It is weird because there were, in both games, moments when a team had momentum on their side and had sucked the opposition into a tighter space, but there just is no execution in capitalising out wide.
I start to think that perhaps I'm missing the trick and it's actually more beneficial to kick ahead and rely on pressuring the receiver than trusting your backs to run it up.
That stats do support that to a degree, but surely it can't just be a blanket strategy that is always the best in every situation.
And if they do believe that is the best in every situation, then we may as well do away with backlines completely and just play with 14 bashers and a scrummie. But we don't pick teams like that so it must mean we don't fully believe that.
Perhaps it's just a case of our sides being forward dominant and that makes it a forward contest for 80 minutes. Like watching two great exponents of the jab. They might be excellent boxers and being tested by non jabbers will always be more exciting than watching 12 rounds of two guys jabbing each other to death.
The highlight of the weekend for me was probably watching the Sharks rally around AE. I'm liking the story that is developing there.
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The boxie, the pick and go, the up and under, the forward smash and bash. For the entriety of the Stormers/Sharks match, the ball barely moved past the 10 on either side. When a line break was finally made for a score in the second half, it was a prop passing to a flank. We all feel the Sharks are making progress, but that progress seems to be rooted in a better organized defense and a very limited structure of play based around kicking, kicking, and then kicking some more. Turnover or open play ball is simply booted away as soon as possible. On the attack just 10m outside the opposition 22, box kick. Box kick. Box kick.
The skills look abysmal out back, with handling errors galore and passes flying willy nilly into no man's land. I don't know if Jordan Hendrikse threw one decent pass all game - your flyhalf, the pivot, taking ages to make a decision while the Stormers snipers easily shot in to neutralize the guy receiving the delayed cutout pass.
The Stormers in Sacha have one of the most prodigious talents we've seen in a while, yet he's stuck playing a kicking game. Simelane for the second game in a row barely saw the ball at 13. Did Zas receive one attacking ball? Our backs have become little more than kick chasers.
The Bulls only unleashed a full game in the last 10 minutes when the Lions had all but given up - before that they literally bashed them into submission. Which is a fair strategy until you face opposition with physical parity and a little something else in the tank, like the ability to go more than three phases without spilling the ball. Fair enough, the Lions seem to want to play a more complete game, but their error rate trumps their ambition and their efforts to match the Bulls up front fell dismally short. Add to that their set piece woes and it's no wonder they got smashed by a side that hasn't exactly been setting the stage alight.