3rd Place Play Off - Wallabies v Wales.

[vidiot]

Geez AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) threw a corker to make JOC (James O'Connor) run onto it...before Ant Finger found himself in the clear and out of ideas

Sheesh, that's the only thing the little finger has done right with the ball all RWC. He should get a pat on the back, not a kick in the arse.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Sheesh, that's the only thing the little finger has done right with the ball all RWC. He should get a pat on the back, not a kick in the arse.

I was really only using that turn of phrase to identify the passage in the game: it wasn't intended as a criticism....the poor bugger hasn't been in the clear with the ball for nearly 2 months

 

[Mr Doug]

What a pathetic post, ok QC (Quade Cooper) shit pisses me off, but don'tr get so bloody precious, it's been an awesome WC.

If that's the way you feel, why not remove your rego plates and go back home bro? Your mob started it at Suncorp Stadium, and it continues ever year in S15 and BC. Funny that Saffer fans don't carry on with similar garbage. Grow up!

 

[FairWeatherAussie]

A bit off topic but one things this match confirmed to me is there's a big gap between number 1 and number 2 in the world but not between about 2 and 6.

Current All Blacks team when they fire play at a completely different speed and intencity the other teams. Was no disgrace loosing to them last week. Was good to see us get a good win tonight.

Agree completely. I seem to be the only one, but I thought we played as good or probably better against the all blacks than against SA. Their level of intensity was was incredible.

 

[darkhorse]

Barnes needs to stand much shallower though. He also seemed confused when at fullback of whether to pass or kick but inevitably kicked. He was stifling for our attack on occasions.

I seem to be the only one that saw that though.

Ironically IMO the reason that Cooper looked so off for most of the tournament is that he stopped taking the ball to line like he did for the Reds. I think this has been the major change in his game under Link. He seemed to revert back to type under the pressure of it all.

Sure Barnes has his faults like any player. But his other qualities far outweigh a tendency to occasionally drop too deep. I think he did take the line on more often this game, but no one takes the ball to the line like Cooper.

I am not sure that Cooper had to be excluded for Barnes or vice-versa. I think there were a couple of ways to include both of them and utilising both their strenghts. The 10/15 interchange seemed ideal IMO, especially with Beale's hammy clearly not up to it. But hey, it is all hindsight now.

 

[twenty seven]

Bullrush I will say it one more time - you can't go for years giving shit in the form of cheap shots from behind etc and then sit back and whinge and boo when you cop a few back. NZ supporters need to grow up and look at what their own players do. The cheap booing of Cooper is exactly that - cheap. Harden up. Cooper simply gave back what other teams have been getting.
I like the way he maned up at times. Others annoyed me but hey we"re only human and we all make mistakes.
I wish Cooper well. We need him back for the next Super Rugby season.
Go the Wallabies

 

[Dai bando]

Well done lads, deserved your win today the best team won, your coaches did a number on us stoped us playing at source, your scrum was a huge shock to some but, without a recognised TH we were bound to struggle there, see you December.

 

[Braveheart81]

I agree with the comments that an in form Cooper is our best 10. I think the Cooper/Barnes combo at 10 and 12 is excellent though and certainly the best option we currently have. They balance each other beautifully.

Barnes' try was an excellent piece of work from both of them. Cooper threw a beautiful ball, but Barnes did wonderfully well to catch the pass behind him and score. I think most of our players would drop that pass. Barnes showed fantastic handling throughout the match.

Barnes is surely now going to be our 10 for the Baa Baas and Wales games. It will be interesting to see how he fares with a more settled backline.

I thought Horne looked pretty good. He tried one silly offload which turned the ball over, but overall was good. He makes the gain line with ball in hand and looks threatening. His tackling was excellent.

AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) had a pretty good game but as always, fails to pass at crucial times which limits opportunity. Bit of a shocker by him not to score although he never really caught that pass particularly well in the first place.

Slipper was superb. I can't wait to see Robinson back. I think Robinson, Moore, and Slipper can quickly become a world class front row. Ma'afu was very solid in the scrums and made some good tackles. Probably doesn't deserve the ridicule he receives.

I thought both TPN and Saia Fainga'a did some good things. Certainly Taf's best impact so far with some big tackles. Hopefully we're starting to see some of the old TPN back.

 

[Cardiffblue]

Given the amount of ridicule Salesi Ma'afu gets, I'm surprised no one has commented about the Aussie scrum which was clearly dominant. Gethin Jenkins is no slouch but he got absolutely nothing from Ma'afu. James Slipper was immense all over the park and Higgenbotham put in a very good shift. Ben Alexanders stupid kick was a really coach killer.

Thought before the game that without Adam or a THP replacement we were going to be in trouble in scrum. Australia won cos in first 25 mins they won scrums hands down. Were always on front foot.

 

[FairWeatherAussie]

Ironically IMO the reason that Cooper looked so off for most of the tournament is that he stopped taking the ball to line like he did for the Reds. I think this has been the major change in his game under Link. He seemed to revert back to type under the pressure of it all.

Sure Barnes has his faults like any player. But his other qualities far outweigh a tendency to occasionally drop too deep. I think he did take the line on more often this game, but no one takes the ball to the line like Cooper.

I am not sure that Cooper had to be excluded for Barnes or vice-versa. I think there were a couple of ways to include both of them and utilising both their strenghts. The 10/15 interchange seemed ideal IMO, especially with Beale's hammy clearly not up to it. But hey, it is all hindsight now.

i think the pairing complements each others strengths. Barnes can often be a little to conservative in attack, but sometimes that is what is needed. When Barnes came on outside of Quade against the AB's and tonight, Quade seemed to settle down and play far better. Possible because he didn't feel that he had to do something miraculous every touch of the ball - to break the line himself or do a skip two long pass to the wings, since he could rely on Barnes decision making if he had nothing on himself.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Ironically IMO the reason that Cooper looked so off for most of the tournament is that he stopped taking the ball to line like he did for the Reds. I think this has been the major change in his game under Link. He seemed to revert back to type under the pressure of it all.

Sure Barnes has his faults like any player. But his other qualities far outweigh a tendency to occasionally drop too deep. I think he did take the line on more often this game, but no one takes the ball to the line like Cooper.

I am not sure that Cooper had to be excluded for Barnes or vice-versa. I think there were a couple of ways to include both of them and utilising both their strenghts. The 10/15 interchange seemed ideal IMO, especially with Beale's hammy clearly not up to it. But hey, it is all hindsight now.

I dont see why you cant play BB at 12 and QC (Quade Cooper) at 10 - they are such different players and in the long run if some of BB's control and a tiny bit of his conservatism rub off then QC (Quade Cooper) may acquire the judgment his game currently lacks: I thought they looked more convincing in that area with the combo - but we'll be lucky if they're both available for the first test in 2012.

 

[DJC]

Well done lads, deserved your win today the best team won, your coaches did a number on us stoped us playing at source, your scrum was a huge shock to some but, without a recognised TH we were bound to struggle there, see you December.

Yeah looking forward to 3 Dec. Hope the Millenium Stadium roof is closed! Agree Adam Jones was a loss but given the criticism that Ma'afu has copped it was good to see him personally getting over the top of Gethin Jenkins.

 

[Cardiffblue]

i think the pairing complements each others strengths. Barnes can often be a little to conservative in attack, but sometimes that is what is needed. When Barnes came on outside of Quade against the AB's and tonight, Quade seemed to settle down and play far better. Possible because he didn't feel that he had to do something miraculous to break the line himself or do a skip two long pass to the wings, since the centers were not going to create any scoring possibilities.

Not convinced re: Cooper. Wales minus warburton didn't pressurise him. Thought barnes looked good. v. good.

 

[Cardiffblue]

Yeah looking forward to 3 Dec. Hope the Millenium Stadium roof is closed! Agree Adam Jones was a loss but given the criticism that Ma'afu has copped it was good to see him personally getting over the top of Gethin Jenkins.

If you watch, the scrum battle wasn't won on Jenkins' side but the wheel on our TH side was so disruptive. Wales only settled when James came off

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Bloody hell - Jenkins hinged on every engagement: he looked like he'd dropped something and was trying to pick it up. If a Wallaby had done that we'd have had our loosey in the bin.

 

[Dai bando]

Yeah looking forward to 3 Dec. Hope the Millenium Stadium roof is closed! Agree Adam Jones was a loss but given the criticism that Ma'afu has copped it was good to see him personally getting over the top of Gethin Jenkins.

Don't agree, I thought Jenkins held his end up very well, It was your loose head that did the damage, Jenkins was penalised unfairly on some occasions, your TH went down and Jenkins was pinged for it, Just an observation DJC

 

[Cardiffblue]

Bloody hell - Jenkins hinged on every engagement: he looked like he'd dropped something and was trying to pick it up. If a Wallaby had done that we'd have had our loosey in the bin.

Doesn't matter. Game was great to watch! looking forward to rematch already

 

[Dai bando]

Bloody hell - Jenkins hinged on every engagement: he looked like he'd dropped something and was trying to pick it up. If a Wallaby had done that we'd have had our loosey in the bin.

Not agreeing with CB because he's Welsh but, your TH was going down.

 

[Cardiffblue]

[/B]
Don't agree, I thought Jenkins held his end up very well, It was your loose head that did the damage, Jenkins was penalised unfairly on some occasions, your TH went down and Jenkins was pinged for it, Just an observation DJC

Agree. Think it was Slipper on the other side. He had an awesome game all round

 

[Cardiffblue]

Incidentally, thought toby did ok but think Lydiate really does need to play with warburton. Mongo looked, well like Mongo when he came on, but strangely think the substitution worked well. Also thouhgt Wellies looked better once Brynmor's Boy was on. But Dai, tell me this. What the F@ck is the point in kicking up and unders all day? At best they are 50-50, at worst we give away the ball. It's like when after 30+ phases Ickle decided to go for a drop goal??? FFS how many has he scored in his long and illustrious career?