I just watched the game again and the good news is that although we were comprehensively outplayed the points difference wasn't a reflection of the difference between the 2 sides:
- first try was the penalty try - not only did the field position eventuate due to Simmons' yellow card, I struggled to find an offence there at all, let alone a cardable one..Berry should have been sin binned, not Simmons. But he was off and I think Link should have made the call to take Fardy off and bring Skelton on given we had just been rolled at the previous scrum on our feed.
- second try resulted from turnover ball after a clear head high on Folau that somehow escaped even a warning..penalty to us in range and no try to Savea.
- the ABs opened the 2nd half with 3 tries, the first a legit counter attack, the next 2 to Sir Ritchie from rolling mauls off lineout wins
- we responded with 2 good tries.
- Folau should have then scored again, but Barrett (despite suggestions he ran him down) was coming from the angle and had less ground to cover, good tackle..still Izzy should have bumped him
- the last try to Luatua shouldn't have been, was laziness on our part, as the commentators alluded to our boys expected the ABs to kick it out to end the game..play the whistle!!!
Not making excuses, as I said we were comprehensively outplayed but it was one of those games where a lot went right for one team and not much for the other.
And despite his defensive woes, Beale actually had a pretty good attacking game, he put guys into holes on 3 of 4 occasions that no other player would have been able to and he kicked well. I'm not making a case to keep him there, but some have been over-critical of him.
