Argentina v Australia TRC Round 4 Sunday 8 September 5am (AEST)

[Marce]

Kerevi on a leg is better than Stewart and Paisami together. At least he's another big body on pitch

 

[PhilClinton]

I know for certain Kerevi was told his inclusion in the RC squad was a formality. And then a month later he wasn’t picked. Haven’t spoken to him since then. But I was surprised when he wasn’t selected in the squad and commented at the time.

 

[TSR]

Did I hear right when they interviewd AAA and they asked him it always the plan for him to replace Tupou at 35 minutes. He said no he was told to just go all out and let us know when he was ready to be subbed (or words like that), and he said he was ready to come off at 30. Really? A player is allowed to go on and say hey at 30 mins I've had enough? I surely heard him wrong.

Yes - that’s what he said, but I’m not sure the way you are presenting it is a fair reflection of what he meant.

I thought Tupou was by far the busiest he has been in a game for about 3 yrs. I assumed he was given instructions (and maybe a kick in the arse) to drain the tank and when he ran out of gas, so be it, they would sub him.

Unfair to put the blame on three players in that sort of game but seemed to me that there was a gulf in the respective performances of Bell, Tupou & Valetini and the three players that replaced them. Although it is worth noting the tide already appeared to turn before these changes were made.

The Wallabies played some of the best rugby they have played for 2 years in the first 30 and guys like Donaldson, Stewart, Kellaway & Williams were looking like confirmed test quality players.

Then it wasn’t so much that the wheels fell off - the whole cart fell completely into pieces .

 

[TSR]

It was reported Kerevi himself said he was not in shape for test rugby. Maybe he just didn’t want to play - who knows.

You clearly love to play the antagonist and the Wallabies are easy prey. Far enough - that’s part and parcel of a public forum. But it’s been made very clear that Kerevi, Skelton et al have opted out of the Wallabies for whatever reason. You and others repeating ad nauseam that they should be picked is pointless.

 

[dillyboy]

Yeah exactly.

Word is it's not that Skelton or Kerevi haven't been selected.

Both have said they didn't want to be there so we need to stop with the posts demanding their selection

 

[A mutterer]

The drop off in the scrum was noticeable, and gave the argies the momentum.

The defence fell apart without ikitau. But the lack of effort in getting back and having sold grounding to get a hit was disappointing. Last week there was way more effort to reset and stay connected.

Joe is going to have to have to drop some people after that capitulation.

 

[molman]

The Wallabies played some of the best rugby they have played for 2 years in the first 30 and guys like Donaldson, Stewart, Kellaway & Williams were looking like confirmed test quality players. Then it wasn’t so much that the wheels fell off - the whole cart fell completely into pieces .

What do you think went wrong, because I agree. That first 30 to even 40, was looking really good.

 

[TSR]

The defence fell apart without ikitau. But the lack of effort in getting back and having sold grounding to get a hit was disappointing. Last week there was way more effort to reset and stay connected.

It was terrible. The Argies completely swamped us. Well played them but it was like our guys were completely gassed and just couldn’t keep up.

 

[Pokinacha]

I like to think that both the ABs and Bokke would have struggled against the Pumas in that last 20min. They found a 5th and 6th gear and EVERY offload was sticking. While it was a wallaby capitulation, the Argentinans looked like a top 3 team in those closing minutes

 

[KOB1987]

Usually when you see a blow out scoreline like that it reflects a demolition job and a couple of late consolation tries. In this case it was the opposite, we looked the best we have all season in the first 30 minutes, and then it went totally pear shaped. You have to look at what changed, and then you have to conclude that it must have come down to personnel. In particular the front row and the halves, then the losses of Valetini and Ikitau. I assume Gleeson was meant to come on for Tizzano like he did last week. He and Canham did not add much impact though, and Flook was a clear downgrade.

 

[chasmac]

I haven't read any comments so this might be a repeat of some themes.
1. The starting front row were great but didn't last long. Once they were gone we barely made the advantage line.
2. Advantage line was where it was lost.
3. Some basic errors e.g. Gordon penalised for not retreating compounded the momentum problem.
4. What happened at half time. At 42min we have 2 of our best Kelloway and Lenny combine for a knock on. Momentum lost again.
5. Argies were very good at support play.
6. A big back like Kerevi would have been nice.
7. I have 2 tickets to the next game that I might be regretting.

 

[Joe King]

Apart from Slips, I don't think we can afford to drop players or make sweeping changes. I get that we don't want to reward mediocrity, but we just don't have time to keep changing players before BIL. I honestly think these players need a chance to get THEMSELVES out of the hole they're in and work out how to not fall back in again.

 

[TSR]

Sadly I wonder if conditioning was again the biggest issue and passive tackles. The first 30 minutes were very open and free flowing. A lot of rugby was played but some of our players looked gassed. Argentina was able to keep the pace up and we weren’t. Our pack was both physical and mobile early. Then fell in an enormous hole and couldn’t get out of if. Although even in the first 30 on we seemed to miss a lot of tackles. By the end we weren’t even there. The missed tackle stats for some of the players will be pretty ugly.

Ala'alatoa is a very good rugby player. But he is well below his best at the moment. Slipper seems to be done. I am not sure the next guys up are better right now but I feel they can be and maybe it’s time for a change. Gleeson may be really good one day but Valetini is one of our best week in week out and without him we lost a lot of punch.

Some of the other guys - just did some really good things but too many slip ups either releasing the pressure valve on Argentina or putting us back in front of the train. Things like Tupou & Jorgensen going out, Donaldson not nailing the Argentinian fullback when he sllipped, kicking a short arm penalty into the 22 for an easy mark, Koroibete knocking on reaching for the ball one handed, Nasser taking the steal then gifting the ball straight back on the next play, Tate putting it out in the full, Gordon getting done for not retreating (I agree with the earlier comment that he was probably unlucky as it isn’t normally called) - all little moments that giving Argentina control of the game.

 

[TSR]

Apart from Slips, I don't think we can afford to drop players or make sweeping changes

Largely agree. The knee jerk reaction is to say dump a lot of them. But there actually has to be someone behind them to bring in (who wants to be picked) and, sadly, that may not be the case. Will be interesting how the next lot of selections go.

 

[Dismal Pillock]

Havent read the thread. Too scared.

Entertaining game, hawd fawst track, running rugby on a sunny arvo. Another top close-confines stadium too. None of this running track bollocks to relegate the fans to miles away and sterilise the whole experience

I suspect the details of Aus coughing up a 20-3 lead to lose the rugby football match 27-67 have been covered in possibly quite profane detail elsewhere in the thread.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Just seen the score. What the hell happened out there?

 

[rugbyAU]

Apart from Slips, I don't think we can afford to drop players or make sweeping changes. I get that we don't want to reward mediocrity, but we just don't have time to keep changing players before BIL. I honestly think these players need a chance to get THEMSELVES out of the hole they're in and work out how to not fall back in again.

slipper was dreadful

 

[Tomthumb]

Someone like Toole is yet another small guy for the opposition to target

I thought we were past this mindset with Kolbe and Arendse dominating but I guess not

 

[Joe Blow]

Not often Marika has a couple of poor games back to back

He has been very loose both sides of the ball. Time to give Toole a run.

 

[Tomthumb]

Just think about all the pastings the AB’s have given us over the years, and then realise we just conceded more points today that any of those

this is the all time low point of Australian Rugby. 67 points, there is no way back from this