QLD Reds vs Canterbury Crusaders

Sat 6 March

Ballymore

Ref:  Tappe Henning

Canterbury 20 def QLD 17

Halftime     6 to 7

Match Photos

You have got to love free tickets to the rugby especially when they are on the 22 and did I mention free!

The biggest joke of the night apart from the refereeing standard was that they tried to make me be upstanding for the new Reds anthem.  I was actually genuinely surprised when the bulk of the crowd was stood up for that dribble. 

Anyway as this is so late I’ll just run over the basics.

Merhts was very rusty.  Some good bits mixed in with some poor execution.  After spending a lot of time worrying about him he really was quite disappointing.  I still don’t know why Carter isn’t running the show at 10.

QLD were genuinely looking the better side in attack than the Crusaders.  Hynes, in particular, was electrifying.  He had a good shot at the corner flag and the clever grubber that allowed Kefu to score in the second half was a classy piece of work.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you about Hynes and I am expecting him to have a big one against the Blues now that his confidence is up and half of the Blues backline is injured.

While Roe’s bust through the guts before the half time hooter deserved a try.  He is starting to really find his feet in the no. 8 spot now. While Steve Kefu is genuinely threatening to break the line every time he touches the ball.  If there was someone running off his hip for the pop pass it would be very interesting to see if the half break would be exploited.

The lineouts are good but the scrum is still raw and needs a lot more experience in the front row.  The breakdowns could have been tightened up but when you are playing McCaw even if you get parity at the breakdowns and you are doing well.

Canterbury played well and it was interesting to see QLD go for the tries while the Crusaders went for the points.  And Carter did make us pay. While the inability to counter a rolling maul was not as frustrating after seeing Flatley drop the ball cold with an open line in front of him to win the game.  Arrrgh!

It was a great game to watch with plenty of passion by both side but my biggest bitch was the refereeing.  Bloody hell after a breakdown there is no way you can get tackled from behind by a player trying to get back on-side, Tappe. It happened twice, it was very noticeable at the game but not so in the replay I watched the next day.  Both times when QLD were hot in attack.  Not impressed. 

Oh well time to see how quickly QLD can take apart the keystone cops next weekend.  Thanks Chiefs.