Bledisloe 1 - Saturday 18 August 2018 - ANZ Stadium, Sydney

[Juan Cote]

Word filtering through that out five year investment player is being short sold to the Japanese Super Happy Fun Kings

 

[Brumby Runner]

Scott Sio was a real loss as was the calm head of TK in the centres. Pocock and Beale were only players I would say played well (for the whole 80 at least).

I thought Coleman was also good in a well beaten side, apart from the lineout mess of course.

 

[Gnostic]

If Folau is out for Bled 2 Aus are fucked.



Him and Beale are their only creative sparks to unlock anything.

Folau is a supremely gifted player in a couple of aspects of the game. In the rest of it there are 16 year olds better. I don't think he is that big a deal. Losing Tupou and Sio did far more damage tonight, as did the selection of their replacements and the continued use of the Pooper and trying to balance that with selecting three locks. Maybe if Folau is gone we will actually see the benefit of having a 15 who has the skills to play there.

 

[Up the Guts]

We beat them last year as well. Neither game meant anything. They may concede the odd match out of sheer disinterest but an ABs team with their tail up will never lose a game.

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Pretty nihilistic take on things. They scraped a number of matches last year alongside their losses (Dunedin against us, against the Boks in SA, against Scotland etc.), yeah they’re good but I don’t buy this narrative of don’t even bother trying.

 

[Jerry West]

My observations:

1. Tui isn't fit enough. Too much time spent seagulling on the wing and then getting burned by the AB backs looking like he's about to keel over
2. Whole team wasn't fit enough - they were expending such a lot of energy in the first half maintaining a rush defence and I could just tell that in the second half they'd fall away. The ABs didn't try to match the intensity, they just let the Wallabies blow themselves out and that's why they walked it home in the second half
3. Robertson is not a starting loosehead at this level. Too small and too weak at the scrum
4. That was the worst lineout I've ever seen. Cheika's team once again shows its complete inability to change a game plan on the fly, they just keep doing the same thing again and again
5. It took Cheika 3 years but he finally figured out it's good to let Hodge kick for touch and do some clearing kicks in play. Worked beautifully for the first 20 minutes or so and then they reverted back to Foley for more aimless kicking
6. Peyper is the worst test ref in the business. Shocker of a game.
7. Beale was the only Wallaby who earned his pay cheque out there tonight IMO. Koroibete was decent too, and Pocock didn't let up for 80 minutes.

All in all, the result wasn't surprising but I'm still really disappointed in that performance. Defence was generally good (until they were out on their feet) but every other aspect of the game has gone backwards since last year.

Tui seagulling is a part of the teams shape. He is instructed to stay out there like the All Blacks have Hookers on the edge and or Backrowers.

The team is fit enough but when you are tackling a lot, you will run out of energy towards the end of the game. Errors upon poor set piece is what gave the All Blacks so much ball.

I agree Peyper definitely gave the All Blacks the run of the green the whole night. He was poor

 

[Up the Guts]

Folau is a supremely gifted player in a couple of aspects of the game. In the rest of it there are 16 year olds better. I don't think he is that big a deal. Losing Tupou and Sio did far more damage tonight, as did the selection of their replacements and the continued use of the Pooper and trying to balance that with selecting three locks. Maybe if Folau is gone we will actually see the benefit of having a 15 who has the skills to play there.

Banks is a fine player. If the ABs make a break off counter attack I know the player I want chasing them down.

 

[Brumby Runner]

Yeah if the coaching staff were planning on Hooper going 80 that was dumb. You can’t do any conditioning with a hamstring injury (with upper body injuries you can at least hop on a bike) and 6 weeks out and he was going to be blowing (particularly as he played with his usual intensity for much of the game).

At about half his usual speed, I would have to say.

 

[Gnostic]

Pretty nihilistic take on things. They scraped a number of matches last year alongside their losses (Dunedin against us, against the Boks in SA, against Scotland etc.), yeah they’re good but I don’t buy this narrative of don’t even bother trying.

Yes!!! How about we look to run our own race and fix the fixables and the rest will look after itself. ATM this side, as it has since the 2015 RWC where they outperformed, has the same fundamental failures and no coach has admitted that problem, and some have actually tried to say it has been fixed (Byrne this week)

 

[Brumby Runner]

My observations:

1. Tui isn't fit enough. Too much time spent seagulling on the wing and then getting burned by the AB backs looking like he's about to keel over
2. Whole team wasn't fit enough - they were expending such a lot of energy in the first half maintaining a rush defence and I could just tell that in the second half they'd fall away. The ABs didn't try to match the intensity, they just let the Wallabies blow themselves out and that's why they walked it home in the second half
3. Robertson is not a starting loosehead at this level. Too small and too weak at the scrum
4. That was the worst lineout I've ever seen. Cheika's team once again shows its complete inability to change a game plan on the fly, they just keep doing the same thing again and again
5. It took Cheika 3 years but he finally figured out it's good to let Hodge kick for touch and do some clearing kicks in play. Worked beautifully for the first 20 minutes or so and then they reverted back to Foley for more aimless kicking
6. Peyper is the worst test ref in the business. Shocker of a game.
7. Beale was the only Wallaby who earned his pay cheque out there tonight IMO. Koroibete was decent too, and Pocock didn't let up for 80 minutes.

All in all, the result wasn't surprising but I'm still really disappointed in that performance. Defence was generally good (until they were out on their feet) but every other aspect of the game has gone backwards since last year.

Simon, I agree on everything you've said except for the rating of Pocock. He had as much influence, or more, on the team than the rest of them put together. He was massive all over the field. But otherwise, you are right on the money.

 

[Bobby Sands]

Have you noticed how we lost because our set piece fell to shit. Jesus fucking h christ. Have you ever seen a game of rugby?

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Enough to know Bernard isn't very good.

 

[Bobby Sands]

Have you noticed that they do not make a team? None of them have very good skills. Picking on one bloke is a bit redundant when 23 of them were poor. Tell me again which 10 in Oz has better skills, I'm sure you will say To'omua or Beale, and both have shown exactly the same in tests at 10 if not worse.

How about you have a look at the attacking structure that sees all players passing laterally to static players, touchline to touchline and nobody working off the ball for a second touch or anything even resembling it. No easier just to bag a single player who has pretty average skills, but then nobody else has anything else.

Not having a go. I just genuinley don't see a part of his game that is good, or even close to elite.

Happily I would try To'omua and Beale, and I think Chieka will too tbh.

 

[Bobby Sands]

You're not allowed to say bad things about Foley. He's much loved on here. We overlook his 30 meter clearing kick and it doesn't matter he sparks nothing in attack because. well I don't know why, all I know is that foley is never the problem

What would the strengths of his game be? That kick of his is cute.

*Have not missed the tone of your post*

 

[Bobby Sands]

I don’t think anyone in a gold jersey covered themselves in glory.


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No, but most of them have qualities that you can acknowledge as being helpful to a good rugby side. Even if if the skill-sets of most are asymetrical, they atleast have weapons in the armoury.

 

[Istanbul]

I still can't get past how poor the line out was. To me that has to sit with the coach. Very under done in the line out, no plan B. A basic element of the game where we were totally incompetent.

 

[Simon.]

Tui seagulling is a part of the teams shape. He is instructed to stay out there like the All Blacks have Hookers on the edge and or Backrowers.

The team is fit enough but when you are tackling a lot, you will run out of energy towards the end of the game. Errors upon poor set piece is what gave the All Blacks so much ball.

I agree Peyper definitely gave the All Blacks the run of the green the whole night. He was poor

Hooper out on the wing is part of the team's shape. Tui out there in defence is definitely not part of the team shape, and even in attack he shouldn't be there because he's not agile. Fast backrowers or hookers like Dane Coles are who you have on the wing if you want a forward out there. Not slow lumbering locks like Tui who are best used to bash it up in tight. He had 20 metres of space to cover in defence and was so out of puff could barely get into a jog.

Even Hooper got burned a couple of times out on the wing in defence. Tui shouldn't be anywhere near there.

 

[Derpus]

Pretty nihilistic take on things. They scraped a number of matches last year alongside their losses (Dunedin against us, against the Boks in SA, against Scotland etc.), yeah they’re good but I don’t buy this narrative of don’t even bother trying.

Perhaps. Talk to me again when they walk their 3rd RWC in a row.

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[Gnostic]

Not having a go. I just genuinley don't see a part of his game that is good, or even close to elite.



Happily I would try To'omua and Beale, and I think Chieka will too tbh.

I think he is solid in most aspects with a good step and good pace off the mark. That is it. Neither To'omua or Beale are better at 10 for varying reasons IMO. That is fine, its all opinion.

But that said I think you are kidding yourself if you think Cheika will make any changes in the RC (excepting injuries and those brought in for injuries) he has proved to be totally stubborn in the face of failures at every level of planning and selection.

 

[Istanbul]

What would the strengths of his game be? That kick of his is cute.

*Have not missed the tone of your post*

I still hold hope that the opposition will overestimate the length of his clearing kicks, and one of his booming kicks might actually turn into a neat chip and chase....

 

[Bobby Sands]

Have you noticed how we lost because our set piece fell to shit. Jesus fucking h christ. Have you ever seen a game of rugby?

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That was not lost on me. But it really came home to roost how little BF offers tonight. Sure, set-piece was poor, tired forwards on the fringes exposed, but no dangerous play came from our 10 all night, and not one part of his game is good. He ball-plays 5 metres from the defense and just shuffles the pressure. KB (Kurtley Beale) is incredible working with the rubbish he gets.

 

[Istanbul]

What would the strengths of his game be? That kick of his is cute.

*Have not missed the tone of your post*

In fairness he is also an excellent goal kicker so long as the game isn't on the line or it's in any way a pressure kick....