Australia v NZ. Bledisloe Cup Series 2024. Sep 21, Sep 28

[kiap]

The pre-meditated substitutions shit me off as well. Gleeson should have come on for Wilson, not Valetini. Flook should have come on for Kellaway not Pietsch and Donaldson should have got more than 5 minutes.
Plus Tupou never should have stayed out there that long, if they are not confident in AAA playing more than 40 mins then pick someone else.

Agree with this.

On the EOYT, though, I think winning 2 out of 4 tests would be a surprise.

That's a half a grand slam if we add a positive spin to it.

 

[stillmissit]

Bit rough on Wilson, made some great carries and big defensive efforts. Dropped a couple too many late in the game which ruined it.

Would be awesome to one day see the wobs put in a full 80min performance. One day...

Can we now have a discussion on the general fitness of the team to play for 80mins?

 

[stillmissit]

I think Harry's performance sums up a lot of the players who are playing better than not.

They do a lot of good things, but their execution on critical times let them down.

Wright did a lot of great things last night like that huge line break, but he wasted all that good effort by that dog shit league pass that went forward and out.

We did the same thing after getting good field position after the ABs were on attack only to drop the ball or knock it on.

Mistakes generally come from pressure and in the first half when we had the AB's under pressure and the mistake level by Harry and most of the team was low, in the 2nd half when we weren't competing the mistakes were high.

 

[Strewthcobber]

Can we now have a discussion on the general fitness of the team to play for 80mins?

Saw a good comment by a coach somewhere....our players are as fit as anyone in World Rugby, we just have to work harder collectively to stay in the game because we simply aren't as good, so we are more fatigued at 65min than our quality opposition is.

Unfortunately running more laps at training doesn't fix this issue

 

[molman]

Well that was an odd game (had to watch of replay today as had commitments yesterday). Oddly I actually felt like there were some elements where we seem to be moving forward as a team. It's still some of the individual moments which we're not finishing that is sinking us.

I also think some people in here are overly critical of some players and seem to lack the ability to look holistically, getting stuck on moments. There were aspects of many players and collective plays that lead to the outcome.

Overall, I thought Gordon, Valetini, McReight, Wright, Pietsch, Frost, Ikitau, Gleeson all generally had good games. I thought Bell was pretty effective, and after all his foot issues/injuries its good to see him running around, making good impact. Williams likewise I felt is improving and it was great to see those restarts being cleanly taken.

I thought Tupou was Tupou where he looses some moments, trys to make up for it is a reckless way which looses another moment. He obviously didn't seem 100%, so I give him the benefit of the doubt with how that might have been impacting him. Whatever knee injury he incured I hope it comes good, because it's been sad not to see the best out of a player with so some much natural gift.

I also thought Lolesio had an ok game. I know people want more, but in the context of the team I feel he was reasonably solid. He sloted his kicks, his service was good in getting the ball out to the wide channels which allowed some solid gain, especially in that first half.

For whatever reason, Paisami I'm not entirely convinced on. He just doesn't seem to have the same capacity to unlock space or punch the line enough for me (he looks light). In comparison to say a Anton Lienert-Brown who I felt made a big impact for the AB's, Paisami just felt a tad ineffective in this game. And that's not a critisim of his effort, just his effectiveness in the context of this team.

For better or worst, at the moment we're lacking some genuine game breakers like the Clarkes and Jordon's. We need to be finishing all our opportunites and have a few balls bounce our way to be winning atm. We're still a pass or two off where we need to be. We also need to have some more smarts about us when channel 1 isn't giving us pay. We're just still too predictable in too many aspects of our play and we're not better at the basics such that we can be playing a simple game.

On the positive, yes there were some lapses like Jordans run, but overall I felt like our defense and ruck work is improving a little. It wont be close to what the coaches want, but game to game we are to my eyes looking a bit better in some of the nuts and bolts of the game. Even just the general confidence and connection in this game compared to the first game of the campagn show the progress being made.

 

[stillmissit]

Saw a good comment by a coach somewhere....our players are as fit as anyone in World Rugby, we just have to work harder collectively to stay in the game because we simply aren't as good, so we are more fatigued at 65min than our quality opposition is.

Unfortunately running more laps at training doesn't fix this issue

Assuming it is correct. If it is due to mistakes, why are we standing back and letting them run and not supporting the runner at our ruck (we didn't do it for half of the first half). This makes no sense to me. There were many players who looked out of gas after that early period in the first half.
I don't think they are as cardio fit as any of the top 5. I give you the last 10 mins of the first half as a good example, they knew what was coming but the missed tackles and the 2sec watchers killed it for us.

 

[molman]

Saw a good comment by a coach somewhere....our players are as fit as anyone in World Rugby, we just have to work harder collectively to stay in the game because we simply aren't as good, so we are more fatigued at 65min than our quality opposition is.

Unfortunately running more laps at training doesn't fix this issue

The better teams have had a good handle on how to manage workloads across a game for awhile now. That doesn't include just the obvious use of subsistutes, but clear approaches and actions to adjust the demands within a game.

South Africia are the masters of it, pushing it so far that we now have clocks and countdowns because they were taking so much time out of every game.

 

[KOB1987]

I had year 12 social commitments, had the game going on a phone in the background but can't really add anything of value this week aside from a screenshot of the messages my other son was sending me. On the road today, home alone tonight so will try to watch the replay then, if the lure of the bed doesn't get the better of me. Until then I will read but remain silent, its an interesting experience to read the game thread before actually watching the game.

 

[Rugrat]

For me so many WTF moments in this game by wallabies. Wright pass after line break, Tupou around the corner on very short blindside and going out really stand out. I’m sorry but this team isn’t winning many/any games regardless of who is in team unless we pick and stick with a different 10. I can’t even get enthusiastic pre game with current 9/10 combos.

 

[stillmissit]

I had year 12 social commitments, had the game going on a phone in the background but can't really add anything of value this week aside from a screenshot of the messages my other son was sending me. On the road today, home alone tonight so will try to watch the replay then, if the lure of the bed doesn't get the better of me. Until then I will read but remain silent, its an interesting experience to read the game thread before actually watching the game.

A fair bit of the first half was the best we have played in years. The second half was as average as we can be. How the hell can we be poor in the first half and good in the second last week and good (ish) in the first half and poor in the second? Our team are coach killers.

 

[Crashy]

yeah that first half gave us some glimpses of what we could become.

 

[KOB1987]

I can add one thing of value, Joseph Sua'ali'i is now available for selection.

 

[stillmissit]

I can add one thing of value, Joseph Sua'ali'i is now available for selection.

Very interesting - wonder if he will go on the EOYT?

 

[stillmissit]

For me so many WTF moments in this game by wallabies. Wright pass after line break, Tupou around the corner on very short blindside and going out really stand out. I’m sorry but this team isn’t winning many/any games regardless of who is in team unless we pick and stick with a different 10. I can’t even get enthusiastic pre game with current 9/10 combos.

Have you noticed that Wright is the same as many of our players, if we are going well they go OK if we ain't errors and penalties creep in.

 

[Dismal Pillock]

after Tamaiti and Tosi impacted on in an impactful way I'm half thinking they should choose the bench guys FIRST and then plug the other XV in afterwards

Oddjob Aumua
Tamaiti
Tosi these 3 could be a murderously impactful Bomb Squad
Pat T
Ardie ffs. let him go berko with his decorative party tricks when everyone else is knackered
Ratima
Rieko
Ruben Love

 

[KOB1987]

Very interesting - wonder if he will go on the EOYT?

For sure, they aren't going to pay someone that much money and not bring him into the system straight away. Even if he only plays in the A team they will want to invest in his ability now to have him ready for the Lions. I am tipping he will be our 12 and I don't think it will take him long to adapt. He isn't a true leaguie, he was a dual code junior superstar, its just that a few NRL clubs saw enough to put him on a pro contract while still at school. Covid stuffed up what would have been his final year of rugby in year 11.

 

[fatprop]

Have you noticed that Wright is the same as many of our players, if we are going well they go OK if we ain't errors and penalties creep in.

To me, it is the hero ball metaphor, players think they have to do something so extra special, whether that be a pass, a questionable cleanout, tackle, etc that will win the game in that phase