Australia v Scotland, 3:00pm 17 June Sydney Football Stadium

[Brumby Runner]

Back to the future

It has become trite to claim too many Tahs, but it is obvious that it is also true.

Robertson was practically invisible around the ground and probably only serviceable in the scrums. Now that Sio is coming back to fitness, LHP spots should go to him and Smith.

Hanigan has a huge amount of potential and one day will shine at this level, but right now we desperately need more grunt and aggression that can be provided by Timani at 6.

There are other spots currently filled by players from the other franchises who should get a rest as well, but very few options exist unfortunately. Hooker is one spot that needs urgent attention - might just see another Tah come in.

 

[Viking]

Some of the match stats from ESPN

Aus - 56% of possession and 62% of territory

18 defenders beaten to 13
22 lineouts to 11
8 penalties conceded to 15

Scots lineout defense won them this game!

Nah our errors and lack of support play lost it. We could have won that easily if our players knew how to pass a ball.

or kick.

or clean-out a ruck.

 

[Brumby Runner]

Beale will make Aus rugby great again!!!!!!!!!!!!

Beale will be out trump card.

 

[Viking]

Yeh Beale will really help our defence at 12. I'd rather Hunt at this stage.

Beale to 15, Folau to the wing. But won't happen.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Beale will be out trump card.

I'm calling misere in that case.

It has become trite to claim too many Tahs, but it is obvious that it is also true.

Robertson was practically invisible around the ground and probably only serviceable in the scrums. Now that Sio is coming back to fitness, LHP spots should go to him and Smith.

Hanigan has a huge amount of potential and one day will shine at this level, but right now we desperately need more grunt and aggression that can be provided by Timani at 6.

There are other spots currently filled by players from the other franchises who should get a rest as well, but very few options exist unfortunately. Hooker is one spot that needs urgent attention - might just see another Tah come in.

I agree with the tahs comment but Hanigan is not the one who should go it's higginbotham and play timani at 8. Hanigan is abrasive but smart about - the scots back rowers had the absolute shits with him and that's good enough for me!

 

[Mr Doug]

Beale will make Aus rugby great again!!!!!!!!!!!!

If we NEED him, then God help us!

 

[Viking]

I'm calling misere in that case.

I agree with the tahs comment but Hanigan is not the one who should go it's higginbotham and play timani at 8. Hanigan is abrasive but smart about - the scots back rowers had the absolute shits with him and that's good enough for me!

Hanigan looks like one for the future, but i think a wayyyyyy off the pace for Test rugby at the moment.

Bring Fardy & Timani back. That backrow was good last year.

What's the story with Timani anyways, injuries ?

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Try of the match? Really?
It was a defensive stuff up with hodge and DHP getting tangled up.
Haven't seen the stats but there were few line breaks and I never felt worried they were going over even with repeated phases of possession.
It was their superb defence that won them that game not their attack which was fairly pedestrian.

Whose error was a it though?
I initially bought DHP had buggered it but in review I thought hodge should not have chased his man across field but should have stayed in his corridor.
I'm sure grey would explain it as a quick fix but the protocol - whatever it happens to be - needs to be nderstood and adhered to.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Hanigan looks like one for the future, but i think a wayyyyyy off the pace for Test rugby at the moment.

Bring Fardy & Timani back. That backrow was good last year.

What's the story with Timani anyways, injuries ?

I'm assuming that Fardy is (wrongly) out of the frame.
Maybe Hanigan Is way off the pace but that doesn't mean he shouldn't be in the oz team! I don't think he is but I'm worried that that means I agree with Cheika.

 

[Ruggo]

Plenty of whinging and bitching on here.

Well played Scotland and congrats on the win.

Now can we please drop this risk adverse bullshit and test those selected in the squad.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Plenty of whinging and bitching on here.

Well played Scotland and congrats on the win.

Now can we please drop this risk adverse bullshit and test those selected in the squad.

What for?
Nothing performance enhancing.

 

[Viking]

I'm assuming that Fardy is (wrongly) out of the frame.
Maybe Hanigan Is way off the pace but that doesn't mean he shouldn't be in the oz team! I don't think he is but I'm worried that that means I agree with Cheika.

He should be there but coming off the bench, I would have thought that is the best way to introduce test rugby to young up and coming players.

Fair enough a player like Robinson starts at prop cos we got injuries, but when you have a Test quality player like Fardy avaliable and in form why is Hanigan starting? poor decision.

Oh wait it's cos Fardy won't be around in RWC 2019 like Cheika stated, but then TPN and Moore are there and Latu isn't (who's showed more promise then most up-and-coming players)? It all just seems a bit hipocritical.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

He should be there but coming off the bench, I would have thought that is the best way to introduce test rugby to young up and coming players.

Fair enough a player like Robinson starts at prop cos we got injuries, but when you have a Test quality player like Fardy avaliable and in form why is Hanigan starting? poor decision.

Oh wait it's cos Fardy won't be around in RWC 2019 like Cheika stated, but then TPN and Moore are there and Latu isn't (who's showed more promise then most up-and-coming players)? It all just seems a bit hipocritical.

Double standard - Cheika's quite a fan of those.

 

[tragic]

Whose error was a it though?
I initially bought DHP had buggered it but in review I thought hodge should not have chased his man across field but should have stayed in his corridor.
I'm sure grey would explain it as a quick fix but the protocol - whatever it happens to be - needs to be nderstood and adhered to.

It was hodge for mine. For the same reasons you said.

 

[Quick Hands]

Try of the match? Really?
It was a defensive stuff up with hodge and DHP getting tangled up.
Haven't seen the stats but there were few line breaks and I never felt worried they were going over even with repeated phases of possession.
It was their superb defence that won them that game not their attack which was fairly pedestrian.

Good attack tends to cause the defence to stuff it up.

I agree that the Scots overall weren't particuarly great - but we were worse. Passes at shin height, passes to no one, passes behind the man, aimless kicks, crooked lneout throws. I hate to think what the margin would have been without Hooper and Hunt.

And yes, it was the try of the match - easily.

 

[TOCC]

Whose error was a it though?
I initially bought DHP had buggered it but in review I thought hodge should not have chased his man across field but should have stayed in his corridor.
I'm sure grey would explain it as a quick fix but the protocol - whatever it happens to be - needs to be nderstood and adhered to.

Simply Hodge game his man too much space on the outside, that's why he was tracking laterally too start with.. DHP getting caught up wasn't really his fault, just really bad luck.. I'd have to watch again to see whether they had an overlap, that may explain why Hodge left so much space outside of him

 

[TOCC]

IMO, best forward was a close tie between Coleman and Hooper, and best back was Hunt(best of a bad bunch).

 

[eastman]

He is the nominated hit-it-up runner off set piece, and despite how obvious the play is going to be, and despite the poor service he got from Genia off the back of scrums, he actually made ground in contact and got over the advantage line. He made a couple of breaks and probably came second to Folau for metres gained, he made his tackles and led the backline defensive line again. He made one poor pass that went a couple of metres forward of Hodge late in the game, and I agree that he looks to have lost a fair bit of pace, or may be playing with an injury. He did ok, which is a whole lot better than probably 10 of the other starting players today.

Kuridrani is 6ft 3 and over 110kg- how hard should it be for him to get over the advantage line on first phase?

If his job is to take the initial hit up and lead the defensive line (he doesn't btw- Karmichael does), then we might as well buy any semi-decent edge back rower from rugby league and they would be close to doing a better job. If you think I'm joking, look at the form Ben Teo is starting to show for the Lions- he's looking more dangerous than Kuridrani has for years.

If I was the Waratahs or ARU, I'd be looking up to pick up Angus Crichton quickly before they get priced out actually.

 

[Twoilms]

So to change the tone of the thread a little lets look at some of the positives, and there were some.

1. Scotland aren't what they used to be. They should've beaten us in the world cup and they have really progressed a lot in the last few years. Looking past loyalties it's great for rugby that a team like Scotland is really competitive.

2. Folau is back in red-hot form with two doubles in a row. His take in the air for his second was excellent.

3. Hunt looks like he's taking to test-match rugby like a fish to water. His defense is top class, he hits rucks like a forward and runs hard and straight. His distribution and decision making can only improve if he gets more game time at 12.

4. The scrum continues to look strong. Our scrum was only penalised once or possibly twice from memory with what is clearly a second string front row (third in the case of Robertson - he was not even in form for the Tahs). Good to see Sio get some minutes post injury under the belt.

5. Despite some poor throwing we looked OK in the line-out and we have a backrow that provides a jumper to assist. A persistent gripe last year.

6. Many will disagree with this but i was actually glad to see some attempts to counter the rush defense with chip kicks, kicks to the wing and grubbers etc. Yeah, execution was just about as bad as it gets but we clearly have a serious weakness against an effective(constantly offside) rush defense.

Losing to a pretty good Scotland side aint so bad really. It's not what it would've been 10 years ago anyway. Plus there is clearly a great deal of experimentation in the team. If there wasn't, Nabuli would not have started, Hunt would not be at 12, Higginbotham would not be at 8, Hanigan would not be at 6 and Powell would not be on the bench.

Serious gripe: referee in that match awarded a short arm after clearly looking away to check the defensive line, how could he possibly know what happened?

 

[Joe Blow]

You can't polish a turd.......