Australia v British & Irish Lions, 3rd Test (Sydney)

[Zander]

Your only measurement is in run metres?
http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/wallabies-backrow-performance-in-lions-2nd-test/

Where is the author getting his statistics from?

(thescore.com.au)

          Runs    Tackles (missed)  Rucks
Mowen (80)   5        3    2        5
Hooper (80)  11      9    1        9
Palu (61)    12      5    1       11

 

[Joe Blow]

We were unable to stamp our authority on the breakdown in the last test and Poite is renowned for letting the breakdown rule itself.
If he is fit Smith has to start and we will own the breakdown without Warbs there. Deans just needs to decide which young bloke is on the bench. Both offer a lot in different areas.

 

[BDA]

I thought Hooper was pretty weak at the breakdown last Saturday. In fact Mowen was more effective at the breakdown than Hooper. Where Hooper really shone was in attack in the last 30 minutes of the game. We got through a mountain of work, constantly found a way to get over the gain line or sneak through a half gap. He was instrumental in that regard. For that reason I would put a big cross through this idea of Hooper falling out of the 23. I think best case scenario would be for us to start the game with a Pocock/Smith/Gill style player and use Hooper as an impact player. But im happy to keep things as they are for this weekend.

Smith should and will be on the bench though. I'm calling it right now.

 

[flanker]

Where is the author getting his statistics from?

(thescore.com.au)

          Runs    Tackles (missed)  Rucks
Mowen (80)  5        3    2        5
Hooper (80)  11      9    1        9
Palu (61)    12      5    1      11

I see people regularly citing thescore for ruck involvements.. I think their ruck figure is misconstrued. Rather than total involvements, the numbers seem to reflect how many times the ball has been taken into contact. In all cases, the ruck figure can be calculated by either (rucks = runs) or (rucks = runs minus offloads/turnovers/tries). Case in point - Kane Douglas had a bad game, but by no means did he only hit one ruck while he was on the field.

 

[BDA]

It will be a shame to see Gill miss out on the decider. Here's a guy that has maybe 8 or 9 test caps, all from memory were short 20 to 30 minute cameos off the bench. I cant remember him putting in a bad performance yet. Last year he was probably finding his feet and his performance on the weekend showed that he's starting to become an impact player at test level. It's been interesting watching his evolution at Super level over the last three seasons. It's now at the point where he is regularly to best on field in the Super fixtures. He's probably not just yet at that point where he can go on to the field and dominate a test the way he can at Super level (the way that a Pocock or Smith can) but I suspect he'll be there soon.

At the end of the day we should view this as a glass half full situation. If not for Pocock's serious injuries in 2012 and 2013, Gill might not have 1 cap to his name. Instead he's played in Bledisloe games and even a Lions series. He has plenty of time to stake his claim.

It would take a brave man to wager who will be starting at no.7 for the Wallabies at the next world cup.

 

[Slim 293]

Where is the author getting his statistics from?

(thescore.com.au)

          Runs    Tackles (missed)  Rucks
Mowen (80)  5        3    2        5
Hooper (80)  11      9    1        9
Palu (61)    12      5    1      11

I would be taking Scott Allen's analysis over those raw stats you've just quoted, as I'm sure based on his form that he would've sat through the match with a keen eye and made his own observations before writing that article..........

And those stats from The Score/Rugbystats etc are no way accurate........

For instance, Mowen made a lot more tackles than those 3 they've given him credit for....... over at ESPN they have him down as making double that, and while their numbers may not be correct they would be much closer to the truth........

Anyways, Scott's article reinforces a few things for me:

Mowen and Moore were excellent.......

Palu was not as bad as his detractors say he was, but certainly not as good as his fanbase believes.........

 

[Zander]

I believe their ruck stats are only 1st man to the ruck, 2nd and 3rd do not count. I'm well aware stats are not accurate but not totally incorrect. Palu's workrate is very high from just about all sources.

 

[Slim 293]

As I said above, I think Scott's article shows that Palu wasn't that bad, but he wasn't that great either, and certainly nowhere near as good as some of his teammates.........

 

[Badger]

Assume we'll have to meet at one of the overcrowded shit bars in the Novotel or Pullman, or hopefully the ARU and ANZ Stadium powers that be have organised some decent mobile alcohol dispensiaries because otherwise there will be a fight in the crowd beforehand.

There's going to be a "Live" site outside the ground where organisers are expecting about 20K to come and watch the game to soak up the atmosphere. So there should be plenty of places for alcoholic beverages.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/a...der/story-fn5k35fo-1226672350884#.UdLbtNghESs

Any idea what the weather will be like for the game?

Dry, which will be a welcome change from the downpours we've had on the last two Saturdays.
http://www.bom.gov.au/nsw/forecasts/sydney.shtml

Any bright ideas where to get some?

Check Ticketek on a regular basis leading up to the game as I have noticed tickets have been released for sale over the last couple of weeks (IIRR, around 500 tickets were released a couple of days before the Brisbane Test). They seemed to be returns from tours etc as they were better located than what I could find during the sales to the general public. Why pay $300 for a bronze when you can get Platinum for the same $$$?

 

[Tomikin]

Wow, I was sure Kev was gonna get a ban when they appealed the case. I've suddenly decided that I must go to the game and have started scouring Gumtree for cost price tickets. Alas, it seems most people are trying to sell them for well over their marked value (saw bronze tickets at $300 a pop). Any bright ideas where to get some?

I love rugby has tickets.. cant remember the price

 

[Braveheart81]

As I said above, I think Scott's article shows that Palu wasn't that bad, but he wasn't that great either, and certainly nowhere near as good as some of his teammates...

I really think our forward pack were generally strong except for inaccuracy at the breakdown.

The three things we did poorly in the game were too much dropped ball, failure to catch bombs and inaccurate cleanouts.

Those aren't overly complex things to fix but I think that was all that was between us and a solid win behind a very strong performance.

 

[Lindommer]

It will be a shame to see Gill miss out on the decider.

As the incumbent 7 it'd be a bigger shame for Hooper to miss out, get yer rose-coloured glasses off, BDA. Gill, unfortunately, finds himself competing with one of the greats of Australian rugby for the same spot: they're both down-and-out fetchers and any sensible coach is going to pick one of them (injuries notwithstanding). Whom would you pick, Gill or Smith? With Warburton out the BILs will shit themselves when Smith runs on.

 

[Scotty]

Why not? He's a warrior at the breakdown, let him go at it for as long as he can, then bring on the fresh legs of Gill/Hooper.

Because he might not last 80 and I'd like to see a hooper/smith or gill/smith double team at the end.

 

[fatprop]

I would play Smith from the start for this one, and have Gill on the bench
Poite will allow a shit fight at the breakdown, we need the best on-ballers we have out there, I could even see Palu benched for Kimlin for the same reason

Then we could bring on Palu for Douglas with Kimlin moving to lock, and Gill for Smith who won't last for 80

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Starch]

Realistically, it will be Simmons on the bench. MMM looked underdone in his last outing, and has been out too long.
I cant see Smith starting, although this would be my preference, to be replaced by either Gill or Hooper when tank empty. How certain is the intel' that he's in?

 

[Braveheart81]

Ben McCalman and Jessie Mogg are reported as being in the 23.

This seems strange. I wonder who is injured in the forwards?

 

[fatprop]

As I said above, I think Scott's article shows that Palu wasn't that bad, but he wasn't that great either, and certainly nowhere near as good as some of his teammates...

Palu gets better with game time (until he gets injured again, them the model re-starts) I expect his effort to be better again this week.

 

[jay-c]

all this talk about palu makes me wonder what percentage of his hit are on the opposition front rowers?
hes the only one i think of that regularly puts big hits on the opposition big guys
to quote my bro "nz have 3-4 big boppers, sa have 5-6... we need at least a palu or a samo somewhere in the team

 

[Slim 293]

Ben McCalman and Jessie Mogg are reported as being in the 23.

 

[KOB1987]

Ben McCalman and Jessie Mogg are reported as being in the 23.

This seems strange. I wonder who is injured in the forwards?

My guess is that Simmons has been dumped...which would mean no reserve specialist lock, McCalman, Palu & Mowen would have to cover that....mobility! Or RD may have dropped one of the reserve props knowing that Alexander can cover both sides..either way RD would be hoping the game doesn't come down to a Lions 5m scrum as the final play!