Not surprised to see members of the media calling it a disaster as that is what they do, but a bit surprised to see some people here call it so.
a new coach and new systems not to mention the turmoil before hand and the fact that, one game aside (last bled), the wallabies weren't that flash under mckenzie either (argentina & south africa anyone).
i put very little stock in the french series as it is a totally different team now.
obviously want to beat england, and in doing that, i think the tour is fine. largely played well against ireland though a terrible 15 minutes which is largely attributable Luke Jones going into contact too high twice and throwing a horrible pass near aus' 22 and nick phipps brain farts.
for me, jones was terrible in the first 15 but after that looked solid and should be retained somewhere to get him experienced as i think he could be a world cup asset given his hardness and versatility.
i thought the lineout did a fairly good job. a few excellent steals. really rattles me that horwill seems to be struggling to return to form. he's a great big body and he has an excellent opportunity to seize his spot. simmons was good in my opinion and again, after jones' initial mistakes he looked very strong on the scrum. i would persist with him at 6 though bring hodsgon on at 55 -60 mark to close it out.
backline is where the most changes are needed. cooper either needs to start or come on earlier.
AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) is a great player but he's not a world class winger and i think more is gained from tomane on the wing than AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper). i would have AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) on the bench to cover fullback, 13 and wings. unless TK is injured, in which case AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) to 13.
wings of speight and tomane either way. i thought To'omua played great, but neither he nor foley are great kickers of the ball in play. i would have cooper at 10.
my bench would be genia (i think he's looked better than others give him credit for), Beale, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper)/Horne (if TK is out). To'omua and Beale can play 10 if anything happens to cooper.
Beale needs to come from a straighter line when in support and then change either just before or just after getting the ball. i think that forward pass from To'omua was very avoidable and you can see in the replays that To'omua initially goes to pass where Beale should be coming from, has a look and has to readjust resulting in the forward pass.
I'd like to see higginbotham on the bench for the forwards as well and tell him to play tight and take it into contact hard when he gets on.
again, a win against england and, given the tight loss to ireland and the improvement in play, i think this is not a bad tour. ireland are a solid team and beat the boks as well.
will be interesting to see the progress next RC with hopefully pocock, moore, palu and fardy back in the squad.
need to test some new props and locks asap though.