Australian Rugby Team's Biggest Liability

[Aussie D]

I voted other and what I meant was that Pocock is seen as a strength, fine player, but the rest of the team rely on him and don't work hard enough, not only to support him, but also to realign in defence, thinking they have time, because they think he'll slow things down. As a consequence opponents and I've already noticed this in S15 games so far, are taking the ball into him and making sure he's taken out straight away, put on the floor and nullifying him. The result is that opponents get quick ball at the breakdown and find gaps in the defensive line due to the laziness described above. I might be totally wrong on this but this could be a ploy to get rid of the menace of that cheating Kiwi at WC time.

The only problem is He Of The Invisible Cloak would get away with not releasing the tackler and his teammates know that it is an 8 man effort.

 

[TheTruth]

It must be the defence on one hand and the attack as well... Even Jack Gibson when asked How do you win a game (of rugby league) - You just gotta score more points than the other team

 

[DPK]

I voted for defence, because twice in the Republic we raced away to big leads only to have to come from behind to win.

We need to put hits on. As in the Ray Price school of Bledisloe Cup games "The only way to get an All Black to respect you is to belt him." I think it's the only way to beat them, too.

 

[Joe Mac]

Ozsash, where on earth did you get that spectacular gravatar?

 

[OzSash]

Ozsash, where on earth did you get that spectacular gravatar?

Why, the interwebs of course sir!

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!

 

[Finsbury Girl]

The bl**dy scrum. It's been a while since we had a solid tight 5. Our backrows generally been pretty good even throughout the lean years, but I cannot remember the last time we had a truly fearsome pack as a whole.

 

[louie]

gone for breakdown. I can't remember the last game against AB where we did well in this department.

 

[ChargerWA]

I said other, as there was no choice for mental dwarfism.

We have the cattle, but they don't have the heart or confidence.

 

[CanadianRugby]

Voted for defense. I think the goal kicking is a problem, and the scrum has issues, but mostly its seems that they are unable to hold a lead or get their hands on the ball when the other teams get it. I don´t remember a game when the Oz defense ruled the game. Other top tier teams have strong defenses, but the Wallabies just don´t seem to hold teams out at will. The backs are good enough that they will score with if given enough ball, but they it seems far to easy for other team to march right back down the field.

 

[Groucho]

Where is the negativism option?

 

[Torn Hammy]

I think the breakdown.

There is about 150 rucks in a game. Some rattle on endlessly about one tighthead or a handful of backpeddling scrums and completely ignore the fact we have lost the rucks by a margin of forty as was the case with the last Waratahs game.

We also don't have a dominant tackling 10/12 combination at test level. Watch the big boppas run at this channel all WC.

 

[disco]

The aussie tackling has been poor this season just watch Tahs & Brumbies v the Saders.

The saders hit you with the kitchen sink & then pile in the aussie sides are hitting with arms & dropping off.

The Reds defence is static & they don't even come off the line so it's easy yards every time.

 

[Thomas]

I would say breakdown as the ways some teams approach break downs are really out of date! The ABs key to breakdowns is called the golden meter, it's the thing that gets you quick ball. Instead of standing over a player (in a ruck) or clearing a player out past the ball you go an extra meter that way if you are over the ball protecting it and your a meter in front of it and you get cleared out your still on the opponents side of the ruck. This also applies to the defending side, with the new rules you pretty much can't touch the ball once there's a breakdown (unless your McCaw or Pocock) so instead of trying to get a turnover jackal/pocock style and either be unsuccessful or penalised drive over the oppositions ball (Counter rucking) this is what the Reds did so poorly against the Force they were content with just getting past the ball not the extra meter.

 

[MrMouse]

Where is the negativism option?

Think we should rename the thread "Australia's Greatest Opportunity For Improvement" Groucho?

 

[cyclopath]

I voted scrum, because, apart from a false dawn a couple of years back, it has been pretty poor. And everyone knows it - other teams, other fans, refs. And everyone expects it - other teams, other fans, refs. And our forwards get little or no respect as a result of it, despite the fact there are some very good players in there.
But if your scrum is weak, it changes the dynamic of the game. Free kick? Call a scrum against us, you might winkle a penalty out of it. Clever opposition will work the angles to draw penalties from our pack, some of which might be unfair, but poor reputation does that.
Mostly, because it is a technique problem. The breakdown shits us all to tears at times, but sometimes they all turn up, and we smash the other team at the breakdown. To me, that is more a tactical and attitudinal problem, with an "easier" fix. We need a Mike Cron to get the new generation of front rowers (and we have some potentially good ones here) doing it right.

 

[Running Rugby]

I voted the breakdown as I feel capitalising on quick turnover ball may be the key to the world cup. My gut feeling is though our 2 biggest weaknesses are injury and a lack of depth (We are slowly improving but not quite there) and a level of unsureness about what our best playing style is (and this has a direct correlation to team selection.)

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Has to be the scrum for me. We have either given up points or given up attacking opportunities in the last five or so years with a poor platform in the scrum. The work at the breakdown at times has been poor against some teams. However, nothing has been as consistently bad as the scrum. It's embarrassing.