Canada vs. Georgia (23/06/2012 2:00 p.m. PDT)

[Canucks]

Thanks Pyschic, I'll let you guys know when the match gets archived and if the forst 6-7 minutes we missed are available and get a highlight package up ASAP. I'll probably collect my thoughts on the tour as a whole in the next couple of days.

I'm loving the backline, Trainor and Mackenzie are on fire, DTH looked his usual self today, Pritch had 21 points and was close to another try towards the end. I felt Fairhurst and later White were much better at distributing today. Evans was adequate at #10 which isn't his usual position.

The loose forwards I felt came through today especially in defence, Dala showed why he should have been starting before Chauncey even got hurt. Carpenter was immense and Ardron did well for a young player.

Still some question marks in the front row, the lineout throws by both Marshall and Pletch were horrendous, and Marshall had a pretty bad game, once again taking some dumb penalties that this time led to a card.

Tough game.

Front row: Marshall was terrible, really lost his composure quick in that game. I don't think he's an option at lineout. One of his issues at SFU was when he made a bad throw, he then proceeded to make 8 bad throws. Tiedemann should adjust better after a few games at hooker. Dolezel was quiet but in a good way.
Sinclair did well in lineouts, wish he had an opportunity at flanker. Hotson played well.
Carpenter and Dala were monsters today. Made a lot of key tackles. Canada had consistent ball going forward from both players.
Fairhurst/White had a much more composed game today.
Evans looks like a good option at 10 if ever needed. Mackenzie and Trainor were monsters out there, big tackles, big runs.
DTH was lethal on the wing.

Backs were great, forwards got kind of run down but what can you expect. Felt Georgia fought well during the second half.

[Little Guy]

I nearly forgot about Dolezel Canucks, and totally agreed nothing spectacular but held his own today after being schooled by Castrogiavanni in Toronto, a great rebound for him.

Sinclair and Hotson were definately more visible this week, last week they were fairly anonymous.

I guess we'll have to see how the CRC season plays out but at this point I wouldn't mind having Dala ahead of O'Toole in the depth chart. Kleeberger should be back around that time so we;ll have to wait and see how Crowley fits the puzzle together.

At Hooker, it's time to either see if Tieddeman can adjust or to give Ray Barkwill a shot if he's available in backing up Hamilton, Pletch should only be an emergency option at #16.

Edit: Also despite some odd pronounciations(even of Canadian players) I felt the broadcast this week was heads and above better than the coresports one in Kingston, the camera's picked up the action, and at least the commentary team were focused on telling us what was happening and not their golf games.

[Canucks]

I nearly forgot about Dolezel Canucks, and totally agreed nothing spectacular but held his own today after being schooled by Castrogiavanni in Toronto, a great rebound for him.

Sinclair and Hotson were definately more visible this week, last week they were fairly anonymous.

I guess we'll have to see how the CRC season plays out but at this point I wouldn't mind having Dala ahead of O'Toole in the depth chart. Kleeberger should be back around that time so we;ll have to wait and see how Crowley fits the puzzle together.

At Hooker, it's time to either see if Tieddeman can adjust or to give Ray Barkwill a shot if he's available in backing up Hamilton, Pletch should only be an emergency option at #16.

Edit: Also despite some odd pronounciations(even of Canadian players) I felt the broadcast this week was heads and above better than the coresports one in Kingston, the camera's picked up the action, and at least the commentary team were focused on telling us what was happening and not their golf games.

You mean these guys:

[Little Guy]

The try scorers for Georgia have been properly edited in to the previous post, here is a preliminary highlight package hopefully a better one comes out soon. While the number released may be inaccurate Rugby Canada are saying an attendance of only 3,661.

[Canadian_Rugger]

The try scorers for Georgia have been properly edited in to the previous post, here is a preliminary highlight package hopefully a better one comes out soon. While the number released may be inaccurate Rugby Canada are saying an attendance of only 3,661.

You think being the heartland of rugby in Canada they would actually get a half-decent attendance....

[Little Guy]

I'm really surprised by the number, will have to hear what Rusty thinks about it since he was there. It's been a long time since a test was held out in BC, November of 2009 which was a game moved from Russia to Canada with about a month's notice, than was supposed to be played at Thunderbird stadium but had to be moved again to Swangard and was played in horrendous conditions, I think it drew about 2,000. Here is the archive of that game....the last big test was that spring against Ireland which I believe drew quite well.

I know the forecast for the match against Georgia had originally been calling for bad weather perhaps this affected the late buying and walk up crowds.

Canada vs. Russia, November 2009, http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/3128989

[psychic duck]

Canadian press seems very biased towards their team in the match reports.

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/C...499/story.html

Here is an extract.

Canada, ranked 13th, was smaller, on the whole, than the 15th-ranked Georgians. But the Canadians outmuscled the visitors in scrums and on and near the goal-line as tighthead Jason Marshall and other forwards had a strong game literally and figuratively.

Firstly the Canadian pack was 8kg heavier than the Georgian pack. Some people think because of Gorgodze, Georgia are a bunch of giants, but in reality Georgia are not such a big team in terms of weight at least. At the World Cup, according to official stats, Georgia had the lightest hooker (Bregvadze), the lightest centre (Kacharava), one of the lightest props (Kakovin), the third lightest forward (Sutiashvili), and the joint lightest player (Abuseridze).

Georgia being giants is a myth just because Gorgodze is a giant, I'm not saying Georgia are tiny, but they are not the most bulky team, they have players over 6 foot, but not as many gym monkeys as other teams. If you noticed the Georgian number 8 over the weekend (Bitsadze), he is actually very skinny, and not particularly bulky, and not too heavy for a forward at 101kg. Look at the picture, he is skinny like a twig, and those arms aren't huge either.



Secondly, how did Canada "outmuscle" Georgia at the scrum? True the got a couple of penalties, but that was despite Georgia dominating. Georgia didn't dominate like they did in 2010, as obviously this tour there was the fifth choice loosehead and fourth choice hooker, but they certainly weren't "outmuscled", and were on top at the scrum, even if not as much as they were in 2010.

Thirdly how did Jason Marshall have a "big game", he got a yellow card, didn't exactly dominate the scrum, and his throwing was dire as Cymro said, and he didn't have a great match as Little Guy noted.

Fourthly the article notes at the beginning that Pritchard was "unstoppable". Now true he was okay with his kicking, but he was hardly rampaging up the field in a way that deserves the adjective "unstoppable", meanwhile the actual (and deserved) man of the match Mackenzie, just gets a mention that he did a pass, when he actually deserved the most praise from that match.

The Canadians on here seem to be better than their press!

[Little Guy]

Here is a superior highlight package, which features the DTH Van De Merwe try, unfortunately I also feel it features absolutely crap music.

[psychic duck]

Here is a superior highlight package, which features the DTH Van De Merwe try, unfortunately I also feel it features absolutely crap music.

I'm fed up of Kviri-crap-vili in the Georgia team, he was very good in the 2007 World Cup he was 23 then but has never progressed since, and has now been regressing steadily for the past year or so.

I hope for that attempted "tackle" for DTH van der Merwe's try that is him finally dropped. That was simply pathetic, Kvirikashvili just let him run past. Add that to the intercept pass and he had cost Georgia 14 points plus his missed kicks.

Also Kvirikashvili messed up big time against England in the World Cup with his kicks, and was inconsistent during the ENC, some were saying he should have been dropped earlier, now most Georgians are agreed that Kvirikashvili should be moved aside as well as Irakli Abuseridze who spends more time appealing to the ref than doing his job these days, he has been a good servant for Georgia over the years but now aged 34 he's not playing well and somebody else should be played.

[Toko_11]

Half backs did look terrible in this game. what i didn't understand is why do the coaches keep testing young players in the pack(where we have good depth and tons of bright young talent) but ignore the fact that we don't have nearly enough replacements for our backs. I also didn't s the reason behind taking samkharadze while begadze played better than both abu and him. Its good we found Todua, but we will soon need a replacement for Machkaneli(who I admit was impressive in the last game) but is getting old and isn't as effective as he used to be. I'm hopeful for sharikadze and before he's ready Zibzibadze is pretty good too. n13 belongs to kacharava and i don't want to see anyone else there tbh. 10 and 15 are the real problems for us. not only do we have crisis in the national team but n10 has been a weak spot in our youth sides as well. Malaguradze can be very unstable, his form changes ten times a day it seems. khmaladze hasn't been given enough chances to prove himself. at 15 we had young beka Urjukashvili also few years back Barkalaia was looking alright but i don't know why both of them suddenly vanished from the radar while kiassashvili was brought into the team who I've seen plenty of times but I can't see his place in the national team(unreliable to say the least)

[Toko_11]

Canadian press seems very biased towards their team in the match reports.

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/C...499/story.html

Here is an extract.



Firstly the Canadian pack was 8kg heavier than the Georgian pack. Some people think because of Gorgodze, Georgia are a bunch of giants, but in reality Georgia are not such a big team in terms of weight at least. At the World Cup, according to official stats, Georgia had the lightest hooker (Bregvadze), the lightest centre (Kacharava), one of the lightest props (Kakovin), the third lightest forward (Sutiashvili), and the joint lightest player (Abuseridze).

Georgia being giants is a myth just because Gorgodze is a giant, I'm not saying Georgia are tiny, but they are not the most bulky team, they have players over 6 foot, but not as many gym monkeys as other teams. If you noticed the Georgian number 8 over the weekend (Bitsadze), he is actually very skinny, and not particularly bulky, and not too heavy for a forward at 101kg. Look at the picture, he is skinny like a twig, and those arms aren't huge either.



Secondly, how did Canada "outmuscle" Georgia at the scrum? True the got a couple of penalties, but that was despite Georgia dominating. Georgia didn't dominate like they did in 2010, as obviously this tour there was the fifth choice loosehead and fourth choice hooker, but they certainly weren't "outmuscled", and were on top at the scrum, even if not as much as they were in 2010.

Thirdly how did Jason Marshall have a "big game", he got a yellow card, didn't exactly dominate the scrum, and his throwing was dire as Cymro said, and he didn't have a great match as Little Guy noted.

The Canadians on here seem to be better than their press!

our scrum is so great if you don't lose 50 feet against them its considered "dominating" nowadays hahahaha. I wouldn't say I'm angry I also thought we were losing scrums until i remembered that you don't actually need to drag your opponent all across the field to consider the scrum "won"

[Little Guy]

It's been a long time since I've been this steamed at someone in the Canadian rugby community but BCRugbyNews editorial justifying the low attenadance got me going espeically the part where James Pritchard is demeaned, I even had to post a facebook comment I found it so ridiculous....a shame because I usually enjoy Mark's site and his commitment to the game. For him to quote "Clyde" from canadianrugby.ca was pretty out there, Rusty had a great retort however on the aformentioned website.

http://bcrugbynews.com/show_news.cfm?ID=802

[rusty_lock]

Canadian press seems very biased towards their team in the match reports.

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/C...499/story.html

Here is an extract.



Firstly the Canadian pack was 8kg heavier than the Georgian pack. Some people think because of Gorgodze, Georgia are a bunch of giants, but in reality Georgia are not such a big team in terms of weight at least. At the World Cup, according to official stats, Georgia had the lightest hooker (Bregvadze), the lightest centre (Kacharava), one of the lightest props (Kakovin), the third lightest forward (Sutiashvili), and the joint lightest player (Abuseridze).

Georgia being giants is a myth just because Gorgodze is a giant, I'm not saying Georgia are tiny, but they are not the most bulky team, they have players over 6 foot, but not as many gym monkeys as other teams. If you noticed the Georgian number 8 over the weekend (Bitsadze), he is actually very skinny, and not particularly bulky, and not too heavy for a forward at 101kg. Look at the picture, he is skinny like a twig, and those arms aren't huge either.



Secondly, how did Canada "outmuscle" Georgia at the scrum? True the got a couple of penalties, but that was despite Georgia dominating. Georgia didn't dominate like they did in 2010, as obviously this tour there was the fifth choice loosehead and fourth choice hooker, but they certainly weren't "outmuscled", and were on top at the scrum, even if not as much as they were in 2010.

Thirdly how did Jason Marshall have a "big game", he got a yellow card, didn't exactly dominate the scrum, and his throwing was dire as Cymro said, and he didn't have a great match as Little Guy noted.

Fourthly the article notes at the beginning that Pritchard was "unstoppable". Now true he was okay with his kicking, but he was hardly rampaging up the field in a way that deserves the adjective "unstoppable", meanwhile the actual (and deserved) man of the match Mackenzie, just gets a mention that he did a pass, when he actually deserved the most praise from that match.

The Canadians on here seem to be better than their press!

The CP wouldn't know a scrum cap from a cricket bat and this author is a hockey guy who just happened to get asked to cover a rugby game. He also covers CFL Football so I suspect some genius down at CP said "Hey isn't rugby kind of like football, send Monte down to cover that thing down in Vancouver"

[rusty_lock]

I'm really surprised by the number, will have to hear what Rusty thinks about it since he was there. It's been a long time since a test was held out in BC, November of 2009 which was a game moved from Russia to Canada with about a month's notice, than was supposed to be played at Thunderbird stadium but had to be moved again to Swangard and was played in horrendous conditions, I think it drew about 2,000. Here is the archive of that game....the last big test was that spring against Ireland which I believe drew quite well.

I know the forecast for the match against Georgia had originally been calling for bad weather perhaps this affected the late buying and walk up crowds.

Canada vs. Russia, November 2009, http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/3128989

Sorry about the delay in replying it has been a chaotic week. There is no other way to spin this except dissapointing. The crowd seemed larger to me but I can't imagine RC under reporting the number so we have to go with what they advertised. I think weather might have been a bit of a contributing factor. The weather out here has been absolute shite for the whole month of June and the forcast for Saturday was especially dire. We were supposed to get a thunder storm with heavy rain, fortunately it didn't show up until after game time but the forecast was there and it may have contributed to the crowd. You are right LG, the Ireland game drew extremely well. The crowd was around the 8500 number. Not sure what the difference was. Ticket prices were definately higher. I paid 25 bucks each for Ireland. This time I paid 48.75 each and that was the early bird price. I don't know what you would have paid if tried to buy in the last 3 weeks. I'm certain that that had an impact also.

The Russia game is really not something that you can look to as any indication of support. The organization was a disaster and the weather was absolutely horrible. I remember well LOL. The wind was blowing torrential rain nearly sideways and the temp was about 3 degrees. I don't think it could have been any worse for a game of rugby.

Overall, the folks that were there were enthusiastic just not in the numbers that anyone would have hope for.

I have a few pics I took at the game but I have no idea how to post them

[rusty_lock]

It's been a long time since I've been this steamed at someone in the Canadian rugby community but BCRugbyNews editorial justifying the low attenadance got me going espeically the part where James Pritchard is demeaned, I even had to post a facebook comment I found it so ridiculous....a shame because I usually enjoy Mark's site and his commitment to the game. For him to quote "Clyde" from canadianrugby.ca was pretty out there, Rusty had a great retort however on the aformentioned website.

http://bcrugbynews.com/show_news.cfm?ID=802

I often read Mark Bryants blog because he has great info ablout the local goings on but you have to understand that MB has significant bias and can be quite acidic when it comes to anything relating to the National body. Marks bias is, Island first, BC second, Canada third. If you have been reading BCRN for a long time you know that he has actually gotten better. Some of his old editorials were absolute hatchet jobs on Richmond Hill. He has utter and complete disdain for everything that RC do so.

Clyde is whanker who is bitter about everything that National team does. Maybe he was overlooked for selction in 1993 or may his son was overlooked now, I have no idea. Mostly I just ignore posters like him, Thankfully I believe they are a dying breed in Canada. Most of us are pretty optimistic now.

[Little Guy]

I often read Mark Bryants blog because he has great info ablout the local goings on but you have to understand that MB has significant bias and can be quite acidic when it comes to anything relating to the National body. Marks bias is, Island first, BC second, Canada third. If you have been reading BCRN for a long time you know that he has actually gotten better. Some of his old editorials were absolute hatchet jobs on Richmond Hill. He has utter and complete disdain for everything that RC do so.

Clyde is whanker who is bitter about everything that National team does. Maybe he was overlooked for selction in 1993 or may his son was overlooked now, I have no idea. Mostly I just ignore posters like him, Thankfully I believe they are a dying breed in Canada. Most of us are pretty optimistic now.

I'd thought he'd turned a corner, as I had been reading the blog for some time and I stayed away for a while when things were(admittedly) at a low point for the national team. I returned to reading it around a year and a half a go and hadn't had any issues until now. I don't actually mind some of his arguments as to why attendance was low, I just felt it was written in very "defensive" manner, to put it kindly.

Good to hear you enjoyed yourself at the game Rusty, and agreed about the poster from the other forum...anyone who would take a gratuitious shot at James Pritchard after all he's done for the Senior's Mens team program is someone of bad judgement and taste.

Edit: A couple of extra tidbits, Jamie Mackenzie was having foot issues and had to actually get them x-rayed this might be why he missed the tour. Canada vs. Italy was played on Friday because the ORU refused to move match days in two consecutive weeks(actually worked out Friday was a gorgeous evening, Saturday was hot as heck).

It looks like Barkwill is returning to the Blues this August to try and crack the national side for the November tour.