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Im going to throw this out there, shouldn't that be a penalty try? No one had retired to the line so none should be in play...
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highlanders v kings
- Thread starter Kiwiwomble
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And I thought your "one motion in the act of scoring a try" had to be with you arm to place the ball, he's just got up in the tackle without releasing it and go e again!
tenpm
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Disclaimer: I couldn't bear watching past the Kings' fourth try, so my comments might be completely off the mark after that point. I do know that the Highlanders scored two tries after that and didn't give away any more penalties, but the reason why that only gave them two bonus points and not a win was because of their poor performance before.
What is it with New Zealand teams scoring quick tries and then losing that momentum immediately to make life harder for themselves? I don't know if this is an issue that would spill over to the All Blacks, but they really need to work on their restarts. Fortunately, our other problem - defending a lineout maul - is improving. We didn't have any games against the traditional rolling maul teams this round, but the forwards seem to have finally realised that they can't just hover aimlessly around the maul.
Highlanders gave away way too many penalties. I blame it partly on Andrew Hore. When the captain is giving away a lot of penalties, then the rest of the team will follow. I'm not saying he should never risk the fringes of the law, but surely, after the third or the fourth time they've been pinged in the breakdown, he should adjust to the referee and warn the others? It wasn't exactly well-officiated (the Highlanders should have been on a warning long before Ellison was sent off, and I thought he was a little too lenient on the attacking team), but still.
Ben Smith had an off game by his standards. He made an unforced error a couple of times - his poor kick at the beginning led to the first Kings penalty. And while he pushed the line of defence, it seemed that he just couldn't get the last offload or slip the last tackle to create a linebreak. It shouldn't be too much of a problem if he was playing for some other teams, but the Highlanders rely heavily on Smith doing well (always a bad sign for a team to be dependent on individual performances, not team structure).
With all that said, hats off to the Kings. They played well, and their attack in particular has improved. Nobody would have expected them to have three wins and a draw, with five more games to go.
What is it with New Zealand teams scoring quick tries and then losing that momentum immediately to make life harder for themselves? I don't know if this is an issue that would spill over to the All Blacks, but they really need to work on their restarts. Fortunately, our other problem - defending a lineout maul - is improving. We didn't have any games against the traditional rolling maul teams this round, but the forwards seem to have finally realised that they can't just hover aimlessly around the maul.
Highlanders gave away way too many penalties. I blame it partly on Andrew Hore. When the captain is giving away a lot of penalties, then the rest of the team will follow. I'm not saying he should never risk the fringes of the law, but surely, after the third or the fourth time they've been pinged in the breakdown, he should adjust to the referee and warn the others? It wasn't exactly well-officiated (the Highlanders should have been on a warning long before Ellison was sent off, and I thought he was a little too lenient on the attacking team), but still.
Ben Smith had an off game by his standards. He made an unforced error a couple of times - his poor kick at the beginning led to the first Kings penalty. And while he pushed the line of defence, it seemed that he just couldn't get the last offload or slip the last tackle to create a linebreak. It shouldn't be too much of a problem if he was playing for some other teams, but the Highlanders rely heavily on Smith doing well (always a bad sign for a team to be dependent on individual performances, not team structure).
With all that said, hats off to the Kings. They played well, and their attack in particular has improved. Nobody would have expected them to have three wins and a draw, with five more games to go.
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