2012 Rugby Championship Game 1 Australia vs New Zealand - 18 August

[Lior]

I hate to say it, but the only way the Wallabies will win this if Rolland shows up to referee the breakdown and the AB's tactics. He will have to be bloody pedantic as well for us to even come in with a whiff of winning. I don't see how that's going to occur though.

Fainga'a is a good choice to counter the AB's midfield. I know it has probably been alluded to, but Horne and Fainga'a playing together makes it the hundredth millionth centre combination under Deans tenure and to start the pair together against the AB's is wacky, idiotic and naive. Especially when there were better people to throw at outside centre like AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) and have Mitchell on the wing (and Horne as far out of the 22 as possible). Also Deans hasn't got a contingency plan in place. What happens when Horne or someone misfires? And someone gets injured? What the fuck are we going to do? Chuck Radike Samo there? I don't think that's going to work for us against the AB's.

I'm not that dissatisfied with the forwards. Dennis probably deserved a shot I guess. But you would have been tempted to chuck Hooper or Gillin the backrow with Pocock and Higgers. I don't think Sitaleki Timani is worth my time to type how much of a joke that selection is. I might have gone for Moore over TPN but not too many complaints there.

Mark my words, this is going to be a thrashing. AB's by 15-25.

 

[bhillier]

I can't believe Channel 9 aren't going to show this live in Melbourne - even on Go or Gem like they did last year. Apparently, people are clamouring to see Karate Kid again, so the rugby has to wait till 11:30pm.

Feel free to call Channel Nine programming on (03) 9429 0201 to make a complaint - apparently that helped change their mind last time.

 

[Braveheart81]

Fainga'a is a good choice to counter the AB's midfield. I know it has probably been alluded to, but Horne and Fainga'a playing together makes it the hundredth millionth centre combination under Deans tenure and to start the pair together against the AB's is wacky, idiotic and naive. Especially when there were better people to throw at outside centre like AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) and have Mitchell on the wing (and Horne as far out of the 22 as possible). Also Deans hasn't got a contingency plan in place. What happens when Horne or someone misfires? And someone gets injured? What the fuck are we going to do? Chuck Radike Samo there? I don't think that's going to work for us against the AB's.

So you're criticising Deans for changing the centre pairing because of injury but you're most critical of him retaining the one available centre who played the last three tests there. OK.

 

[Bullrush]

What i like about moore is that his pick and drives are very good. As a rule he usually manages to get that extra yard than the average bear..when fit and firing i think he would be close to the best hooker in the world. Maybe onyl overshawdowed by a fit Bismark Du Plessis; who by the way i think must be carrying some type of debilitating injury as he hasnt seemed as explosive this year & really seemed to be wrapped in cotton wool by the sharks

I would agree about Moore's pick and drives. He has a great ability to break or avoid the first tackle and gain that extra metre....or 5 on occasion.

 

[The Red Baron]

I can't believe Channel 9 aren't going to show this live in Melbourne - even on Go or Gem like they did last year. Apparently, people are clamouring to see Karate Kid again, so the rugby has to wait till 11:30pm.

Hey! Don't diss Ralph Macchio! He was a totally underrated actor. And lets not forget Mr Miyagi. That guy is a legend..

 

[Braveheart81]

Wax on

Wax off

 

[Joe Mac]

Where can I find team lists for the weekend?

 

[Braveheart81]

http://livescores.smh.com.au/matches/rugby/match17233.html

http://livescores.smh.com.au/matches/rugby/match17234.html

 

[The Red Baron]

Someone needs to upload that picture of TPN to: http://www.beards.org/

 

[Scotty]

You've chosen to go with the negative line because you disagree with the selection.

Maybe the selectors have gone with the more physicality line as the reason for starting him because they see him as being a more aggressive and physical player than Moore.

Could be. In that case I'd like to see TPN be told to go nuts for 30, then give Moore the back end of the game. That way you get two fresh starts from Moore plus a high intensity TPN.

 

[fatprop]

Could be. In that case I'd like to see TPN be told to go nuts for 30, then give Moore the back end of the game. That way you get two fresh starts from Moore plus a high intensity TPN.

One of Deans comments last night was telling "you don't want to be chasing the All Blacks"

I think we want to come out blazing and explosive and hold on.

 

[Scarfman]

Wait, Rolland is ref? Whyyyyyy?

I might not be able to watch this one.

 

[Scoey]

Also Deans hasn't got a contingency plan in place. What happens when Horne or someone misfires? And someone gets injured? What the fuck are we going to do? Chuck Radike Samo there? I don't think that's going to work for us against the AB's.

AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) can cover both centre positions if need be and Drew can cover his wing spot. Also Barnes can play 12 with Beale at 10, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) to 15 and Drew to the wing. He has a contingency plan to the extent that any coach with a 5/2 bench split could cover back injuries.

I'm not that dissatisfied with the forwards. Dennis probably deserved a shot I guess. But you would have been tempted to chuck Hooper or Gillin the backrow with Pocock and Higgers. I don't think Sitaleki Timani is worth my time to type how much of a joke that selection is. I might have gone for Moore over TPN but not too many complaints there.

I don't think starting two fetchers in any test would be smart. Some nations don't even play 1 traditional fetcher in thier test sides. These days you need plenty of lineout options in the forwards and that usually means that two of the loosies are lineout options.

Mark my words, this is going to be a thrashing. AB's by 15-25.

I don't even think the AB's themselves would think they are going to thrash us. Smart money would back an AB win but I don't think it would be to much of an upset if we get up for this one.

 

[Scoey]

He's not playing.

I think with Cheapshot we're taking the "ignore it and it will go away" option.

 

[Coogee50]

Thoughts?

All Blacks Come Again, And We Might Win, But Probably Not

​

And so the fabled All Blacks of New Zealand come again to Australia to challenge our Men with their pre-match dance of death and tongues and scary-faces. The haka remains one of the best things in sport, and it’s grouse that it’s part of the Culture. But my, they overdo it some. The Kiwi basketballers – the excellently-named Tall Blacks – did it to the Dream Team in ’92, and everyone in the entire country has been ripping it off since, for any reason. Pick up a mate from the airport? Haka. Thank a mate for a move? Haka. It’s become the carton of beer, and in danger of becoming their Oi Oi Oi. So stop it once.

In betting news, you pit these two XXIIs against one another and you’d suggest the ABs would win 4 Tests in 5. Which should make them $1.20. As it is you’ll get $1.47, which looks to me Overs. The Wallabies have a 5.5 point head-start at The Line price of $1.90, a margin I would no sooner entertain with the most evil mug’s punt-money. The Wallabies might get within 10.5 points with a try at the death. But 5.5 is bigger Unders than the Undertaker underground in undies, a lazy, rubbish analogy, but there it is.

Australia, meanwhile, is $2.80 to win outright which assumes they’d win a Test against the ABs once every 2.8 times. And at home, that’s perhaps how it’s panned out. I don’t have the statistics with me and can’t be arsed looking them up. But it sounds right. We knock them off, occasionally, at home, once every few years.


But this squadron of Wallabies, while impressive and stoic in three tight Tests against the visiting Welsh, don’t appear to have enough “points” in them to beat the All Blacks of New Zealand. And in a game decided by who scores the most “points”, this could prove crucial.

​

The All Blacks, as usual, have shit-loads of Potential Points. As a Random Irishman told a Mozzie Bro, the ABs have a pack full of storm troopers, a backline full of ninjas. Have a go at them. Israel Dagg has the weirdest name since Englebert Humperdinck but runs like a Victorian-era thief of great athleticism. Hosea Gear is chunky and quick, Ma’a Nonu is the same, and Big SBW in the 12, well … he’s playing basketball in Test match rugby, no mean trick for a multi-trick pony.

Also no mean trick being picked for New Zealand given Sonny Bill’s “loyalty” is to Japan, boxing, the Sydney Roosters and, of course, Sonny Bill. No other centres in New Zealand? Is he that necessary? Is there fear they “need” SBW in order to beat Australia? You wouldn’t think so given Daniel Carter and Richie McCaw and a host of other maniacs good at rugby. But there you go. Always had a little inferiority complex, the Cuzzies, though you wouldn’t have thought about Rugby, a game they have dominated for 153 years.

​

And thinking about it (while posting them at $3.75 drifting to $4 to win myself) the Wallabies are not without appeal. Kurtley Beale at fullback is a ripper and if he can pull off some Magic with his funky feet, there are points in him. He can do things, Curly Bill, and in a game as defensively robust as Test match rugby, X-factor can be The Only Way.

I also like Digby Ioane and his low-running propulsion system. Cats like that are hard to tackle. That is important. Then there’s Adam Ashley-Cooper, a Versatile and fine centre or fullback playing on the wing. He’s good enough to do it but you’d still like him in the centres, I’d have thunk, and chuck Drew Mitchell on to start and Quade to the bench. And when I am picking Wallaby Test teams, so will it be…

​

For in the centres we have Anthony Fainga’a who can tackle like a whipper-snipper but whose attacking gifts are limited to the ball going through his hands, and to The Hit-up. Rob Horne is a taller version of the same though he can run a bit too, hopefully around Ma’a Nonu while he’s putting make-up on. But then if either of them chop down – or better still somehow maim – Sonny Bill then they’ve probably earned their time in the 12 and 13.

Berrick Barnes has earned his time in 10, and is the incumbent five-eighth and man-of-the-series against Wales. The hoo-ha about No Quade is a Story Because There Aren’t Others. These days they have 40-man squads and 40-match seasons, and the season runs all bar two months. Quade Cooper will play rugby for Australia again.


That said there’s a whisper Robbie Deans is off him. And on the Rugby Club last night when asked of it he said he’d been stuck in traffic and didn’t hear the preceding yapping with QC (Quade Cooper). So, I dunno. But if he is “off” Cooper – and types I’ve been yapping to would seem to know – it’s because he’s “on” Berrick Barnes who’s been in very good nick opposed to Cooper’s injured run in Super rugby and flat out fucking appalling form in the Rugby World Cup. Don’t see him as overly sentimental, Dingo.

Genia picks himself as does Pocock. The rest are duking it out with Others, though I like Dave Dennis in 6 and Scott Higginbotham in 8, almost more than Cliffy Palu whose time may be up, at least outside of Japan. Those two should bash over the top of Pocock as he scavenges, and that is no bad thing. Radike off the bench could win the Test match.

​

But of course we need to win the “ball” and that will largely come down to the tight-five, particularly locks Nathan Sharpe and Sitaleki Timani in the line-out, what Mark Loane once described as the “slow poison” of rugby. Win lineout ball, go a long way to winning the game. Massive acid test for these two, one Very Old, one Huge But Not Much A Jumper. Hard to like ‘em given they’ve come from struggling provinces. But let’s judge them Monday like good Monday Quarterbacks do.

Pigs in the front-row look solid. I don’t know what the fuck it is they do in there but they do seem quite solid. Benn Robinson breeds pigs, an exotic version called a Large Black, from England. How about that.


All Blacks by 10.

Short URL: http://www.mattcleary.com/?p=2134

 

[AlexH]

My thoughts? Brilliant.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Liked it better when the pictures were included.

A good read.

 

[Scoey]

Thoughts?

Meh. It's the same 'glory be to the enigmatic Kings in black' stuff that is starting to get old. Yes the AB's are the best in the world, but they're not Gods. Our boys are better than they're being given credit for and they will show that come Saturday. And then the same journo's that have been kissing the AB's asses for the last week will be writing articles about how the Bledisloe is as good as on Aussie soil and it's the new era of dominance for Aus rugby etc. Pfft.

Edit: I just re-read my post and I should add, that the article itself is a good read as others have said but it's the tone that I'm getting tired of. I'm sick of everyone painting the AB's to be some sort of force that cannot be overcome.

 

[Paradox]

You've chosen to go with the negative line because you disagree with the selection.

Maybe the selectors have gone with the more physicality line as the reason for starting him because they see him as being a more aggressive and physical player than Moore.

In the mean time, the rest of the Wallaby pack tires as they are making up for TPNs poorer work rate. The physicality thing is bs anyway. TPN knocks himself out.

 

[Brumbieman]

One of Deans comments last night was telling "you don't want to be chasing the All Blacks"

I think we want to come out blazing and explosive and hold on.

I think the last few years have shown us that the last thing we want to be doing is defending a lead in the last 20. That's where we've lost a good half a dozen chances, having been in front.

Our last three wins have been "come from behind with 15mins to go", by launching a relentless attacking wave. The momentum of a game is rarely with you when defending, unless you have players who will tackle offensively, and make their hits on the AB side of the gainline, eg Fainga'a, Mortlock, McCabe, Grey.

If we've got a 10 point lead with 15 to go, I'll put my vital organs on it that we'll capitulate.

Heroically of course, and Deans will claim a moral victory, and that we're close!!