He just gets a little excitable in Gold...
"Bloody oath we did!"
Nathan Sharpe, Legend.
Hookers did used to take the throw-ins; wingers did. My dad reckoned it was the only time the winger on his team touched the ball!
Hookers also used to use a front on AFL throw in style lob too Sheikh
Can't remember the name of the last one, was mid to late 80's I seem to recall...
"Bloody oath we did!"
Nathan Sharpe, Legend.
For a moment there I thought you meant that throw-on the refs do. Mind you, seeing the throwing of the Aussie hookers...Originally Posted by Burgs
Hookers also used to use a front on AFL throw in style lob too Sheikh
The "lucky dip" lineout special
"Bloody oath we did!"
Nathan Sharpe, Legend.
Brown made up for that at the Wallabies...Thewere the only teams in 2009 S14 that didnt recieve a Red/Yellow card.
So the Force will have 2 a half jumpers this season. Pocock is the forwards best asset. And Shep is the choice back and he hasn't played much in the past year.
I agree with Burgs its rebuild year for the force... Some good young promising talent but with not enough experience at S14 level to make a difference in 2010... 2 injuries to the first 15 and the Force will be in serious trouble...
on a sidenote. have the force gotten any cards in any season?
Yeah but that could be any Super 14 side- particularly the Aussie ones. Take Horwill or Luke Braid out of the Reds, Berrick Barnes or Phil Waugh out of the Tahs or Matt Giteau or George Smith out of the Brumbies and things will go south fast! For us losing either Nathan Sharpe, Andre Pretorius or either one of our hookers will hurt pretty badly.
I was thinking about how good each team's first XV is in each area of play and decided:
Front row: With Benn Robinson, Tatafu Polota-Nau and Sekope Kepu the Tahs take out best front row of the Aussie sides and also put in a strong claim for best front row in the S14. The Brumbies are a close second but don't have much of a tighthead option or the depth of Freier and Baxter (who despite being a gimp is at least experienced and less awful at S14 level).
Second row: This one was close but having seen how poor the Wallabies line-out was without Nathan Sharpe I'm giving this one to the Force. Both the Tahs and the Brumbies are very close but with Roodt and Harrison big unknowns and Sharpe and Hockings are a solid partnership.
Back row: Toughest call to make. You've got the Tahs with Palu, Waugh and Mowen; the Force with Richard Brown, David Pocock and Matt Hodgson; and the Brumbies with Hoiles, Smith and Elsom. Each team has a first choice Wallaby and two players who certainly wouldn't be out of place in the green and gold. In the end I'm giving it to the Brumbies by a nose as the Tahs have no credible back-up to Waugh and the Force lack a bit of versatility.
Inside Backs: Everyone has their pros and cons here but over all this one goes to the Reds. There is daylight between Genia and Australia's next best 9 and Quade Cooper (if he isn't in jail) has come a long way in the last year and he has the experienced head of Morgan Turinui on his outside. The Force have a completely untried 9-10-12 combination while the Tahs only shining star is Berrick Barnes while at the Brumbies things depend on where Giteau plays. If he's at 10 there isn't an inspiring 12 (or 10) and if he plays 12, Lealiifano and Toomua are too erratic/inconsistent. Valentine and Phibbs aren't the best in their positions either.
Outside backs A tough one. At the Brumbies Mortlock will probably spend most of the season injured while AAC is a great player but isn't the most complete fullback and their wings aren't much to write home about. At the Reds, Peter Hynes and Digby Ioane are hot stuff but are then low on options. A Rob Horne, Lachie Turner, Sosene Anesi, Drew Mitchell back division doesn't sound bad but seriously its been 3 or 4 years and people are still considering Drew a fullback- WTF?! There isn't a lot of leadership there and being Tahs wouldn't know what to do with the ball if it comes out that far. At the Force it will probably end up being Ryan Cross, Cameron Shepherd, Dane Haylett-Petty and Mark Bartholomeusz. They lack pace but they are tough to bring down and can kick a country mile. If Nick Cummins wasn't out injured for a while I would give it to them but alas. Too hard to call. No clear winner.
Overall I think the Brumbies and Waratahs will end up 4th and 5th (don't know which will be which though), the Force 8th and the Reds 11th.
---------- Post added at 20:44 ---------- Previous post was at 20:41 ----------
Off the top of the head: Scott Staniforth against the Highlanders 2006. Gareth Hardy against the Crusaders 2006. David Pocock against the Bulls 2007. Sharpie and Crossy vs the Brumbies 2007. Someone against the Reds 2008. None in 2009.
No Red cards AFAIK. Definitely the best disciplinary record in the Super 14. Very proud of that.
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David Pococks yellow was one of the shortest in Super Rugby history...about a minute???
Would have thought Alexander to be a fairly handy TH for the Brumbies James?
Would be more inclined to have Turner at #15 and Mitchell at #14, but then he might spit the dummy.
"Bloody oath we did!"
Nathan Sharpe, Legend.
Yeah but if Alexander is the TH who is the loosehead? Their other props are Guy Shepherdson, Salesi Maafu and Jerry Yanuyanutawa. Maybe they will surprise but Guy and Salesi haven't exactly been inspiring and Jerry is a Super rugby rookie. Definitely not as good as Benn Robinson, TPN and Sekope Kepu.
Yeah I'd play Turner at 15 over Mitchell but Turner's played there a bit before and doesn't quite seem to have it. Stick Beale back at 15 I say that means he can stay where he is in defence. I don't think Beale has it in him to push past Giteau, Barnes and Cooper and we could use the depth at 15. The Tahs probably do have the best back division but you do get the feeling they'll fail to fire.
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.
I think I seem to give more credit to Shepherdson at S14 than some, to me he is pretty handy and always made a servicable combination with Moore and Henderson.
Maafu is their future but may still be a bit soon and there have been some very favourable reviews of Yanuyanutawa (hope you spelt it right!) for Uni.
Was wondering where Luge ended up, assume Europe? I thought he was showing good promise and had the rare positional combination cover.
Will be a good match to see the two Ben(n)s go at each other!
"Bloody oath we did!"
Nathan Sharpe, Legend.
Shepherdson has been on a bit of a nose dive since the 2007 RWC. He wasn't in particularly good form in the last two years (no Wallabies call up). Maybe he'll come out of it but looking at the Brumbies their scrum (which isn't one of their strong points) is no better than what it was last year. As for Maafu, I always thought he was fairly young but he'll be 27 this year and I know props are late bloomers and all but I don't expect much.
From the handful of Uni games I saw on ABCHD Yanuyanutawa looked pretty good- particularly at running the ball. Don't know how well that will translate into Super rugby form. I'm skeptical.
Ulugia has been replaced by Nathan Charles in the academy/rookie whatsits. Quite a few promising young hookers that'll probably be off contract at the end of next year.
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In the game I saw against the Rats at my home ground Fitzpatrick was more often on the blind side of the scrums with Coridas on the open side. In another game against Southern Districts he is listed at 6 and Coridas at 7. So I wrote 6, but that is neither here nor there. [He played 8 in Yr.11 at Joeys.]
I saw Pek before that Eastwood game and had a yarn with him. It was he that informed me that Dunning was playing hooker for Eastwood and it beggared belief. Then the penny dropped that Fitzy would throw the ball into lineouts.
Pek - or PK as we used to call him in his junior days - loves it over in Perth and has bought a house or apartment there, I forget which.
It's a pity that Fitzy didn't go to the Force. He is a cracking player and a beaut young bloke. He would have got a lot more Super 14 time over there than with the likes of Wallabies TPN and Freier in front of him at the Tahs.
He is an entirely different player to Whittaker. Whitts is basically your Stephen Moore kind of hooker but if folks can remember the great Irish and Lions no.2, Keith Wood, Fitz is that type of hooker. My word - Fitz knows how to back up the ball carrier. I'll back him to oust Freier in 2011 as reserve Tahs hooker, but 2010 will be a bit of a stretch.
As for another player being signed and your feeling they are going to be OK: it's wishful thinking. Nothing wrong with that and the Force have done OK in most positions to date but the market for good players in the 2011 season will be tight. And as the existing 3 Super12 teams found out when the Force started up, the 4 Oz Super14 teams will be vulnerable. The smaller their feeder base is, the more so.
There won't be a whole lot of sympathy for the Force in Queensland if they lose players to Melbourne.
The Force have done well in getting Henderson and Dunning, but it was a pity that Gareth Hardy isn't there anymore. When hooker Digby Beaumont was injured playing for Sydney University a few years back Hardy played the best part of the season at hooker and was not the worst thrower to the lineout I ever saw.
---------- Post added at 06:08 ---------- Previous post was at 04:39 ----------
Me too. I was surprised he didn't make the Oz squad in the winter, especially after Baxter was on the nose and Dunning couldn't be considered yet. I thought he would have been brought into the squad for cover and with a view to be considered later for the EOYT. Who knew that Dunning would get through the 2009 club season OK?
The Brumbies scrum finished well in the S14 this year. The Chiefs front rowers gave them a good compliment after the Brumbies went down narrowly in Hamilton in a crunch game for both teams in the last round - and part of that praise has to go to the THP.
Not to the point of this Force thread, but I wouldn't mind if Alexander gets a lot of time at LHP for the Ponies in 2010 - nothwithstanding that his emergence as THP and that of Genia have been the two most important happenings for Oz rugby in the last 12 months.
If Alexander can keep his hand in at LHP Deans can keep a specialist THP on the bench, which gives him a valuable flexibility. But LHP is a technical position when compared to the strength THP spot and needs practice. In particular, the Fat Cat special of attacking the THPs chest, stopping him attacking the noggin of your hooker and doing all that without stepping out on the engage - is a skill that has to be honed.
I would lay out all my vcash that *someone* will get signed before the season starts. I don't think that person will be at all disappointing given the current climate.
The Melbourne team may be a bit of a worry but given how many marquee players they are allowed and given that they are feeding from 4 other teams rather than just 3 the teams will cope. A lot of the Force squad is signed until the 2011 and the only big players to keep would be Cam Shepherd and David Pocock. Useless as they are if things were looking bad, the ARU would allow a couple more marquee spots to all of the teams.
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