Recent content by Strewthcobber

The most frustrating thing about rugby for a numbers nerd like me - study after study has found no correlation between any stat that is actually measured and actually increasing your chance of winning* *I believe the one that does stack up, the team that kicks the most wins more often

Very interesting stats - I do wonder if they mean anything though? That great result against NZ was at Eden Park where we were pretty much never in the game - so it's interesting but hard to take too much from it? Comparing that game v the England game (which was the worst result) Carries...

22 year old getting his first international start. Hopefully the wiley old AAA can welcome him to test match rugby

Christie saying.......... CG injured - JOC (James O'Connor) in for "freshness" Ikitau selected over HP Jorgensen returns from illness over AK (Andrew Kellaway) Pietsch ill (vertigo) Tupou and Frost rotated Robertson and Tizzano preferred on the bench

LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto) didn't get a single carry when he came on for the England game. He's clearly not seen by Schmidt as a great option - whether that was injury or just not his role against the Poms

I suspect the answer to all selection questions this week, given how poor last week was, is Schmidt asking "will this player do their job in my attacking pod structure" (ie will we be able to string 20 phases together without giving up a turnover)

I suspect Frost paying the price for poor defencive effort and missing too many cleanouts last week. And you don't improve those things by playing LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto) Frost will be back

Christie reporting a calf.

I guess the obvious answer here is Schmidt doesn't think he's particularly good as a starting international 10 (and that's reflected in his record there - one win in a decade?), but unfortunately, it turns out he's fairly obviously better than any of the other options we have tried recently.

A calf strain. We should rename them to a Wallaby strain

This is such a strange conversation. Our last real threat, when we looked like a competant well-drilled team was the 21 phase, 35m march up the field at around 65mins, it was all one off passes and pick and goes. Italy were way off side for most of it. The tackle at 66:48 probably should have...

Is Gordon, C fit? have seen some conflicting reports on that

Cheika, Rennie, Jones, Schmidt is a list of coaches of the highest quality - by record and reputation. If that lot can't get performance out of a group of players, then the problem lies with the group of players.

Ikitau's relationship with coaches is the strangest thing I've seen in a long time. For some reason, very good coaches don't like what he's doing. -This from Christie yesterday

I think it will be the Tahs who have the most games in a row when they make the GF next year - 10 in a row