2012 Rugby Championship Game 2 New Zealand vs Australia - 25 August

[daz]

I think we should make a big effort to keep the vibe up and happy at the moment, so here is my prediction sung to the tune of "Happy days are here again", while I carry out a modern dance interpretation of "Man Smiling Insanely".

Ha-ppy days are here a-GAIN,
We're gonna get smashed in-to next week,
We all know that talk is cheap,
Oh Ha-ppy days are here AH-GAIN!

Ha-ppy days are here a-GAIN,
The Bled is gone, just wait and see,
We are gonna lose by 100 to 3,
OH HA-PPY DAYS ARE HERE, OH HA-PPY DAYS ARE HERE....AH-GAIN!"

 

[Braveheart81]

BH, in all due respect the writing was on the wall following the Wales/Scotland test series.
Our lack of forward dominance and more significantly our inability to score tries against the Welsh.

I am talking specifically about Kurtley Beale.

Maybe if JOC (James O'Connor) and McCabe were fit and in form then we would have more options but they're not.

It's dubious whether it is worth pushing Mitchell back into a starting spot yet and AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) didn't have a good game on Saturday either.

I really think Kurtley Beale has to have a couple more shockers to make it worthwhile droppign him. He has incredible ability and in form is one of our best and most important players. I don't think dropping him after one really bad test is going to help anyone, particularly the Wallabies.

 

[Jiggles]

But the general concencus on here, TOCC, was that we won 3-nil so everything must be hunki-dori.

 

[TOCC]

I am talking specifically about Kurtley Beale.

Maybe if JOC (James O'Connor) and McCabe were fit and in form then we would have more options but they're not.

It's dubious whether it is worth pushing Mitchell back into a starting spot yet and AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) didn't have a good game on Saturday either.

I really think Kurtley Beale has to have a couple more shockers to make it worthwhile droppign him. He has incredible ability and in form is one of our best and most important players. I don't think dropping him after one really bad test is going to help anyone, particularly the Wallabies.

Ah right.. Nah i dont think Beale should be dropped after that 1 match, if he goes poorly next week he might need to be dropped purely so he can get some confidence and form back at club level.

My opinion on Mitchell... if he is not fit enough to be starting, then why is he in the team?
Wouldn't it be of more benefit to him to be playing club rugby getting form and fitness rather then sitting on the Wallabies bench..

 

[Scoey]

The lack of fitness of the Tahs forwards is showing and is a liability.

A lot of the players looked a little unfit. How much of this is the loss of match fitness from the 4(?) week break?

 

[Braveheart81]

My opinion on Mitchell. if he is not fit enough to be starting, then why is he in the team?
Wouldn't it be of more benefit to him to be playing club rugby getting form and fitness rather then sitting on the Wallabies bench..

It's hard to say. He played a few Tahs games and then more club games and was slowly looking closer to his old self.

Obviously that was a month ago with all the camps and stuff we've had and no one has seen him play in that time (aside from coaches and selectors at training).

I guess you have to assume that they consider him completely ready to play and could play 80 minutes if required.

I guess my point was that it isn't worth dropping Beale, moving AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) to fullback and starting Mitchell on the wing when AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) wasn't great and Mitchell's form is unknown.

It would be completely different if Mitchell was in superb form and was being squandered on the bench whilst we had a player starting who was struggling.

 

[Scoey]

My opinion on Mitchell. if he is not fit enough to be starting, then why is he in the team?

My gut feel on this, and I'm only speculating on RD's thought pattern, is that he has established Rob Horne at 13 and he is starting to string games together there, RD has said that this is his aim and why the McCabe injury was such an interruption. Which is why he's not going to move two-dads in. Digby has one wing spot stitched up so that only leaves 14 or 15 for AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) who he won't drop as he is another that RD clearly wants to continue to develop or whatever. So he remains at 14, thereby leaving the only position left for Drew (fully fit or not) is 21 or 22.

 

[TOCC]

If Mitchell is fit.. then start him on the wing and put AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) at 13

 

[Schadenfreude]

If Mitchell is fit.. then start him on the wing and put AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) at 13

Replace a guy who can't pass with...

 

[Rob42]

What's Hooper meant to say?

"Yes, there is a hoodoo. We talk about it almost constantly and it's played a massive part in our match preparation. I also heard it's haunted by the ghost of Collin Meads. What? He's still alive? News to me."

Actually, that would be great. Anything to save us from the usual quotes that fill the mid-week stories in the paper. Yes, I accept that it's good for the team to interact with the media to make sure it stays in the news all week.

I just don't think this "it's just another game" attitude gets us very far, though. The Tahs used to have that problem with games against the Brumbies in Canberra, insisting there was nothing special about the game and then appearing shocked when the home team and the home crowd treated the game as very special indeed. Link was the first Tahs coach to taste success there, and part of his plan was to consciously face up to it, getting the Tahs to spend the whole week in Canberra, parking the team bus outside the Brumbies club and so on. It defused it very successfully.

Not that I think that anything so simple would deliver a win for the Wallabies at Eden Park this year, but hell, I'd like to see the team try something different to spark some enthusiasm.

 

[TOCC]

Replace a guy who can't pass with.

With a guy who has proven himself playing outside centre at test level and has performed admirably in that position every-time he has played the All Blacks....

 

[Scotty]

There's probably two separate arguments here. One that we were "bitch slapped" I think the term used said ie dominated. And the second that we were never in the game.

We were most certainly dominated yet we were still in the game.

Agreed.

 

[Scotty]

I don't think we should drop players for one bad game.

I don't think kneejerk reactions to a poor performance in any sport have been successful.

You have to pick the players you think will do the best job and go with them. Players should only be replaced after they have consistently struggled for form.

Dropping someone to 'send a message to all about performance' suggests that players play badly because they don't try hard enough or don't care. I don't think that is the case at all.

We aren't. We are dropping blokes that never should have been there in the first place and haven't been in great form all year.

 

[JJJ]

If Deans is going to persist with a midfield lacking in attacking flair (which I think he will) then whoever is planning set-piece moves needs to step up their game to provide them with more attacking options. Asking JOC (James O'Connor) or Beale or Ioane to play what's in front of them might be plausible; asking Ant or Horne or Barnes to do the same is a recipe for nothing much happening.

I'd hope that's happening anyway and it was just execution that let them down, but who knows with Dean at the helm?

Also, it's a terrible way to think but I hope Deans doesn't bring Quade into the fold for Eden Park. We have sfa chance of winning that game and I'd rather Deans not have an excuse for excluding him for the rest of TRC.

 

[Sir Arthur Higgins]

with the right pack and bench, i don't think this game is a right off. but deans needs a pretty big change in selection.
both barnes and AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) are excellent defenders, particularly in the centres, so i don't think much is lost with either of them. i'm not the world's biggest QC (Quade Cooper) fan in test matches, but you ca'nt deny his ability to open the game up (which wallabies have to do). add on that and his d looked stronger in his few games back. put him at 10 and keep him there, none of this bull$hit moves back to 15 in d.

rest of the backs leave the same. unleash ioane on some great lines, ditto AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) who can run superb lines in the centres. open up the back line by going from QC (Quade Cooper) to barnes straight to an at pace beale and cause some damage. i think that is an infinitely better offensive backline than the last one and an as good defensive backline as the last one!

in the pack - i don't want to see any more "loose" loose forwards than higgers and sharpe i'd keep timani in there, because i thought he played well. i'd throw out simmons and draft in neville or pyle, telling them this is your first test, play tight, hit rucks and ball carriers all day long. leave the loose play to higgers and sharpe.
tell higgers if you see him on the wing more than once in a game, he's coming off.

I didn't personally thinkt the front row did that bad against the ABS aside from that lost ball in the 2nd half, but that to me looked like a timing problem/miscommunication as opposed to poor scrummaging.

wallabies can still win this game, but it will be on the back of very high paced back play and significantly more urgency from the forwards.

 

[Schadenfreude]

With a guy who has proven himself playing outside centre at test level and has performed admirably in that position every-time he has played the All Blacks..

Translation : a guy who can't pass.

 

[Swat]

Translation : a guy who can't pass.

Subtext: Not my favourite player; no one else's opinion matters.

 

[Schadenfreude]

Subtext: Not my favourite player; no one else's opinion matters.

Actually. I thought AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) was one of the few who could hold his head up after last week.

 

[Moono75]

The problems with the Wallabies aren't things you can fix overnight. It's inherent in the DNA of the current crop of players who have been starved of success against the opposition they need to measure themselves against. They can deny it all they want, that there isn't a hoodoo against the AB's and every game is a new game that brings them closer to inflicting that defeat, but they are carrying some serious mental baggage and the coaching style of RB just doesn't seem to be translating this side of the ditch.

I hope the boys can get that win at Eden Park but I suspect they will be pushing a big barrel of shit up and very steep hill.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Actually. I thought AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) was one of the few who could hold his head up after last week.

Two Dads has still used up his annual allocation of pass. He required specific authority to use next years pass in the second test against Wales.

The next time we will see the Two-Dads pass a ball will be in 2014.