Boomerang comes back to bite?
It’s all doom and gloom for G&GR fans in the news. Even one of the well-received things the team did on Saturday night – the pre-match boomerang acceptance of the Haka challenge – infringes World Rugby’s rules according to Rugby Onslaught .
“Where only one team is performing a challenge, no player from the team performing the challenge may cross their own 10m line and no player from the team receiving the challenge may cross the halfway line. It is not mandatory for the team receiving the challenge to face it.”
How much common sense does World Rugby have? Will the Wallabies be fined?
Allan Alaalatoa out.
Nathan Williamson confirms what we’ve all been assuming: Allan Alaalatoa out of Rugby World Cup. He needs surgery to stitch his Achilles rupture back together (completed on Monday)
Juan Cruz Mallía might be out
And Nathan has more news, maybe this time that people weren’t expecting: Pumas fullback Mallia cited after Springboks’ Williams 11 second KO.
“Upon further review of the match footage, the Citing Commissioner deemed in his opinion the incident had met the Red Card threshold for foul play,” SANZAAR said in a statement.
Good move that – applying the laws of the game. Might have been an idea to do it during the match.
Taniela Tupou in
According to one of the sites that must not be named, he (Tupou) has travelled with the team to New Zealand to continue training with the squad. Not sure if he’ll be picked though. Obviously, the rib is not broken right through, so if they strap his left arm to his side with a cushy pillow and tell him to be more careful about the no arms tackle rule (perhaps only tackling to his right side) he should be good to go because he is clearly good at following instructions to the letter.
Rugby Australia World Cup adds get good reception
Something going right according to B&T Magazine:
Rugby Australia are now attempting to advertise their way out of their worrying PR/form slump launching a couple of witty ads starring the team’s coach, Eddie Jones. With the World Cup in France a mere six weeks away and the Wallabies looking at an embarrassing early exit, the bosses at Rugby Australia have clearly decided humour is the best approach to win back disenchanted and disinterested fans.
Player Ratings
Rugby Pass has some player ratings from Saturday’s match: Australia and New Zealand
| Position | Wallabies Player | Rating | All Blacks Player | Rating |
| 1 | Angus Bell | 5 | Ethan de Groot | 8 |
| 2 | Dave Porecki | 6 | Codie Taylor | 8 |
| 3 | Allan Alaalatoa | 5 | Tyrel Lomax | 7 |
| 4 | Nick Frost | 6.5 | Brodie Retallick | 7 |
| 5 | Will Skelton | 7 | Scott Barrett | 9.5 |
| 6 | Jed Holloway | 5 | Shannon Frizell | 7 |
| 7 | Tom Hooper | 7 | Dalton Papali’i | 7.5 |
| 8 | Rob Valetini | 6.5 | Ardie Savea | 8 |
| 9 | Tate McDermott | 5.5 | Aaron Smith | 8 |
| 10 | Carter Gordon | 5 | Richie Mo’unga | 8 |
| 11 | Marika Koroibete | 4 | Mark Telea | 9.5 |
| 12 | Samu Kerevi | 5 | Jordie Barrett | 8 |
| 13 | Jordan Petaia | 6 | Rieko Ioane | 7.5 |
| 14 | Mark Nawaqanitawase | 6 | Will Jordan | 8.5 |
| 15 | Andrew Kellaway | 6.5 | Beauden Barrett | 7 |
| 16 | Jordan Uelese | 6 | Samisoni Taukei’aho | 9 |
| 17 | James Slipper | 5 | Ofa Tu’ungafasi | 7 |
| 18 | Taniela Tupou | 4 | Nepo Laulala | 7 |
| 19 | Richie Arnold | 5 | Samuel Whitelock | 7.5 |
| 20 | Rob Leota | 5 | Luke Jacobson | 8 |
| 21 | Nic White | 5 | Cam Roigard | 8 |
| 22 | Quade Cooper | 5 | Anton Lienert-Brown | 8.5 |
| 23 | Izaia Perese | N/A | Caleb Clarke | 8 |
Average Wallaby score 5.5, and average All Black 7.9. If you scale these average ratings to a match score, the scoreline should have been 19 to 26. But, I’m not sure what a 0 is, or a 10. I’m new to this player ratings thing. Maybe the thing to do is work out how many players got a better score than their opposite number and then scale that, so we’d get 0 to 46 or something with this set of numbers. Not a single Wallaby scored better than their opponent, which is probably about right.
Only two Aussies got under 5- Koroibete and Tupou with 4. I guess a yellow card has to count against them, but you’ve got to leave scope for a 2nd yellow and a red by each player before they get 0. If a player goes on, runs around for a while, says a few encouraging things to the team, and doesn’t get sent off, it’s a 5 it seems. Maybe if you headbutt the referee during the kick off you get a 0.
We’ve got Scott Barrett and Mark Telea with 9.5. Half marks? These scores must have been done by a teacher. Make it out of 20? I reckon there’ll still be half marks, 18.5 or something. 10 does seem too high though, round down to 9, or were these guys 10s?
Angus Bell only 5? I question that. Tom Hooper a 7? Another question mark. I hope these are the ratings for Saturday’s match. Is Will Skelton living up to his early promise?
The Next Match
How far back do you need to go to find a next match turnaround bigger than what we face, that is, a loss bigger than 31 points turned into a win in the next match of the season? Well not too far back as it happens. In 2020, the Wallabies lost 5 to 43 to NZ, and the next week they beat them 24 to 22 – a 40 point turn around. In 1999 there was another 40 point turn around 15-34 in the first match and 28-7 in the 2nd. I’m starting to feel optimistic again. If Eddie hasn’t said it this time, I’ll say it: All Blacks better watch out. We’ve gone from a 1 in 8 chance of winning to a 2 in 23. Still in with a shot!
