Gutted....

[BDAVEY]

Gee what's the bloody hell happening.......... our back they have no angles, no penetration and just run from one side to the next.... how to combat this I am not too sure but getting realkly demoralised not by the lost but the way they do it. Gits cant wait to go!

[The Ethicist]

You have to earn the right to go wide
They played two thirds of the game behind the advantage line and ran their own forwards off their feet. The ball was slow from the breakdown and they eventually ran out of numbers to protect the ball and the Sharks pounced

Disappointing night.

The Force played all the rugby but were pasted on the scoreboard. Simple mistakes at the breakdown cost them tries and allowed opposition tries from breakaways from turnovers.

The Sharks were all over us at the breakdown. Sharpie did some great hit ups and Pocock had some great runs in the last 20 minutes..........but they need to pick and drive with purpose.

The backs looked likely to cut loose but they were always going backwards when they got it. There was also some terrible passing when momentum was going forwards for us.

The Sharks beat us with offensive defence and by turning over our ball at the breakdown.

Great effort. Poor execution of skills

[Thequeerone]

Sack the Backline and let the forwards rule the roost

[slomo]

the sharks were far too good tonight........

[Jehna]

No. We were shit tonight.

[lara93]

love the sharks

[pieter blackie]

I really cannot see us play any better unlless we get a game plan that will get rid of this stupid sideways running bulshit that we saw tonight. We throw the ball down the backline without first trying to pull in some defence so the Sharks ended up with a extra player on defence everytime. You cannot score tries that way.

I wonder if it was a commitee gameplan or if it is Gits's way of playing.

I say use Durada on 10 and run it up straight for a couple of fases draw in the defence and then send it wide to Cross and Mitchell.

[tragic]

Gutted is right

[Burgs]

For those who watched live or didn't listen to the interviews after the Fox telecast, hopefully you will get the chance to hear both Coaches take on the match in their respective interviews. Quite accurate I thought.
The score and result is in the books now but for many reasons I don't think it is a fair reflection of the two teams.

Bottom line is we have to get away from this superstar mentality of conjuring magical tries all the time and actually construct and earn a try.
The only player to hit the ball at speed and on an angle all night scored under the posts.
Time and again others thought they could beat their opposite number around the outside, putting more and more pressure on those outside.
There was some fantastic periods of play making the gain line on consecutive phases, only to lose thirty metres on a fumble.
A very frustrating match to watch as they "deserved" so much more yet knew exactly how to throw it away too.
Top marks to JO'C in #15.
He has a great heart and attacks hard but we cannot afford Junior to start at #12 any more, his passing is simply not up to it. He is far more suited to a Mortlock/Umaga #13 or to cover off the bench.
I also feel that when the crunch was on it took too long to see that Valentine was spent and ChrisO should have been on about ten minutes earlier, or certainly straight after the charge down winding.
Likewise I can't understand why the more mobile Puse wasn't brought on for a generally sound but a few fumbles big Tom. Apparently we were going to "throw everything at the Sharks", well that's one thing we didn't throw at them.

Assuming fitness for all, for the Reds from tonight I would be going:

1. Cowan
2. McIsaac
3. Castle
4. Hocking
5. Sharpe
6. Horua
7. Pocock
8. Brown

9. Valentine
10. Giteau
11. Shepherd
12. Staniforth
13. Cross/Pelesasa (Crossy really isn't firing yet this season)
14. Mitchell
15. O'Connor

16. Holmes
17. Whalley
18. Pusey
19. Hodgson
20. O'Young (on much earlier)
21. Cross/Pelesasa
22. Sare

[Jehna]

Fair call Burgs. I'd like to see this one on reply but as far as I can tell right now we need to do the following:
- Learn to stand deep in attack so that we can run onto the ball instead of passing sideways in a straight line or heading backwards
- Pass to the hands not the feet
- Stop kicking the ball to the opposition and run with it for a while. You're not gaining territory by kicking the ball down the throat of an opposition player who is standing inside his 22 and can kick a good 50metres
- Learn to tackle one on one

Perhaps then we can start looking at putting some points on the board.

The boys need to invest in the basics for next time and not some princess shoes

[prop53]

Well that was a load of crap tonight by our team (Force) Dont know why they bothered to turn up. crap crap crap

[lara93]

it was the pink jersey, probably got to them...

[Ecky]

Maybe if Giteau can let the others in on his game plan?

That's gotta help.

[shasta]

Haven't seen the match yet. The kiwi commentator on SportFM had me really regretting being stuck at work by half time. Kept saying it was one of the best games the Force had ever played and probably the best in Super Rugby this season. Obviously his rose coloured glasses came off big time soon after oranges. Maybe I was spared.

[Burgs]

Interestingly re kicking, as far Flyhalf went, shortly before full time they said Gits had only kicked in play twice.
Watching on TV I think most of the in play kicks by the others were justified and often made ground on average, with possesion at the lineout...and that's from somone who hates end to end endless kicking.