Bledisloe #1 - AUS v NZL, ANZ Stadium, Sydney, August 8th

[formerflanker]

Me.

It (spider cam) is good for a second look after normal viewing, but because they have so much invested in it they use it too much.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Official Crowd Figure was 73 824.

 

[formerflanker]

Has anyone else heard that Phipps was very sick in the hours leading up to the game?

 

[drop kick]

Your username sounds Irish, figures.

Um, I think it might sound like an Australian name.

 

[pjm]

Has anyone else heard that Phipps was very sick in the hours leading up to the game?

Was he delirious and seeing double and that's why his passing was so off?

 

[Joe Blow]

Just reading the comments now and jesus, I think I was watching a different game. I thought Mumm played quite well.

I think it might be that Skelton is not a top 23 player just yet. With Simmons back I would start him(Simmo) with Horwill and have Mumm on the bench.

 

[formerflanker]

Was he delirious and seeing double and that's why his passing was so off?

I'm not trying to make excuses for him. Just before the game I did hear he had been dehydrated, and was on a drip in the hotel room for some hours.
Probably just an unsubstantiated rumour.

 

[Hawko]

There's a huge amount of criticism tonight for both teams that I really just don't get. I thought it was a great test; the ebbs and flows of the scoreline were enthralling. I was on the edge of my seat right until the final whistle. Sometimes when the other team is playing well they make you look like you are playing badly. If every rugby game was that good mungo would hardly exist.

1. Our scrum was awesome and would have won more penalties from a different NH referee. I thought the overhead view was very useful, though I would have liked ground level replays to enhance the experience. That said, I wouldn't be getting over-enthused about our prospects in the RWC. The NZ scrum got reamed over there on the last EOYT but they still won games so nobody looked too closely. We are on a good upward trajectory though - I remain hopeful.
2. We need a proper lineout coach. This is not the job of the head coach, you need a specialist.
3. Mumm was better second half than first. I wasn't surprised (and Cheika knew cause he kept him on) because Mumm has always had a huge engine. Horwill was good to my eyes, and Skelton gets marked up for cleaning out the NZ player for "accidentally" being in the way. Strange how NZ players so frequently accidentally find themselves on our side of the ruck and manage to slow down our play while looking dazed and bewildered. It just never gets penalised.
4. The backrow was absolutely immense. I thought we clearly outplayed McCaw, Read and Kaino and you won't read that very often anywhere.
5. Next week I would start White, Cooper, To'omua, with Phipps and Giteau on the bench. I'd also rest AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) and Mitchell (who I thought was good tonight) for Speight and Horne to test them in the fire.
6. Izzy was great but he is getting no protection from referees when in the air. Teams are clearly practising the "look at me trying to compete, colliding with Izzy's legs was just an accident".

Next week will be immense. NZ will come out all guns blazing; they hate losing and the criticism at home will all be about how inept they were and how poorly the rucks were refereed. Australia will get zero credit (I've worked over there so I've experienced it). And Eden Park is their fortress. Lose there and they really will start to think they are on the skids.
We need to give it everything and a small loss would be a fabulous outcome. Shag will spend the whole of this week revving them up and inside the dressing room it won't be pretty. How we play next Saturday will determine whether we are genuine RWC contenders or not.

 

[qwerty51]

1. Izzy was great but he is getting no protection from referees when in the air. Teams are clearly practising the "look at me trying to compete, colliding with Izzy's legs was just an accident".

Yeah this is getting ridiculous. They're not tackling him but making zero attempt to catch it and just jump where he is to put him off balance. It's pretty dangerous and World Rugby should do something about it.

 

[Joe Blow]

Izzy had another excellent game in the air and on the ground.

Cheika was trying to put him and Beale together at the end to put the game away. Then it came from White.

 

[boyo]

Huh? Its the world's worst anthem, its a horrible song in fact, not even an anthem. I always turn the volume down when someone starts whining it.

I reckon we could win a lot more silverware in a lot of sports if we changed to a decent anthem, oh and while we are at it, get rid of that horrible rag on a pole with the ENGLISH flag in the corner.

The British/UK flag, don't you know.

 

[galumay]

Your username sounds Irish, figures.

LOL! It's more Australian than anyone else on this site, guaranteed!



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[formerflanker]

Yeah this is getting ridiculous. They're not tackling him but making zero attempt to catch it and just jump where he is to put him off balance. It's pretty dangerous and World Rugby should do something about it.

I have seen a lot of inconsistency in refs over this issue during the 2015 Super Rugby and Tests. How hard would it be to set one standard and force the refs to adjudicate at that standard. They even have "assistant referees" to help them!

 

[ChargerWA]

The strange thing is they were Nazi about it during the S15. If you even looked at the player in the air wrong you were in the bin. But come tests and its a free for all.

 

[BarneySF]

Personally, I think it's pretty ordinary.

Flame Trees is probably a better choice. Passes the karaoke test, anyways.

Nah the Telstra song


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[Marcelo]

I'm so happy. Add me at facebook, fellas

Send me a private message and I will send the link

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Fantastic performance from the boys tonight, especially our much maligned pack. We just kept coming and didn't let up on these guys at any stage. that back row performance is among the best I've ever seen from a Wallaby team, they were absolutely immense. the best part about it all was that was nowhere near our best team performance. there is actually still a lot of improvement left in them and I think it's great to think that we can get better.

Some players showed without a shadow of a doubt that they need to be out there as much as possible, with Pocock, Hooper and To'omua being the main three. Each of them improves our game significantly and it was telling that when Matt came on we looked a lot sharper in attack. I'm a big fan of him at 12 but he looked very assured at 10. He flattens the line in attack and smashes blokes on D. He also has a very steady boot. Perhaps an interchanging 10/12 axis of him and Giteau is our best combo.

If we keep improving at the rate we have been there should be some teams in our RWC pool shitting themselves.

 

[Groucho]

We need to give it everything and a small loss would be a fabulous outcome.

Whoa there Bubba. Next week is for the Bledisloe! I'd almost swap that for the RWC.

 

[ForceFan]

I'm posting here as can't post pictures on the dashboard article.

Ruck Stats for the Wallabies as follows:

Remember:

1. Early means 1st or 2nd of player’s team AFTER the ball carrier has been tackled and brought to ground.
2. Impact means active engagement: strong physical contact, changed shape of ruck, clean-out, protecting ball etc. (more than hand on someone’s bum or arriving after the hard work has been done). Yes it’s subjective - but as I collect all data at least it’s consistent.
3. Impact DOES NOT equate to Effectiveness. I’ve concluded that coming up with an effectiveness measure is just too hard in the time that I have available – but open to suggestions.

BACKS
Strong ruck involvement again by Kuridrani and AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper).
The Backs had 91 ruck involvements (75 Attack/16 Defence)
i.e. 26% of Total Ruck involvements and 21% of Defensive Rucks.
The 4 backs above made 75% of the ruck involvement by Backs.

MOM
Despite Tim Horan's comments at the end of the match that "Hooper was everywhere", IMO, David Pocock was clearly the MOM.

+ Pocock had nearly DOUBLE the ruck involvements of Hooper.
+ Both players earned 2 Turn Overs Won and conceded 2 Penalties
+ Pocock had the superior running game with 11 runs for 34m, 2 Def Beaten, 1 Clean Break, 4 Passes compared to Hooper's 10 runs for 18m, 1 Def Beaten, 0 CB, 1 Pass.
+ Hooper had the slightly better tackling game with 11 tackles at 100%; Pocock made 8 tackles/1 Missed Tackle (89%).

Other Comments:
1. Another solid performance from Mr Dependable, Scott Fardy. Workhorse at the rucks, 11 runs for 21m, 7 tackles and most Line Out wins (4).
2. Commendable defensive efforts from Dean Mumm and James Horwill (rucks and tackles). 3 Line Outs lost.
3. Have not collected the ruck data for the All Blacks but would expect the AB's Front Row to out-ruck and out-tackle the Wallaby Front Row. Sio and Kepu limited ruck involvement.
4. Great ruck and tackle involvement by the bench Forwards - especially Slipper & Holmes.
5. Other Statistics can be found at ESPN Scrum or on the Super Rugby (TRC) websites.

All Blacks ruck data hopefully tomorrow.

Comments

1. Both sides standing off Defensive Rucks to about the same extent.
2. Note the similarity between Pocock and McCaw's ruck stats.
3. Scott Fardy certainly out-performed any of his AB counterparts.
4. Mumm and Horwill matched Retallick and Romano/Whitelock.
5. Surprisingly, when compared to previous 2 games in TWC, apart from Woodcock the AB front row fairly subdued.
6. AB Backs involved in only 16% (44) of Total Ruck involvements; 10% (7) of Def Ruck involvements.
7. C Smith and Carter's rucks were 52% of AB Back involvement.
8. ESPN Stats advise that Wallabies won 107 of 108 Rucks (99%) and ABs won 69 of 74 Rucks (93%).
9. I'll post similar data for Bled 2.

 

[teach]

Watching the game last night, I could see it going to pieces, so changed my Avatar in accordance to the terms of my avatar bet. Victory is yours, JoeLeee.

Well done Wallabies, first season in a long time I have seen them show some backbone and not crumble in the last quarter. Definitely contenders (if halfback can be sorted!).

I now better understand how their supporters have felt over the last few years. And now the ritual evisceration of the ABs in the NZ media will start. But considering how shit some of them were, they deserve it.