Performance Review

[Piet Van Ziel]

1. Nic Henderson. Scrummed well against a brute of a pack. Battled hard. Took it up and bashed away in defence. Great effort

2. Ben Whittaker. One of the great super debuts. The kid was in everything. He was very willing to take it up and frequently got over the advantage line. Picked and drove with great courage. Every time he got his hands on the pill he went straight and hard. Needs a bit of work on the scrummaging. His lineout throwing was first class against a world class opposition lineout. Not a crooked throw all night and every ball was on the money. Startling debut. Well done young fella. Some designer roids and a few steaks and we have a goodun

3. Tim Fairbrother. Scrummed well. Found himself running in open play a few times from supporting around the fringes. Not a gay back anywhere in support. Tackled with great fury. Pick and drove. Charged into the defence. Magnificent non stop effort.

4. Tom Hockings. Tackled with venom and anger. He put on some huge hits. He was great in the lineout against a very competent opponent. How Wykes has kept him out is a mystery to me. Great game

5. Nathan Sharpe (c). Took it over the advantage line 2 or 3 times in every set of phases. He has got that annoying habit of standing at first receiver out of his game. His defence was brutal. Some massive hits. He ripped and tore his way up the middle of the Bulls driving maul on countless occasions despite extreme exhaustion. Best on field.

6. Ben McCalman. Charged into the fray all night. Some great go forward and amazing defence. Great effort

7. Matt Hodgson. Mr Everywhere again. He was a pest to the Bulls. Fearless at the breakdown. Mopped up every loose ball and was everywhere in cover defence. If this bloke doesn't get the wallaby 7 jersey, form counts for nothing at the selection table. Outstanding again.

8. Richard Stanford. Went with the boys. Worked hard. Tackled his guts out

The backs

It's hard to watch.

Staniforth however was close to the best on the ground. His effort is 120%. He runs hard and straight. He scares people he is so committed.

The forwards worked so hard to take the ball over the advantage line and worked hard recycling the ball. The backs didn't seem to have a plan. They were slow to reform and directionless. There was some great individual efforts but the backline lacks cohesion and direction. The problem starts and ends at 10

[pieter blackie]

Cummins is worth mentioning as well

[beige]

Thought O'Young had a good game too.

[Tonkar]

Yes have to agree with your points on the forwards all were on the money and dont forget the run on lads
Ted Postal, Luke Jones, , Kieran Longbottom , all stood up and yes all got lots of mentioned by the fox Comentatorers on the sports ears.

The Backs
Chris O'Young and Mark Swanepoel both stood up well Chris really made the bulls work around the scrum and Mark just followed on

JOC was the pivot with Nick ,Scott and Mark B going well in the rear especailly not to many kick back with some strong running back with the ball

But back to the forwards it was nice to see the bulls scrum held or rumbled. Great raking by Ben Whittaker

I just cant wait till next Friday as it will be a good friday

More great rugby at MES

[travelling_gerry]

Greg Martin is bearable as a commentator when he has Canno and the Mayor to keep him in check.

[palitu]

yep cummins layed that great tackle and got called fro dangerous... but cummins looked great in broken play and really took it to the boys on the park.

Chriso, well! talk about playing for a starting spot, fricken full on all night, tackled the big boys no problems. Really happy with him. which sucks because i have been very impressed with shetland as well... at least there are two good halves to play.

[BDAVEY]

I thought JM may have brought JOC into ist 5 for the end to get some movemnet in the backline Hill... dury is out ... he is lazy I feel ....I watched him for 10 minutes there did a tackle and just meandered back to postion, his options as a 5/8 are predictable and his execution is average the ball wasnt going infront, his kicks senceless... much of the defence the EWF with brought about was due to the poor kicking of Hill Crossy should be spelled fro a week to get his hunger back. I have a feeling Crossy has signed for the Rebels??

[hertryk]

Cummins is worth mentioning as well

Fox thought so too, that he was worth a mention..about his hair...Plonkers...

[GIGS20]

I really liked what I saw of Barty in first receiver! He slotted in there a couple of times later on in the match and really set JOC of on some great runs.....Though he was pretty serviceable at fullback and he, JOC and Hill made a great mix shuffling 1st receiver around them. Hill was nothing more than a tackle dummy who shuffled the ball to JOC or kicked it away......I'd love somebody more menacing there, but he's giving Rabbit the room and taking the attention off him, so I'd keep that.

I thought Cullet was awesome, it was great to finally see somebody break into the backfield through something other than an intercept and he was the guy. It was a shame that the cover was as good as it was (and that one shocking kick) could have scored a couple if the ball bounced his way.

When Chrisso was named, I posted my fears that he'd get Pwned in the fringes, but he was awesome....the fight between him and Sheety has obviously bought out a side to Chrisso that has been hidden for 5 years. DELIGHTFUL! (Swanepoel has shown that the futures bright as well)

Cross was toilet......bring Inman into 13 and put him in a suit for a week!

for mine it's really hard to pick a best moment......Sharpie didn't have a moment, it was a sustained 80 minutes of fantastic...Hodgeo similarly, if I had to pick a fave moment of the game it'd be Teddy Postal.......living up to his name in his first touch of the ball....carried about 4 big Jaapie bastards 5 metres on his back, fed the ball and ran around to rejoin play before the fat buggers realised the tackle was over, He's a backrower, so I guess success breeds success!

[zimeric]

best moment was Spanners chip & chase and then monstering the poor youngtser that collected it.. priceless!

[.X.]

You gotta ask the question - what's with Ryan Cross this year?

Is he playing injured?

Is there some place he would rather be?

I dont know what it is - but the questions have to be asked - from this side of the TV he looks like he has better things he would rather be doing.

[Burgs]

Regardless of if I agree with them or not I am enjoying reading considered constructive analysis on TWF over the last two rounds

[Kurgan]

I thought JM may have brought JOC into ist 5 for the end to get some movemnet in the backline Hill... dury is out ... he is lazy I feel ....I watched him for 10 minutes there did a tackle and just meandered back to postion, his options as a 5/8 are predictable and his execution is average the ball wasnt going infront, his kicks senceless... much of the defence the EWF with brought about was due to the poor kicking of Hill Crossy should be spelled fro a week to get his hunger back. I have a feeling Crossy has signed for the Rebels??

Agree
Hill isn't the miracle he was hailed to be. The super 14 is a bit past him. He just hasn't played this level for some time and he isn't up to the speed or the intensity. Cross is marking time. He has been ordinary to say the least

[GIGS20]

Hill was never meant to be a miracle, he is there to distribute, now we need more talent for him to distribute to!

[Kurgan]

There's plenty of talent. We need someone to organise them, create space and time for them and coordinate the coaches plans. Hill is not this man