Rugby Stocks

As mentioned previously, I was very unhappy with the Waratahs. Their attack looked good (I especially loved the offloading!), but then a mistake would kill the progress. The lineout was embarrassing, the scrum was hot and cold. But the defense... Les, what the heck happened?! 80% of the time it was fine, but then the Tahs would look completely lost and create very soft try scoring opportunities for the Chiefs... And then, the kicking game... Kurtley missing in point-scoring opportunities, and while the tactical kicking was a little better, Lachy kicking out on the full twice? On the flip side, I felt the Chiefs were just as unconvincing (if not more so).

Amazingly, it seems that the new rules are still confusing fullbacks across the comp two weeks in.

Also, for some reason, all the Aussie teams are looking a little weak when it comes to the breakdown. Which is a bit strange, because two or three years ago that's where we used to dominate. I suspect it is due to philosphical change than talent (i.e. maintaining discipline along the line, rather than sending more guys) but I haven't looked closely enough to tell.

Based on Week 2, Luke Burgess most definitely loses his bench spot on my Wallabies backline, and Josh Holmes claims that spot. Burgess was not the impact player he was last week, and while Holmes killed a try scoring opportunity with an errant low pass, he generally looks like a solid and athletic halfback. Kurtley Beale was one of the few Waratahs I was particularly happy with, and while he still needs to develop into his full potential, he staves off Berrick Barnes through his solid direction (Barnes comes off as a role player rather than a leader) and his freakish ability to create opportunities.

There's noone really grabbing me yet at Center, and I'd say Timana Tahu's stock went down a little bit, but noone went signifcantly went up. The most intriguing spot turns out to be fullback. Chris Latham continues to be the star performer, but he'll unfortunately be playing for Worcester at Tri-nations time. Julian Huxley's quickness and accurate kicking made his stock rise, and Drew Mitchell looked very dangerous filling in for the injured Cameron Shepherd. Meanwhile, the stock for my two incumbents (Schifcofske and Lachy Turner) both went down. An interesting competition developing at 15, unlike the Centers, which I'd be quite worried about if I was Robbie.

Final comment is with regard to the Reds. I think they have a real nice guy and solid performer at captain, but for the second week in a row this very talented roster looked clueless at many critical moments of the game (this time losing). With hard core veterans present on the roster to go with the young talent, if I'm Phil Mooney I'm taking a very hard look at the leadership group, if not the captain, and really working out how I can get better direction from those guys at game time.

Then again, gotta be careful what you wish for -- don't want the Reds peaking when then they play the Tahs :)