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Written by Phooey
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Wednesday, 26 September 2007 |
Watching Rangi in the past two season as he enters
the line it's not hard to see why he was considered a centre in 2003, he
straightens the attack and holds the drift defence superbly and sets up those
outside him almost perfectly, giving them as much time and space as possible,
you very rarely see him throw a bad pass. His front on defence is pretty damn
good too and he's normally facing people at top speed in space (still wince
thinking about him taking down Vidiri at full tit in the 97 NPC final I thought
he'd been decapitated but he got up, shook it off and got back in position).
Add to that his kicking and reading of the game
learned playing in all his other positions you start to think that like Cullen
in 99 it was only his lack of time there rather than his ability that counted
against him.
What was going on at the base of the scrum with Rodney? Was almost as bad
as Masoe against France earlier this season. It's easy to say that the scrum was
falling apart and wheeling, but that just shows lack of judgment on his part,
the Scottish 8 showed a lot better ball-at-the-back skills than Rodney did. The
rest of his game was great, his partnership with Richie is good and his nuisance
value at mauls and rucks (the former often lucky to stay out of the ref's line
of sight) can't be undervalued.
I've heard on the vine that Robinson is causing a few problems in the
squad with his attitude to his injury, apparently he's losing confidence and
every time he goes out he expects his leg to give in. This isn't going down well
with the management as he's understandable depressed about the situation but
they're worried about the negativity. Word is that Filipo was next in line but
it's now Flavell due to injury. Wonder if Henry's been watching the ANZC and is
really sure about that...
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