Australia v Argentina, Sept 14th in Perth

[FairWeatherAussie]

I don't know why the wallabies are copping so much flak from everyone, they still remain a world class team, how many countries can boast that? They are rebuilding after Deans hopelessly coached them and have many new players who are settling in and getting use to playing as a unit.

Imo rugby union is in a bad state presently which i think can be largely blamed on Paddy O'Brien and his minions (referees). The all blacks and springboks (to a lesser degree) have perfected the art of playing in the grey area of the game, while the wallabies are yet to make this shift. The refs are making appalling calls at the scrum and break down and seem to be ignorant to the rampant professional fouling and slowing down of the ball at the ruck. Take the recent wobs v boks game, never have i seen so much lying over the ball at the ruck while the ref stands there with thumb up coit.

Edit: How about the blatant obstruction that the pumas used to score their try? How did the refs not get the call right when they watched it from a number of angles on replay, clearly showing that lealiifano was obstructed in his attempt to tackle the try scorer.

I think you might go blind if you closed that one eye.

 

[Brumbieman]

Oh for fuck sake, stop whinging you big bunch of fannies.

We won. It wasn't pretty, but we stuck to the correct gameplan, in atrocious conditions, against a team that smacked NZ about the park last week and had all the perfect attributes to to worse to us this week.

Against all that, we stuck together, battled it out, didn't lose our cool and won a game. Pretty big fucking positive tick if you ask me. What we need to do now is stick with much the same team, and work hard for the next two weeks on the things that didn't go so well, IE the scrum and high ball receipt.

Incidentally, where the hell is Noriega? Our scrum was an actual weapon a few years back with him in charge and almost exactly the same front row, why is he not part of the set up?

White showed just how shit Genia's been the last few months, with his kicking and rapid clearance of the ruck setting a new standard for Genia to match.

I really want to see Lealiifano step into the 10 jersey, as much of a pipe dream as it is. He's the best 10 in aus but is shuffled out to accommodate To'omua. Until I drink my brain cells away, i'll never forget how the Brumbies went into hyper-drive with him there last year. He was much like he is now at 12, flashes of brilliance, over solid-ness but no real authority on his position. Stepped into 10 and just ignited like magnesium.

Also, so much for the Honey Badger. Runs like branded horse, and with about the same quality of handling and intelligence. Besides, anyone who gives THEMSELVES a nickname, and then tells the media about it is pretty fucking lame IMO. He's also so cringeworthily bogan I want to block my ears and yell everytime he gets in front of a camera.

 

[Joe Blow]

I agree with you joe blow, there is plenty of room for improvement in the team and the state of refereeing should be no excuse. It does no good for the game though and this problem of incompetent referring needs to be addressed. It kills a teams momentum when the ref consistently makes bad calls and in turn brings down the moral/headspace of the players which arguably has huge impacts on the direction of the game. It is something the wallabies need to work on, they need to nullify the referring (or use it to their advantage) as much as they can and play above it.

As someone who has years of experience playing union at club and state competition levels i would have to disagree with you about the grey area of the game, there certainly is one, especially at the break down

Agreed. The breakdown is and probably always be a bit of a grey area.
I was referring to the scrum. It seems pretty straight forward now.

 

[hughbert]

My god, the baiting is funny once or twice, but you take provincialism to a whole new level. Just tone it down a few notches, please? I'm seriously getting sick of the whole "you're a reds fan, therefore your opinion on any player is going to be bias!". It's REALLY fucking annoying. Get over it.

What was REALLY annoying was being told last week by several posters (all of whom were sporting the reds logo but I'm sure that's a coincidence) that any changes in the backline (specifically the halves pairing) was "deckchairs on the titanic" and entirely pointless until our forward pack gained some sort of superhuman ascendancy the likes of which wallaby packs have not enjoyed this side of 1908. I wanted White and To'omua because I figure it's better to focus on position rather than possession when your pack is getting beaten. But no, there was no point in changing halves because "the forwards are shit and it's won in the forwards". It's clear as shit to many of us that Genia and Cooper are outstanding rugby players but only when they get front foot ball.

Now that we see that a half back keen to play the game in the opposition half will swing the game into your favour (or at least to a balance) even if your forwards are not dominant and suddenly link is a genius for swapping halfbacks. When we said it on here we were clueless. Go figure. Do you not see how THAT might be REALLY fucking annoying??

And speak for yourself when you "underestimate" how valuable kicking is in test rugby. It's been obvious to many of us for a long time that every other tier 1 side has 2+ players on the paddock that can shift the game 50 metres reliably with the boot and that we were losing tests because we didn't have 1 that could do it.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

The Uni front rowers appeared much trimmer than the woodies (excepting the backrower turned hooker Roach?)

But after 47 years in the Tahs academy Tilse still cannot get a bind on

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Not sure how JOC (James O'Connor) gets a positive review: his first 2 touches were diabolical and to me reflect his non-team attitude.
I'd give him a neutral assessment.
The one thing Timani showed (but only once) was that having a player in motion running off the 10 or as first receiver is far more likely to give you a viable platform than static ball reception. This seemed to be Dwyer's rationale for wanting a big, straight-running 12.
Simply put we do not get to or beyond the gain line enough.

 

[Bowside]

Not sure how JOC (James O'Connor) gets a positive review: his first 2 touches were diabolical and to me reflect his non-team attitude.
I'd give him a neutral assessment.
The one thing Timani showed (but only once) was that having a player in motion running off the 10 or as first receiver is far more likely to give you a viable platform than static ball reception. This seemed to be Dwyer's rationale for wanting a big, straight-running 12.
Simply put we do not get to or beyond the gain line enough.

I reckon lealiifano is only in the team for his goal kicking, and once Godwin matures a bit he will play 12 with Lilo becoming the reserve flyhalve on the bench.

JOC (James O'Connor) taking the kicks.

 

[USARugger]

The Wallabies just aren't playing as a team. They are disjointed loose esemble of players cobbled together but divided by coaching philosophies, poor skills, egos, state aleigances and lack of team dynanism. My dog Charlie has more conviction in beliveing he can imgregnate his pony toy (and he has no balls) than the Wallabies have in playing rugby. Thats just sad.

This this this and also this.

We won but I'm still not convinced and not anywhere near satisfied. Still no sense of cohesion on any level.

 

[KOB1987]

It wasn't pretty but we won. A lot of people in GAGRland were saying we wouldn't do that. It's a small step on the long road to recovery, have a bit of faith guys.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Not quite the 20 point thrashing that you and I predicted KOB1987, but I'll take a 1 point shallacing anyday provide it is us on the victory dias.

It is always darkest prior to the dawn. Has the corner been turned?

Saffers and Los Pumas at home will be telling.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Sully is coping a bit of incoming flak on the blog for the match report.

I think White made some poor kicks (one charge down and two out on the full) but overall the #9 kicking game (and kick chase overall) was better than we have seen in a while. It will be interesting to see the actual kicking stats.

Mowen at #8, as predicted, didn't add a lot of value but then what alternative do we have that is currently fit. As predicted I thought that he did a good job of managing Mr Owens and leading the team overall. It is these two latter attributes that will probably keep him in Gold in the short term.

We must give credit to how the boys performed in what appeared to be pretty awful weather conditions. Usually we drop the bundle entirely when we face these sort of conditions on the NH tour, so well done boys.

 

[The Incredible Plan]

Or Newcastle.

 

[Sully]

All I said was his kicking was off. You'd think I'd kill the Queen.

 

[wamberal]

Edit: How about the blatant obstruction that the pumas used to score their try? How did the refs not get the call right when they watched it from a number of angles on replay, clearly showing that lealiifano was obstructed in his attempt to tackle the try scorer.

Vinny Munro was the TMO, and he is a very experienced international referee. He said that there was "no clear and obvious" reason not to allow the try to be awarded. That should be good enough for us.


Why do you think that you are better qualified to make the call? (By the way, the TMO has access to all camera angles, and the viewer does not, unless the broadcaster elects to show them all). Plus, he is actually there, and watched the incident in real time.


The tv view is often misleading, apart from anything else, it is in two dimensions, and the reality can be distorted by the camera angle.

 

[tragic]

I think you might go blind if you closed that one eye.

Even with both eyes open I also thought their was obstruction and was surprised at the lack of heat about that decision.
Lealiifano clearly had to go around the puma 12 who was running a deliberate interfering line. It only slowed him by a metre but that was the difference between a completed tackle and falling off. I have no doubt if the 12 hadn't been there he would have made the tackle.
Perhaps he should have showboated with arms flailing as seems to be the way these days instead of trying to get around and make the tackle.
Not the worst decision I've seen but was a little surprised..

 

[Dan54]

All I said was his kicking was off. You'd think I'd kill the Queen.

Hard to win sometimes huh Sully, if you said his kicking was great you get all the others calling you names, I thought it a good review.

 

[TooEasyWobbles]

Jesus that was a shocking display by the Wallabies. Didn't Pumas have 80% possession in the second half at one point? (I think) Argentina lost that more than Australia won it for sure, Pumas just had to hold it together but didn't.

 

[Ruggo]

That game summed up rugby in this country.

Shit crowd, no atmosphere. Uninspired performance by a team with 0 ability to execute with any sort of consistency.

We need a new tight 5 before the world cup.

Put this into perspective. Shit ground, lesser ranked side in world rugby and shitty weather. Now compare this to the best rectangular stadium in the country, second ranked nation in the world and fine weather.

The Brisbane crowd last week was more disappointing than the Perth one this week.

 

[ChargerWA]

Our talk of failing to adapt to the new scrum laws is laughable. To fail to adapt to them is to infer that previously our scrum was OK and only the rule changes have made us come undone.

Ewen now needs to decide. Pick scrummaging props, get the new technique right and then compete like every other test team. Or continue to pick props who are good around the park and make sure you have a game plan that can score you 9 more points a game than the opposition using your mobile props. Because in the big games, that is what it will cost us at least.

 

[tragic]

Our talk of failing to adapt to the new scrum laws is laughable. To fail to adapt to them is to infer that previously our scrum was OK and only the rule changes have made us come undone.

Ewen now needs to decide. Pick scrummaging props, get the new technique right and then compete like every other test team. Or continue to pick props who are good around the park and make sure you have a game plan that can score you 9 more points a game than the opposition using your mobile props. Because in the big games, that is what it will cost us at least.

Who are our dominant scrummaging props that are not getting picked? Just asking....