Australia v England Test 1 Sat. July 2 @1955

[Tex]

Tempting to allow the late English rally to take the gloss off a gritty win, but as Cyclo points out, they finally pulled their fingers out against a team that had defended with 14 and 13 players and had sewn up the win.

I'm left a bit undecided about England's ceiling. It felt like an underperformance but I don't know where the improvement comes from.

I think many Melbourne fans have been shouting into the void about Kellaway's quality and rugby brain. Very pleasing to see him carry on from the last international season's form and justify not just his starting jersey, but putting a legitimate claim on the starting 15 position.

 

[Rebel man]

^ no, nothing. Hair pulling was dealt with on-field & would have to be really, really bad to meet the Red threshold. I'm surprised nothing's being done wrt to the shove in the face, that was pretty obvious & I think meets the definition of striking.

Ashton got 4 weeks for it.

 

[Dctarget]

Rennie said immediately after the game that they would look at the footage around the head butt and thought that it wasn't Swain's intention and likely to contest it. Looked pretty intentional to me IMO.

 

[Tex]

Looked like a bloke who lost control and successfully headbutted his opponent.

 

[qwerty51]

Ashton got 4 weeks for it.

Creevy got 1 week.

 

[barbarian]

I don't think it says much about the rest of the series, which could end up a number of ways: England could clean us up by thirty points in both games, Australia could do the same or it could be really tight. From last night it is impossible to tell! All I am left with after the euphoria is a profound sense of unease.

There was lots of good progress for Australia and some regression. As Pfitzy highlighted, our pack still finds it very tough going against big hard men. We are still not there yet when it comes to dominating at the collisions. Maybe, despite all the risks, Skelton or Arnold have to be drafted in and Tupou needs to start. Until our pack starts to dominate we will still only squeak into the top five.

I'd be surprised if we lost both games by 30.

I feel unusually comfortable with our team at the moment. It's settled. Good mix of youth and experience. Depth in key spots.

We might not sweep all before us but maybe our floor is higher than it used to be? Our defence is solid, we can hang in games, and we're not prone to the brain snaps and tactical weirdness we saw in the past.

 

[Pfitzy]

Our defence is solid,

Our goal line defence is pretty good at present. That's a good sign.

 

[PhilClinton]

Our goal line defence is pretty good at present. That's a good sign.

England attack was limp though - the AB's probably run in 4 tries against us with 14 men.

Credit to the Wallabies because they obviously stayed focussed during that entire period though. But once the game was won and the team switched off, the Poms found some momentum.

 

[barbarian]

England attack was limp though - the AB's probably run in 4 tries against us with 14 men.

There it is, my favourite chestnut. You can set your watch to it, after the first game of the season, regardless of result.......

The ABs would have beaten us by 50!

Well done Phil, you win this year's award. Can't wait to do it all again at the same time next year. And the year after that. And the one after that.

 

[Derpus]

There it is, my favourite chestnut. You can set your watch to it, after the first game of the season, regardless of result.......

The ABs would have beaten us by 50!

Well done Phil, you win this year's award. Can't wait to do it all again at the same time next year. And the year after that. And the one after that.

Yep fuck this shit off. Just beat the Poms who we haven't done in since 2015. If you can't celebrate that you need to move on.

 

[Set piece magic]

Any analysis of our gameplay shows that between the Cheika era and now we are tactically night and day. Kicking in play, selections, all have some kind of a resemblance of rational thought under Rennie. Under Cheika our entire operation seemed to be run and try and score tries.

 

[Dctarget]

talk about sour grapes from rugby pass”s Paul smith

Ref Watch: A novice performance that favoured Australia​

Ahah this makes the victory so much sweeter. Please continue to blame the ref

 

[Dan54]

Was interesting watching Breakdown (I know it's a kiwi prgramme etc etc) but just hearing neutral commentators etc opinions on game. On Eddie's assertion refs go easy on teams that get red cards, was rightly laughed off as none had experienced it, and as Goldie said teams that lose players usually focus etc a lot more. I also think we have to remember that Poms were down to 14 for 20 minutes to, so Wallabies went bloody well in that 20 minutes one down, not the ref. Also on the red, as JK said he would of liked to see both players get RCs as we don't want hair pulling or headbutts in game, and actually both players indulged in hairpulling, and it didn't look any better than the headbutt to me anyway. The whole panel (included Alan Quinlan from Ireland) were impressed with Wallabies, and couple were really raving about Noah's role, and wondering if it was good to be called in at last minute so wasn't to wound up, but felt it was a new standard from him at test level. Qinlan noted the gritty edge the Wallabies seem to be developing etc.
Anyway just thought it a little interesting to hear neutral's thoughts etc.

 

[PhilClinton]

There it is, my favourite chestnut. You can set your watch to it, after the first game of the season, regardless of result.......

The ABs would have beaten us by 50!

Well done Phil, you win this year's award. Can't wait to do it all again at the same time next year. And the year after that. And the one after that.

Meh, I disagree, I wouldn't have made the comment if Swain the goose didn't headbutt someone.

Which was the point of my post - can't have that type of discipline each game. I don't care if it's the All Blacks, Boks, Ireland... the simple fact is England didn't capitalise with their advantage. Making that distinction in the performance isn't anti-win or anything, it's my opinion.

 

[Dctarget]

Top 10 photos taken before disaster

 

[Ignoto]

Perhaps Eddie's stroke causes memory lapses?

Remember when the Wallabies spanked the Darkness in Perth after Scooters' brain fart?

4 Penalties conceded by the Wallabies
8 Penalties concerned by the Darkness

Australia vs New Zealand - Player Statistics - Rugby Championship 2018 - 10 Aug, 2019 - ESPN

Get a summary of the Australia vs New Zealand, Rugby Championship 2018 10 Aug, 2019 rugby match.

www.espn.com

Interestingly enough, the Wallabies were able to win playing 40 minutes against 14 men but the Poms couldn't?

 

[7137]

^ I read somewhere that it's a 12-week offence & if the challenge is unsuccessful he won't get the usual 50% discount so could be looking at eight to ten weeks.

Creevy only got 3 weeks for a head butt earlier this year. Coincidentally Creevy was also banned for 1 week for a hair pull just a couple of months ago.

 

[Set piece magic]

Is it just me or does Joe Marler look like an extra from game of thrones? "Lad, if you go there, you'll be eaten alive"

 

[RugbyReg]

England attack was limp though - the AB's probably run in 4 tries against us with 14 men.

Credit to the Wallabies because they obviously stayed focussed during that entire period though. But once the game was won and the team switched off, the Poms found some momentum.

I thought first half in particular it was very good. Perhaps over complicated but gees they were running lines and dummy runs and had bodies in motion regularly. I just thought we defended wonderfully.

 

[PhilClinton]

I thought first half in particular it was very good. Perhaps over complicated but gees they were running lines and dummy runs and had bodies in motion regularly. I just thought we defended wonderfully.

I think they will improve but there looked to be confusion around ball runners and focussed attack, as many have mentioned the 10/12 combo probably didn't work like they had hoped.

But yes, tackling the pool noodles certainly paid off.