Instant analysis of the Free Jacks win over Rugby New York 38-29 March 6, 2022
The good:
- Stating the obvious, the Free Jacks came away with the maximum points on offer to keep pace near the top of the conference.
- Although they did not put the game out of reach until very late, and also that it could have come apart easily, you got the sense that the Free Jacks were going to win and did not feel in trouble at all. Case in point – after having to make 275+ tackles in each of the previous games, the Free Jacks had “just” 178 tackles in this game, so it was somewhat easier using that measure.
- For the second consecutive game, no cards were issued to the Free Jacks, which is a major improvement over the start of the season. And how New York’s Kalolo Tuiloma managed to avoid a card in the first half remains a mystery to me.
- The Free Jacks mostly managed to keep the ball away from the power runners of the locals i.e. Ed Fidow. Narrow field? Crazy lines? Those aspects may have helped keep the ball in the middle of the field where is was easier to defend.
- The scrum was solid, and even more so when bench players came on. Although, I have no idea why some of those scrum penalties were called, especially in the first half.
The not- so good:
- Turnovers. Lots of them. By both teams, admittedly. Maybe the hard ground led to some of them, but ball security was lacking and led to scores not being made and keeping New York in the game.
- There were a few line breaks conceded in the first channel that the Free Jacks usually don’t give up. Emery and Fautai have game breaking abilities there and the Free Jacks had to scramble to prevent more damage.
- Last year, the rolling maul was a powerful part of the Free Jack’s game. Repeatedly in the games against New York, 5M lineout ball was wasted as the ball got held up and turned over. The penalties were not easily kickable, but not coming away with points on a couple of occasions hurt.
- How costly might the final try conceded be? It gave New York a bonus point that seemed out of reach and that point might come back to haunt the Free Jacks.