Aus vs NZ - 1st Test Sydney 17Aug2013

[Brumby Runner]

Kurindrani will surpass AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) in the next year. The fact is that AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) still lacks basic catch and pass skills and is very predictable in attack (left step followed by right fend). He is there still because his good points (defense and line running) are very good.

Did you notice that Kurindrani fell over when he went outside McCaw and drew the winger to pass to Folau? Well check out the replay - he got a push in the back from McCaw that caused him to fall an stopped him from being in a support position. Another grub play from McCaw that wasn't picked up.

Yeah - I saw that as well. Then I suspect Richie called for the ball as Izzy sent a perfect pass to him, in a position where he probably thought Kuridrani was supporting him.

 

[Ash]

Just to lighten the mood..what was Robbie Deans worst result against the AB's?

22 - 0 loss at Eden Park?

edit: Deans tended to be very conservative in his game plans, which effectively stopped blow outs but made it hard to win.

 

[Froggy]

Mostly disappointing but with a few highlights. Front row okay, new laws worked well for us I thought. Some have bagged Horwell, I thought he was all right, and Simmons played his first test standard game. It's been a long time coming, but he was good. MMM wasn't up to the job, Fardy in next week imo, Mowen I quiet one, needs to lift, Hooper MOTM for mine. I reckon this guy must have one of the highest ratios of MOTM performances to tests of all time.

In the backs, Genia good but has been better, a couple of poor decisions. To'omua not bad, but really added nothing to the team's attack. Need to start Cooper, but To'omua on the bench in case Cooper gets rattled early. Lilo indifferent first half, good 2nd half, but goalkicking will win us tests, outstanding (I believe he is yet to miss a kick at test level)! AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) outstanding, JOC (James O'Connor) strong in attack but out of position in defence, needs to work on that. Mogg... enough said (and I was all in favour of his selection). Folau not sighted, to 15, HB to the wing.

AB's were great, Cruden a worthy successor to Carter, McCaw just brilliant, best 7 of all time IMO, A Smith matched Genia, C smith serious class, Luatua ensured Messam wasn't missed.

Link has a lot of work to do, we need to get some forward momentum in the middle, need players to bend that advantage line, much more accuracy needed in the clean out, midfield need to straighten the attack, need a lot more players in motion to give the guy with the ball some options, defensive pattern needs to hold together when things get hectic.

 

[Bullrush]

22 - 0 loss at Eden Park?

edit: Deans tended to be very conservative in his game plans, which effectively stopped blow outs but made it hard to win.

To be honest, there was nothing I saw last night that said the Wallabies are any different under McKenzie than they were under Deans. I'm not saying they won't be - it's his first game - but at no stage during that game did I feel the All Blacks were put under sustained pressure or the Wallabies were building towards a try.

It's funny that you say Deans was very conservative but he picked an attacking option in JOC (James O'Connor) at 10 while McKenzie went with To'omua.

 

[I like to watch]

22 - 0 loss at Eden Park?

edit: Deans tended to be very conservative in his game plans, which effectively stopped blow outs but made it hard to win.

As opposed to how they played last night?
Last night was a very similar philosophy IMO

 

[TooEasyWobbles]

It'll take months and months for McKenzie to shape the Wallabies under his coaching. People were optimistic last night, but being realistic nothing's going to change for a long time. And that's not good or bad, it's just how it works.

 

[I like to watch]

I would agree with that,if there was an obvious change in style as per the Tahs this year.
I struggle to see how they played in such a different style last night,that it will take them months to adjust.

 

[Shiggins]

Who can improve more? The wallabies have miles to improve compared to the all blacks.

 

[MajorlyRagerly]

We gave an absolute master class on taking your opportunities.

Obviously very happy with result, luatua looked good, the smiths were all awesome and long live the king!!

Mogg was your worst player, hooper your best - why didn't he play like that vs the lions???

Roll on next week

 

[Happy]

Now I have had time to get over my disappointment I can think about the game much more rationally, and these are my thoughts:

1. I hope Link has more faith in the players than some of the people commenting. They were in the team because they deserved it, and hopefully they will be given some time to develop combinations and confidence.

2. The game plan needs some tweaks. It appeared to me that Link was using a side to side spread to try and create holes, and one on ones for our dynamic runners (Falou, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper), O'Connor), but apart from that one break by AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) it wasn't very successful. People are criticising To'omua for not running to the line more, but it seemed to me he was just following the game plan of spreading the ball wide as quickly as possible.

Instead of line breaks we saw a lot of isolated runners out wide, because we weren't going forward before spreading the ball. This may or may not be the fault of the forwards, but to my viewing it was the fault of the game plan.

If this was indeed the plan, then I think we have the cattle. It just needs some minor adjustments to get go forward first.

Mogg was poor, but I think he lost confidence, especially when his kick was touched in flight and didn't find touch, after that he was kicking the ball high, instead of his usual raking kicks, and other parts of his game suffered as well.

Our forwards did well in the set piece, and I thought the Blacks were lucky to get away with a couple of scrum collapses in the first half. Our backs did some good, and some not so good. I think we have the right players, we just need to let them develop into a team.

 

[hawktrain]

At least a crooked feed is or should be pretty clear cut, well within the control of the halfback and it is clear where the blame lies. However the other scrum penalties seem a bit of a raffle. A free kick without the option of another scrum doesn't seem fair as the only options are to gift possession to the infringing side or take a tap. How about a penalty with no option for going for goal?


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Judging by last night, the crooked feed refereeing will take time. Genia got pinged early for one, then the ABs took a scrum where Smith's feed was at least twice as crooked but not called. Then there were a few more where Genia was clearly feeding to his teams side. I guess it will get better as refs get used to having to watch the feed properly.

The penalty with no shot for goal would work also. I'd personally like to see teams encouraged to take more taps, but that's just because I enjoy a good old school tap move.

 

[JSRF10]

I think some folk have looked at the scoreboard and figured out that the Wallabies were blown away, however I think that they are close to getting a win over the All Blacks. 3 of the tries were down to a mistake and poor execution, and they probably blew a couple by taking the wrong option when they broke the line.

I was surprised it took until the 74th minute (ish) for NZ to get a yellow card, I though the ref could maybe have given one in the first have for the repeated infringements but in fairness none of them where in the red zone. Aside from that I thought the ref had a great game.

Next week Cooper should come in at 10, and the Honey Badger for Mogg. Folau should go to 15, and they need to change the back row but I'm not sure who to bring in for MMM who was very disappointing. Folau needs to work harder to get involved though, last night he looked like a rugby league player playing union he was so far away from the bloke that was at the heart of everything good for the Tahs.

Also Hooper was awesome, next question.

 

[I like to watch]

6 tries to 2 flattered us.
It's a bit disingenuous to suggest the AB's scored a couple of lucky ones,and neglect to mention we scored one long range try off a knockdown and the other in the last minute of the game,

 

[Dan54]

Also like to add I enjoyed seeing after Joubert had free kicked both Genia and Smith once for crooked feed he warned them both next one would be penalty, you could see the 2 of them talking behind him as if saying hell we may have to be careful. Also liked seeing after game majority of both teams standing there talking to each other, I still like to see this after a game, and usually shows respect to each other I believe.

 

[Slim 293]

I think some folk have looked at the scoreboard and figured out that the Wallabies were blown away, however I think that they are close to getting a win over the All Blacks. 3 of the tries were down to a mistake and poor execution, and they probably blew a couple by taking the wrong option when they broke the line.

I was surprised it took until the 74th minute (ish) for NZ to get a yellow card, I though the ref could maybe have given one in the first have for the repeated infringements but in fairness none of them where in the red zone. Aside from that I thought the ref had a great game.

Next week Cooper should come in at 10, and the Honey Badger for Mogg. Folau should go to 15, and they need to change the back row but I'm not sure who to bring in for MMM who was very disappointing. Folau needs to work harder to get involved though, last night he looked like a rugby league player playing union he was so far away from the bloke that was at the heart of everything good for the Tahs.

Also Hooper was awesome, next question.

In regards to MMM it's either a straight swap for Fardy who would actually add some workrate to the "toughness", or you move Mowen to 6 and bring in McCalman to 8............

 

[The Red Baron]

What really got up my nose last night was the inaccuracy at the breakdown. The AB backrow made themselves pests all night, as our guys arriving at the breakdown were woeful in their clean out. As a result, we didn't have quick ball as often as we would have liked.

Our alignment was too slow at times, forcing Genia to pick out any old moving body. The AB's read it like a book and often caught us behind the advantage line.

The ABs do the little things right. They clean out quickly and accurately, they align quickly. Every person in that side knows exactly where they should be at any given time. This is what allows them to capitalise on mistakes.

You wanna beat the All Blacks? Do the little things right.

 

[mxyzptlk]

Also like to add I enjoyed seeing after Joubert had free kicked both Genia and Smith once for crooked feed he warned them both next one would be penalty, you could see the 2 of them talking behind him as if saying hell we may have to be careful. Also liked seeing after game majority of both teams standing there talking to each other, I still like to see this after a game, and usually shows respect to each other I believe.

Yep -- Quade was talking to Cruden and Barrett after the game, and something Cruden said had Qaude cracking up. That was good to see.

 

[It is what it is]

JOC (James O'Connor) is not a winger.wants to get involved.better to have him in the centres.he is not afraid of taking the ball up.

He is a winger, but a right winger NOT a left winger.
He's played his best rugby for Australia wearing 14.
He was lost last night.

 

[It is what it is]

Plenty to work on this week if we are to be competitive in Wellington.

Welcome to the real world of Test Match footy, Link.

Silly comment HJ, Link has been in and around test match footy for close to 20 years as a player, assistant coach and now head coach.
He is grounded and a realist, just what we need at this time.

 

[Slim 293]

He is a winger, but a right winger NOT a left winger.
He's played his best rugby for Australia wearing 14.
He was lost last night.

To be fair to him his game really picked up in the second half.........

But his lapses in defence still gave away a couple of tries and another linebreak or two.........