First Half: Australian Barbarians 18 – England 13 18-13 to Oz A at oranges. Oz scrum is pants as expected, Oz backs more spontaneous and penetrative, as expected, with Rabbit O’Connor brilliant, as expected. So far he has all the points. Oz A could pull it off if they can hold out the Pom forwards in the 2nd half but there’s a few young guys to come on for a run and they don’t have big CVs. To their credit the Poms are not playing their normal stodgy game; they are dishing the ball out. If they start going narrow Oz A could be in a bit of strife in the 2nd 40 minutes. Second half: Final score 28 all The Oz bench did not front up so well in the 2nd half and England bovver boys ground them down. England was too powerful for Oz in the end. With 10 minutes to go they started to play a narrow game and the Oz forwards couldn’t cope especially in a series of scrums near their line when Oz got Weeks carded. England were unlucky not to get a penalty try then but they got a barge try anyway. Had they started that kind of game earlier they would have strangled Oz A. After the barge try they caught Oz A napping and scored in the corner and they were ahead, but then Barnes slotted a penalty to draw the game, then missed a long one on the final bell to win it. There were lot of positives for the Oz backs but not the T5 forwards. Ben McCalman had a few storming runs and was the pick of the backrowers. Valentine but for one of his silly protests when he should have been picking up the ball looked better than Burgess and Barnes launched his young backs well. JOC was the stand out player on the park but he went off early in the 2nd half. Cummins had a few good moments but dropping the pill a couple of times in space blotted his copybook. Chambers looked good at 13 and will play for the Wallabies one day. The Poms won’t have too many of their players breaking into the test squad least of all Charlie Hodgson and Matt Banahan, the flat track bully. Their best feature as expected was their pack work – scrums, mauls and barges which made the Oz forwards look like the babes in the woods that they were. Tait looked enterprising as he always does but some of the backs seemed surprised when they got the ball. Given the amount of T5 forwards who were missing is was a reasonable effort from Oz, but their scrums were right back to the bad old days. God help us if Cowan gets the 1 jersey for the test match.
Exercise to use Table of one row and two columns instead of normal 1/2 – 1/2 text columns – with right hand column having side panel look
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Left side heading Left side Heading – once table is set up go into Visual and create extra lines and centre and bold heading etc etc Left Left Left 60% wide 60% wide 60% wide 60% wide 60% wide 60% wide Right hand padding 8px. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. |
Right side heading Right side Heading – once table is set up go into Visual and create extra lines and centre and bold heading etc etc Right Right Right 40% wide 40% wide 40% wide 40% wide 40% wide 40% wide Black border — coloured background — text %%% reduced — text height reduced. Padding of 5px x 4 sides. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. |
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The above 60%/40% split in column width seems to work in a table of one row and two columns – yet using the non-table two column for text method is affected by %%%%s – [although standard 1/2, 1/2 or 1/3, 1/3, 1/3, or 2/3, 1/3 as fractions usage is fine.]
Using fifths as fractions does not work.
Note – In the 60%/40% split (example above) make sure that col style instruction after first table instruction still appears in the text tag. It seems to disappear from the text tag sometimes when the blog is updated (and maybe before publishing when a draft is saved also). Otherwise the blog may be at the mercy of browser zoom use after you update.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="12887 https://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/?p=12887">52 Comments
The ground was 75% full and the atmosphere was great. Many faithful out to watch 5 local guys (Force) and a good mix of Wallabies talent have a run.
It was great to see McCalman playing well; he was everywhere. I think he has been taking a leaf out of Hodgson’s book for approach and work rate.
Many of the talent that is likely to play on the weekend were pulled early. O’Connor, Hodgson and Cowan all given a jumper early. Even though Cowan was required to run back on.
Valentine was into everything but had a mixed game at 9. Much the same story for Cummins.
I felt for Barnes when his penalty kick after the final siren missed its mark. He looked crushed to not have been able to deliver the victory. Not to worry Barnes, save it up for a big game.
Refs were doing an average B Grade job, Steve Walsh will be happy it wasn’t televised. England took a half to find their guts and go for the line. Kicking is dull boys. The steaks weren’t high so seeing you have a go would have been more popular. Good on the crowd for letting them know all about it.
Great to give some young talent a run. The future holds the promise of a bright future.
My standouts from the game were definitely JO’C, McCalman & Edmonds. Barnes played pretty well too considering the surprisingly average service he was receiving.
JO’C should be given the 15 jumper based on that performance – solid in defense, under the high ball and lethal in attack.
I’d like to see McCalman get the lock bench spot for saturday, although I’m guessing they’ll stick with Chis. He’s played very capably there for the force in the last few S14 games and can provide extra backrow cover as well.
The scrum was definitely a bit worrying. I don’t think Cummins, Valentine, Hoiles and Chambers did their chances much good. A Faingaa was a little quiet as well, although pretty solid when he did see the ball.
The only role Cowan should play on the weekend is anchoring the team bus. Growden was also suggesting he will play on Saturday: where does all this Cowan love come from?
Cowan wasn’t subbed because he’ll be playing on Saturday, I hope. The only role he should be playing for the Wallabies is anchoring the team bus.
10,208 was the official attendance.
For what it’s worth, see following footage of the grounds during the pommie anthem and turn the sound off for your sanity:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTgNwQpg2q8
It’s time for Robbie Deans to bite the bullet and recall Al Baxter.
With news that Alexander will miss the rest of the International season comes the realisation that we do not have a TH prop in the squad that can anchor the scrum for the 3Ns.
An all NSW front row when Robinson and TPN return is our strongest right now.
JOC needs to be returned to the starting test 15 for Saturday.
Why wasn’t Kane Douglas given more time?
Playing Chapman in the 2nd row was a waste of time. While he can pull it off at S14 level he is too small for a test 2nd row.
Alexander is only out for another 4 weeks, isn’t he?
Nah, further assessments reckon that it’s going to be at least 3 months now.
Dan Palmer, just get him on board. He can play both sides of the scrum and is a much better bet now and in the future than Baxter. I can’t understand why they’re d*cking about with Ma’afu and Cowan, makes no sense
Why does everyone like Cummings, from what I have seen he is next to useless. Tonight he dropped balls, missed tackles and was ineffective in attack, he didn’t break one tackle. Perhaps I have missed all his good games?
You are on the money David. Nick Cummins also did SFA for the Force this year. Wouldn’t even chase at times.Poor skills and commitment all round. He must have photos!
he’s a joke, needs a haircut and 20% more skill
Fuz has to come back……cowen was rubbish and our scrum looked terrible all night…..with Robinson and Alexander and tpn out we just need to hold our own, we must hold our own and fuze is the man. If deans is to pick on form then it must include the front row.
Deans is stubborn when it comes to selections and won’t admit he is wrong eg. Burgess – instead uses the excuse of young players and learning curves as to the reason why we lose games and the selection certain players.
Chambers and Faingaa didn’t see the ball much in attack but they held their own in defence.
How bad was our ruck work? The poms turned us over easillyy.
our forwards run far too upright and got tickled under the ribs all night.
How did Douglas go? He has a lot of supporters on this site so would be keen to get a review.
The paper also said that Slipper steadied the scrum. Does that mean they stopped going backwards?
How bad was it. Ice skates or a yard or two?
Steadied is a real stretch of the imagination…I don’t know how we didn’t get a penalty try against us.
Slipper was garbage. At least Weeks had the sense to take it down and punt on the ref’s reaction.
I thought alexander wasn’t going to miss all internationals. Say it ain’t so.
Yup, apparently grade 3 medial, not grade 2 as originally thought…
LHP is even more a mess than THP atm. Baxter must surely now be recalled, and Daley (if fit) used on Saturday…
I would love to see a young front row of Palmer, Fitzpatrick, Slipper in the second Baa Baa game.
Both props have huge wraps as scrummagers and are big boys. Let them have a whirl.
Slipper was raped, pillaged and spat out by the English. He was less then useless. Cowan is a disgrace to his country.
If Robinson or Alexander are injured next year we cannot win the world cup. The cupboard is bare after Robbo, Alexander & Daley. The rest are useless.
Planer was distroyed every time he played for NSW.
I don;t understand why we are so terrible at scrumming. What is so hard about it?
i agree, Palmer is a very strong scrummaging tighthead. u will not find better in oz rugby at present. is young but we need to give him a crack.
Slipper must have something special as he only played 3 or 4 matches for the Reds, with only one start and to be fast tracked that quickly, well, time will tell.
What about kepu for backup prop, he did well at scrum time last year for the wobs when he replaced robinson. He’s also got lots of size which i love in a prop.
he’s injured too isn’t he?
Did anyone else notice that when Weeks was sent off, Cowan came on straight away as the prop…but no one else went off with Weeks.
The ref didn’t enforce the Baa Baas numbers, I’m pretty sure we played that sequence of scrums in the corner with 8 men!
Can anyone else verify this?
Hoiles went off
Hoiles did go off
cowan was steady but not great. didn’t do enough around the park to validate selection.
weeks was a mess. should have been carded earlier. must have been taking folding lessons from trestle-table baxter.
edmonds looked tired after fiji. like cowan i think he was picked for mobility around the park, over set piece ability, but he fell well short on both fronts (again like cowan).
second rowers were nowhere to be seen and hoiles didn’t do a lot.
macalman was probably the standout forward, and hodgeson was into everything, and linked the forwards and backs quite well (i think he was involved in one or two of rabbit’s tries). they both made an effort in the hard stuff, where others were standing off a bit.
Maybe Edmonds is just shit, I don’t think he did enough in the test against Fiji to warrant being tired 3 days later.
Edmunds played a massive role in the setting up JOC’s first try. The try of the year for Aus A.
Of course he looked tired! It was the first pro game he had started ALL season and then he had to start again three days later! The poor guy wouldn’t even know if he was supposed to be coming or going or whatsy or daisey!
Solid article. Am starting to like this blog.
What was Deans thinking playing Weeks at loosie? Our top two props (Robinson and Alexander) are both natural loosies, it’s the tight head side we need to develop depth on. Weeks got demolished but given he was on the wrong side of the scrum and had a huge S14 I can forgive him. Pek Cowan needs to switch to AFL, he can’t scrummage.
Faingaa and Edmonds are just warming the jersey for TPN.
Valentine has to be the number 2 halfback now. Burgess’ service against Fiji was his trademark awful. It shuts down the whole backline.
Cooper, Mitchell, Giteau, Ioane, Hynes and O’Connor (huge game) should be the backline for Saturday (AAC injured).
I’d leave Rob Horne at 13 and Ioane on the wing instead of Hynes. Otherwise I like your team.
100% agree Valentine service was far superior to Luck Bogus.
Fingers crossed Genius will be back and the tight 5 can get us at least 25% of the quality ball.
Horne and Beale stay at 13 and 15 in my books.
Hynes on the bench.
Valentine should be promoted. Passes were in front of Barnes and at a good height, nothing too high or low unlike aspergers who throws it into cooper’s boots or spiraling high and away from pocock’s reach.
If anyone needs to switch to AFL Dougs, it Berrick Barnes. He loves to kick, it’s his default option.
I couldn’t believe it watching him kick away THREE good possessions in a row in England’s 40m. All three kicks were useless. Two minutes later England are pushing our line and get a try out of it to put them in the lead.
Negative tactics trying to maintain the lead rather than extending it.
Couldn’t believe he went for the draw too, may sound idiotic for me to say this, but I would rather have seen them (a BaaBaas team, not Aus A) back themselves and go for the winning try.
Any one know when they announce the Wallaby team for the test match?
tomorrow
I think O’Connor should be there instead of beale, He played extremely well last night. I also thought Barnes had a pretty good game too, i do agree that he kicks a bit to much when he is in a good attacking position (but he still isn’t better than cooper and gitz if they gel). Hopefully Genia is available and our forwards step up, so we can see what the other backs can do with good ball. I thought the Oz A backs may have been better than the test team on Sunday, they were definitely more cohesive (could have been the opposition). Isn’t it great that the A team can get a bit of a run too, thought it was good that Fox covered the game too, hopefully they cover the next one too.
Deans admitted that he tinkered with the front row selections too much and blamed himself for Laurie Weeks not coming up to scratch at LH. Didn’t see the match so can’t comment beyond that.
Can anyone give me a rundown of Barnes Game?
And a breakdown of who did themselves favours and those who didn’t.
Yeah – as well as Beale has been playing JOC could not have done more to earn his place so I think you’ve got to give him a run. Beale on the bench.
sammy, I thought Barnes was so-so – reasonably solid but nothing outstanding. It’s funny – I might have a completely different opinion if he’d made that last kick. Is Barnes our next best 10? Sadly probably yes.
Fair enough. It was a bit of a shame that we didn’t get to see the Barnes 10, Giteau 12 plan last year.
Just saw an interview of barnes saying the draw and I quote: ‘it’s a bit like kissing your sister – you always want to win’
I think the real expression is cousin – must be the qld version ;)
I think cowan is being hard done by, hes proven at s14 level against the best that he can foot it with the best that SA ,NZ and Aus has to offer after he went back to loosehead from hooker.
He’ll learn from experience and get even better.
The english scrum last night would have been a better quality than the fiji pack from saturday, so I didnt think it went that bad, although a bit messy. When he came back on the scrum stopped back pedlling on his side immediately, and he was solid in the next scrum.
Any front rower knows that a strong scrumaging hooker makes a huge difference, thats why TPN is so vital to the Aus scrum. Fainiga and Edmonds dont even come close to TPN in that department.
Even when Pek played at hooker for the force their scrum looked very solid.
Its obvious that Pek knockers here havent watched any force games this year.
Yeah true, but from the Force games I was always impressed with the way he always stood up to the physicality and really got amongst it throwing himself around, but he just doesn’t seem to be the same in tests. I barely noticed him at ruck time on Tuesday. Maybe it’s Dean’s tactic of not committing numbers (does this frustrate anyone else at times?)
The only good thing come from not having a good scrum is that Australia are forced to attack from everywhere. This has been good fortune to our recent glut of attacking back line players. I can’t imagine that with Robinson, Alexander, TPN and Moore in the squad that we would see Quooper and Beale both start. Tactically we’re now forced to play expansively and take (calculated) risks. It’s an exciting time to be a Wallabies fan, but until we get some set piece parity with the big boys we’re always a chance of getting arse raped. That being said, I think that this is a good chance for the Wallabies to blood a lot of new front rowers, injuries have shown how low our stocks were, we can rectify this before the world cup year. Just think about the maturing youth coming through the backs with a decent forward pack with capable reserves.
Looks as though Big Al is most definitely out of the picture. I
t would have been nice to have him on the bench in case it all goes pear shaped on Saturday.
It could be the Tripod with only 1 cap between them. I would lean that way now considering that they did very well against the Bulls, Stormers and Crusaders in the scrum.
Their back 5 will also be far superior to the one we saw with the Baa Baas.
Is Simmons injured? These young locks need some time at a higher level and I was surprised to see Deans go with Chisholm and Chapman in the second row for the Baa Baas.
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