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Moses, a sincere thanks. One of the many worthy value-adds from GAGR. Especially when so much of the supposed expert commentary is a 'statement of the bleeding obvious' or a personal commentator prejudice or player preference that is irritatingly repeated (in one form or another) game after game...

rsea, I know you were half joking, but it's a sound suggestion and worth discussing. As I've noted elsewhere, Gits' actual performance and consistency in key, higher-pressure moments over the last 12 months is, on balance, of concern. Could be 'the Ponting syndrome' - great player in slow...

Fatprop, and others saying similar things: IMO (as a less-than-seasoned player-picker), your intent in this selection is 100% what's needed. Surely we can all accept that the June internationals and those largely appalling BaaBaas games have so far been as near rock-bottom (for Australian...

Don't be too hard on yourself Daz. Most of the mainstream rugby commentariat in Oz and Eng and quite a lot of posters here said the same thing! I have found many of your passionate posts both enjoyable and motivating!

Thanks Blue, I like your style! (seriously). The highlighted comment above is for me very important. I am not an expert on SA rugby, but I am struck at this fact that the Boks took decisive coaching-upgrade action when an important forwards problem was perceived. Here we tend to start long...

The 400s at ANZ Stadium were a shocking waste of money. Apart from the ludicrous not-clearly-audible commentary, the visual distance involved from the 'platinum' 400s makes the game appear like watching little anonymous soldiers running about on a huge billiard table. I will be at Suncorp...

Maybe. But I'm not of the school that concludes every single word of his is dustbin stuff. Every now and then he makes sense. The problem with most mainstream rugby writers (and mainstream sports writers in general) is that that they often and over time have to a***lick the rugby establishment...

rsea - let me pop in here - I honestly was a massive Deans enthusiast until we got into the Tris and BC last year, and then Tokyo, and then Murrayfield (and, sorry, I have to now add: Sydney vs England). Then hope and belief started to curdle, and moved to major concern that key pieces were...

This is _not_ a knocking comment re Deans, but there's no doubt he has looked (on TV at least) more and more anxious and downcast this year (compared with say as at the June 2009 internationals pre the Tris). And his speaking voice has gone softer and softer.

I think it's fair to say you were in the tiny minority! The oz mainline media generally assessed that our backline was so vastly superior that, with just a little Oz scrum improvement, England would be readily defeated. See Greg Clark's pre-game prediction as a breezy and happiness-making...

Naza, I am shooting myself for travelling down from Brisbane just to see this game. (Btw, can you believe that in our Platinum seats - aisle 411 - you could not hear the stadium commentary and announcements - what a bad joke that place is for top rugby.) Just adding to your valid points was the...

Reddy, yes, a crucial observation. But, as you know from my views elsewhere, there is evident today a remarkable shift in the nature of Australian rugby patriotism (vs say 8-10 years ago). There is almost a kind of emerging underlying consensus that 'improvement is what counts'. 'Terrific...

Ash, couldn't agree more. Isn't this just what top coaches and support staff are designed to fix, or at least fix after 2+ full seasons starting in 2008? I think I am right in recalling that most of the consistent losses to the ABs last year principally came in the second halves (with the...

Daz - Giteau performed very unevenly from the Tris on last year, and I am sure I recall issues with his performance in the higher-pressure games vs the easy beats. The look-for-every-sliver-lining-under-Deans followers will highlight his 2 tries tonight, but for my eyes at the game they were, in...

Thanks Reddy. I shall try and be shorter. My challenge is that I feel I need a few paras or so to set out what I am passionate about as an issue that burns for me. The other dimension could well be that it could be worthwhile if GAGR had, for example, a discussion (essay making? ;-) ) section...

Not that we'd wish it, but there will be more injuries. I guess what's going to come right down to the wire as we enter the Tris is the time relationship between the top tier players returning and the top tier players departing...

Isn't it both intriguing (and somewhat depressing) that our rugby elite back in Australia could not achieve that in either the Perth or Gosford BaaBaas games?

Thanks Daz, and some great posts here. Like you I am not a 'deep specialist' in Aus rugby, but I assess like you that these results in the U20 and the recent Sevens are potentially the very omens of skill, depth, passion, intensity etc we need for a genuine and sustained revival of rugby in...

Isn't the whole despair-ridden debate over Baxter about something deeper: namely, many of us seem (by implication) to have just accepted that the ARU and current coaching elite have done just a fine job preparing over recent years an adequate quantity and quality of Test-level, or near top...

....for us non-speciialists the quotes from Evans and similar elsewhere highlight what a technical and skilful business being the front 8 really is! Btw, I am pretty sure Alec Evans is credited by Link with a lot of the big improvements in Reds forward pack/play this year. It was no small feat...