Aus vs NZ - 1st Test Sydney 17Aug2013

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Painful to watch I know but I understand them wanting to eradicate bad old habits early on under the new system.

What I thought sucked was the ref calling the ball in. They can do away with that one me thinks.

I thought that was odd too.

 

[Scoey]

Now that I think of it, the booing is the equivalent of Richie constantly being referred to as a cheat.

Hardly equivalent unless the majority of the AUS crowd were yelling it at him every time he touched the ball.
But if you last long on here you'll notice that the McCaw/cheat thing is not really tolerated here either. Generally speaking its a pretty bloody good crowd but you do see the odd dickhead.

 

[Richo]

My understanding is that the ref calling it in is intended to encourage a stable scrum prior to the ball going in. We'll have to see whether it works. It was certainly bloody weird on Saturday.

 

[Ruggo]

The Wallabies problems look easy to fix in my view. More accurate at the breakdown, a bit better read in defense and more direct action at 10. I liked seeing big forwards hitting the ball at pace and we made some good ground over the advantage line as a result. Simmons was best at this in my view. Good to see our lineout looking back to standard.

Bring on next week.

 

[Scoey]

To be fair, everyone I've talked to who was at the game last night said many Aussie fans were part of the booing of Cooper. It certainly sounded like it was more than just the NZ portion of the crowd.

I guess people are just paying him back for him disrespecting the national jersey. Apparently there was a fair bit of abuse from Wallabies fans towards JOC (James O'Connor) too - not undeserved either.

I find that pretty easy to believe sadly. The ironic part is the booers are disrespecting the jersey more by booing the same jersey they are wearing for mine.

 

[I like to watch]

I think you are looking at it too deeply.
Some guys in front of me (wearing both oz & AB jumpers) booed.
It was almost reflex,there was no venom in it.
Just like the villains in pantomimes.

 

[Newbie]

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... I think Wallabies will improve a bit by next week, but I do think noone is allowing for the fact that ABs should too!!

Very true! With much regret I personally believe that the AB's are going to hammer the Wallabies in their next game!

Though I was never a Deans fan, if the Wallabies have a disastrous season in 2013 which is supposedly the start of a new beginning, then he will be vindicated IMO. Unlike the other rugby power houses we have no real depth in this country to draw upon, and Deans was a victim of this (just like his successor will be).

Have the JWC performances of Australia over the last several years not shown the ARU our underlying problem as far as grass roots rugby go!

 

[hawktrain]

What I thought sucked was the ref calling the ball in. They can do away with that one me thinks.

Agreed 100%. With the previous scrums the referee would step back from the scrum and motion to the halfback once he was satisfied that it was stable, allowing the half to then let his hooker know the ball was coming/call for the feed, thus letting the feeding team dictate when the feed occurs, just like a lineout.

 

[ChargerWA]

The wallabies just simply need to work harder. Half of our problem was our positioning in defence and attack was woeful. Not working hard enough to support each other.

I think a few players bought into the hype and thought that it was all just going to happen for them in this new era.

We still need more grunt in our pack but with the injuries not sure where it will come from. I would like to see Douglas back in for Simmons (despite him having an all right game). Douglas while hit and miss, when he gets it right is so much more physical. We also need to develop Hooper as a 6 and have Pocock play 7 in defence and then switch with Hooper on attack. We could start doing it now with Gill.

 

[mxyzptlk]

Funny just now talked to mate who said that he had fellas on in front of him who booed Quade, were wearing Wallby jerseys, they told him to get stuffed they would boo wankers from Qld if they wanted, as well as Haka etc.

Was the haka booed too? It sounded like it, but I couldn't tell from television if it was an echo or if there were pockets of the crowd just booing them.

 

[mxyzptlk]

What I thought sucked was the ref calling the ball in. They can do away with that one me thinks.

But it was kind of funny hearing Joubert almost coaching the scrum halves on the put-in. "That was perfect!"

 

[Dan54]

I think you are looking at it too deeply.
Some guys in front of me (wearing both oz & AB jumpers) booed.
It was almost reflex,there was no venom in it.
Just like the villains in pantomimes.

I have said this a few times I Like, QC (Quade Cooper) is really just a comoc book villain, don't really know anyone who really dislikes him intently, just started booing him and don't seem to know how to stop. Like I said it no longer worries me.

Interesting to read Dwyer's take on the match on home page, he saw what I thought I saw, Fainga'a seemed to strike at the ball a couple of times early, has that rule been changed that you are not allowed to strike before ball is put in?? I don't think it big thing, and I do believe with rules being changed the refs are going to have to look at scrums differently, but that is one rule that may come back into play as much as 9s putting ball in a bit straighter!!

 

[USARugger]

Feeling like a bit of a broken record here but Hooper will never be an international 6. Too small, too short. You would have to rejigger the entire pack to accommodate him playing at 6 and even then unless you have a freakishly tall 7 or a prop that jumps you've hamstrung your line out by default. It just wouldn't work within the conventions of test rugby as it is right now.

Don't understand for the calls of Douglas over Simmons either. Douglas had the Lions series to prove himself, and didn't. Simmons was more physical and involved this weekend than Douglas was that entire series. Is Simmons the perfect lock? No. But it's not like there are a bunch of world-class test proven locks running around right now - as is the case in a lot of positions for the Wallabies. You can only use the chess pieces you actually have to work with.

 

[vidiot]

Simmons was good - by the numbers and in terms of efficacy in his role he was arguably the best Australian forward. Horwill had ample tackles, runs and rucks/mauls also.

The Australian back row was, as a unit, ordinary. The pace/intensity was beyond MMM. Hooper was good but McCaw was superb - he made 14 rucks/mauls, as much as the entire starting Aus unit, and was obviously more effective. Mowen was quiet.

Set Ben Mac at 8 and Mowen to 6, and a whole-team commitment to precision in taking McCaw esp off the ball and tying him up in the ruck.

 

[USARugger]

One thing that's really been concerning me about Horwill as a player (not a captain) is that he's seemingly become prone to making critical mistakes. That is to say he makes mistakes at a lower rate than those around him but oh boy the ones he has made recently have stuck out. There's a pretty awful knock on or two from the Lions series and that slipped tackle on A. Smith this past weekend. I mean, it's far more likely just shit luck than anything else but they have been really noticeable.

As a captain, not sure if he had the best dialogue going with Joubert this weekend. All Blacks got away with some serious shit at ruck time.

 

[Bullrush]

One thing that's really been concerning me about Horwill as a player (not a captain) is that he's seemingly become prone to making critical mistakes. That is to say he makes mistakes at a lower rate than those around him but oh boy the ones he has made recently have stuck out. There's a pretty awful knock on or two from the Lions series and that slipped tackle on A. Smith this past weekend. I mean, it's far more likely just shit luck than anything else but they have been really noticeable.

As a captain, not sure if he had the best dialogue going with Joubert this weekend. All Blacks got away with some serious shit at ruck time.

You're like Will Genia. Looking to the ref to somehow save you from your own forward pack's inability to give you quick, clean ball.

The Wallabies got away with some shit at the ruck as well......that's the nature of rugby.

 

[USARugger]

It was bad on both ends and I clear the ball much faster than that, thank you very much.

 

[Scrubber2050]

to me the back 3 were poor - particularly JOC (James O'Connor) and Mogg
First time I agree with Marto - they will be lucky to hold spots.
Add to those Lilo's charge down unforgivable.
Shit the AB's scored heaps off stupid elementary errors.

 

[cyclopath]

But it was kind of funny hearing Joubert almost coaching the scrum halves on the put-in. "That was perfect!"

Given it's all new, I think the ref calling it all was fair enough, and he was good in his feedback to the halves. Over time, once everyone is used to it, it might fade away.

 

[Lindommer]

To be fair, everyone I've talked to who was at the game last night said many Aussie fans were part of the booing of Cooper. It certainly sounded like it was more than just the NZ portion of the crowd.

You obviously didn't ask me, ht. There were no Australians within earshot of my son and I booing Quade, and if they did they would've copped a blast from me.

To any Australians who booed QC (Quade Cooper) on Saturday night: consider yourselves metaphorically chastised by Lindommer. And don't do it again.