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

[Scoey]

Man! Just catching up reading the last few pages after not loggin on for half a week. Maybe we could just delete all the posts since the team was announced and replaced with a note to let us all know to go slash our wrists now.

We have a good solid team, we beat the 6N Champs 3-0 and we have two of three home games against the AB's. We have every chance of winning the Bledisloe. I couldn't give a fuck if we only just scraped home against Wales. If we lose the Auckland Bledisloe 60-0 and win the two Aussie games by 1 point, none of this negative crap will matter coz we will have the Bledisloe.

I've said before, the AB's aren't some kind of enigma. We will get our chances on the weekend, as will the AB's. I'm not saying we'll win - god no. I am saying that the result is far from a fore gone conclusion.

 

[Quade Cheapshot]

We also beat the 6N Champions 3-0.

You beat Wales, champ. Narrowly.

A side that has recorded a single away victory in their entire history against the 3N sides.

And that victory wasn't against the Bok or the ABs.

 

[Braveheart81]

Good post champ.

Does that make the series meaningless?

Ireland have never beaten the All Blacks anywhere. Does that mean they shouldn't have bothered touring and just stayed home?

 

[Scoey]

Which is reflective of participation in the 3N, having regular exposure to consistently highly ranked teams on a more regular basis than many other sides.

Mate the same could be said for the AB's then. They get to play the 2nd & 3rd ranked nations more often than many other sides so perhaps the world no 1 tag has been pumped up a tad to eh?

Our no 2 world ranking is reflective of the fact that we are the 2nd best nation in the world at the moment.

 

[kronic]

Need Higgers to be that enforcer around the ruck for this, specifically target McCaw. Handbags 5 minutes in?

 

[Scoey]

You beat Wales, champ. Narrowly.

A side that has recorded a single away victory in their entire history against the 3N sides.

And that victory wasn't against the Bok or the ABs.

Who are you quoting?

Your name suggests that you may be more of a troll than anything but "champ" your boys only beat France "narrowly". They also beat IRE in one game in June "narrowly".

 

[Swat]

Need Higgers to be that enforcer around the ruck for this, specifically target McCaw. Handbags 5 minutes in?

I think a little bit of fisticuffs within the first 5 might just be good for us. Let the kiwi's know we're not going to take this lying down.

 

[Braveheart81]

The 6N bit was from one of my posts.

There seems to be an almost complete dismissal of any victories against sides ranked below us by many people.

Winning our last four matches against South Africa seems to be outweighed by losing to Scotland in abominable conditions with a substandard side that had a couple of days to prepare.

Most people want to highlight the bad results and ignore the good results. We are still ranked second in the world which indicates that there have been enough good results to achieve that.

 

[Scotty]

It seems to me that the most likely situation where the Wallabies can win the game is if we can score just over 20 points and keep the All Blacks to under 20.

History would suggest that we lose if it is a high scoring affair. Clearly recent history suggests we lose in most situations against the All Blacks.

I'm wondering where those 20 points are coming from.

 

[Braveheart81]

Our strength should be our counterattack. Our two most dangerous players are Beale and Ioane.

My guess is that we try and play a game of field position with a strong defensive side and get the All Blacks on the counterattack.

We need to be playing the game at the All Blacks' end of the field.

 

[Quade Cheapshot]

Your name suggests that you may be more of a troll than anything

Hey, I'm merely offering an opinion. Take it as you will.

I certainly admire your collective confidence. My considered view and stake in the stand is that the Wallabies will finish third, recording a single victory at home against the Argies, though I concede that the match against the Bok in Perth could go either way.

Ireland have never beaten the All Blacks anywhere. Does that mean they shouldn't have bothered touring and just stayed home?

A little bit reductio ad absurdam there champ but I'm glad you've mentioned Ireland, as I figure they're about on par with the Wallabies at the moment. There'll be a fair bit of movement in the IRB rankings this post-RWC year, will be interesting to see where the two end up in the wash.

 

[Lior]

Is Deans on crack. He has completely ignored the probable AB's backline.

There is one back on the bench where we so desperately need options to cover the weak centres pairing.

Mark my words, the Wallabies will be trashed this weekend. Deans will rightly be given the ridicule he rightly deserves.

This just goes to the heart of Deans' tenure as Wallaby coach. Incompetent. Idiotic. Unbelievable.

 

[Scotty]

The 6N bit was from one of my posts.

There seems to be an almost complete dismissal of any victories against sides ranked below us by many people.

Winning our last four matches against South Africa seems to be outweighed by losing to Scotland in abominable conditions with a substandard side that had a couple of days to prepare.

Most people want to highlight the bad results and ignore the good results. We are still ranked second in the world which indicates that there have been enough good results to achieve that.

Winning vs Wales was good, but we didn't grow as a team over the series, which was worrying. The games vs Wales showed us that we are extremely reliant on Genia to provide much of the spark, and likely now also Beale. Relying on your half to provide the spark is not a sustainable way forward without having dominant forwards (and we know that isn't going to happen). We also showed during the series that we have some serious fitness issues, often dying off as early as 50 minutes into the games. Hopefully this has been arrested, but we have a long way to go.

There are two things that really annoy me (and most others) about our performances:

1. Inconsistency
2. Inability to win big games or even big moments within games (eg Irish in the world cup)

 

[Braveheart81]

A little bit reductio ad absurdam there champ but I'm glad you've mentioned Ireland, as I figure they're about on par with the Wallabies at the moment. There'll be a fair bit of movement in the IRB rankings this post-RWC year, will be interesting to see where the two end up in the wash.

So Ireland are on par with the Wallabies?

Does that mean they're better than Wales, France, England, and South Africa or are Australia worse than all those teams?

You've said that Australia's 3-0 result against Wales is meaningless yet are using Ireland's 3-0 loss to the All Blacks as reasoning to say that Ireland are about on par with the Wallabies.

It doesn't really make much sense.

 

[Scotty]

Hey, I'm merely offering an opinion. Take it as you will.

I certainly admire your collective confidence. My considered view and stake in the stand is that the Wallabies will finish third, recording a single victory at home against the Argies, though I concede that the match against the Bok in Perth could go either way.



A little bit reductio ad absurdam there champ but I'm glad you've mentioned Ireland, as I figure they're about on par with the Wallabies at the moment. There'll be a fair bit of movement in the IRB rankings this post-RWC year, will be interesting to see where the two end up in the wash.

Hold off the usage of 'champ' and you will last longer around here.

 

[Lee Enfield]

I think 2nd in the Championship is a realistic expectation and anything less is a fail. The Wallaby team from the Welsh series was a good platform to build from, it just needs some attacking ability inserted into it.

The Wallabies would have had nothing to lose and everything to gain from playing Cooper at 10 and Barnes at 12, with either AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) or Tapuai at 13, with the other on the bench and Shipperley at 14. The forward pack selected is actually pretty good, I would have chosen Douglas and Schatz over Timani and Samo. In saying that, Samo, could just as easily have a blinder from the bench. I find it strange though, that Samo is picked despite his lack of match fitness, yet Cooper is left out for his lack of match fitness.

This game will be won or lost in the backline I feel. This backline for all intensive purposes couldn't convert a mountain of territory or posession into tries against the Welsh. There is no way the Wallabies will enjoy the same level of possession and territory against the All Blacks, so if they couldn't do it against the Welsh, how on earth can we expect them to convert, most likely, significantly reduced territory and posession into tries. Unlike the Welsh, the breakdown will be heavily contested and Pocock won't have it all his own way.

For the Wallabies to win, they will have to put in a defensive effort, that surpasses the effort against the Boks in the QF last year and keep the Blacks tryless. They will have to play for field position and take a minimum of 3 points everytime they enter within 40m of the Kiwi line. The final result will either be a 1 or 2 point win to the Wallabies in a penalty shoot out or the Wallabies being spanked by 15+

 

[teach]

Not to mention that we David Pocock beat the Saffers the last time we played them, in the RWC quarter-final.

Fixed that for ya

Not to mention that we David Pocock and Bryce Lawrence beat the Saffers the last time we played them, in the RWC quarter-final.

Finished your editing for you.

 

[Viking]

On a good note. Slipper is on the bench instead of Alexander. Good news.

Timani? We are screwed.
Nic Phipps? Some-one please tell me Nic White is injured.

 

[Viking]

I think we need an updated injury list to help settle some selections:

Injured:
Horwill
Palu
McCabe
Tomane
Tapaui (?)
JOC (James O'Connor)
Lealifano
Palmer

Returning from injury (only considered for bench)
Mitchell
Cooper (?)
Turner (?)

Fully fit not in squad:
Simmons
Douglas
Mowen
Alexander (?)

Some-one finish it please.

 

[Braveheart81]

Winning vs Wales was good, but we didn't grow as a team over the series, which was worrying. The games vs Wales showed us that we are extremely reliant on Genia to provide much of the spark, and likely now also Beale. Relying on your half to provide the spark is not a sustainable way forward without having dominant forwards (and we know that isn't going to happen). We also showed during the series that we have some serious fitness issues, often dying off as early as 50 minutes into the games. Hopefully this has been arrested, but we have a long way to go.

I think Genia is always likely to provide a lot of our spark. He's easily one of our best players.

When Gregan was at his peak he also provided us with much of our attacking spark. It just so happens that we also had Larkham who was one of our best players to provide that spark as well. They were probably our best two backs when they were at their peak.

Now our best three backs would be Genia, Beale and Ioane (certainly in the current side). Likewise when Campese was at his best, we had a winger providing a fair amount of the Wallabies attacking spark.

I think it's always going to come back to our best players to consistently create opportunities, wherever they are positioned.