Quote: Smiffy27 "When you play or coach you tend not to criticise but encourage ... even the worst players. I would not appreciate some of your comments if I was currently playing.
I liked Hayes BTW.
I trust Burgess & Sam over my opinion too. Burgess would have stopped the try but Tomkins ...no chance. 90% of half backs would not stop the tries. You have never tried to stop a big forward five yards out. But why do you slate individuals???'"
There is nothing wrong with calling out bad performances, lack of effort or players skill levels on these forums as that is what they are for. I'm one of the ones you're targeting with your rhetoric that if we do so we're bad people. These men play professional sport which is aired internationally on tv. They know comments will be made on their performances by professionals and fans. No one is making threats to their life here or insulting them personally.
When Drinkwater first made contact with Bachelor he was around 7.5 metres from the line at my estimate. As you have pointed out, Bachelor is a bigger player so DW should have gone low but he didn't. He tried to tackle up top and batchelor used his left hand fend to keep DW from getting a proper grip of him. He goes round the waist or below and that likely doesn't happen. Depending on the defensive system they were operating, it could have actually been kings fault as it may have been his job to tackle JB until he moves the ball on, at which point, he slides and covers Hiku.
I coach kids football and coached kids rugby for a short stint. When they're young it's true that it's much better to encourage but we're talking about grown men here. I also played the game for over 20 years. You can Google my name and I'm sure some old match reports will come up to validate this, as I don't hide behind an alias. I wasn't great, I have the stature of a garden gnome and the physique of a toothpick but with 7.5 metres until the line I'd have fancied myself to have a good chance of making that tackle from the side where there's hardly any impact from the running player to bump me off. I'd have gone for the hips/thighs and looked to slip down and squeeze his legs together. As much as I am no fan of Tai you should watch him. He does this regularly and shows how easy it can be. Goes low when tackling from the side and usually ends up slipping down to the knees or ankles and the player soon loses momentum, falls over or just stops.
