England v Australia, Saturday 3 December

[Brumby Runner]

In my view, Pocock was clearly Man of the Series, and test player of the year. He is the one player we have who forces all oppositions to modify their own game plans to counter him. Some do it better than others, but Poey almost always still comes out on top.

Izzy is somewhat the same. Oppositions have to consider and make changes to their kicking games to counteract Folau under the high ball. But he doesn't have the 80 minutes full on impact that Pocock has on a game.

Test new comer of the year will be interesting. DHP, Coleman and Hodge probably the contenders. Kerevi also had he played more games.

 

[I like to watch]

DHP by the length of the straight...

 

[Joe Blow]

HP is class! The find of the year.
Looking forward to the Super Rugby season and an improved year for the Wallabies.

 

[swingpass]

WR (World Rugby) wrote clarification this year, if a strip goes forward from the stripper then it is a knock on

but QC (Quade Cooper) was the stripee !

 

[Highlander35]

World ranking-wise the loss further erodes your lead over Ireland to 1.73, should they win three or more of their 6N matches & have no heavy losses they'll overtake you. Wales are still 3.80 behind, hard to see them bridging that other than with a Grand Slam (away games are Italy & Scotland so it's not altogether out of the question) so you should still be in Pot 1 for the RWC draw on 10 May.

After playing with the calculator, there's not quite enough points that can be exchanged to see both of Wales and Ireland finish ahead of Australia in May.

 

[gel]

In my view, Pocock was clearly Man of the Series, and test player of the year. He is the one player we have who forces all oppositions to modify their own game plans to counter him. Some do it better than others, but Poey almost always still comes out on top.

Izzy is somewhat the same. Opoositions have to consider and make changes to their kicking games to counteract Folau under the high ball. But he doesn't have the 80 minutes full on impact that Pocock has on a game.

Test new comer of the year will be interesting. DHP, Coleman and Hodge probably the contenders. Kerevi also had he played more games.

Due to the dominance those two have, so many opportunities are opened up as well. It's just a shame we haven't been able to make use of those opportunities. And now we will be faced with a year without Pocock - such a huge loss.

 

[TSR]

DHP by the length of the straight.

Maybe, but I would suggest the emergence of Coleman will prove to be much more important going forward.

Assuming, of course, that he has a good run with injuries going forward.

 

[Tex]

Slept through my alarm on Sunday morning - what have I missed?

 

[emuarse]

Slept through my alarm on Sunday morning - what have I missed?

Not much

 

[Tex]

Not much

Rightio then, see ya'all in 2017!

 

[Rugbynutter39]

I've been happy to read others in the main. Disturbingly poor year.

One good from last night though, the line out worked a treat. Pocock took the first. Timani was a receiver. Simmo seemed to call Douglas as much as himself. It was nicely done bar the obligatory stuff up where no-one jumped. Otherwise good.

To lose 4 times in one year to England is a shocker.

England were not that great Iast Saturday but we were woeful as especially that second half was really poor on basic skills execution.



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[The sage]

England player rakes the ball. Back off his feet and gets away with it

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Must be a jersey colour issue. I find myself seeing the gold infringements much easier that I see white and black jerseys. The referees seem not too much different to me. Still some glaring errors.


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[wamberal]

Must be a jersey colour issue. I find myself seeing the gold infringements much easier that I see white and black jerseys. The referees seem not too much different to me. Still some glaring errors.


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Maybe we should play in black.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Izzy is somewhat the same. Oppositions have to consider and make changes to their kicking games to counteract Folau under the high ball. But he doesn't have the 80 minutes full on impact that Pocock has on a game.

Due to the dominance those two have, so many opportunities are opened up as well. It's just a shame we haven't been able to make use of those opportunities. And now we will be faced with a year without Pocock - such a huge loss.

Please.
An opposition that wants to counter Folau should just let him get across the gain line: he has no ability to decide whether to pass or hold. he will not go down on loose ball.
I used to think Sailor and Tiqiri were overrated blow ins but this bloke takes the cake. Give me DHP at 15 and Izzy might get half a game on the wing.
He was diabolical against Ireland and only marginally better on Saturday.

 

[The sage]

It's easy to pick "turning points" with hindsight but I got a bad feeling straight for the kick off to the second half when May got the penalty against Haylett Petty for holding on to the ball from the kick off. I had the de ja vu feeling - England got a sniff and didn't need a second invitation. We seemed to spend the next 10 minutes under pressure and England capitalised on our mistakes.I was pleased to see that Rob Simmons kept going for the whole game and put in a good shift. He is someone who seems to have responded to Chieka's brand of motivation. Timani was good but faded like a few others. i can't waiting to hear Chieka's at the post match press conference. I like him but I get the feeling more of the same is not going to make the Wallabies a great team.

I thought that most of the forwards had a good game. I have criticised both Simmons and Mumm but both I thought put in and had reasonable games. Good for them! Also thought Kane Douglas also put in; didn't think he was fit enough to make it as far as he did.

Scrum and line out were more than adequate . All you worry worts on here can be quite. Think our backs are close to the top (second in world rugby imo). Need a half back desperately. Genia world class but a lill long in the tooth; others not quite test material against the best.

The difference for mine was the halves. The change in the game was Phipps not picking up a ball from the ruck (as previously stated) when we were attacking, ball kicked though, lead to another mistake (panicking again should of taken the ball down easy ruck win) to which a try was scored. Thereafter the English 9 controlled the game with pressure box kicking. God execution from England playing that niggling loose style.

Thought there were a lot of positives to be taken from the tour. We will learn how to exert and hold pressure when we learn to draw a line in the sand and pull together and say "no more". For me it's all upside.


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[The sage]

Mate, that's just plain insulting and arrogant!
We're talking about a "playmaker" role. So individual brilliance has far less weight in that position then the players actual ability to involve "others" with good vision, strong passing and an eye for attack.

Sorry to say kaop cooper is not the answer. That said didn't really get an opportunity. Bit of a poison chalice being down by as much as we were and getting the time he did. Even with that said he's not the answer. Foley even though sometimes not the playmaker u want, does the basics well; sometimes all u need are the basics.


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[Strewthcobber]

Speaking of basics, pretty remarkable stat from the game, neither our 5/8 or fullback kicked it a single time in general play (ESPN stats).

That can't have happened too many times in international rugby

 

[The sage]

Our discipline under Cheika is atrocious. Time for the Wallabies to reduce their over-emphasis on defensive breakdown pressure, which is one of the main sources of penalties against us. Once again our game has been exposed by a team that can effectively pin us in our own half, and wait for the inevitable mistakes/infringements.

The drivel regarding the officiating from the usual suspects is tiresome and reflects poorly on Australian fandom quite frankly. The Yarde try was fine, the DHP late tackle merited sanction albeit the YC was arguable, but the focus on these moments detract from the bigger picture, which is that we were tactically inept against England - again.

I find that the discipline in Australian rugby is quite low, particularly in younger grades and I fear that the current "epidemic" is just a function of possibly a decade of neglect. It has been aided and abetted by coaches, refs and even selectors.

I often see in qld GPS teams diving in from the side, sealing off, playing the ball on the ground. Some of these players (not all) are seems by some as progressive; a few get selected at higher honours and "all of a sudden" we get penalised off the park. Some refs draw a blind eye to some teams (similar to what we saw tonight) and others play the price. This year I saw a qld premier colts team that charged down a penalty?? Dive in consistently from the side kill the ball. Ref let it go... Reap what you sow. Its got to stop and then we may get a better result at national level.


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[The sage]

Winners are grinners Eddie....how you carry yourself when you win often says more about you than the same when you lose.

 

[gel]

Please.
An opposition that wants to counter Folau should just let him get across the gain line: he has no ability to decide whether to pass or hold. he will not go down on loose ball.
I used to think Sailor and Tiqiri were overrated blow ins but this bloke takes the cake. Give me DHP at 15 and Izzy might get half a game on the wing.
He was diabolical against Ireland and only marginally better on Saturday.

I think DHP is also looking really solid. I don't mind either, tbh.

Israel gets over the gain line almost every time he runs the ball, so it looks like the opposition have already worked out his flaws as you suggest ;P