Bledisloe 1 - Wallabies vs All Blacks, ANZ Stadium, Sydney, 8:05pm

[Dan54]

Geez if nathan Harris didn't have bad luck you would think he got no luck at all!! He will never want to be named to start a test again you would think.

 

[Pedrolicus]

Geez if nathan Harris didn't have bad luck you would think he got no luck at all!! He will never want to be named to start a test again you would think.

It really is terrible luck. My brother randomly ruptured his Achilles' and I asked a specialist I work for whether it was inevitable and he said it was roughly random.

I wish Harris a speedy recovery, injuries suck.

 

[Rugbynutter39]

OK, so inn relation to our near future No 12 prospects, I can only say, "there are none so blind as those who will not see". And I include Cheika/Larkham in that category.

Lets face it - no one has put up a compelling argument that they deserve a long term run at 12 - hence the debate..

Same goes for locks...albeit Douglas deserves a bit of street cred that more all rounded and after RWC a first choice...

And same goes for 9...

And same goes for 10...although personally I think Foley not as bad as many make out...just imo

And lack of speedy winger also fair point...Couple of speedy league players (ok union players who spent time in league) coming in next year may fix that problem.

Oh and lack of effective 8 also - hence why we have to play poey there....

Sadly just a reflection of available talent...we are where we are...

 

[Groucho]

The more I think about it, the more I'm struggling to work out how we're going to win tomorrow night. We don't have many glaring areas of weakness, but neither can I point to any where we have it over the AB's. When I look at the two squads I can't see many ways that we're going to attack them and at the same time inhibit their strengths. Maybe at the breakdown and maybe in the midfield, but even then it's not with a great deal of confidence. On the other hand, the AB's have attacking threats all over the park and we'll have our hands full containing them. We'll have to play out of our skins and they will have to be off their game a bit (rather like Sydney last year).

We certainly can't win by playing safe rugby as was suggested on the front page, by taking our points and waiting for the penalties to come.

The notable Australian wins in the Supe this year were all from a combination of smashing them up front and highly attacking backline play. That actually yielded some big scores.

The worse team must take risks or it will lose. The only advantage of losing safely is that it doesn't give the Internet as many arrows to fire after the game.

For example, if we get a pen kick from in front at 0-0 we should take the line out or the scrum. Get in their faces. If we fail to score then we weren't good enough. Our pigs also need to run into contact like those Lions okes did this year - into it and through it, before they're set. We know Cheika likes those kinds of tight forward running lines. That means Genia has to be lightning off the base. If we voluntarily slow our own ball down we're going to get hammered.

If we win it'll be in the forwards, because our backs are hopelessly outclassed. And we can win in the forwards. But our backs have to finish half opportunities.

This is like the 1980s, which I remember.

 

[Pedrolicus]

We certainly can't win by playing safe rugby as was suggested on the front page, by taking our points and waiting for the penalties to come.

The notable Australian wins in the Supe this year were all from a combination of smashing them up front and highly attacking backline play. That actually yielded some big scores.

The worse team must take risks or it will lose. The only advantage of losing safely is that it doesn't give the Internet as many arrows to fire after the game.

For example, if we get a pen kick from in front at 0-0 we should take the line out or the scrum. Get in their faces. If we fail to score then we weren't good enough. Our pigs also need to run into contact like those Lions okes did this year - into it and through it, before they're set. We know Cheika likes those kinds of tight forward running lines. That means Genia has to be lightning off the base. If we voluntarily slow our own ball down we're going to get hammered.

If we win it'll be in the forwards, because our backs are hopelessly outclassed. And we can win in the forwards. But our backs have to finish half opportunities.

This is like the 1980s, which I remember.

I think you can have an attacking/aggressive gameplan and still play the percentages. I agree with the overall gist of your post though.

 

[Joe Blow]

Kurtley Beale is the biggest loss to the Wallabies this year. I would suggest that had he been fit we most likely would have won the series against the Poms and I would feel much better if he was on the bench tomorrow.
Cheika will bring him straight back into the squad as soon as he is remotely close to fit. Hopefully Hodge gets some time at 12 during the RC as he is logically the next cab off the rank.

 

[Viking]

I'm not sure that's right in Folau's case. He's an attacking weapon when he defends at fullback. He actively prevents teams playing their optimal kicking game. To play him in the defensive line would be to shoot ourselves in the foot. The question is only where he's most effective when we have the ball. Wherever that is, we should play him there. He has more penetration than the rest of the team combined, which has less penetration than my granddad in a convent, and he's dead.

That's not the point, he'll get caught out on defence eventually if he doesn't know what he's doing.

Let's say he lines up at 13 at an attacking set-piece but then we lose that set-piece. He can't run back immediately to fullback he needs stay to defend the line.

And then your required to shift the fullback to wing, and the wing to centre - so the fullback needs to know how to defend wing and a winger needs to know how to defend 13.

Unnecessary shifting around. Might as well just have Folau as a roving winger he'd get his hands on the ball just the same.

Or maybe he could simply inject himself into the line more from fullback.

The overall goal for shifting to 13 is simply to get his hands on the ball more, which to be honest doesn't seem like a great deal more then previous years when he's been at fullback. So it's really not worth it unless you got another fullback in form and knocking for selection and a 13 who is struggling - both are debatable.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Kurtley Beale is the biggest loss to the Wallabies this year. I would suggest that had he been fit we most likely would have won the series against the Poms and I would feel much better if he was on the bench tomorrow.
Cheika will bring him straight back into the squad as soon as he is remotely close to fit. Hopefully Hodge gets some time at 12 during the RC as he is logically the next cab off the rank.

I agree with that and I never thought I'd say that about KB (Kurtley Beale). He really did rise to the occasion last year and we're missing his running threat off Foley's shoulder this season.

 

[Heavyd]

Anyone know what crowd they are expecting?

 

[tragic]

We certainly can't win by playing safe rugby as was suggested on the front page, by taking our points and waiting for the penalties to come.

Part of the problem is our poor discipline in our half and poor kicking and exit strategies.
We invariably have to score more tries than our opposition as we generally give away more 3 pointers (which has become our most reliable exit strategy) and miss more of our shots at goal.
Sort out those issues and at least the tries we score have a better chance of getting us the reward.

 

[galumay]

...If we win it'll be in the forwards, ....

...and really, when has it been any different? The old saying that the forwards decide who wins and the backs decide by how much is as true as ever.

Your points are the reasons that I believe the Wallabies can win, but I dont think they are likely to because I believe the AB forwards will dominate in this instance.

 

[fatprop]

I agree with that and I never thought I'd say that about KB (Kurtley Beale). He really did rise to the occasion last year and we're missing his running threat off Foley's shoulder this season.

Yeah we are missing real pace, we have many solid footballers, but we will have to link together a load of good play to be any threat at all

And if we don't, they will destroy us in transition because they have footballing ability and pace

 

[FrankLind]

Geez............

Someone bugged the AB hotel team room.

http://m.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11697828

 

[Tex]

Mate to think that the ARU has the capacity to organise local espionage is laughably disconnected from reality.

Kiwis probably found a Nokia 6110 behind the couch and reacted like the chimps in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk

 

[FrankLind]

Mate to think that the ARU has the capacity to organise local espionage is laughably disconnected from reality.

Kiwis probably found a Nokia 6110 behind the couch and reacted like the chimps in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk

Putting a listening device in a sofa isn't that hard.
You clearly didn't read the article properly.

Who would have the motivation to do it?
ARU, betting agencies?????

 

[Tex]

I'll wait for an on the record comment from someone other than Gregor bloody Paul before believing it!

Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Bill Pulver good enough for y'all?

"ARU chief executive Bill Pulver told the New Zealand Herald there was no way the game's governing body had anything to do with the device.

"Look, I have literally just seen a note from Steve Tew telling me about this and a brief statement they [New Zealand Rugby] are about to put out which confirms that they found a listening device and the two unions have agreed to hand the matter over to the police," Pulver said. "Mate, of course [the ARU is not involved]. It is completely ludicrous. I just think it's a ludicrous concept that there are listening devices being placed in team rooms. I don't know how that could happen."

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/rug...otel-room-bugged-reports-20160819-gqx719.html

 

[galumay]

Either left behind from a previous operation in the Hotel or placed by gambling interests would be my thoughts.

 

[wamberal]

Did anybody watch the game last night between Manawatu and Northland?


Very depressing. Fantastic physicality and wonderful skills.

 

[galumay]

Very depressing. Fantastic physicality and wonderful skills.

Thats the normal outcome of watching most Mitre 10 Cup games! Oh that we had a comp of that quality.

Edit - no longer the ITM Cup!