United Rugby Championship: Round 2

[JohnKA]

how the F are we the second best team in SA at the moment Jesus this is sad

 

[unrated]

how the F are we the second best team in SA at the moment Jesus this is sad

It's minute 50 and not a single thing has gone in our way. We lose our lineout, then somehow get it back just to immediately knock it again.
Our leadership at this point needs to be questioned. Heads will need to drop. If Everit cant turn things around before the tour ends he needs to be sacked.

Buthelezi is out of his depth as captain at the moment

 

[JohnKA]

It's minute 50 and not a single thing has gone in our way. We lose our lineout, then somehow get it back just to immediately knock it again.
Our leadership at this point needs to be questioned. Heads will need to drop. If Everit cant turn things around before the tour ends he needs to be sacked.

Buthelezi is out of his depth as captain at the moment

Agree seem like they have no idea what to do when they have the ball and just cannot tackle or want to

 

[Groundhog]

Ulster look really poor. Bar Craig Gilroy, he balling.

 

[big ginger 8]

Stormers playing with good pace, not sure why Haley pulled out if the tackle there.

 

[big ginger 8]

Munster getting torn apart at the moment. He didn't score that though.

 

[JohnKA]

Seems the stormers only playing the first half last week was the same issue, still better than my poor Sharks

 

[big ginger 8]

This Snyman chap...

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

How do we go from 15 0 and could've /should've been more to losing the 2nd half 31 3?

 

[unrated]

How do we go from 15 0 and could've /should've been more to losing the 2nd half 31 3?

As John said still better than the atrocity the Sharks delivered. Roos is showing again and again how he is a future Springbok. Stormers at least showed some good intensity and intent with ball in hand.

Sa teams cant deal with momentum swings when ref starts blowing. They cant turn it around, instead just increase the penalty count.

 

[Groundhog]

Well thank absolute **** we started playing eventually. Pack all dug in well. O'Mahony and Coombes were our best players. Some stupid stupid play in the first part of the game, but fightback was good. Won't get many style points, but anyway when you're chasing a game you will always revert to type. Love to see RG get a try and the cheers to boot. Think that Healy deserves a few starts now. Carbery falling off tackles like crumbs off a croissant.

Stormers I though were really good to start and I thought we'd lost it after 25 minutes. Did not handle the momentum swing at all and didn't dig in. Again when the decisions went against them they couldn't stop the bleed. Some nice, nice backs though. Gellant will light this league up a bit for sure. Think they should have left their starting 10 on unless he was hurt. Their 8 was quite good and their sub 9 caused issues. Fitness again I think cost them here. Don't think they deserved to leave completely empty handed

 

[mdaclarke]

3 thoughts about the South African weakness so far

1. The Stormers and Sharks are both missing a lot of internationals. They will be different sides when they turn up.
2. South African club sides are not the best tourers but this time it is more difficult with new stadiums new pitches, including 4d and different weather conditions.
3. The Northern Hemisphere referees referee the game slightly differently.

In the long run I expect the South African teams to end up on a par with the Welsh team. I don't think they will be as good as the Irish teams.

 

[paddybrown]

Ulster look really poor. Bar Craig Gilroy, he balling.

Yeah, Ulster were really scrappy in attack - missing Duane Peel, perhaps? - but fortunately Zebre were very poor. They defended well to begin with, but they couldn't keep it up, and they never offered anything much in attack.

Gilroy's an excellent player. Stockdale and Baloucoune may be more impressive athletically, but Gilroy plays smart.

 

[Groundhog]

Yeah, Ulster were really scrappy in attack - missing Duane Peel, perhaps? - but fortunately Zebre were very poor. They defended well to begin with, but they couldn't keep it up, and they never offered anything much in attack.

Gilroy's an excellent player. Stockdale and Baloucoune may be more impressive athletically, but Gilroy plays smart.

It just seemed like they couldn't work three phases without a handling error. Even Gilroys two bits of magic were off wayward passes he managed to turn into heads up play. Maybe missing Peel alright or maybe just early season rust.

 

[big ginger 8]

Very inaccurate stuff so far. Two man advantage as well. COB looking understandably rusty after so long out.

 

[big ginger 8]

Baird dipped his hands in melted Kerrygold before coming on.

This is absolutely turgid stuff.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

How's olowofela played?

 

[Groundhog]

We have had some great advertisements for this new tournament so far. And then we had Dragons v Leinster.

 

[Redman7]

And people say this league isn't competitive...

 

[dullonien]

Dragons defense was immense to be fair. Their first up tackles were ferocious and really knocked Leinster off their stride. They were also great at the breakdown. Still some uncharacteristic errors from Leinster though.

Shame Dragons couldn't really fire a shot in attack though. Poot lineout + basic handling errors really meant they never got going.

An encouraging base to work off for Dragons though. For too long they've let themselves down with lapses in defense leading to easy scores for the opposition. Just need to get the backline going where they've got some talent too.