9 July 2024 #001
Welcome to the test season!
An electrifying 68-metre solo try to Tom Wright sealed victory for the Wallabies over Wales.(AAP: James Gourley)
Did you have a great weekend!
Wow, what a weekend, test rugby returned with a bang, South Africa v Ireland, New Zealand v England, Australia v Fiji, Australia v Wales, Samoa v Italy, Scotland v Canada, and Argentina v France. Bris covered a general wrap of the games and some news in the ever excellent Monday news which you can find here.
A different take on the Tuesday news
As Nutta has stepped away from the Tuesday news for a while, it is with some significant level of trepidation and imposter syndrome that I’ve picked up the bouncing Gilbert that is Tuesday news and will attempt to do my bit to move it downfield. And in doing so make us as a collective less productive in our work endeavours than we would be without this wonderful G&GR community. I’ll keep plugging away at this until they realise I have no idea of what I’m talking about, and ask me to stop.
For today’s news, I’m going to do player rating from the Wallabies test against Wales, and put together a team of the week from the games involving the Southern Hemisphere sides, then a little bit of news coverage, and of course over to the comments.
Player Ratings
I’m offering up the player ratings below based on my initial watching of the game, a second view of the mini-game, and some incidental news that I read today. I’ll use the traditional G&GR Rating system (with one small tweak to the 5 score) as follows, and will accept any positive feedback on what I got right.
Rating system:
10 – A legendary performance to go down in the history books
9 – Man of the match worthy performance
8 – Outstanding
7 – Good game, great in parts
6 – Solid performance
5 – Average, a pass mark
4 – Below par
3 – Had a bad game
2 – Tell your story walking pal
1 – A complete joke.
#1 James Slipper: Slips was more than solid at scrum time, made tackles, trucked the ball up, and delivered a genuine, solid performance. Looked to be troubled with his knee, hopefully it isn’t serious. 6
#2 Matt Faessler: The Fes was busy, good lineout and scrum work, and good footwork on his carries. 7
#3 Taniela Tupou: Led the charge in the front row in the scrum, destroyed the Welsh front row a couple of times, bagged a close range try, and most importantly had good discipline throughout his time on the field. 7
#4 Jeremy Williams: Played a lot of minutes on debut, solid contributions on both sides of the ball and looked at home on the big stage; congratulations to Jeremy, and here’s to many more games in Gold. 6
#5 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto: It’s great to see LSL back on the field for the Wallabies, seemed to be in all of the hard stuff, and even chased a chip kick through to regain possession and put us on the attack. Welcome back. 6
#6 Liam Wright: A great captain’s knock, ever present, seemed to have his head in every ruck, made tackles, was running in support, ran our lineout superbly and managed to steal a couple of Welsh throws as well. 7
#7 Fraser McReight: It seemed as though it wasn’t going to Fraser’s night in terms of individual influence on the game, and then, boom comes up with a critical steal late to repel the Welsh. Copped what might have been a team yellow card with the Welsh rolling maul penalty try. 6
#8 Rob Valetini: Bobby V was busy as well, and put on some solid hits throughout the game. It didn’t seem to be his most stand out performance, but was part of an effective starting forward pack. 6
#9 Jake Gordon: The commissioner got mixed reviews among the G&GR crew for his game, though was probably his best and most consistent game in gold. 7
#10 Noah Lolesio: Noah had to be feeling nervous, given his treatment by previous coaches and the inherent pressure of being the flyhalf. A bit of a mixed bag, not great kicking by his normal standards (place and general play), but as attested by Charlie, he was vigorous in giving the team direction. Was willing to mix the play up to counter the rush defence. Will be better for the hit-out and combo with the centres. 5
#11 Filipo Daugunu: Filipo returned to the wing after a very productive year at outside centre with the Rebels and didn’t seem to miss a beat, or a tackle that I can remember. Caught the high balls that he had to, ran good lines, and had enough pace and momentum to score in the right corner at the end of a great running line. 7
#12 Hunter Paisami: The Squatter was effective in the midfield, made his tackles, ran good lines, was evasive at at contact a couple of times, but was a little kick happy, at least once on advantage with no one chasing. Will be better for the hitout and combo with Noah. 6
#13 Josh Flook: It’s no fluke that Josh’s performance was solid, although I’m sure that he would’ve loved to see more of the ball. Combination of the Welsh defence and a little clunkiness in the inside channels contributed to a somewhat quiet game. Like Jeremy Williams, looks at home on this stage. 5
#14: Andrew Kellaway: Seemed to not have much of the play, good positioning as usual, and more than solid under the high ball. Will look forward to more fluidity from the inside backs. 6
#15 Tom Wright: Had a very assured game at the back, was solid throughout and absolutely spectacular in scoring a 60+ metre try to seal the game for Australia. When a lot of us were hoping he would kick for territory, he saw a different option, gassed it on the outside and put in a crazy step to score, I think untouched. 8
#16 Billy Pollard: Was solid when he came on. 5
#17 Isaac Kailea: Was solid around the field and a good debut, congratulations. 5
#18 Allan Alaalatoa: 7As came on at half time and had a decent hit out, good to see him back, and was solid. 6
#19 Angus Blyth: The big man was somewhat of a surprise inclusion in the team (according to the comments on Thursday and Friday), but repaid the faith of the coaching team. A good debut, looked physical and controlled in his debut, congratulations. 6
#20 Charlie Cale: The Brumbies speedster got some valuable minutes and looked at home in a forward pack that stood its ground against the Welsh. Ran some good lines to support and some athletic carries. Congrats on the debut and look forward to more of it. 6
#21 Tate McDermott: The attack seemed more potent once Tate and Tom Lynagh took the field. Some comments among the Craparazzi about loose passes. 5
#22 Tom Lynagh: Got some very valuable minutes and made positive contributions in attack to set up Wright’s try and defence. Looked at home and was composed to slot a nice conversion. Would have scored higher if he had more time on the park, overall a really solid debut. 6
#23 Dylan Pietsch: Not a lot of time for the talented Waratahs winger, but congratulations on the debut, and to do it by turning around some indifferent early Super Rugby form. 5
The new coach looked assured and thoughtful throughout.
Team Rating
Overall, I’d give the Wallabies a team rating of 6. As SBW said, they seemed to keep inviting Wales into the contest but found a way to win. Plenty to like as a first hit out, congratulations to the 7 debutants, and lots to build on for the coming matches.
Team of the Week
I’m going to put a massive disclaimer on this, I only watched the mini games so there was plenty of bits that I didn’t see in each of the games. The reserves are a combination of the players who came off the bench, or the next best in the position they started in.
Special mention to Desiree Miller for her 4 try haul against Fiji on Saturday, and she was almost away for a fifth at the finish.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
Other news
Did anyone else watching the Springboks game wonder if they were using mood lighting, or some darkened lenses on the broadcast cameras, it seemed like the lights were dimmed once the sun had gone down.
Reports everywhere that French fullback Melvyn Jaminet has been suspended, and sent home from the Argentinian tour after a video with reported hate-speech went viral. Credit to French rugby for the quick response as there is no place in society or our great game for those views.
Springboks legend Victor Matfield on Planet Rugby
In an article on Planet Rugby, Victor Matfield has supported South Africa’s move to Europe and the number of players that are playing in competitions there. The article identifies the additional depth that has developed in South African rugby as more players are playing in leagues around the world. There might be something to it with the Springboks being back to back world champions.
That’s it for me, over to you G&GRs.
