Scoey
Tony Shaw (54)
Just remembered about my prediction. Thought it was by 8 but turns out I missed it by that much!!
Bledisloe #1 - AUS v NZL, ANZ Stadium, Sydney, August 8th
- Thread starter KOB1987
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It showed that you can get away with Giteau at halfback for 10 minutes if you need to.
That's all that is required for me to suggest we can get away with not taking three specialist halfbacks to the RWC.
A squad of 31 will always involve making some compromises. Not taking three specialist halfbacks is a compromise, but it allows you to take an extra player in another position which might be more effective for your overall squad.
Foley and Cooper will both be in the RWC squad. If there is a thought that we might start To'omua and Giteau at 10 and 12 in one of the games then it increases the desire to bring another 12 in Leali'ifano which might not be possible if we take 3 specialist halfbacks.
It comes down to where you want to take the risk and where you can see the biggest upside to make up for that risk.
Scoey
Tony Shaw (54)
Yes having both Hooper and Pocock on the field hurt our lineout. To the point where Richie McCaw even noted (with a wry smile) post game that having nice clean ball from the set piece was great!
Ideally. You want two jumping locks and from your 6 & 8 one excellent jumper and one average or better jumper.
We lost a bunch of our own throws and barely contested any of theirs. I'm not saying that the impact isn,t worth the benefit of Pooper but if you think the lineout wasn't impacted by it than simply, you have rocks in your head.
Ideally. You want two jumping locks and from your 6 & 8 one excellent jumper and one average or better jumper.
We lost a bunch of our own throws and barely contested any of theirs. I'm not saying that the impact isn,t worth the benefit of Pooper but if you think the lineout wasn't impacted by it than simply, you have rocks in your head.
I find it hard to say that though.
We had a lineout caller who hasn't called for the Wallabies for a few years and missing the guy who has called the lineout for just about every test for the last two to three years.
Moore didn't have a good game and that could have had an affect on the three lineouts we lost.
Whilst we played both Hooper and Pocock, we didn't play Skelton so for what we lost in the lineout, we also gained by having a better jumping second lock.
Pooper could have certainly been part of our lineout not performing well but there are several other reasons which could have had just as much or more impact.
I doubt our lineout would have been better if we'd had a back 5 of Horwill, Skelton, Fardy, Hooper and McCalman.
Scoey
Tony Shaw (54)
No but our lineout would've been better if we'd had Horwill, Mumm, Fardy, Hooper and McCalman. Which is what I said we should be aiming for (purely from a lineout perspective).
I didn't say Pooper was the only factor but it certainly contributed. That was my main point. I'm just getting a little tired of reading how playing both 7's had no impact on the lineout as its simply fanciful.
I didn't say Pooper was the only factor but it certainly contributed. That was my main point. I'm just getting a little tired of reading how playing both 7's had no impact on the lineout as its simply fanciful.
Hawko
Tony Shaw (54)
Given that if one of the half backs gets seriously injured then a replacement is only 48 hours away (less if Genia is already in France preparing for his move), I see no good reason why Giteau won't be fine for an emergency ten minutes, just as he was last Saturday. His pass wasn't as good as a regular half back. So what? He's an emergency replacement, not a starting half back.
If that ten minutes caused his muscles to seize up then he needs some more fitness work of the Coogee hills variety before the RWC straight after next Saturday.
Inside Shoulder
Nathan Sharpe (72)
Isn't there a rule that you cannot replace a player for x number of hours after he leaves the tournament - the x being the number of hours it would take to get a player from the country furthest away?
It's 48 hours so that it is the same for all teams regardless of whether the player has to be flown halfway around the world or they're local/
KOB1987
John Eales (66)
Sean Maloney @seanny202 35m35 minutes ago
Just went full rugby-nerd. @Wallabies only missed 5 tackles in 2nd half, ABs let 16 slip. There you go #AUSvNZL @FoxSportsLab @FOXRUGBY
Just went full rugby-nerd. @Wallabies only missed 5 tackles in 2nd half, ABs let 16 slip. There you go #AUSvNZL @FoxSportsLab @FOXRUGBY
Hawko
Tony Shaw (54)
Agreed. But if Genia is in France he can fly straight to England, get to the hotel and then report for duty 48hrs and one minute after call-up with no jetlag.
The risk not taking three scrummies is the Flatley-type injury: either the 9 or 21 goes down on the day of a test. Then, Giteau's the reserve half and may have to play a good portion of a game, more than 10 minutes; if Matt plays more than 10 minutes will his hammies seize up? His passes on Saturday were accurate but woefully slow.
I've suggested elsewhere we need three candidates for the 1, 2, 3 & 9 jumpers AT ALL TIMES. Matt's cameo on Saturday's convinced me of that.
I've suggested elsewhere we need three candidates for the 1, 2, 3 & 9 jumpers AT ALL TIMES. Matt's cameo on Saturday's convinced me of that.
Undoubtedly you take a risk if you follow this option but you create a hole elsewhere if you don't.
My guess is that Leali'ifano doesn't make the RWC squad if we take three halfbacks.
Pfitzy
Nathan Sharpe (72)
We lost 3 from memory. Two of them were in good attacking position, again from memory.
If you're getting outjumped, the number of options you have is irrelevant - your execution is everything. 3 lineout jumpers - and Hooper and Pocock are both capable of change moves - is enough unless you've found a method by which we can lift 4 people at once.
Chris McCracken
Jim Clark (26)
I hope the second part of my post covered that.
Groucho
Greg Davis (50)
I'd rather have Lilo. We could fly in Genia in extremis.
the plastic paddy
John Solomon (38)
You always will with Barnes because he doesn't make tacklers roll, that inevitably favours the defending side and NZ did a lot more defending.
Hawko
Tony Shaw (54)
Yes we can! It detracted from the game, which would have been much better without it.
We got over their side of the ruck as they got over ours, but the aimless wandering that got in Phipps way was, to my eyes, a NZ special.
Joe Blow
John Hipwell (52)
Giteau was serviceable at halfback for those 10 minutes and it meant that we didn't need to sub him or a winger or a loose forward in order to bring on our reserve half. It makes sense but he should never be in the 23 as a halfback.
Our lineout was poor and it is normally an area where we can pretty much guarantee a solid platform. Luckily we found our scrum doing that on the weekend so it was not such a huge problem. However, to go through and have a serious tilt at the RWC we will need our set pieces in both phases to be excellent all of the time.
Simmons will help but we will also need to take a loose forward in the squad who can play at 8 and jump as well as be an alternate jumping back up for Fardy. McMhaon does not fit the mold. My buddy Higgers is the obvious choice, but if not him then maybe one of the young blokes. This will allow us to play the Pooper or Skelton when we need to.
There is no reason to take both McCalman and Palu.
Our lineout was poor and it is normally an area where we can pretty much guarantee a solid platform. Luckily we found our scrum doing that on the weekend so it was not such a huge problem. However, to go through and have a serious tilt at the RWC we will need our set pieces in both phases to be excellent all of the time.
Simmons will help but we will also need to take a loose forward in the squad who can play at 8 and jump as well as be an alternate jumping back up for Fardy. McMhaon does not fit the mold. My buddy Higgers is the obvious choice, but if not him then maybe one of the young blokes. This will allow us to play the Pooper or Skelton when we need to.
There is no reason to take both McCalman and Palu.
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