Fantastic tackling today ...

[Outlander]

on both sides! And the ferocity at the breakdown! Whoa!

I have only been watching rugby a few years, but I have not seen a game in which both sides attacked the other so relentlessly at the breakdown and took the ball away. There were several times when the ball changed hand 2-3 times in about 15 seconds. BOTH sides had trouble securing their rucks!

IMO, the biggest reason for Tigers to have won is the absolute sureness of their tackling. Of course, Scarlets did some offloading--that's their game. But Tigers got Scarlets onto the ground RIGHT NOW and stifled the offloads often enough to keep Scarlets from taking control.

On the other hand, I thought the commentary did Scarlets a disservice by failing to recognize that their defense was just about as impressive. For one thing, Tigers' power runners--Tuilagi, Hipkiss, Corry--were nailed again and again, often driven backwards. They could not get that rolling power game going. And Scarlets were absolutely vicious at the breakdown.

I thought both teams essentially did what they needed to do to contain the worst threats of the other side.

So what was the difference?

Mr. Goode. I am not a Goode fan normally, but I thought he made the difference. His early goals gave Tigers a platform during a time when they absolutely could not put two phases together. Then, on their first real siege of the Scarlet try line, Goode snuck through for a huge try. Then that deft chip to immediately answer the Scarlets' 2nd try ... incredible! He nailed all his kicks except for the one over half way, and that steady run of points put the pressure on and led to an ultimately comfortable win.

I love Martin Corry. And I thought he had his typically massive game.

But not to give Goode the MOM award was a travesty. Goode made the difference in that game.

By the way, did you notice that as soon as Holford came on the scrum began to buckle?

[Moose]

I don't think it quite buckled, but you're right in that the scrummaging aspect isn't MH's best aspect of his game. In terms of scrummaging power Moreno is definately better, but i think Holford possibly offers more around the park in loose play, and given that we shifted to a more defensive stance, Howard may have wanted someone that could get to the breakdowns quicker than Moreno to help the backrows with rucking.

Of course Moreno could simply have been knackered :o)

[glenn]

I would have loved to see Castro rip the scrum to pieces but hey i shall have to wait until the final now!.
Our tackling was awesome, befor the game we needed to top them brfor they made a meter, this we did, it made them think more.
Popham went off because he was so ineffective and was stopped in his tracks. The team did not wiork because we stoppedf them playing rugby. this allowed us to capitalise and counter attack against them by playing how we should tight and then spin out widwe when needed.