Western Force v British & Irish Lions - 5/6/13

[Saintjay]

Healy cited adding insult to injuy.

 

[Tony Manx]

Healy cited adding insult to injuy.

If there is any physical evidence on the arm of that....person.....it may be difficult to prove that the SH actually shoved his arm into the Healy's mouth and with Healy's recent disciplinary record, that may just be a problem for him on this tour and maybe into next season...discuss?

I look forward to hearing that he has been cleared.....

 

[psychic duck]

GIF of the biting incident. Nothing conclusive, but Sheehan's hands is clearly near Healy's mouth. I wonder whether there was bite marks as that was what got Hartley guilty despite no clear video evidence.

Another GIF, that clearly shows that AWJ was the wrong person sin binned. Should have been BOD.

 

[dullonien]

Another GIF, that clearly shows that AWJ was the wrong person sin binned. Should have been BOD.

I thought that at the time. But they didn't show a replay.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

To my, admittedly biased, eyes it looks like Sheehan has stuck his finger in Healy's mouth and won't take it out.

 

[j'nuh]

To my, admittedly biased, eyes it looks like Sheehan has stuck his finger in Healy's mouth and won't take it out.

That's what I'm thinking. If Healy bit down to get his mouth free from Sheehan's fingers and it left marks, the evidence will be against Healy, but I wouldn't be upset with him at all.

Corbs has the potential to be "the 2013 Croft".

 

[Tony Manx]

GIF of the biting incident. Nothing conclusive, but Sheehan's hands is clearly near Healy's mouth.

Looks to me, biased again, that Sheehan should have been cited for attempted gouging offence of the mouth........................

 

[UlsterRugby2012]

As I did it with the first match, I'll try to give my opinion of individual performances.

01 Cian Healy - 6/10. Struggled a little in the scrum which was surprising. Carried well and defended strongly whilst on the pitch. Unfortunately god injured before he could turn things around in the scrum (I would have backed him to do so).
02 Rory Best - 5.5/10. Maybe a slightly harsh score, but I felt that his lineout throwing was a little off on occasion (I thought the first lost lineout was an overthrow from him). Not as dynamic in open play as his usual standards dictate.
03 Dan Cole - 6/10. Looked solid in the scrum, but not as dominant as Adam's display the other night. A little quiet for his standards in open play as well. Needs to step it up a notch or two to compete for a starting test spot.
04 Alun-Wyn Jones - 7/10. Worked tirelessly, and did a huge amount of graft. A couple of small errors including his yellow card, and the dropped re-start. I think there's a little more to come from him.
05 Ian Evans - 6/10. Quiet game from the Ospreys man. I'm sure there was plenty he did that I missed, but he certainly didn't stand-out.
06 Tom Croft - 7.5/10. Strong game from Croft, doing what he does well.
07 SOB - 8/10. Dynamic all round game from SOB. Carried well and linked well with those around him. Rushed out of defence to allow an easy Force try though.
08 Jamie Heaslip - 8.5/10. Tempted to give him a 9. It was an all out rampaging display. Really one of the best displays from Heaslip in years. The battle between him and Faletau is going to be awesome, with Heaslip edging it atm.

09 Conor Murray - 7/10. Did a lot of stuff well, but was a little slow on occasion.
10 Johnny Sexton - 8/10. Ran the show. Some great distribution really got on the outside of the Force. Classy.
11 George North - 8/10. Was everywhere and beat defenders every time he touched the ball. Lovely offload for BOD's first try. The only thing he didn't do was score.
12 Manu Tuilagi - 7.5/10. Very good display from Tuilagi, showing a nice variety to his game. Oddly enough, I thought his carrying could have been a little stronger, with North eclipsing him in that regard.
13 BOD - 8/10. Shows once again that he's a master at playing off direct players. He's a superb support runner, always offering an offload option for the likes of North, Tuilagi and Bowe.
14 Tommy Bowe - 7/10. Started on fire, and had an excellent first half. Offered some great running lines in midfield, and finished well for his try. Maybe dropped off slightly in the second half, but still an overall good display.
15 Leigh Halfpenny - 8/10. Maybe the pressure was off, but his goal-kicking display left me almost speechless on occasions. Every one went straight through the centre, even though most were from out wide. Solid in other aspects of the game, offering himself in support. I'd still like to see him hitting the line from deeper and with more purpose in attack.

16 Tom Youngs - 6/10. Another solid display from the hooker off the bench. Noticed him putting in a few very solid tackles during his time on the pitch.
17 Mako Vunipola - 8/10. Made a huge impact after replacing the injured Healy. Looked strong in the scrum, but it was his carrying that really stood out, always breaking tackles and getting over the gainline. Coupled this with a few nice offloads and a try and I couldn't ask for much more.
18 Matt Stevens - 6/10. Seemed to come on and do well. Again I noticed a couple of good tackles, and the scrum held up fine with him on the pitch.
19 Geoff Parling - 7/10. Made an impact with a nice try and a couple of decent carries.
20 Toby Faletau - 7.5/10. Came on and carried on from where he left off in Hong Kong. Took over the restarts and was solid there again. Put in a few nice touches again.
21 Ben Youngs - 7/10. Was happy with his contribution. Added a little more zip with his speed to the breakdown and passing.
22 Owen Farrell - 7/10. Much happier with his contribution this time. I think that early try really helped him gain some confidence and he looked more comfortable because of it.
23 Sean Maitland - 6/10. Only got 7 or 8 minutes, so I'm not going to be critical of his play. Maybe his defence a little suspect during his time on the pitch, but I'd need a second viewing to really check.

Agree with most of this, but Faletau a 7.5? Granted he wasn't on for much, but did he really do much?
One of the best performances by Heaslip in a while would definitely bump him up to a 9. Maybe H/P up to a 9 too, although he isn't great in attack, we've two world class wingers so we can afford to lose the attacking threat of Hogg or Kearney. I don't think I've ever seen a kicking display quite like that, lets hope he can replicate that in the tests.

 

[McTallshort]

Healy cited adding insult to injuy.

Are we just assuming Healy is innocent then? He has been cited and normally players only get cited when there is some evidence there.

 

[ratsapprentice]

I don't think I've ever seen a kicking display quite like that, lets hope he can replicate that in the tests.

It can't be overstated how insane his kicking was today.

 

[dullonien]

Agree with most of this, but Faletau a 7.5? Granted he wasn't on for much, but did he really do much?

I thought he did quite a bit for the short period he was on the pitch. Basically I thought he had a slightly bigger impact than Youngs, Farrell and Parling (although Parling did score a try) who I gave 7's.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Farrell got a try too
Surely Faletau should be on 7 for throwing the ball straight into touch?

 

[dullonien]

Farrell got a try too
Surely Faletau should be on 7 for throwing the ball straight into touch?

Didn't quite go into touch, he retrieved it then did a nice offload to Vunipola I think. Lucky that it didn't go into touch though.

I concede that I probably have him .5 too high. If its the only issue though, I've done better than I usually do!

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Didn't quite go into touch, he retrieved it then did a nice offload to Vunipola I think. Lucky that it didn't go into touch though.

I concede that I probably have him .5 too high. If its the only issue though, I've done better than I usually do!

You can probably go ahead and take 5-6points off of AWJ, Evans and Halfpenny as well.
Then it'd be about right

 

[Peat]

Didn't quite go into touch, he retrieved it then did a nice offload to Vunipola I think. Lucky that it didn't go into touch though.

I concede that I probably have him .5 too high. If its the only issue though, I've done better than I usually do!

Go on and give Heaslip that 9 while we're nitpicking

 

[psychic duck]

The try missed tackles.

 

[Peat]

The O'Brien one was just stupid.

The Sexton one... ah, you can't say anything other than "He should stopped it from there" but

- O'Brien goes straight at the guy at the base giving Sexton no inside man. He's got men outside him, he cannot rely on anyone inside him and his first priority is to ensure he is not stepped on the inside. His body is initially turned that way, before coming around to face flat on and checking. Not ideal for making that tackle

- Tuilagi, the outside man, is light years away. Which is kinda reasonable as he's got 12 running a direct line at him, but isn't with Sexton concentrating on his inside at the start of that phase Tuilagi must be ready to pick up anyone attacking Sextons' outside shoulder. He doesn't, he's not close enough. For my money both he and and Sexton could have been tighter to the initial breakdown - but then who is outside of North? But if there's no one outside of North, why are only three guys defending the openside?

- Anywhere else on the pitch and no one would be complaining about what Sexton. He's stopped the guy more or less on the tackle line. Unfortunately that close, its a try. I appreciate that's not good enough and you change the way you defend the line because of that but to me, it mitigates a little.

Ultimately, I look at the second try and see a systems failure. O'Brien-Sexton-Tuilagi fail to present a defensive line, leaving Sexton isolated and on his heels for a crucial split second. I also think it fair to ask what both Halfpenny and Cole were doing stood behind the ruck. If you're being really harsh, you look at whether Murray could have got back into the defensive line any quicker. Also, Vunipola was dozier than stoned judge in the drive that led to the preceding ruck iirc.

 

[irelandfan123]

Did anyone notice that Tuilagi missed at least four easy tackles using the trademark R'OG swinging arm?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

No, and stats have him down as missing 1 tackle.

 

[Twebby]

Presumably IF he were to be found guilty of biting then Healy would be banned for at least 8 weeks whether Sheehan put his hand into his mouth or not?

And presumably he will also be lambasted for months as a horrific human being?

Just asking the question IF he were to be found guilty...