Australia Vs Argentina, September 13, Gold Coast

[Quick Hands]

Haven't read all the pages from 25 to this one, however, the 'low point' of the experience for me was when the crowd of around 14,500 was displayed on the electronic boards, and 'high point' was when Mrs Doug got a hug and a kiss from 'cousin Sam' (Carter), when we caught up with him after the match! A great night and a great crowd (in character, if not in numbers). Not like a Suncorp Stadium crowd, where you have to keep standing up for the tossers who are there to drink and not watch the match. Up and down as they go to get their booze, up and down as they come back with their booze, then up and down as they go to take a pee, then up and down when they come back, with another tray of beers! None of that last night!
Phipps stood out last night, and as I said some weeks ago (and was howled down by a couple of 'expert #15s' on this forum), Folau is still very green and has much to learn about our game.

Given that the game would have drawn more people to Homebush, SFS, Suncorp, Ballymore or Canberra, one hopes that the Gold Coast test match experiment is over. If you want to play the match in SE Qld and don't want a half empty Suncorp then play it at Ballymore.

 

[Quick Hands]

Nope

Are you Darius Boyd?

 

[Gnostic]

The game plan/structures:-

1. The effectiveness of the 4,5,6 was questioned by an ex-GAGRite and Link replied with a straight (and IMO obscuring bat), that he is aware of the criticism of those players and the reasons behind it but closed the question with a simple 'I've got more information than those fans/critics have'. That would be fine if the set piece before last night had been performing at long term trends, and the individuals having at least some impact around the field. I do not ever want to get back to a stage like we saw under Deans where players like McCalman and Brown and Chapman were unmovable objects in the Wallabies lineup because of workrate stats, which bore no relation to the reality of effectiveness.

2. Support. Where is it? Was there one offload last night? Was there a second line of attack? Breaks were made but excepting the break by Foley that he bombed, where were the options for the offload to keep the ball alive. At one point of the game last night I messaged by mate RH and said the Wallabies were playing league. One pass of the ruck, straight run into contact or at best the defenders shoulder and next ruck. True it was faster than the average League play the ball but FFS if that amounts to a running game I think I'll take up knitting. There were simply no players running lines under or over the ball carrier, nobody apart from the arriving ruck players and the ball carrier in motion. It has happened all year and can only be the attacking structure they are using. Shit its boring. If McKenzie thinks that will bring the fans back he really never learnt anything from his sacking at the Tahs. 1 humiliating loss in 10 game is a good record, but the way the game is played is so very important in the Australian market place. At least running poorly is better than kicking poorly and defending resolutely that we saw under Deans (see I can find a silver lining and look on the bright side).

3. Backrow - this ties into the second row. Are we seeing a new "Jones" selection paradox at work here. By that I mean at the RWC Jones decided he had to have the best backrow players on the field no matter the balance and effectiveness of the backrow/pack as a whole. What happened, they got mauled and destroyed at the set pieces. The strengths of the ruck from Smith and Waugh were totally negated by England's structures at the ruck taking their skills out of the game. They could do this because of the lack of balance and the sum of the whole of Smith/Waugh was less than the singular of either. I would also add in there the Jones approach to the scrum basically leading to 10 years of props/hookers who were technically poor at the scrum simply because the KPIs they were judged on to make the Wallaby side led them to train for those things and disregard to a large degree those set pieces. This all ties in with the pack we are seeing now IMO. We have workrate second rowers and backrowers, but nobody who provides any point of difference and there is no balance in the unit as a whole. It is pretty homogeneous, even with Palu who is playing like the others perhaps through tackling so much, except for Hooper who is like a 12 playing in the pack.

What is going to happen, well if McKenzie continues on this line, the Wallabies will play as they have been. This is as good as it will get under these structures. The players are there to be picked, with very few changes to personnel but a change in approach we would see vastly different results in terms of mode of play. Would that result in wins, maybe. Test rugby is very competitive, a change in the mode of play may not yield the result every time, but I am absolutely sure that continuing in this fashion will lead to exactly the same results that Deans got, not only in terms of winning percentages against the same teams, but in terms of dwindling support for the game.

 

[Train Without a Station]

Can't agree with any ratings that rate all the backs higher than most of the forwards. Forwards got the job done and backs failed to capitalise on their opportunities.

 

[Gnostic]

Can't agree with any ratings that rate all the backs higher than most of the forwards. Forwards got the job done and backs failed to capitalise on their opportunities.

The forwards won the scrum for the first 50. Dominated their lineout and won some on the Arg. throw. They were then pretty ineffectual everywhere else, except those that got higher marks, Slipper, TPN, Hanson, Kepu and Hooper. Apart from that is was League forwards all night, pass from half, hit up, play the ball........

 

[KOB1987]

Can't agree with any ratings that rate all the backs higher than most of the forwards. Forwards got the job done and backs failed to capitalise on their opportunities.

I think you are right in that the forwards as a whole should get a higher performance score than the backs but there are a couple of forwards who failed to deliver last night on top of a couple of previous sub-par performances..namely Fardy & Carter..if there is a back that follows the same pattern it's To'omua, but no-one is knocking on his door..sorry Brumbies fans!!

 

[Train Without a Station]

Ineffectual? They made a number of dominant tackles and consistently made metres past the tackle.

 

[ChargerWA]

Can't agree with any ratings that rate all the backs higher than most of the forwards. Forwards got the job done and backs failed to capitalise on their opportunities.

Or one that rates Horne higher than Betham.

 

[Mr Doug]

Given that the game would have drawn more people to Homebush, SFS, Suncorp, Ballymore or Canberra, one hopes that the Gold Coast test match experiment is over. If you want to play the match in SE Qld and don't want a half empty Suncorp then play it at Ballymore.

Much criticism of the "Gold Coast" crowd here. Those that were there wanted to be there, and made the effort. Scheduling around school finals, club grand finals, etc, doesn't help, but why weren't you and many of the other critics on this thread there, Quick hands?!
Oh, and before you give me some 'lamb-brain' excuse, we sat next to a group eight blokes who flew up from Adelaide!

 

[tragic]

This gets said every season for the last 10 seasons.

By who?? In the last season under deans the trajectory was free fall.
This years results speak for themselves. Might not have been pretty, might have been closer than necessary but at least we're winning. We just need learn to play a bit smarter with the cattle we've got and there's some big scalps on the horizon. ffs we'll likely be ranked 2nd in the world at the end of the rugby championship. Shaping up nicely to peak for 2015..

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

As much as I'm critical of aspects of our play, I still think we're a better team than this time last year. Whether we are improving rapidly enough is another matter.

 

[Pfitzy]

I think we held on according to the letter of the law but didn't look strong in those last scrums or many others.

Besides the first half, where we dominated thanks to TPN, you mean?


Noticeable that as TPN, Slipper, Kepu, and Carter went off, things started to get rocky. McCalman at 8 was also important I believe as he provides good drive through the second row. Its a team effort.

Foley bombed the opportunity with Horne so hard that they're raising the terror alert level again

Recommend you read my article and have a long think about it. Nothing is as clear as it seems.

http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/wallabies-pumas-1-rugby-championship/


So in summary: pissing rain, we scored three tries, but our defence and fitness after last week wasn't good enough, particularly from the bench.

Someone above said the Tahs looked like this, and they were partly right: the Tahs were losing like this, then winning fucking well. So all the bitches can go back to Bitchvania or wherever you from.

Consistency is the key - this week the bench wasn't right for the Argie challenge, and failed to bring the impact we were looking for, and got last week.

Argies are typical of a side whose players are based in Europe, they're fucking naggers; they just try to stay within striking distance before turning up the gas in the last 15.

If we'd capitalised on our possession in the first half and put them away, we would have run clean over the top of them and put 50 on.

I'm not thrilled with the result, but by FUCK am I thrilled with the intent.

Link is playing the long game here - he wants the depth to build and everyone to get on board with a winning game plan, and that means breaking a few eggs for this omelette.

Tell you what though, we won't see Phipps taking many quick taps in Newlands or wherever the hell we're playing the Pumas. We'll take every point on offer there and probably implement a slightly different style of game plan while we're at it.

 

[I like to watch]

By who?? In the last season under deans the trajectory was free fall.
This years results speak for themselves. Might not have been pretty, might have been closer than necessary but at least we're winning. We just need learn to play a bit smarter with the cattle we've got and there's some big scalps on the horizon. ffs we'll likely be ranked 2nd in the world at the end of the rugby championship. Shaping up nicely to peak for 2015..

Deans last Tests were against the Lions.
They lost the series 2-1, after losing the first Test by 2 points, after suffering a series of injuries that required a forward to play in the centres.
KB (Kurtley Beale) missed 2 shots at goal that would would have won it.
I put that performance ahead of this last Test.

Let's forget about Deans,and focus on how we are playing today.
Link has a lot of work to do yet.
By the end of the rugby champs,it is likely Link will be one from four with the Boks & zero from six with the AB's.

 

[qwerty51]

But 1-0 vs Scotland!

 

[Highlander35]

But 1-0 vs Scotland!

 

[tragic]

By the end of the rugby champs,it is likely Link will be one from four with the Boks & zero from six with the AB's.

Bloody hell. Unhealthy dose of pessimism there. Prefer a glass half full myself.

 

[Quick Hands]

Much criticism of the "Gold Coast" crowd here. Those that were there wanted to be there, and made the effort. Scheduling around school finals, club grand finals, etc, doesn't help, but why weren't you and many of the other critics on this thread there, Quick hands?!
Oh, and before you give me some 'lamb-brain' excuse, we sat next to a group eight blokes who flew up from Adelaide!

Good on them. Unfortunately not all of us have the ability to fly at will around the country to go to rugby matches. Some of us have work and other committments which involve things other than sport. I'd love to live a life of leisure and have nothing else to do with my time than go to sporting fixtures. Sadly I have a mortgage to pay off, a family to feed and various other committments. I hope these "excuses" meet with your approval.

I'm sure that those who went to the match made the effort, that's not the point. The point is that there wasn't enough of them to make it worth while in the larger scheme of things.

Rugby is in the entertainment business and the customer is always right. If the customers aren't coming to a particular venue, then it's not worthwhile playing there. I assume that you want Australian rugby to be profitable in order to keep the best players and coaches in the country and allowing the maximum of money to be spent on junior development. Playing test matches in front of 14,000 people won't allow any of that to occur.

 

[BDA]

Deans last Tests were against the Lions.
They lost the series 2-1, after losing the first Test by 2 points, after suffering a series of injuries that required a forward to play in the centres.
KB (Kurtley Beale) missed 2 shots at goal that would would have won it.
I put that performance ahead of this last Test.

Let's forget about Deans,and focus on how we are playing today.
Link has a lot of work to do yet.
By the end of the rugby champs,it is likely Link will be one from four with the Boks & zero from six with the AB's.

I think you have to appreciate where this team is in its development to fairly critique the results. Most teams under a new coach take a few years to build a team and a style of play. Deans had five years to build for the Lions Series, and the wallabies were pretty poor during that series.

Link got off to an understandably rocky start to his time in the job (as did Meyer in 2012), but the results themselves show good progress over the last 12 months. 1 loss from the last 11, including a draw against the world's best team. The wallabies were starting to find their groove towards the end of last year but Link his been forced to try out new halve combinations with Cooper and Genia out and new hookers with two of our best tight forwards out (Moore/TPN). Plus he's in the process of blooding a handful of new players that he wants to be a part of the world cup squad (Carter, Fardy, Skelton, Foley, Kuridrani, Sio, Charles, Cowan*). Yes it's disappointing that the team isn't yet playing to their potential but if you put the results into context im fairly happy Link is moving in the right direction. The team still hasn't developed that killer instinct, there is a lot of fine tuning needed on all fronts but the ingredients are there.

 

[Joe Blow]

Gnostic hit the nail on the head in regard to offloads. Our forwards just do not do it. Anyone who saw the AB-SA test before the Wallabies game would have noticed that all 8 AB forwards offload the ball almost every time they get it. The result is many more half breaks and breaks that continually get them across the advantage line.
TBF Slipper has a good offload but doesn't use it much.
The problem with all the one out runners is that it is very easy to defend.

 

[I like to watch]

I think you have to appreciate where this team is in its development to fairly critique the results. Most teams under a new coach take a few years to build a team and a style of play. Deans had five years to build for the Lions Series, and the wallabies were pretty poor during that series.

Link got off to an understandably rocky start to his time in the job (as did Meyer in 2012), but the results themselves show good progress over the last 12 months. 1 loss from the last 11, including a draw against the world's best team. The wallabies were starting to find their groove towards the end of last year but Link his been forced to try out new halve combinations with Cooper and Genia out and new hookers with two of our best tight forwards out (Moore/TPN). Plus he's in the process of blooding a handful of new players that he wants to be a part of the world cup squad (Carter, Fardy, Skelton, Foley, Kuridrani, Sio, Charles, Cowan*). Yes it's disappointing that the team isn't yet playing to their potential but if you put the results into context im fairly happy Link is moving in the right direction. The team still hasn't developed that killer instinct, there is a lot of fine tuning needed on all fronts but the ingredients are there.

I was just responding to the point that we were in free fall before Link's arrival.
I'm not a critic,just not a disciple that thinks he is the oracle.
I think we vary from top 2 to top 4 team,and when all the stars align,we are number 1.
It would be great if they align in a year!