Written Sunday 11/02/2007

THE REAL CRUSADERS STAND BACK UP,  REDS BATTLE TO THE END AMIDST A WEEKEND OF VERY UGLY RUGBY.

Hurricanes vs Chiefs equalled mistakeathon,  the Waratahs vs the Sharks equalled boreathon,  a reasonable match,  Reds vs Crusaders  and two games in the wet. The Hurricanes and the Chiefs were terrible,  truly awful with only the odd tiny bit of individual skill thrown in,  defence was terrible,  some dodgy refereeing and just bad skill,  dreadful lineouts.  The Force turned themselves around and played with some control to beat a dreadful Stormers,  but if you have trouble sleeping,  get a hold of the Waratahs vs Sharks game.  Up there with the worst I have seen,  ever.  Under 12's is better to watch.  Peter Hewatt had a rare off night with the boot,  but the Waratahs looked like each boot weighed 10 kilos.  Al Baxter went from Dreadful to Disgrace,  and the scrum went from mildly amusing to full blown joke.  On a crowd entertainment basis,  the other codes feel pretty comfortable.

REDS VS CRUSADERS: QR Queensland Reds started a little more slowly this week than last,  and did not get the opportunities in the opposition Red Zone that were presented by the Hurricanes.  They continued away with their assault through the middle but met a much sterner defence in close this week,  or even than the reformed or transformed Crusaders offered last week.

The Reds got belted in close until they got some combinations going,  ie more than one guy bashing it up,  and they found a couple of opportunities a little wider.

The Reds had their usual sleepy period midway through the first half,  but htis week found themselves down 14 to nil,  a character making or breaking score.  In fact I thought they were about to drop the bundle and get blown away by a very hungry Crusaders outfit.

Very much to their credit,  the Reds fought back,  and actually got in front and lead for a considerable period,  before the Crusaders finished them off at the end,  as the Crusaders do so often,  pour points into you in the last 10 to 20 minutes.  They do relentless so well.

Four clear defensive lapses,  or misses,  two of them from the recalled Lloyd Johanssen,  cost four tries,  and sides like the Crusaders do that to you,  severely punish your mistakes.

The first try from Stephen Brett,  (and I should comment that neither I or anyone else in the media know what defensive system Eddie is employing,  but I am going to assume it is either slide or man on,  and probably man on 10 out from your line),  you can see Lloyd is caught in no man's land,  feet planted shoulder width apart and basically stopped,  can't go forward,  can't go back,  hard to go sideways.  Smart backs quickly see this and put some footwork on you and big breaks or in this case tries usually result.  Man on or slide Brett was Johanssen's man and he missed him big time.

The second try,  don't remember who scored it,  but Johanssen went high on Casey Laulaula and missed him cold allowing him to get in behind the defensive line and  start the breakout leading to a try.  He needed to be stopped in a one on one tackle.

Berrick Barnes' attempt on Mose Tuiali'i was not good.  Berrick just grabbed him and hung on and was carried over the try line in an area where a dominant tackle was needed.

The fourth was a system failure.  The Crusaders had two guys attacking the line,  about 20 out,  the QR Queensland Reds had two guys coming over in a stagger,  Shifcofscke and Veratau.  Shifcofscke took the inside man who passed to the outside guy who scored,  effectively nullifying Veratau as a defender,  he was staggered to Shifcoscke.

Shifcoscke should have gone outside and Veratau clean up the inside,  that last try may not have been scored and the QR Queensland Reds may have picked up an all important bonus point.

A crooked lineout throw from Stephen Moore also resulted in 5 points of punishment,  aside from that the Reds lineout was awesome all night.

I thought Eddie should have left Berry on,  I thought that was a poor replacement option given the size of the battle and the age of the replacement.  Similarly Horwill (unless of course these two guys were injured),  he was playing the house down and was my pick from the Reds in week two.

The seemingly serious injury to McMeniman is/will be a big blow to the Reds,  he offers so much in attack and defence.

However,  the Reds did not give up and throw it away,  in fact they fought back more than once.  A tough task awaits in week three at Suncorp against the contrasting style of the Brumbies.

BRUMBIES VS AUCKLAND BLUES This game could have offered plenty,  but heavy,  heavy rain ripped it apart as a spectacle.  It was good to see Larkham back,  he is a wily old stager,  no question.  He seemed a little angry a few times in close ups.  Huxley was good at the back,  two good weeks for Julian,  only one brain explosion during the match.  Again George Gregan was very composed in difficult circumstances.  Local lad Gene Fairbanks was hot and cold,  and Mark Chisholm was off his best.  Gerrard (playing with and injury) and Rathbone worked really hard under trying conditions,  Julian Salvi and George Smith were great.  Al Campbell at captain though probably my best Brumby.

You will probably hear about how well the Brumbies scrummed.  I am afraid that the Auckland scrum is not one I rate,  and while I enjoy Afoa and Taumaupeaou as players,  they do little for me as props,  scrummaging props.  A game that could have gone either way,  and given than the Blues scored two tries,  probably ended up going the right way.

Trample the Weak,  Hurdle the Dead