Bledisloe 2 - Wallabies vs All Blacks, Wellington, 27 August 2016

[galumay]

For me the selections just reinforce where Australian rugby is at, we simply dont have the skills and attitude of the number 1 team in the world.

Regardless of what players are picked to play for Australia the very most likely outcome is a flogging. A win would only come about by the AB's playing well below their potential and the Wobs playing out of their skins - and it can happen, its just extremely unlikely.

Sure I dont like playing QC (Quade Cooper), but its not measurably worse than any other options - becuase we dont have a Bogan Barrett. The same can be said all round the park - how many of the current Australian players right across the Super franchises would be a first pick for any specific position in the AB's?

I assume Cheika has picked the players out of the available group, that he thinks best covers the gaps caused by injury, he is in the best position to assess that so i will have to take him on trust.

I believe the aim for this weekend should be to try improve on last weeks performance and look to build enough confidence and cohesion to at least have a crack at winning one games against the Pumas - thats probably a realistic level of expectation.

Meanwhile lets hope the games administrators are giving some serious thought to fixing some of the problems from the schoolboy level up, that have led to us slipping so far apart from the standard of the AB's.

I hope the Wallabies do us proud this weekend and play to the best of their ability, I dont expect anything other than a big loss, but surely even as good as the AB's are, the Wallabies are not really as bad as last weekends result?

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

I don't really think that the selections will greatly change things either way. The best thing that's happened for the Wallabies is that it's rained for the past 3 days in Wellington, with more rain forecast for tomorrow. Might slow the ABs down a bit.

Both NZ & Oz TAB's are offering a 19.5 line which seems excessively generous, I'm almost tempted to throw a lazy $50 at it. Almost.

 

[Sword of Justice]

I'm backing both Cooper and Foley especially to have good games.

A phrase I've heard countless times by both journalists and punters alike over the last few days on less reasonable sites than this one is that Cooper has never played well against NZ. Also that he can't handle the pressure of playing in NZ.

 

[p.Tah]

^^^
Was Foley playing at 12 when he came on during that game?

 

[Brumby Runner]

I assume Cheika has picked the players out of the available group, that he thinks best covers the gaps caused by injury, he is in the best position to assess that so i will have to take him on trust.

I'm not so sure that Cheika (or his assistants) make the best assessments though they are surely in the best position to do so. As an example, I refer to Ben McCalman's selection in Bledisloe 1. It seems that Ben must have been training the house down and therefore made his case for selection. But that went against every bit of evidence over the years that indicates he is a poor performer at test level. Similar arguments have been trotted out to explain other selections from time to time, but invariably the players who have been tried many times and failed to rise to the occasion do so again regardless of their exceptional efforts on the training park.

McCalman's dropping from the 23 this week indicates to me that the coaching staff realise their mistake but only after the event.

 

[HoldingOn]

For me the selections just reinforce where Australian rugby is at, we simply dont have the skills and attitude of the number 1 team in the world.

Regardless of what players are picked to play for Australia the very most likely outcome is a flogging. A win would only come about by the AB's playing well below their potential and the Wobs playing out of their skins - and it can happen, its just extremely unlikely.

Sure I dont like playing QC (Quade Cooper), but its not measurably worse than any other options - becuase we dont have a Bogan Barrett. The same can be said all round the park - how many of the current Australian players right across the Super franchises would be a first pick for any specific position in the AB's?

I assume Cheika has picked the players out of the available group, that he thinks best covers the gaps caused by injury, he is in the best position to assess that so i will have to take him on trust.

I believe the aim for this weekend should be to try improve on last weeks performance and look to build enough confidence and cohesion to at least have a crack at winning one games against the Pumas - thats probably a realistic level of expectation.

Meanwhile lets hope the games administrators are giving some serious thought to fixing some of the problems from the schoolboy level up, that have led to us slipping so far apart from the standard of the AB's.

I hope the Wallabies do us proud this weekend and play to the best of their ability, I dont expect anything other than a big loss, but surely even as good as the AB's are, the Wallabies are not really as bad as last weekends result?

Folau and Pocock might make the starting 15- I would take Pocock over Cane all day

 

[Lindommer]

We can only hope and pray.........

 

[John S]

How to dress like an accountant/ Mad Men extra. Good to see rugby players busting the comical stereotypes they've built over the years

As as accountant I'd like to think I have better dress sense than that

 

[Lorenzo]

I'm not so sure that Cheika (or his assistants) make the best assessments though they are surely in the best position to do so. As an example, I refer to Ben McCalman's selection in Bledisloe 1. It seems that Ben must have been training the house down and therefore made his case for selection. But that went against every bit of evidence over the years that indicates he is a poor performer at test level. Similar arguments have been trotted out to explain other selections from time to time, but invariably the players who have been tried many times and failed to rise to the occasion do so again regardless of their exceptional efforts on the training park.

McCalman's dropping from the 23 this week indicates to me that the coaching staff realise their mistake but only after the event.

I suspect that people want to think the coaches know what they are doing because it gives them cause for medium-term optimism (i.e MC is capable and will get on top of things in time). Of course the reality is that Cheika doesn't know what the fuck is going on at all, and is just shuffling the deck to see if he can land on a winning hand at some point. Fortunately for him he has 3 years left on his deal, the ARU can't afford to pay him out, and even a blind squirrel occasionally finds a nut.

 

[KAOPointman]

For me the selections just reinforce where Australian rugby is at, we simply dont have the skills and attitude of the number 1 team in the world.

Regardless of what players are picked to play for Australia the very most likely outcome is a flogging. A win would only come about by the AB's playing well below their potential and the Wobs playing out of their skins - and it can happen, its just extremely unlikely.

Sure I dont like playing QC (Quade Cooper), but its not measurably worse than any other options - becuase we dont have a Bogan Barrett. The same can be said all round the park - how many of the current Australian players right across the Super franchises would be a first pick for any specific position in the AB's?

I assume Cheika has picked the players out of the available group, that he thinks best covers the gaps caused by injury, he is in the best position to assess that so i will have to take him on trust.

I believe the aim for this weekend should be to try improve on last weeks performance and look to build enough confidence and cohesion to at least have a crack at winning one games against the Pumas - thats probably a realistic level of expectation.

Meanwhile lets hope the games administrators are giving some serious thought to fixing some of the problems from the schoolboy level up, that have led to us slipping so far apart from the standard of the AB's.

I hope the Wallabies do us proud this weekend and play to the best of their ability, I dont expect anything other than a big loss, but surely even as good as the AB's are, the Wallabies are not really as bad as last weekends result?

Bud just remember Australian rugby should be FAAAR down the list form where it regularly sits. We have one of the smallest elite rugby player pools to draw from in world rugby, considering the number of elite sports ahead of rugby in Aus.
For Aus to fight amoungst the very best ever, sit ranked anywhere from 1st-6th in recent years......even make it too a winnable WORLD CUP final......says a lot.
I think the Aussie players show more spirit then many give them credit for. They certainly punch above their weight often!

Aussies just don't like loosing because as an amazingly varied cultural society...we are good at everything! But yes....Rugby should be the priority

 

[USARugger]

^^^
Was Foley playing at 12 when he came on during that game?

Not sure but I believe the combination got some time against Argentina under Cheika and it didn't look like anything worth pursuing.

 

[Joe Blow]

I am mildly excited about this game.
Being a long term QC (Quade Cooper) fan I hope that he can play within himself giving the whole side some direction in attack, which we lack sorely without Beale there. He has experienced a lot of ups and downs against the ABs but he does have the game to open them up. He needs to avoid trying to make something happen every time he has the ball in his hands and to build pressure by directing forwards into small gaps and going wide fast when required.
I think we will see 10. QC (Quade Cooper) 12. SK and 13.TK at some point in the game and Cheika will be thinking this might be his midfield moving forward.
Beale will be straight back into the side if fit on the EOYT and beyond giving Cheika more options in the centres and at the back.

In the pack both Sio and Moore are very lucky to retain their places. Sio in particular had a very lackluster performance last week. Is he injured? Slipper has an edginess to his game that we miss and is really coming into his own as a prop. Moore seems to be way out of sorts and may just be feeling the pressure of the captaincy. He needs to pick up his level this week or he must be in danger of being demoted to the bench. Douglas is an 80 minute player and has a beastly workload. Expect Mumm to replace Fardy and Skelton to replace Coleman. Our finishing pack may be stronger than the starting one with Slipper and TPN. Mumm was one of our best last week. This is a huge test for Coleman. Hope he shows us what he can do.

 

[emuarse]

If Chek doesn't remove Foley from 10 it is a reflection (IMHO) of Chek and his favoured players selection policy.

The team needs some change. The biggest one (and I am not hugely confident about it at all) is Cooper at 10 and Foley at 12.

I am confident that we will have better effort this week but if Foley remains at 10 I expect another absolute massacre

Scrubber, Cheika was wondering if you might be interested to take over as backs coach

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

I don't really think that the selections will greatly change things either way. The best thing that's happened for the Wallabies is that it's rained for the past 3 days in Wellington, with more rain forecast for tomorrow. Might slow the ABs down a bit.

Rain will ease today & could even stop altogether overnight/ tomorrow morning. Forecast for kickoff is 10C with not much wind & no more than patchy light rain. The stadium design took Wellington's climate into account so anything less than extreme weather has surprisingly little effect. Conditions should be OK if a little heavy underfoot.

 

[Quick Hands]

Rain will ease today & could even stop altogether overnight/ tomorrow morning. Forecast for kickoff is 10C with not much wind & no more than patchy light rain. The stadium design took Wellington's climate into account so anything less than extreme weather has surprisingly little effect. Conditions should be OK if a little heavy underfoot.

Pity they demolished Athletic Park

 

[dru]

We are down to our 4th choice 12. Gittua, Beale, To'omua. After that the choice is playmaker or big bopper. One of those choices brings Quade in, but what is the best Foley-Quade combination? I think they got it right.

The forwards Are a different issue. Contrary to many opinions here, the cattle are not my primary concern. For me the issue is position and set up. This is a combination of Grey and Bernie. The pod set up is said to be a conservative, a low risk hold on possession. Clearly the ABs have systems that destroy it. Rolling out Simmons, rolling in Coleman; ditto Mac and Fardy - wont be fundamentally different if they dont address the strategy.

Our LO is another issue alltogether.

I like the shape of this team, even the contentious calls (Quade, Simmo, Mumm, Skelton). But I dont like a single week in panic preparation and the liklihood that the structure wont have changed much in that time.

 

[tragic]

Beale will be straight back into the side if fit on the EOYT and beyond giving Cheika more options in the centres and at the back.
.

He's still in rehab from a serious knee injury and has signed for the wasps in England.
Won't be seeing him again any time soon

 

[dru]

He's still in rehab from a serious knee injury and has signed for the wasps in England.
Won't be seeing him again any time soon

Wasps expect him to run on this year. He is elligible under the Gittau law.

 

[tragic]

He's still in rehab from a serious knee injury and has signed for the wasps in England.
Won't be seeing him again any time soon

Edit: although I think he hit 60 caps in the RWC so if Cheika sticks with the giteau law we might see him in next years series??

 

[tragic]

Edit: although I think he hit 60 caps in the RWC so if Cheika sticks with the giteau law we might see him in next years series??

Edit : dru beat me to it!