There were way too many moving pieces tonight and I think Madge tried to be too cute with the new interchange rules.
Bhunt starting 6, then into 9, then ended the game in lock
Mam on the bench and then into 6
Paix starting at 9, to the bench, then came back on to finish the game (why!!!)
Willison on the bench, then into the middle, then off for a HIA, back on at prop and then pushed out to second row
Patty's second stint was at prop because Bhunt went into lock, but it didn't seem like the timing was there for Bhunt at lock and some passes went astray
Talty had a second stint before the 17th player was used
There was just constant shuffling of 16 players so Madge could hold back using that last interchange spot as long as possible.
We lost Willison for a HIA like 1min after Haas went off... so Haas proceeded to come straight back on and I think played out the game from there?
In a normal situation with only 17, I daresay Tawha just comes on and plays in the middle, but he didn't want to commit to that 17th player that early.
When Willison switched out to backrow he was completely spent... but again Madge didn't want to bring on the natural left edge player in Tawha. Ezra puts the ball on Willison's chest with the line wide open and he drops it cold. I think if Tawha is in that spot instead of a gassed Willison he scores that try with ease.
Willison went off the field not long after that and then Madge finally committed to using Tawha.
It was just way too much shuffling... this is barely a team that can stick to one game plan, but instead had to adjust to like 4 different positional changes across the 1,6,7,9 and 13.
Starting Ezra off the bench was just not it... Paix and Bhunt were awful in their roles whilst Ezra was on the bench... he can't start that way again next week.
