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

[Gagger]

Lior, Cliffy Palu is one of the most overrated players in International Rugby. Sure he's not bad at provincial level, but when it comes to an international game as soon as he's put on his backside you won't see him for the rest of the game. His selection in the team would just add to the already poor 'Waretards'.

You're new so we'll cut a little slack, but leave out the provincial trolling thanks

 

[Richo]

Is Dennis a line out jumper?

Yep. That's why we went without a back-up lock early in the Wales series.

I think the "two fetchers" strategy isn't wise. You need balance in a back-row -- Pocock is the best fetcher around so there is no need to replicate that and lose, say, a strong running game or reliable line-out option. I think one of the places Australian rugby looks strong, at least among first choice options, is in the back row.

A second fetcher on the bench is fine, especially if they have a good running game, like Hooper.

 

[Richo]

Think kick offs could be interesting contest. The Wallabies are yet to reclaim a kick off, restart or 22 drop out. The All Blacks are reclaiming 27.8% of them.

That is awful. Let's hope that was a subject at training these last few weeks.

 

[Ash]

I would have picked Horne. He had a pretty good series against Wales. Scored two tries and didn't miss a tackle.

I wouldn't have picked Timani. I would have picked Douglas, Sharpe and Simmons as the three locks. I don't get the outrage over Timani though. Simmons has hardly proven himself to be a consistent performer for the Wallabies and he has played 20 tests.

I don't get why SupeRugby form is being so ignored here.

Actually, I think Horne has gone well enough at the tail end of the SupeRugby season to deserve to keep his spot. A combination of his defence improving out of sight since the start of the season, his attack showing some improvement (although not "lethal" at all) and none of the others putting their hand up. As the incumbent, he deserves his position, and I now have no issues with Horne's selection.

I will reserve commenting on those who got selected with little to no SupeRugby form which I completely do not agree with, but I thought Horne deserved some defending.

 

[Penguin]

I'm bucking the trend of the pessimistic majority (or is it just a vocal minority?) in these posts & have put a fiver on the Wallabies to win by 6.5
Get behind ya team ya mugs!!!!

 

[Braveheart81]

I'm on the Wallabies 1-12.

Go the Wallabies!

 

[qwerty51]

Risky, I can see us winning 13+

Stuck to the $3.15 and +6.5 on offer.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

For out of towners, according to the Bureau of Meterology, the forecast for tomorrow is:

Partly cloudy. Winds west to northwesterly 15 to 25 km/h tending west to southwesterly 30 to 45 km/h in the morning.

7 - 18 degrees, with 20% chance of rain.

Blowing like buggery at the moment.

 

[Scotty]

Might be the first game in a long time where rain could actually help us?

 

[qwerty51]

So much negativity over the "defensiveness" of the side. When we won at Suncorp it's not like the backs really won us the game. It was won on the back of the pack's efforts at the breakdown. We smashed them. Genia scored the first try from a snipe, then Samo made a solo run and another Genia snipe contributed to the third try. If the pack aims up again and the centres run hard the tries will come once again.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

This game will be won and lost in the forwards. A cliche but true.

 

[Muttonbird]

Dingo wants Pocock protected from the All Blacks.

Refs must watch Pocock spoilers: Deans
Australia coach Robbie Deans has called on match officials to protect David Pocock at the breakdown and ensure New Zealand don't try to take the Australian captain out of play in their Rugby Championship opener on Saturday night in Sydney.
During the mid-year Tests, Deans was vocal about how his champion No.7 Pocock was treated by the Welsh.
And he doesn't want his most influential forward to be unfairly held out of the action the Wallabies fight to stop their Bledisloe Cup drought extending to 10 years and ensure their four-nations tournament campaign is off to a winning start.
"It's not so much at the breakdown, it's laying after the breakdown is over. The ball is gone and the game is carrying on and players are being denied the ability to participate in that game," said Deans on Friday.
"That's the touch judges' responsibility because the referee is watching
the game, which is somewhere else."

 

[Hugh Jarse]

^^^^^ The coaches mind games continue.

 

[qwerty51]

Also lets not forgot the ABs only managed one try in the semi against us and that was from a piss poor Elsom tackle attempt. We're not going to get cut to pieces.

Dingo wants Pocock protected from the All Blacks.

Easy to see where Deans is coming from, the Nonu try at Suncorp was a perfect example of the dodgy tactics the ABs used to take Pocock out of the game. He was held down in the ruck leading up to the tackle by Mealamu and McCaw as he was getting up gifting Nonu a passage to the tryline. Nonu ran straight where Pocock was going to be, executed perfectly.

4:10, have a look at the ruck at the top of the screen. As Nonu gets the ball you see Pocock trying to get up and then as he goes past the ruck Pocock is falling to the ground with his arms flailing up. This is the types of tactics I'm sure Deans wants an eye kept on.

 

[Muttonbird]

So much negativity over the "defensiveness" of the side. When we won at Suncorp it's not like the backs really won us the game. It was won on the back of the pack's efforts at the breakdown. We smashed them. Genia scored the first try from a snipe, then Samo made a solo run and another Genia snipe contributed to the third try. If the pack aims up again and the centres run hard the tries will come once again.

No, it was won because the ref was Wayne Barnes. He blocked a one-armed Thomson from reaching Samo and kindly sheparded Genia's line break for his try.

 

[Muttonbird]

Also lets not forgot the ABs only managed one try in the semi against us and that was from a piss poor Elsom tackle attempt. We're not going to get cut to pieces.



Easy to see where Deans is coming from, the Nonu try at Suncorp was a perfect example of the dodgy tactics the ABs used to take Pocock out of the game. He was held down in the ruck leading up to the tackle by Mealamu and McCaw as he was getting up gifting Nonu a passage to the tryline. Nonu ran straight where Pocock was going to be, executed perfectly.

4:10, have a look at the ruck at the top of the screen. As Nonu gets the ball you see Pocock trying to get up and then as he goes past the ruck Pocock is falling to the ground with his arms flailing up. This is the types of tactics I'm sure Deans wants an eye kept on.

Was that the one where Pocock was supposedly held down for 21 seconds? You sure he wasn't holding the ABs down instead?

 

[qwerty51]

Was he holding them down with his feet? You can see his arms in the air and he falls back..

 

[Hugh Jarse]

No, it was won because the ref was Wayne Barnes. He blocked a one-armed Thomson from reaching Samo and kindly sheparded Genia's line break for his try.

Barnes is a good referee. Why do the Darknessers continue to blame him when they lose games?

Have you read the frame by frame analysis of the 2007 1/4 final game vs Les Frogge? The actual facts are significantly different to what Sir Henry is portraying them to be.

 

[Bowside]

You're a substandard troll mutton.

 

[Tordah]

Have you read the frame by frame analysis of the 2007 1/4 final game vs Les Frogge? The actual facts are significantly different to what Sir Henry is portraying them to be.

Why should you bother reading that,you know the author went to watch that thing with the mindset of trying to prove Henry wrong, and there you go. If I bothered, I could easily make an analysis of the RWC 2011 final (where in the mind of oh so many France were clearly the better team and were cheated of the win) and back them up with stills & stats of how the ABs were actually dominant and the penalty count was fair, etc.

It's all for naught because everyone will stick to their opinion, anyways, always only looking for facts that underline their side of the story or undermine the others'.

You guys won the Brisbane test because you had a very dominant 1st half and pulled your shit together when it counted. No excuses.

Still don't like Barnes as a ref,and penalising one team 4 times as much as the other one, no one can tell me that's insignificant...but here I go! So stooop!

Will be interesting how the ABs scrum goes without Thorn tomorrow...