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

[Ash]

Braveheart81

Don't know how you can defend JOC (James O'Connor) at 10. His involvements were appalling. When we had forwards going over the advantage line he should have been organising the backline getting ready for the ball. Instead, at one point in their 10m zone he was hitting it up on the blindside like a flanker.

There was the odd occasion JOC (James O'Connor) got the ball and passed it on, but mainly he contributed not damn much.

When Beale came on, he got the ball more in the second half, linking better with the backs.

Meanwhile, you mention Sexton. He got his backline moving. Then were way way way more involved on attack than our backline, with more ball movement. However, their forwards largely went nowhere.

Go watch Scott Allen's video on JOC (James O'Connor) at 10, and you will see all the things he didn't do.

Sexton behind our pack would've had a fantastic game, I'd say. With a dominant pack like we had a good 10 would've been loving the time and space, instead ours was barely sighted.

Huge ups to our forwards and Folau (and Genia) who nearly won us the game.

 

[Alex]

Palu made 8 tackles and missed 3. Robinson made 9 tackles and missed 1. Moore 10/0. Alexander 3/1. Douglas 10/1. Horwill 10/0. Mowen 10/2. Hooper 14/1. Slipper 1/0. Kepu 1/0. Gill 3/0.

Sorry, but a lot of you are still living in 2008 when it comes to Palu.

Stats are already out.

Stats can be misleading - Fatcat probably had the most clean linebreaks.

I thought Palu made some outstanding contributions as first man to the breakdown. Two or three times that he arrived first at a tackle he immediately took the tackled player to ground fast (eliminating any possibility of a choke), the wallabies went forward with quick ball and the defence was immediately on the back foot. It is that sort of quality contributions that can turn a game. I would be hanging on to Palu next week.

 

[USARugger]

Still waiting on the first-in ruck stats to come up but the notion that he made some colossal contribution to the defense is just plain wrong. He was below average if you want to compare him to the other 7 players in the pack.

Fat Cat had 1-2 half-breaks but no clean breaks on the night.

 

[jollyswagman]

Alexander 3/1 - REALLY!~ How can you be out there that long and only attempt 4 tackles?

 

[jollyswagman]

Any many respects the Wallabies performance was the opposite of what I expected. We had rock solid set piece for the most part, our props made a bunch of line breaks, the forwards fronted up and toughed it out and the back line was non-existent. How many of us honestly thought we would see a tighthead win to us from a 5m scrum on our goal line? If anything I though our backs would die trying to make something happen behind a forward pack going backwards.

 

[Ruggo]

One more little question.

When Lilo went down in the first minute, did a little bulb in Dean's head light up with the thought that Beale should come on to strengthen play making and distribution rather than McCabe?

The injuries didn't help but they our only part of the issue and questions need to be asked as to why our coach is as thick as a brick.

Us coming close is a credit to how brave and comited our players are and not any reflection on the coach.

 

[badabing59]

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.

My projected 2000 posts on QC (Quade Cooper) looking real good now

 

[lewisr]

One more little question.

When Lilo went down in the first minute, did a little bulb in Dean's head light up with the thought that Beale should come on to strengthen play making and distribution rather than McCabe?

The injuries didn't help but they our only part of the issue and questions need to be asked as to why our coach is as thick as a brick.

Us coming close is a credit to how brave and comited our players are and any reflection on the coach.

Beale to 15, Barnes to 12. I thought that wouldve been far less of a disruption than putting mccabe in. He was clearly there as a late game impact player, or so I thought.

 

[the plastic paddy]

Australia managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, but fear not you will piss up in the next two games. Can anyone explain to me why the fucking ref never signalled in the whole game? Drives me fucking wild when the arseholes Miles and Barnes never shut up for long enough to hear the ref microphone that the ref doesn't signal the reason for his decisions!!!! So frustrating and leads to lots of misinformed whining about poor reffing. Really felt sorry for Kurtley Beale, thought he was outstanding and for a fella who is obviously struggling with plenty of demons I thought he deserved a better rub of the green!!! Like I say, I think the Aussies will piss up in the next two especially if anything befalls Adam Jones who is as essential to the Lions as he is to Wales.

 

[FilthRugby]

The pitch was clearly crap so I don't know why he kept the sweeping action. Front on would have been less risky n

Mate, he should have worn metal or longer tags.

 

[biggsy]

Beside the injuries it played out how for the wallabies how I thought it would.

Love my reds boys, but as Much as i think most tahs should not be there. Hooper is a stands out

 

[Braveheart81]

Clearly the discussion is circulating around JOC (James O'Connor) at 10.

We had three backs stretchered off the field including one in the first minute and we lose by 2 points after leaving an extra 11 points on the field from missed goalkicks. I can't see any coach thinking that the solution is to change players who remained healthy.

If we'd had a better run of injuries and/or kicked better we would have won that game. I can't see any great changes being made besides ones forced by injury.

With just an average goalkicking performance we would have won that game and I can't imagine the discussion would be anything like what it is now.

 

[Braveheart81]

Mate, he should have worn metal or longer tags.

This is one thing I don't get. The ground was in average condition after the rain yesterday and still players persisted with moulded boots.

This should become something that one or two players or a coach decides prior to the game. Make it something that is tested out by having someone run, change direction, test how loose the surface is etc. and decide for the whole team.

It is so common that players aren't wearing the right footwear when the surface conditions are poor. Obviously backs want to wear the moulded boots because they can run faster and are more agile (if the conditions are favourable) but there have been numerous times when a decision should have been made that longer metal studs are the way to go.

 

[wobbly]

Ok, no one could have predicted Lealifano's injury, but doesn't what happened from there on again highlight Deans' inept selections???

Barnes - undercooked, injury prone, shithouse general play kicker. Should have been bench role at most.
Ioane - undercooked, back from injury too soon. Cummins should have started.
Beale - undercooked, improvised well, but poor defensively. Should have been in rehab still.
McCabe - undercooked and just not a 12. Should have played in the Brumbies vs Lions game (on Rathbones wing or bench)
O'Connor - played out of position

If we'd pinched it, the story would be Folau and Beale's redemption.

Deans must be sacked.

 

[biggsy]

Fuck off Bigsy. No need for that.

Well in that case they should make fucken easy tackles.

And that Biggsy with 2 g's.

 

[ChargerWA]

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.

How dare we discuss players relevant to the Wallabies setup....

Players we currently pay a massive Wallaby top up (while Gill gets none). This is just like the Rocky captaincy bullshit. Deans is stubborn as a mule and a shit selector to boot. He makes these ridiculous calls and then death rides them to the ground.

 

[the plastic paddy]

Have to add, that I was very disappointed by George North's Felon Armitage like pointing at Genia when he scored. Terrific try from a terrific player but he is too good to lower himself to sh'te like that. I hope to hear that he made a point of apologising to Genia( who was excellent BTW) after the game.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Ok, no one could have predicted Lealifano's injury, but doesn't what happened from there on again highlight Deans' inept selections???

Barnes - undercooked, injury prone, shithouse general play kicker. Should have been bench role at most.
Ioane - undercooked, back from injury too soon. Cummins should have started.
Beale - undercooked, improvised well, but poor defensively. Should have been in rehab still.
McCabe - undercooked and just not a 12. Should have played in the Brumbies vs Lions game (on Rathbones wing or bench)
O'Connor - played out of position

If we'd pinched it, the story would be Folau and Beale's redemption.

Deans must be sacked.

Not sure I agree with all of that. Barnes and McCabe's injuries were freak incidents and had they been able to stay on the paddock longer the result probably would have been different. The fact that there was so much disruption to the backline and so early in the game, as well as a poor performance from O'Connor meant that we were always up against it. I think Lilo being out there would have helped JOC (James O'Connor) and clearly that's how they would have trained all week. Alas it's unknowable now because he didn't get through the first minute.

 

[wobbly]

And FFS why can't Deans see the danger in selecting a LH Prop at TH! That's bit him on the arse so many times. Kiwi fool!

 

[Country Kid]

Really pleased to see the forwards go well after being quite spooked by the early scrum penalty to the Lions.

But after that setback, great effort by the forwards at scrums, lineouts and rucks - best of all, they worked as a cohesive unit.

The backs...

Great individual contributions from Genia, Folau, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper). Good effort from McCabe....some reasonable stuff from Beale.

Not good enough from JOC (James O'Connor) and Barnes (IMHO, neither should have been in the run on side)

Minimal teamwork from the backs - that hurts the most for me. How much time did they have to work on their combinations?

The Rebels backline seems to function much better when JOC (James O'Connor) isn't playing, I guess that's because they play a genuine 10 in the 10 jumper - still can't understand why anyone would decide to play an outside back like JOC (James O'Connor) in the 10 position.

Not advocating Beale at 10 though. Yes he took on the role several times tonight - but he is too individual in his play to be a 'real 10'.

We have a situation where both JOC (James O'Connor) and Beale lack the repertoire of skills to be a genuine 10 (accurate tactical kicking, spreading the ball to outside support, deft passes to put dangerous runners onto space).

McCabe lacks the passing game to put the OC, FB or wingers into space, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) runs great lines but rarely passes.

So we end up with a backline that fails to work cohesively - and fails to get the ball to a couple of very handy wingers.