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

[Braveheart81]

zero chance of rain in Auckland??.which hour is that for...?

That was the weather forecast for inside.

 

[waratahjesus]

I've had a look at some footage of Ben Alexander playing TH this year (I was surprised that he played 40% of his minutes at the Brumbies in 2012 at TH).

He has three main issues with his technique.

1. Sets up with his hips too high and when he engages he does not drive his hips down - he just moves forward;
2. Sets up with his feet too far back;
3. Has a tendency to open his chest up a little too much as he engages which gives the loosehead too much of an opportunity and therefore he goes up and over with his bind which means he binds on the arm of the loosehead.

Not sure if Nigel Owen is a stickler for #3 but if he is may see some penalties agianst BA.

Because of #1 he is too high on engage. Crockett is a tall loosehead and struggles to get low but with BA staying too high it will make it easier for Crocket.

Because of #2 he over extends on engage and his shoulders go down before he can chase his feet up. Because Crocket himself does not get low enough he doesn't provide much resistance to a tighthead that is going down. Crocket will likely start to hinge but if so it will be due to the downwards angle of BA and it's likely the penalty will go against him.

I expect we'll see a lot of collapses on the Alexander / Crockett side.

Hopefully Andrew Blades has been working on his feet in particular to minimise opportunities for penalties.

Alexander's problems are all about flexibility, dude needs to hit the yoga and Pilates and everything you mention will be much easier to fix if not fix themselves.

 

[fatprop]

Ok, calm down. Leaving aside QC (Quade Cooper)'s and Pocock's motivation for playing the game for a moment, on the evidence from Bledisloe 1 David Pocock is playing closer and closer to the illegal line. He'll lose matches for the Wallabies if he doesn't re-evaluate his work at the breakdown. Refs are looking hard at Pocock now.

A little over the top mate, Pocock looked isolated because the rest of the pigs weren't with him. With reasonable support his work is much much better rewarded.

 

[Sully]

A little over the top mate, Pocock looked isolated because the rest of the pigs weren't with him. With reasonable support his work is much much better rewarded.

Disagree fp. He gave 2 unnecessary penalties in front of the posts. 6 points to New Zealand. If he's leading by example its not one I want others to follow.

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[Richo]

If we wanted to look for a faint silver lining in Pocock's injury, it's that Genia is a better captain. Pocock is no doubt an inspirational player, but I like how much Genia talks, how he directs players around the park, and how he works the ref.

 

[Loki74]

Can I ask what this is based on? I'm not having a go; it is a genuine question.

We have one of the most inexperienced teams in a Bled game and the game just happens to be at Eden park. I understand when RD says that history is irrelevant, but not having won there for 1000 years does carry a certain weight.

We have spent several weeks in camp (and 4 years in building), and after the first Bled game we have changed players and positions. No-one can blame RD for injuries, but the fact is it appears that the coaching staff still have no idea what a settled Wallaby squad looks like. Combinations are all out the window.

We are coming off a terrible game at home, which says that surely the only way is up, but when you consider the Darkness also had a poor game by their standards, my question (in two parts) would be simply this:

If the Darkness play 10% better than at Sydney, how much do the Wallabies need to improve?

And given everything I have mentioned above, can they?


I love the Wallabies, and I will be supporting them this week as I always do. But the longer this goes on, the more I start to believe they don't love me in return.

Hope for a miracle, yes, but really, I think that light is a train.

Its a good question, because it seems to me we have one of the weakest forward packs we have put on the field for some time. Moore and Sharpe are solid enough (although how will Sharpe's 34 year old body pull up after a big game last week). Alexander at TH is questionable. Robinson seems to be woefully out of form/not fit enough to play at this level. Timani still yet to prove he can hack it at this level. Higgers probably in the same boat. Dennis is more of a toiler than a star. Hooper a virgin. Would love someone to give me some hope to expect something special with this.

 

[TOCC]

Disagree fp. He gave 2 unnecessary penalties in front of the posts. 6 points to New Zealand. If he's leading by example its not one I want others to follow.

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I believe Horwill is also the most penalised player at the Reds...

 

[Scoey]

I believe Horwill is also the most penalised player at the Reds.

It's not about the amount of penalties, it's where on the field you concede them. Like the one Genia gave away on the weekend hassling Smith. He was always going to get pinged but did it where the impact was minimal to make sure Smith knew he was going to be there all night.

 

[Scotty]

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/u...s-social-media-conference-20120823-24p1t.html

Josh Rakic having a whinge about Cooper's presser, then shows up his clear lack of knowledge or even interest in rugby:

In a major back-line reshuffle, only Digby Ioane and Rob Horne remain in position, with Cooper's inclusion shifting Berrick Barnes to inside-centre. It's the first time in recent memory that Deans hasn't played a battering ram at No.12, the ball-playing Barnes replacing Anthony Fainga'a.

Obviously Josh's recent memory doesn't extend to our best team performance of the rugby world cup, just last year.

 

[fatprop]

Disagree fp. He gave 2 unnecessary penalties in front of the posts. 6 points to New Zealand. If he's leading by example its not one I want others to follow.

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My point is with more accuracy from the rest of our forwards they would have been turnovers and we would be saluting Pocock.

 

[Braveheart81]

It's not about the amount of penalties, it's where on the field you concede them. Like the one Genia gave away on the weekend hassling Smith. He was always going to get pinged but did it where the impact was minimal to make sure Smith knew he was going to be there all night.

I definitely agree about the where on the field you concede the penalty bit but the other half I'm not so sure.

I was bemused when the commentators said it was a good penalty for Genia to give away but I'm not so sure I agree.

Pushing it too far on the first scrum and getting penalised meant that he had to watch himself for the whole night. If he'd worked up to it a bit more, he could have probably got away with putting a lot more pressure on Smith over the course of the game.

The way it went, he infringed at the first opportunity and then was on notice for the rest of the game.

 

[Scotty]

Couldn't agree more.

There is so much hypocrisy in how various players in our team are treated on the forum. Some players are a protected species and can do no wrong. If they do something wrong, it is Robbie Deans (or someone else's) fault. Other players don't have a blinder and it is because they are a terrible player and should never play for the Wallabies again.

I hope you aren't referring to QC (Quade Cooper) with this post. Just think back to the last few years on this forum and what you have said is completely wrong in regards to him. In fact he was treated in quite the opposite way on most occasions.

 

[Scoey]

I definitely agree about the where on the field you concede the penalty bit but the other half I'm not so sure.

I was bemused when the commentators said it was a good penalty for Genia to give away but I'm not so sure I agree.

Pushing it too far on the first scrum and getting penalised meant that he had to watch himself for the whole night. If he'd worked up to it a bit more, he could have probably got away with putting a lot more pressure on Smith over the course of the game.

The way it went, he infringed at the first opportunity and then was on notice for the rest of the game.

Good point. As well as getting on Smith's radar you're saying he also got on Rollands radar. First impressions and all that.

 

[waratahjesus]

Bench just announced,
S.fainga, j.slipper, r.samo, l.gill, n.phipps, a.fainga, k.beale

 

[trophyhunter]

In a way I am glad that Beale has been dropped from the run on. I know there are times when a player has an off game, and you need to have faith they will bounce back the next week, but lets be honest, Beale was hopeless last week. I think when players have a game like he did, they will come back bigger and better if they earn their spot once more.
I am more happy about the back line this week, im not fully convinced about the forwards though. Although as a Queenslander I do like Liam Gill, I think Hooper is the man for the job at openside at the moment. He seems to have just that edge of mongrel that worries me when the Reds play the Brumbies, I hope he takes the oppourtunity and goes for it!
Given the way Quade dealt with the media and his brief statement, He seems to be wanting his performance to speak. Having had to work his way back into the squad, and having plenty of time to mull over past encounters with the AB's and again having to watch from the sidelines as they played like garbage last week, I am sure he is feeling a strong desire to make a point come saturday.

 

[Braveheart81]

I hope you aren't referring to QC (Quade Cooper) with this post. Just think back to the last few years on this forum and what you have said is completely wrong in regards to him. In fact he was treated in quite the opposite way on most occasions.

Partially, but moreso other players, particularly Genia I guess.

It just seems to me that some players can do no wrong whilst others get criticised from pillar to post.

For instance, so many are critical of Barnes at every opportunity for the shortfalls in his game at 10 and lack of attacking flair yet if you break it down, he was our fourth choice 10 going into the June tests and played because everyone else was injured. He played well and was a big part in the 3-0 result over Wales.

I would think the reaction should moreso be that he did an admirable job filling in for the Wallabies.

It feels like the reaction on here is often to always blame the same players even if they were far from the worst.

Rob Horne and Sitaleki Timani still copped a ton of criticism on here after last Saturday even though they were far from our worst.

Polota-Nau copped an absolute barrage of criticism in being selected even though he was about our third best forward. I agree that Moore deserves a start, but certainly not on the basis that TPN has been playing poorly.

 

[Braveheart81]

Bench just announced,
S.fainga, j.slipper, r.samo, l.gill, n.phipps, a.fainga, k.beale

Interesting bench. Either they're expecting the locks to play a full game or this time Higgers will come off for Samo so Dennis can move to lock for Timani at some point and Gill can get a run.

I cringe for our scrum if our forward pack eventually looks like:

Slipper Fainga'a Alexander
Sharpe Dennis
Gill Samo Hooper

 

[kronic]

No reserve in the 2nd row???

Great if there's an injury/blood/concussion bin.

 

[Dam0]

The Aussies are paying $8.25 on a certain betting site for the win this weekend. That must be the widest odds on the Wallabies in history.

Wow, we're only getting $6 for an Aussie win.

I wonder if its worth setting up accounts on both sites and laying bets off against each other.

 

[fatprop]

No reserve in the 2nd row???

Great if there's an injury/blood/concussion bin.

Dennis or Samo will cover lock

Dennis was used there in the Wales series