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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