Force V Bulls

[sittingbison]

...but both agreed the sinbin was ok.

Problem being Ecky that sin bin was therefore warranted on THREE occasions prior (scuz the pun) by Bulls

Penalties, their application in time and space was inconsistent and drastically effected the flow of the game (not necessarily the outcome).

And it's not "rub of the green"

[shasta]

Disagree away; to your heart's content
Please don't take the Fox mob's opinion as gospel.
I was with Sprogrugby and we discussed for some time, but both agreed the sinbin was ok.

It's really not a matter for agreement or otherwise, sir.
The quotes are what the referee actually said. As for the sin bin; I do disagree with you and your learned friend on that.

[GIGS20]

Hey shas, since you were hearing the red, I'm curious about the incorrect joining calls ALL NIGHT.

Was the ref asked what they were doing wrong?
If so was his explanation clear?
Was his call consistent, because the replays on the screen I couldn't find one that I would have called.

[shasta]

Don't have sports ears. I recorded the game and I just f fwd to the yellow card. I thought it was premature.

[Sheikh]

I do have the sports ears. The ref did warn Hodgo about the previous maul where both #1 & #3 made incorrect entries, but the ref didn't give Hodgo any time to talk to his forwards before the next line-out and maul. I don't recall the ref saying "Next one is in the bin", but it was a warning.

However, my beef with the ref wasn't that the penalties he gave us or against us weren't penalties, it was the way he ref'd the game, with more of an eye on us than on the Bulls.

On our rucks he appeared to be watching out for not releasing and going off our feet, whereas for the Bulls rucks he was watching for us using hands in the ruck, incorrect entry or offside. At one point when we got up very quickly in defence he asked the ARs weren't we offside? He never asked the ARs about the Bulls being offside, despite them being offside a number of times (usually on the opposite side to where he was) or slowing the ball down. And their blatant collapsing of our mauls went unpunished, while we got pinged almost every time they mauled.

Then there was unequal application of advantage: at one point from a knock-on he gave the Bulls 3 or 4 passes to gain advantage before deciding to call back for a scrum; we (I think correctly) got a single pass before he called advantage over, and we only got to go back for a scrum if the pass was fumbled.

Too often we get refs who watch the Force more than the opposition, because we're the team who keeps losing, so we must be the one in the wrong more often than not. These are supposed to be the top refs in the Southern Hemisphere and they can't ref a game evenly. I can't even blame the fact that the ref was a Saffa for this, as the Australian refs do it to us, too.

[brokendown gunfighter]

players in front of the kicker at restarts,from both sides,all night,going unpunished

[andrewg]

Highest Ruck Involvements for Round 10

Ruck Involvements aren't the be-all to end-all but they do tell us something about work rate and effort in a key part of the game - the breakdown. In the game against the Bulls there were 10 Scrums, 31 Line Outs, 22 Mauls but 150 Rucks ( and >500 Ruck Involvements)

I reckon they are also an indication of team involvement rather than individual involvement as good Ruck Success is more of an indication of team effort. The numbers depend upon the opposition, game plan, % Possession, % Territory, the weather etc etc.
The Bulls had 97% Ruck Success; the Force had 89%.

Generally the Aussie teams were standing off Defence Rucks against the NZ & SA opposition while providing additional support for their own ball carriers. The Rebels continue to maintain a high level of Defense Ruck Involvements.

The Possession was as follows: Force - 56%; Rebels - 58%; Brumbies - 73%; Reds - 48%; Waratahs - 41%.

Nevertheless, here's a table which shows how some of our players ranked against the highest Ruck Involvements across the Aussie teams in Round 10.



Fantastic to see Harry "Rusty" Scoble rank amongst the best in his first run-on game for the Force.

His non-early arrival just indicates that he wasn't usually the 1st or 2nd Force player to arrive but when he did get involved he had an impact.

Hodgo's 2 TOW from only 6 Defence Rucks shows how selective he can be.
On one of these Defence Rucks he didn't even get involved (nil impact).

[Alison]

Tahs were so damn lucky to get that win! Hooper's last gasp try should not have been given!!

[andrewg]

Have just posted the Round 10 Ruck Analysis on G&GR.

It includes some interesting new stats on the top No 7s.

http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/sr-...ysis-round-10/

[jono]

The hooper love band's defence of him will be great to read as usual