Australia vs British and Irish Lions - 1st Test (Brisbane)

[Braveheart81]

jollyswagman - I think Cooper is 1000-1 to be playing 10 next week. It just isn't going to happen.

It has been argued a million times on this forum that Cooper doesn't work at 10 with McCabe playing at 12 and that has been the reason whenever he hasn't excelled for the Wallabies.

If Lealiifano is fit to start at 12 next week, I expect the same 10/12 combo will be picked. If that is what you were planning to be your best combination going into the series, why would you drop JOC (James O'Connor) when your 12 and first choice goalkicker gets injured in the first minute of the test?

 

[cyclopath]

Think I have been watching the Reds a lot longer than that..What do you say now about selecting players who haven't been playing week in week out, Barnes who offers nothing except the big chance of being injured, JOC (James O'Connor) who is clearly not a 10!!! I am not a Deans fan and believe he shows little innitiative. When he put Hooper to the centers the Lions were about to have a lineout which they had not lost all day.where were they going to attack? Why couldn't Deans have told Gill to not be in the lineout for that play and be an extra player in backs and clog up the backline. If you were to have Barnes in the side (which I wouldn't) he should have been goal kicker and we may have got the first two..game over we win!!!

Hard to know where to start on that Hunter S Thompson of a post. Enjoy the trip. Sounds like a beauty.

 

[biggsy]

Injuries in the backs tonight -

Barnes - head knock

Head nocked, what is his head near his chest. The Japanese are short, so he is fucked

 

[Braveheart81]

And there is the problem. Whether intentional, or whether you have just blindly stumbled across it, our gameplan apparently revolved around a rookie 12. Not a smart move I would have thought.

JO'C is generally a reliable goalkicker. To say that our gameplan was double stuffed because our first choice kicker went down (again I remind you, our first choice was a rookie) is ludicrous. JO'C should have been quite capable of making the step up.

The cold hard fact is that he was not able to. I never once compared him to Sexton either. Although now you have brought the subject up, Sexton controlled his backline really well. He knew when to run, kick and pass. I daresay that he would have kicked goals too, if required.

Please don't present anymore strawman arguments to me.

I don't think I presented a straw man argument. Clearly your 12 is always going to be critical to your game plan because they are such a massive part of the game. Your 12 influences your attack and defence so much.

Lealiifano should have debuted tonight because he would have debuted at the start of last year had he not broken his leg and his form this year has resulted in the exact same conclusion that he is our best 12 and should be in the Wallabies.

JOC (James O'Connor) should have kicked most of the kicks he missed. There's no doubt about that. The fact that he isn't the first choice kicker doesn't mean he isn't practicing a massive amount.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

The Red Baron another rookie was more or less the undisputed Wobs Man of the match.

Are you suggesting that IF should not have been chosen?

It was unfortunate that Lilo lasted as long as a drunken sailers wallet remains closed in Kings Cross, and that it had a big impact on the game.

Consider the opposite. What if J Sexton had similarly copped one on the melon and Coach's Boy had to come on in his place?

Dingo must accept responsibility for his decision/obsession to play Bieber Boy at #10.

 

[tic]

I tend to agree that Deans has handled Cooper poorly but 'dag nabbit' (or some other old person expression) it's a two way street. Cooper has done absolutely NOTHING to help his own situation. Not willing to change his game even slightly for international rugby, whinges about it all in a tweet.

+ he just plain old doesn't play that well, for every good thing he does he makes some mistake a second later. That tackle 'attempt' in SA is enough for me not to pick him for another couple of months, lol.

Put To'omua or Beale at 10.

What? What?

The tweet was nearly 12 months ago FFS. He has copped a serious penalty and handled himself with maturity since then. As for his game plan - he has been the best 10 in Australian rugby this year. The Reds sit in 4th place on the table.

Beale in the meantime has assualted a bouncer, assulated his skipper, assualted another team mate and broken rehab conditions. But he is OK to play according to Robbie.. Give us a break!

 

[USARugger]

Dingo must accept responsibility for his decision/obsession to play Bieber Boy at #10 a few weeks after he put on one of the worst displays of any flyhalf during the 2013 Super Rugby season at playing the position of flyhalf.[/quote]

Fixed that for you

 

[Ruggo]

JOC (James O'Connor) not a 10. Stu Barnes said it perfect when he said he had no peripheral vision. Apparently he was there as he is the one to straighten our attack but really a petty spat is the reason why we didn't have a flyhalf that can straighten an attack and one that has good peripheral vision. I would love to see that certain flyhalf feed opportunities to Folou.

Well done Mowen. That was a great debut.

I feel really bad for Lilo. That was horrible and the poor bastard just can't catch a break.

McCabe was tough as nails as usual. Did a great job and I hope his neck is fine.

Slipper was sensational when he came on. Should of started over Alexander but the Messiah of rugby coaches has different ideas. Kepu and Simmons also good and by coincidence or not when they came on was when our scrum picked up.

I feel sorry for Beale. Chin up mate and great to see Kev consoling him. I hope Deans and the ARU boffins have not fucked up any progress he may have made in dealing with his troubles by putting him in this pressure environment to begin with.

Stephen Moore was outstanding I thought.

Hooper did well in difficult circumstances when forced to move. Dumb call from Dean's as the logical thing to do would have been to push AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) inside, Digby to 13 and Slot Phipps on the wing. A more radical approach was only required when AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) went off.

 

[Joe Blow]

I'd say it was always Deans intention for Lealifano to be the playmaker tonight with JOC (James O'Connor) playing a linking and running roll.
As soon as Lealifano left the field JOC (James O'Connor) was in trouble.
McCabe is absolutely not the answer for us at 12 and I think any 10 would(and have) struggle with him there at this level.
QC (Quade Cooper) is the best distributor and if he could play that would be the best bet one would think.
It was a good performance by a rusty Wallaby side with a major injury setback in the first minute of the test. We probably should have won and I am sure we will be at least 20% better next week.
Is George Smith available?

 

[Hugh Jarse]

What? What?

The tweet was nearly 12 months ago FFS. He has copped a serious penalty and handled himself with maturity since then. As for his game plan - he has been the best 10 in Australian rugby this year. The Reds sit in 4th place on the table.

Beale in the meantime has assualted a bouncer, assulated his skipper, assualted another team mate and broken rehab conditions. But he is OK to play according to Robbie.. Give us a break!

Danger Danger Will Robinson.

This thread is about to become a QC (Quade Cooper) vs Dingo slanging match.

Not sure that we need to go there again.

 

[ACT Crusader]

Here we go, all the circular arguments are coming back.

For what it's worth if Beale has been playing at 10 in training then surely he is the next cab off the rank. Not someone outside the squad.

 

[Ruggo]

then why the fuck wasn't he kicking?

He was. Gifted it to George North.

 

[Braveheart81]

Hugh Jarse just broke the internet.

 

[ACR]

Okay, apologies for bringing up Cooper, it's so easy to get carried away.

Was a very enjoyable game, that's more important for me (neutral supporter). Looking forward to next week.

 

[lewisr]

I don't think there was any great issue with JOC (James O'Connor) at 10. The backline with ball in hand looked fine. His errors were in his goalkicking which is slightly forgiveable if Lealiifano was the first choice kicker.

Missing 14 points versus their 3 is what cost us the game. A 7 or 8 point win from hitting most of our kicks and no one would be questioning JOC (James O'Connor) at 10 or any other selections.

The injury toll from this week is the biggest worry for the Wallabies. The most worrying is AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) because 13 is our hardest position to fill.

Folau's debut was all time. Two tries and several excellent plays including saving a try. If there was ever a doubt how valuable he could be to Australian rugby, it was extinguished tonight. The guy is incredible.

Firstly, as has already been said, O'Connor was completely anonymous. What did he do well? I couldn't find anything. He bear hugged in contact which was uncharacteristic. Every time he got the ball he looked unenterprising, turned it over once or twice and usually took the running option rather than distributing. He did not have a bad game, but he I think he proved the point that he's not a 10. AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) hardly got the ball and I really didn't think the Backs were firing apart from Genia and Folau (and beale when he came on). Beale and Barnes looked much more at home when they stepped into the first receiver role. I hope Deans realises this and bites the bullet.

Secondly, PLAY TO YOUR BLOODY STRENGTHS. My god, it has been said so many times but Australia has almost never had a solid goal kicker and we have had the luck of an in form Beale in 2010 and a Ballsy Mike Harris in 2012 to get us across the line. This time the luck went the other way, and Beale missed. By no means his own fault, the ground was shit, but that's what you get if you want to rely on unreliable goal kicking.

Thirdly, the injuries were horrid. The Wallabies can't seem to win in that area. But in saying that, we knew Barnes and McCabe have had an injury plagued season. They were chosen knowing that they haven't had consistent super rugby conditioning and preparation. It was a risk that did not pay off. Devastating about Lilo and AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper), any news on that front?

Overall a tight game. The Lions didn't win that game, we lost it. I pick a Wallabies win next week regardless of who's 10. But I think Barnes or Beale would do a far better job.

 

[I like to watch]

And there is the problem. Whether intentional, or whether you have just blindly stumbled across it, our gameplan apparently revolved around a rookie 12. Not a smart move I would have thought.

Yeh,everyone knows that goal kicking rookie 12's always get knocked out in the first tackle.

 

[jollyswagman]

jollyswagman - I think Cooper is 1000-1 to be playing 10 next week. It just isn't going to happen.

It has been argued a million times on this forum that Cooper doesn't work at 10 with McCabe playing at 12 and that has been the reason whenever he hasn't excelled for the Wallabies.

If Lealiifano is fit to start at 12 next week, I expect the same 10/12 combo will be picked. If that is what you were planning to be your best combination going into the series, why would you drop JOC (James O'Connor) when your 12 and first choice goalkicker gets injured in the first minute of the test?

I wouldn't drop JOC (James O'Connor)...just put him wider out. He is not a test level 10 at this point in his career. He may well develop into a super star at 10 later on but he aint there yet.

He won't play JOC (James O'Connor) at 10 next week because it was an absolute disaster tonight. The pressure on RD this week to turn things around will be immense and he can ill afford to stick with his experiment of putting JOC (James O'Connor) at 10 when so many are calling for change. Even if Cooper is not bought into camp, I still believe JOC (James O'Connor) will not be 10 next week. The media has already picked up this issues as the main talking point to come out of the game and they will run with it all week.

All of that said, there is no telling what the man will do and he may well stick with JOC (James O'Connor) at 10 out of stubbornness and his own belief. It was a big call before the game and it bit him in the ass big time.

 

[nugget]

Geez Louise, I haven't been on here for 6 months and just logged in now after getting back from the game tonight all abuzz. And lo and behold you guys are still arguing about QC (Quade Cooper). Holy crap, does it ever end? Outta here...

 

[Bairdy]

Disappointed by the result but definitely proud of the heart the men in green and gold showed when we lost Leali'ifano, Barnes, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper), and had to play Hooper in the centres!

Apart from the scrums in the first 50 minutes, the Wallaby forward pack had the clear edge over their Lions counterparts, with the backrow of Mowen, Hooper and Palu in particular working that much more efficiently and harder at the breakdown than Croft, Warburton and Heaslip.

Without trying to point the finger at one particular thing, I think the Lions backs played better than the Wallabies. Every time we put a high ball up, I was cringing because the Lions were very lethal in counterattack with North and co.

Halfpenny's boot proved the point of difference, as I think most of the Lions points came from the kicking tee.

Great debut by Folau; such an elusive runner and strong-in-contact!

Underwhelmed by JOC (James O'Connor)'s performance; didn't realign the backs that often, and as a result, quick ball would often be shifted one out from the ruck to a forward when it needed to go wide. Hope Lilo's return will help him next week, or we might need to put Beale or Barnes at flyhalf.

And I hope the Wallaby kickers practice kicking all week! 14 points left out on the field.

 

[p.Tah]

Great game and I was gutted at the end. The loss hurt but I wish for Kurtley's sake it wasn't him who missed it.

I just feel flat now.

Very happy with the forwards. Some great scrums in the 2nd half and line out worked well.

Keep one of our 12s on for a full game. Find some kicking form and we'll do well next week.