Ellafan wrote: ↑Sun Oct 11, 2020 9:42 am
Well, nobody saw that coming. The NZrs looked a bit flabergasted in the interviews; maybe they believed the press and went in overconfident.
Still, it showed up some serious problems that Rennie needs to sort out.
The first one is that Tupo is not functioning as a #3. That means his primary job is the set pieces. Our scrum was dished up today, with ref talking to him repeatedly. Our line out, on the rare occasion it was thrown straight, was also a mess - and that is the fault of all involved, including the lifters and blockers, not getting it right. His secondary job is to clear bodies away from the breakdown and protect the ball carrier, and retain possession. Our breakdown was poor as well. Not entirely his fault but he is part of the equation.
Swanning around with the skirt-wearers and pretending to be a #12 is not part of the job description. I think he needs to go back onto the reserves bench for a couple of years while he learns the dark arts, and for that matter finishes growing (at about age 26) before he can be considered as a cemented starting 3. His alternative is to go and play the lite code, and he may well do it - he can be a "backrower/centre" there. If he does not have the mental attitude required to focus on his primary positional role - and I really hope Brad Thorn can help him here - then maybe he should take the money.
Next, Dugunu is an excellent attacking winger - but some of his turnstyle tackling fails reminded me of a couple of wingers from a few years ago, who were in and out of the Wobblies for a while, until the penney dropped - their defence was shit and it wasn't getting any better. Did anyone else notice that the defensive pattern was always to have a backrower or someone standing up Dugunu's clacker to make sure of his tackles. You really want your 6 & 8 doing other stuff. It reminded me of the days of Quade Cooper being hidden in defence.
Simmons - would not get a look in if certain other people were fit/available, but at least that is a short-medium term problem.
FF needs to learn to throw the ball in properly. It is a necessary core skill, and if he can't do it, then that's tough - he's out of the squad. Get someone who can. You'd think he'd be embarrassed by his shit throwing.
Rennie needs to cut off Nick White's right foot.
Last thing for now, our guys playing speed while in possession was slower than the ABs; on the turnover the tempo seemed to accelerate and look dangerous, not ponderous like Eddie Jones'/Chubby's Randwick '2 pod' system. Quite how Rennie addresses that, we shall see. I wish him luck as it requires a bit of a sea change in thinking from the top down, put if you have 4 guys playing 6 or 7 at each breakdown, you should not be surprised to be turned over. Also please see my comments above about Tupo standing wide with the 5/8.