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

[Mr Doug]

Rubbish comment.

You might like to elaborate, cyclopath!

 

[ChargerWA]

^^^^^
Re: Mumm - the work in the scrum was excellent from the tight 5, particularly notable on the overhead cam that the FR and the Super Rugby were straight most of the time. Chucking McCalman at sub lock, where he does not play, goes against what Ledesma is trying to do - his mantra is "Straight and Tight" and it needs the right (read - "trained for it") bodies to do it. I agree Mumm's carries were not as dynamic as we'd all like, but he got through a lot of ruck work (see the stats produced by Force Fan earlier). I think Cheika knows what he is getting from Mumm, and it might not be exactly what some of us think he should be doing.

And from the lock articles on the front page a while back, McCalman was sparingly used for the Force as a jumper this year. I certainly don't consider him a lock/loosie anymore. When he had to go to lock due to a yellow card for the Force one time this year, our scrum just disintegrated. He can play lock at a pinch in Super rugby, but test is a step too far.

 

[ChargerWA]

You might like to elaborate, cyclopath!

Why you trying to pick a fight with everyone? Lay off the angry pills.

 

[KAOPointman]

Phipps was rattled and resorted to a couple of hopeless box kicks reminiscent of his Rebels days and far too many passes to no-one. You can explain away one, but not that many - having said that, based on his play in the past 2 seasons, he deserves another chance.

Can't say the same about Foley, has had ample opportunity to grab the 10 jersey this year, but hasn't. To'omua to start.

Why are so many wanting to try another 10.... When we have a perfectly awesome 10 in cooper allready. As long as the forwards do their job....there isn't many better then him. "Trying" another 10 in tomuoa seems odd atm. He's an amazing impact bench player and covers more places better the Quade....so he suits the bench better anyway.

 

[Groucho]

Why are so many wanting to try another 10.. When we have a perfectly awesome 10 in cooper allready. As long as the forwards do their job..there isn't many better then him. "Trying" another 10 in tomuoa seems odd atm. He's an amazing impact bench player and covers more places better the Quade..so he suits the bench better anyway.

Maybe 2015 Quade can't play a fast, direct game any more. 2011 Quade could.

If he can then you're right. He's our best choice.

No evidence of it at this stage.Shame he didn't get more time in the S15.

 

[qwerty51]

Anyone who doubts Wayne Barnes as a referee for the Wallabies has to be smoking crack. I had noticed that we tend to win a lot when Wayne is the referee but I didn't realise that we haven't lost a game that he has refereed since 2007 (Springboks in Capetown). He is like the anti-Kaplan. I want him to referee every one of our games in the World Cup.

Anyone who watched Poite referee SA vs Arg should be very concerned about our pool match with England. He's a fucking nutter.

 

[the plastic paddy]

You're deluded if you thought Barnes favoured NZ at the rucks.

I didn't say he favoured NZ, I said he let you lie all over the ball like he always does. As you were making more tackles you got away without rolling away. A proper ref who makes the tackler get out of the game speeds things up for the attacking side who were Aus.

 

[the plastic paddy]

Anyone who watched Poite referee SA vs Arg should be very concerned about our pool match with England. He's a fucking nutter.

He is indeed. One thing in your favour is that your scrum is looking very solid. Poite is a fecking maniac though and is certainly not a home town ref which will be a positive for Aus.

 

[the plastic paddy]

Amazed at the criticism of Mumm. I think he has been outstanding for Aus doing all the unglamorous, unseen shit like clearing rucks and pushing in the scrums, every team needs a few Roundheads as well as the cavaliers.

 

[cyclopath]

You might like to elaborate, cyclopath!

No, I really wouldn't.

 

[Dan54]

Not sure why Barnes seemed to be letting ABs get away with that Wallabies didn't get away with, I don't dislike or like Barnes I thought he was ok. Was interested to see that no one commented on Moore lying on side of ruck fiddling with ball, Barnes told him a couple of times to leave it, if that how Barnes saw it, I not to concerned, I just suspect if it had been Richie or someone we would of been reading it should of been a yc. Only reason I mention that is to show I think we all tend to see what the ref lets the opposition away with in our opinion and not what actually happens. We all change our minds on game as suits our team I suspect, most seem to think the Pocock/Hooper team is great for slowing down oppositions ball, (which they are), but if opposition loosies are good at they usually considered cheating negative players. It's all in the way everyone views game, and I know we want refs to be robots, they are not and all ref and see games slightly differently!

 

[swingpass]

i thought Barnes did a good job. let the game pretty much flow, gave clear explanations for his decisions and mostly applied the advantage rule well. he was a bit slack at the breakdown but both sides were to "fault" / "took advantage". the wallabies clean out in this game was better than against either the Boks or the Pumas, but still needs to be more clinical. people should stop whingeing about the AB's ability to generally get in the way at the breakdown, it is just one of the many skills they are better at than anyone else. if the refs don't stop it then thats just the way it is.

 

[Scrubber2050]

Congrats to the TEAM.

IMO Sio went well in the scrum but because we had 2 locks who can scrum. He stands in the backline too much and doesn't do much work around the park - Reckon Slips did more tackles in 20 than Scott over 60. Keps was great. Best game for ages,

The Pocock and Hooper experiment was really successful. Looks like a long term arrangement to me.

Phipps did a couple of shit plays.

Fardy was immense as was Poey Hooper and AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper).

Again, the bench made a difference.

Exciting match.

 

[biggsy]

Lost my shit when the wallabies started doing stupid kicks by kicking the ball away in the 1st half.
Then lost my shit when the Wallabies won.

Also Steven Henson is muppet. To many years of wining and not losing...

Bench has been bloody tops.

Next weeks game will be awesome and will pick a winner after the game.

 

[Braveheart81]

Whilst there were certainly players that can play much better than they did, we won on the back of the vast majority of our team having very strong games.

Sio and Kepu were both excellent. Kepu couldn't have picked a better time to score his first test try.

Horwill was very strong early and whilst Mumm was copping some criticism in the second 20 minutes, maybe there was a clear plan that he had to last longer out there and needed to temper his effort. He came back strongly in the second half and certainly showed that he is up to it at locking the scrum.

The backrow were simply brilliant. Fardy had a sensational game and Pocock and Hooper were vying for MOTM. Both outstanding performances.

Giteau was solid and had a good little cameo at halfback. He could certainly see himself being the third halfback in the squad to make an extra spot available.

Kuridrani was very good again and AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) had an excellent game. His consistency in playing close to his best is staggering. He's easily our first winger picked right now. Folau had another solid game and was generally good under the high ball.

All our bench did well, particularly White and To'omua. Whoever is on the bench this year is providing real impact and getting us home in the back end of games. Cheika is using his bench well.

That really only leaves Moore, Phipps, Foley and Mitchell who had substandard games and that has to be the benchmark for beating the All Blacks. You don't beat them by having a couple of players having blinders. You win because most of your team played very well.

 

[Sword of Justice]

Giteau was solid and had a good little cameo at halfback. He could certainly see himself being the third halfback in the squad to make an extra spot available.

IMO there's no way Giteau should be anywhere near the 9 spot - in any context. His passes were terrible from the base of the ruck. He couldn't hit the chest and they were much loopier with more hang time than any of the 9s running around Super Rugby.

 

[Chris McCracken]

^^^^^
Re: Mumm - the work in the scrum was excellent from the tight 5, particularly notable on the overhead cam that the FR and the Super Rugby were straight most of the time. Chucking McCalman at sub lock, where he does not play, goes against what Ledesma is trying to do - his mantra is "Straight and Tight" and it needs the right (read - "trained for it") bodies to do it. I agree Mumm's carries were not as dynamic as we'd all like, but he got through a lot of ruck work (see the stats produced by Force Fan earlier). I think Cheika knows what he is getting from Mumm, and it might not be exactly what some of us think he should be doing.

I agree with this. I do think that, in light of how the two locks were performing, though, Skelton came on for the wrong bloke. Mumm seemed to struggle in contact carrying the ball.

That said, it's not necessarily a problem. We got other things from Mumm - especially having essentially a fourth loose forward on the field. 4 and 6 are such interchangeable positions nowadays, anyway.

 

[matty_k]

IMO there's no way Giteau should be anywhere near the 9 spot - in any context. His passes were terrible from the base of the ruck. He couldn't hit the chest and they were much loopier with more hang time than any of the 9s running around Super Rugby.

He's perfectly fine if we need cover for ten minutes.


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[Braveheart81]

IMO there's no way Giteau should be anywhere near the 9 spot - in any context. His passes were terrible from the base of the ruck. He couldn't hit the chest and they were much loopier with more hang time than any of the 9s running around Super Rugby.

He would only be the third halfback in the RWC squad with the plan that he is never actually played there. He only spent time at halfback because our 9 was yellow carded.

As the third halfback in the RWC squad he'd only appear on the bench as the halfback if one of our two halfbacks got injured for a single game and was then going to be fit again or if a halfback was injured within two days of the test.

In general, the third halfback position for the RWC is not utilised so we may be better served having Giteau as that emergency option and freeing up another space for someone like Leali'ifano.

 

[fatprop]

I agree with this. I do think that, in light of how the two locks were performing, though, Skelton came on for the wrong bloke. Mumm seemed to struggle in contact carrying the ball.

That said, it's not necessarily a problem. We got other things from Mumm - especially having essentially a fourth loose forward on the field. 4 and 6 are such interchangeable positions nowadays, anyway.

But his cleanout work and workrate was very good, I don't think you would ever select Mumm for his crash ball stuff in close, it is like selecting Skelton for his lineout prowess