It’s based on England not being able to use their main weapon (the scrum) against the Wallabies because the Wallabies scrum is far more superior than England’s right now! Forget past results and how England has always dominated the Aussie scrum. It’s been a year now since we last played England and for that entire year, our main focus has been improving our scrum come World Cup time and guess what – the Wallabies scrum is an entirely different beast right now!

Also, there’s been too much focus on the bonus point win by England against Fiji and the lack of one by Oz. England was hardly convincing during that match and even though they managed to scrape a bonus point try after the full-time siren and break away at the end of the game, the final score does not really reflect how close that game actually was.

Only after the game itself will all our questions be answered, but I’m predicting the Wallabies to be dominant over England during ruck and scrum time and the Wallabies backline finally being unleashed! What other reason would there be to explain why we have not seen any set plays yet from the Wallabies backline? Maybe we are saving all our bonus point wins for England and Wales … 😉

There have been two Tah’s teams playing throughout 2015 – the 2014 SR champion team and the fumbling, error ridden team trying to find their game. The big question prior to the semi-final was which team will turn up on the day. Unfortunately, it was the latter team. There were only a few games this year when the Tah’s were on song and lived up to their potential (Brumbies twice, Hurricanes and Crusaders to name a few), there were games filled with errors but somehow the Tah’s managed to scrape through with wins and there were games they should have won, but came undone.

I feel the Tah’s really missed the playmaking abilities of Beale. It was sorely missed when they played the Reds a few weeks before (hence the 3-0 score at half time) and sorely missed in the semi-final. Beale’s defence might be lousy and he is also guilty of errors (both on and off the field), but one thing he DOES bring is unpredictability! The Tah’s game without him is too predictable and one-dimensional. Beale came off the bench in the Spring Tour last year to mix things up and keep the opposition guessing. The Tah’s still may have lost in the semi if Beale played, but I’m sure the Tah’s performance wouldn’t have been worse than what we saw last Saturday …

Foul play

Defined as anything against ‘the letter and spirit of the Laws of the Game’. Type of foul play fall into various categories:

•Obstruction – All result in a penalty kick being awarded to the opposition.
•Charging or Pushing – When two players go for the ball and the challenge is not shoulder-to-shoulder.
•Running in front of a ball carrier – By a teammate in order to block off any tackles on the carrier.
•Blocking the tackler – Similar to above. Preventing the ball carrier from being tackled fairly.
•Blocking the ball – Standing or moving somewhere to prevent the ball being played.
•Ball carrier running into a teammate at a set piece – Comes under the same category and usually done after a ruck, scrum, maul or lineout for protection from opposition tacklers.
•Flanker obstructing opposition scrum half – Preventing him/her from moving around the scrum.

All I am referring to is ‘Running in front of the ball carrier’ & ‘Blocking the tackler’. My apology if my interpretation is wrong.

Nosmo King – thank you for taking the time to read my post. This is a site where people can post their opinions and that is what I have done. I suggest you spend your time sticking to the topic and not attacking me personally.

I’m glad Cheik isn’t deterred by the cards and citations and keeps moving forward. He and his team have a clear plan; to be the most enforcing and skillfull team in the competition and win back-to-back premierships! They won last year by being the best defensive and attacking team in the comp and this year, they want to to improve, by introducing more mongrel into their game. They are stumbling along the way by getting their techniques wrong every now and then, which can be expected when you are trying something new, but are far from being the dirty team everyone is painting them to be.

The dangerous tackles come down to miscommunication and wrong execution. I really don’t beleive Latu, Skelton and Horne told themselves “I’m going to slam this guy on his shoulders or head and really hurt him!” I’m also sick and tired of hearing about the ‘cheap shot’ on Ritchie by Skelton! If you look at the close-up video of that incident, Ritchie was in the direct line between Skelton and Carter and the only way for Skelton to get to Carter, was through Ritchie (who just happened to walk at the correct spot at the correct time). Skelton braced himself for the inevitable impact. Yes, I believe he only had eyes on the ball and ball carrier and yes, I believe with his height and no obstruction from Ritchie, he might have been able to charge down Carter’s kick! Skelton, before being put in the limelight due to that game against the Crusaders, was and still is a gentle giant. It’s only now he is being taught to use his size and aggression, everyone is crying out “foul”, not so much because he’s just and uncontrolable aggressive animal, but because he is now becoming a major threat!

Keep doing what you are doing Cheik & Tah’s and if one day you reach the perfection you all are trying to achieve, the whole world will be in awe!

Mad Mick, the safety of my boys whilst playing rugby is of utmost importance to me, but not if it means compromising the physicality of the game I have loved since I was a child. To elaborate, I welcome the changes of not tackling or lifting above the horizontal, not tackling a man in the air, no punching and so on. What I am talking about is the rule of not lifting a man in a tackle at all! A major part of the physicality of the game are the collisions and tackles and a major technique for doing this is lifting the player in order to put them on the ground. This is a technique used in judo, wrestling, UFC and any other sport where you have to put your opponent to the ground. You take that away, you take away a major part of the physicality of the game. I want my boys to be safe, but I also want them to grow up watching rugby in it’s pure essence, skills and hard hits, not a watered down version. If you want to focus on just the skills, there’s always touch rugby, but if you watch rugby also for the physicality like I do, don’t ban lifting in a tackle completely. I don’t mind a good hard tackle that’s driven to the ground, as long as it’s not above the horizontal, even if it’s on my kids. That’s rugby and my boys and I are aware of this. The case of Latu and Skelton was always asking for trouble. You have two guys picking up one guy, with one of them lifting the legs … that is always a recipe for disaster. If Skelton had picked up Whitelock and thrown him on his own, the damage would have been minimal, which is why Latu copped the bigger penalty. As I said before, the Tah’s have always indicated they want to play physical games. Sometimes they overdo it and get it wrong, but I’m pretty sure they don’t go out there each game thinking they want to spear tackle someone and so on. They will learn from this and will be a better team for it. They are doing nothing wrong in my eyes. Just aiming high for that perfect game and making a few mistakes along the way, which is only human …

Rugby is a dangerous sport and those playing it realise there is a good possibility they are going to get hurt, legally or illegally. If they don’t want to get hurt, then play another sport (although that doesn’t assure you will be prone from injury, as injuries also happen in tennis, basketball, soccer etc). As a dad with two sons playing junior rugby (U12’s & U14’s), my sons and I are very aware they might get hurt on the field. Having played rugby myself growing up, I have taught them to lean forward in the tackle with their head down, hit with the shoulder whilst wrapping their arms around the legs, lift up and land the opposition hard on their back! That, to me, is a text book front-on tackle, but now it seems any form of lifting in a tackle is an automatic card!?!

If you look closely at Fruean’s tackle, the feet DO come off the ground and the player hits the ground ALOT harder than Horne’s tackle, hence the injury. In Horne’s tackle, the player lands flat on his back and is uninjured. If they are going to look closely at and cite EVERY lifting tackle, then PLEASE make the punishment even across the board!!! What we have in these two cases is one player off for initially 6 weeks, reduced to 3 for a tackle WITH NO injury versus another player scott free for a tackle WITH injury … ludicrous!!! Inconsistent decisions like these can drastically influence the outcome of the competition, which is what is happening right now!

Hats off to Cheik and the Tah’s for sticking to their guns since the beginning of Cheik’s rule and not letting decisions like these, or opinions from others affect their primary objective! They have said from the very beginning they will not change their style of game just because they’re dropping balls or getting tackles wrong. They want to play hard, fast paced rugby, which is what we ALL want to watch and will not deviate from their plan. They have won a Premiership from doing this and are not doing that badly this year, considering they have been getting things wrong the whole season. They are not a dirty team, they are just getting techniques wrong and with a little tweaking, look out if they finally reach their goal! My suggestion to Phipps would be to keep his mouth shut and let the results do the talking, but I’m sure he’s just venting from all the flack his team and Cheik are getting.

Good hit! Nothing wrong with that. The great thing is O’Driscoll just gets back up and runs back into positiion, not laying on the ground milking for a penalty. The game is RUGBY, not SOCCER/FOOTBALL! If you don’t like getting hurt, then rugby is not for you! These guys know what they signed up for before playing the game, so play the game or take up another sport!

I was thinking more in the line of Mortlock on Flutey:

Big hiit, lifted him, but not past the horizontal and smashed him on his back. That would most probably be a red card offence now, the way things are going. Imagine how devastating to a team it would be in the RWC if players were yellow/red carded for what was once considered a good, hard rugby tackle! Next thing you know, scrums will not be contested to avoid injuries and we will have the debacle we now call League!

My boys get hit hard on the rugby field every now and then (with a bit of lifting and driving involved), but I acknowledge the good tackle on them, then yell for my boys to get back up and keep playing. Do not ruin this sport they call ‘The Game Played in Heaven”!

In my day, a great tackle, whether front on to a runner with the ball going straight at you, or rushing to hit the opposition just as he receives the ball, is to put you head down, hit hard with the shoulder whilst wrapping your arms around his legs, lift up and drive him hard on his back. The prefect result would be the opposition loses the ball due to the initial impact with the shoulder and arms, or hitting the ground hard. Rugby is changing these days. This type of tackle is now being looked down upon, not applauded. Never was Latu/Skelton’s and Horne’s tackles lifted ‘above the horizontal’. It’s now lifting in a tackle in general is illegal, which everyone who has played rugby before knows is very difficult NOT to do in high impact collisions. Alas, rugby is now becoming soft and my two sons who currently play junior rugby will now have to be taught to tackle hard, but without any lifting and lay the opposition gently on the ground at the end of the tackle … Tissues anyone?