Old Hob wrote: ↑Mon Mar 04, 2019 10:12 pm
On the other hand, if a jumping unit and a thrower-in had communicated properly instead of panicking any question would have been irrelevant.
Panicking?
(And as a matter of detail, we don’t know the nuts and bolts of why the line out failed. Noisiest WR in several years probably didn’t help)
They looked slow and low and nowhere near as with it as the opposition.
I wasn't far away and certainly wouldn't be automatically directing any blame at the hooker.
I'm not convinced that the line out lifting options are up to much beyond the regular starting bunch.
Dangerous4 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2019 5:07 pm
Great to win the game, but apart from Joe Ford, we weren't very convincing.
Having watched all the other televised games over this weekend, you're not wrong. The middle of the table is tightly bunched. An improvement in still needed......but a top 6 place is achievable. It needs hard work by all concerned, and importantly, the will to get there. It'll help the "management" decide who's going, and who's staying.
The ref can't ask the question "Any reason I cannot award a try" unless he believes a try has been scored but wan't to check if there is an element of uncertainty over the grounding or that another infringement may render apparent score incorrect.
If the ref has no sight of a grounding then the question has to be "yes or no"
Frankly neither the ref or any of the camera angles show a grounding on or beyond the line. On the best view there was a leg on the line itself thus making grounding the ball essentially impossible.
As to how many disallowed tries there were is irrelevant - none are tries unless legally scored.
A strong case has to be made for one of the given tries to have been disallowed - Eastmond was blocked which prevented a possible tackle on Watson. Would he have got to him? Don't know but a deliberate block is a block.
mol2 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2019 7:22 pm
A strong case has to be made for one of the given tries to have been disallowed - Eastmond was blocked which prevented a possible tackle on Watson. Would he have got to him? Don't know but a deliberate block is a block.
It was a clever line jogged by Carr as he ran back, and he didn't change direction until Watson was passing him (and he turned to follow him) or so it was probably a fair call even though he blatantly (and maybe marginally illegally) stopped Eastmond making the tackle.
LE18 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 04, 2019 7:01 pm
Did Umaga get on pitch?
Nope. A shame for him as his career has stagnated a bit (even with some time for Auckland in NZ) whilst his academy contemporary Hardwick is enjoying a decent bit of elite level rugby for his age. Maybe the move down the M69 wasn’t best advised...
Yes and to think there were so many people on here fuming that we "let him go".
Dangerous4 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2019 5:07 pm
Great to win the game, but apart from Joe Ford, we weren't very convincing.
Having watched all the other televised games over this weekend, you're not wrong. The middle of the table is tightly bunched. An improvement in still needed......but a top 6 place is achievable. It needs hard work by all concerned, and importantly, the will to get there. It'll help the "management" decide who's going, and who's staying.
Completely right. Some players need to pull their fingers out now, or they may well be going.
LE18 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 04, 2019 7:01 pm
Did Umaga get on pitch?
Nope. A shame for him as his career has stagnated a bit (even with some time for Auckland in NZ) whilst his academy contemporary Hardwick is enjoying a decent bit of elite level rugby for his age. Maybe the move down the M69 wasn’t best advised...
Yes and to think there were so many people on here fuming that we "let him go
Seems to me the correct decision was made.
Yes, but one good game means very little when you look back at so many lacklustre performances.
