed almost running on the spot until some momentum is built up. Why the first failure was accepted and neither of the established methods for improving the position is taken up is a snapshot of the problem with the entire team. Instead of improving the teams position by doing simple things that are known to work this team gives up and doesn't compete in that area anymore - pathetic.

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.

was it australia that insisted the top team from each country automatically makes the playoffs. looks like a smart call at the moment.

One fan clapping - loved it smi

Can't say much else than what has been hashed out already. Criticism has been meted out Barnes but I don't agree. I have an opinion that he was the recipient of slow service from a combination of Burgess and the forwards and the result of this is that he didn't have much option but to tactically kick but the level of skill of the players in his side around him are not in his league and the end result is that he looked quite bad. This was falsely so in my opinion, the handling by the players in motion was exceptionally bad on the night. This was highlighted by Beale's failure to grasp the high ball even once during the game, Surely as a fullback that is an imperative skill that is essential to acquire. Tradition has it that the Waratahs will change their coach every two to three years so I wouldn't worry too much when talking about Hickey I'll bet there is good money to say he will not be there next year. For a team that has the biggest and most reported profile of the Australian franchises the Waratahs certainly don't achieve to the level that they are supposed to. For all the media hype and the amount of coverage that they achieve and as they so righteously put every year they have the best and the biggest population to chose from in rugby players at their disposal I would have thought that they may have won the super final on more occasions than they have, have they won? I know this sounds a bit nasty but if I were a fan I'm sure I would be asking a lot of questions after all these years and my fervor would be cooling quite rapidly after this game.

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.

So I'm guessing I shouldn't be expecting an Australian club to win this thing?

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? ;)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.