So far so good!

[Burgs]

Carter has actually just come back from a fairly lengthy injury recovery so he hasn't played anywhere near as much as the other AB's.
In answer to your question though, not sure but wish it was against the Force that McCaw was out, though will be interesting to see how he now get's away with stuff.

[Burgs]

& props that cant touch on command

Whatever floats your boat old chap

[The Lone Hydrangea]

[travelling_gerry]

But saying that how padantic is the umpire ? - who cares if its "1 second" before the other prop touches !!! come on now - we aren't playing tiddlewinks.

I think you will find we call them "Referees"

[sloppy]

you cant lose well. a loss is a loss and if you have enough of these losses you will find you wont have a job.

[Burgs]

I think you will find we call them "Referees"

And Referees are pedantic, not padantic...
Padantic is something a journalist does while passing time between new stories

[benny]

I think you will find we call them "Referees"

TG, the way he umpired or refereed was SH1T fullstop.

1 team on the field in his eyes, maybe he thought that the force were in the old yellow jersey thats why ?!?!?

[laura]

Bloody good effort from the boys. I haven't watched the game but with such an "injury ravaged team" and to still be able to break the Hurricanes defense & get some tries on the board, they must have been doing something right. By all accounts the deubtants did well & like Sharpie says the experience they gained will only help them to improve.
With less experienced players in the team, the seem to have stepped it up a notch from last week. Looking forward to having them home next week & seeing how they step it up another notch. If all they do, week by week, is improve one step at a time then I'll be a happy little vegemite.

[CunnamullaFulla]

There were patches of very good rugby. Sadly, that isn't good enough in super 14.

[zimeric]

oh boohoo!! the result was never really in question.. yes a loss is a loss blah blah. the fact is they gave a great account of themselves and never gave up.. and if you are a true supporter that should be enough for you to sit back and say "hey tough result, but well done!"

look at it this way..
the Tahs lost by 21points
the Brumbies lost by 18 points
the Force lost by 25 points..

If its not good enough to lose by 25 against one of the stronger sides with 8 of your best players out .. as opposed to having your Full strength side be beaten by nearly the same amount then i think a perspective adjustment is in order.

[GIGS20]

Exactly Zim, Imagine how things would have been with one more fetcher....a bit more experience in the midfield......a zippy outside back with solid defence......It's not inconceivable that one or two of the injured players back could get us over the line.........good effort by the whole team. A couple of loose tackles and a bit less power at the ruck was to be expected by the rookies!

[farva]

So Spanner comes back next week, do we go with a backline of:

Sheehan
JOC
Sare
Spanner
Cross
Tatupu
DHP

or do we stick spanner on the wing and Harris at 12?

And once Cummins and Shep come back that back line is looking very good!

I think JOC is well and truely capable of playing Super rugby at flyhalf, its just finding a fullback, and I reckon DHP is a good option there.

[beloveit]

If we stick with Cross at 13 and harris at 12 then we will keep losing...

Tatupu is strong and has played well. yes there is room for improvement... but from what i have seen from Harris.. he will struggle no matter where you put him.

the real impact will come if the force pull TOGETHER... every time someone makes a break there is no one there to assist... Its quite disheartening to see!

maybe they need to work on team building skills!!!....

[Burgs]

I would be looking to see:

9. Sheehan
10. Hill
11. Inman/Sare
12. Stanners
13. Cross/Inman
14. DHP
15. JO'C

20. O'Young
21. Harris (Hunt)
22. Sare/Tatupu (Rapana)

Doubles relate to Crossy fitness.
Though I would actually give him another week as I thought Inman was his equal comparing the two matches. Inman seems to be more instinctive with a better Union brain.

Have bracketed 21 & 22 as preference but won't happen.
Would also like to see Swaenpoel or Turner given a bench run before they get chucked in the deep end by injury.

[Swee_82]

Even a grudgingly offered snippet from pie-man this morning, admitting that if the boys hadn't shown the guts they did it would have been a massacre at the cake tin. The final scoreline blew out in the end, but they didn't do themselves a disservice.