Another poor effort from the Wallabies, going down by nine to the Kiwis in Wellington.
I thought it was a better performance than last week, but once again a few key players let us down when we needed them most. Have a look and see what you think:
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James Slipper
Solid enough, before being carried off after 35 minutes. If I see him get the ball in space and dummy to Israel Folau again I will lose it. 5
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Stephen Moore
Not his best game. In fact far from it. Made a number of costly errors – missed tackles and knock-ons. Lineout and scrum were fairly dysfunctional as well. 4 [/one_third] [one_third last=”yes”]
Ben Alexander
Didn’t do enough. Scrum was poor, barely touched the ball. 4 [/one_third]
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James Horwill
Played a solid game in the tight. Nothing exceptional, but his carries were good. 6 [/one_third] [one_third last=”no”]
Rob Simmons
Virtually invisible. Which is not a terrible thing from a tight forward, but it was certainly a step back after his good effort last week. 4 [/one_third] [one_third last=”yes”]
Scott Fardy
A polished debut in trying circumstances. Made plenty of tackles, a couple of good runs and a nice steal. Added a bit of mongrel, and secured the jersey for a little while at least. 7 [/one_third]
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Michael Hooper
Industrious, but not outstanding. No game changing plays, just a lot of hard work in tight. 6 [/one_third] [one_third last=”no”]
Ben Mowen
A bit of a mixed bag. Some nice runs to get us over the gain line, but made a couple of blunders – dropped balls, missed tackles and penalties conceded. 5 [/one_third] [one_third last=”yes”]
Will Genia
Probably the worst I have ever seen him play. No threat in attack, shit kicking, poor game management (what was that triple cutout to Fardy on their line?). Maybe needs a week or two off. 3 [/one_third]
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Matt Toomua
Much improved on last week. Directed the attack well, and finally took on the AB line with a few nice runs. Kicked well too. Defence still needs a bit of work, but I reckon big things are on the horizon. 6 [/one_third] [one_third last=”no”]
James O’Connor
Again one of our best backs, though he didn’t get much time with the ball. Always a threat. Defence much improved on last week. 6 [/one_third] [one_third last=”yes”]
Christian Leali’ifano
Solid. Broke the AB line early, and had a few nice touches (including a nice pilfer). Just needs a bit more experience and composure. 6 [/one_third]
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Adam Ashley-Cooper
Barely sighted. A bit like Folau last week. Hard to say he had a bad game, but we need to get him more involved. 4 [/one_third] [one_third last=”no”]
Israel Folau
He didn’t have that much to do, but what he did was near perfect. A few big defensive plays, and a couple of really nice runs including a well-taken intercept. We still need to get him more involved – he’s dynamite. 7 [/one_third] [one_third last=”yes”]
Jesse Mogg
Just not quite ready yet. An improvement on last week, especially in defence. But where has his running game gone? You know, the one that saw him carving up Super defences on a regular basis. Just not offering enough at the moment. 5 [/one_third]
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Scott Sio
Came on for Slipper and played the last 45. I expected more. Scrum suffered, and he has no impact in attack. 4 [/one_third] [one_third last=”no”]
Sekope Kepu
Came on for Alexander and played the last 30. Scrum was under pressure, and he didn’t do much. Needed more. 4 [/one_third] [one_third last=”yes”]
Kane Douglas
Came on for Simmons, played about 15 minutes and did nothing except miss a few tackles. Poor. 4 [/one_third]
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Liam Gill
Came on for Mowen, but I didn’t see him do much. Game was gone anyway. 5 [/one_third] [one_third last=”no”]
Quade Cooper
Didn’t make as much difference as last week. Solid enough. 5 [/one_third] [one_third last=”yes”]
Tevita Kuridrani
Still not convinced. Was on for 15 minutes or so, but made no impact apart from one knock on. 4 [/one_third]
G&GR Wallaby Man of the Match:
Not many standouts this week, sadly. In fact there were no standouts. Forwards were industrious but never dominant, while the backs had a few good opportunities but couldn’t really convert. In the end I went for the Wallaby who I thought had the biggest effect on the final scoreline, and that man was Israel Folau. Everything he did he executed perfectly, whether it was big hits in defence or attacking out wide. His intercept salvaged some pride late in the game.
The patented G&GR ratings guide:
10 – A legendary performance to go down in the history books
9 – Outstanding performance: Man of the match shoo-in
8 – Excellent all-round game
7 – Good game with a few sparkles
6 – Solid performance
5 – Average – ho hum
4 – Below par
3 – Had a bad game
2 – Tell your story walking pal
1 – A complete joke
