stillmissit
Peter Johnson (47)
Did anyone put any money on AUS to win?
England v Wallabies, Twickenham, Sun 10th Nov 2:10AEDT / 1:10AEST
- Thread starter KOB1987
- Start date
HogansHeros
Dave Cowper (27)
Regarding Tupou, it is a shame he is not playing to his full potential. Maybe the injuries have gotten to his head. He used to be way more explosive.
Also around scrum time it appears every first scrum of the game he gets done for angling in. He is a big unit and should be able to get over his opponent fair and square. Not sure whats going on there.
Unfortunately there is no one really to challenge him for his spot at the moment. Hopefully one of the young fellas does come through soon.
Also around scrum time it appears every first scrum of the game he gets done for angling in. He is a big unit and should be able to get over his opponent fair and square. Not sure whats going on there.
Unfortunately there is no one really to challenge him for his spot at the moment. Hopefully one of the young fellas does come through soon.
hifflepiff
Charlie Fox (21)
He looks like he's carrying a number of injuries and is overweight.
Probably needs to be on full time rehab, diet & cardio for a few months next year.
Some thoughts: best Wallabies performance in quite some time, first 15 minutes notwithstanding.
Best test game I've ever seen from Gordon and Wright. Bravo to a couple of players that have been heavily critiqued.
Sua'ali'i I've never seen until now. I haven't seen a rugby player that can jump that high ever, or even close. Not Folau or anyone else. It was truly remarkable and that's never been a more valuable skill than now. Do people forsee him playing 13 going forwards? He looked sensational.
Tupou looks woefully out of shape.
Lolesio was in control and highly effective. Maybe his best game in gold.
England moving Smith to 15 was idiotic.
Bell, Ikitau, Valteni are absolutely world class. Joy to watch as a fan.
Best test game I've ever seen from Gordon and Wright. Bravo to a couple of players that have been heavily critiqued.
Sua'ali'i I've never seen until now. I haven't seen a rugby player that can jump that high ever, or even close. Not Folau or anyone else. It was truly remarkable and that's never been a more valuable skill than now. Do people forsee him playing 13 going forwards? He looked sensational.
Tupou looks woefully out of shape.
Lolesio was in control and highly effective. Maybe his best game in gold.
England moving Smith to 15 was idiotic.
Bell, Ikitau, Valteni are absolutely world class. Joy to watch as a fan.
stillmissit
Peter Johnson (47)
Will be very interesting DC suspect he will try to keep the same starters.
Had a look at pommie comments on daily mail and 90% of them seemed to think AUS coming back is a good thing. Surprised as I expected some whinging over the result but all of that was aimed at SB.
Derpus
Nathan Sharpe (72)
Random thoughts now I've caught up:
- The best backs on the field were Wright and Ikitau. Suallii was solid but definitely not MotM
- Everything Suallii did well could be done from the wing which would also allow him to field high balls in defence
- Tupou is lazy as fuck
- Our backrow + bell were immense in the carry. Just constantly hitting it up and making post contact metres.
- Defence is still a bit of a concern IMO and our lineout is quite limited (a lot of short throws) with only two main jumpers
- If England won Smith would've been MotM. Had an absolute blinder.
Oh and O'Keefe was fucking garbage but that's a given.
- The best backs on the field were Wright and Ikitau. Suallii was solid but definitely not MotM
- Everything Suallii did well could be done from the wing which would also allow him to field high balls in defence
- Tupou is lazy as fuck
- Our backrow + bell were immense in the carry. Just constantly hitting it up and making post contact metres.
- Defence is still a bit of a concern IMO and our lineout is quite limited (a lot of short throws) with only two main jumpers
- If England won Smith would've been MotM. Had an absolute blinder.
Oh and O'Keefe was fucking garbage but that's a given.
TSR
Andrew Slack (58)
On the flip side I think Tupou is a soft target. I think some of the attacks on him on the Roar and social media generally I find really poor. Even in his prime there were people who lined up to kick him.
Even saying he is ‘fucking lazy’ I highly suspect could only come from someone who’s never played THP. Every scrum is a massive physical exertion.
People rave about guys like Genge - but my impression was he wasn’t sighted after the first 20. I actually had to look up who the England tight head was because I can’t remember him doing anything all game (it was Stuart). Likewise Cole was a non entity when he came on the field. Other than scrums of course which are huge efforts in themselves and what all these guys are picked for.
I feel privileged to have watch Tupou in his early days with the Reds when his performances were monstrous. Playing big minutes with lots of carriers, line breaks, big shots in defence. Even then he did some silly things but he was pretty amazing. He was also a great personality. He definitely wasn’t soft IMO.
Over the last few years he has dealt with significant injury issues, the death of his dad, a falling out with his head coach, the collapse of the Rebels where he moved to link with Stiles who he is close to. He’s also had a lot of scrutiny placed on his scrummaging with opposition coaches keen to neutralise him.
He has also had to deal with becoming an older player who has lost a lot his explosiveness and has to adapt his game. He’s obviously struggling with that. I think some here also struggle with not seeing him do all those things - especially playing next to a guy like Bell.
But he is still our best scrummager and he is, hopefully, on his way to being a consistent strong presence over the ball which will really add something to our game.
I’m not saying all of the criticism is unwarranted. I’d love to see more from him myself and I admit being a big fan (which I’m sure this post makes clear) and having a soft spot for the big guy. Like I said - I feel privileged to have seen him play in his early days at the Reds.
But I do think people should be more realistic with expectations at times.
stillmissit
Peter Johnson (47)
Agee with all of this apart from the JAS to wing bit. The impact he had in traffic and getting go forward ball from offloads etc could never be replicated by any 13 we have currently Agree Smith was best on the paddock but the assists that a 21 year old who some say was too young and inexperienced is put where it should be in the dustbin.
John S
Peter Fenwicke (45)
And, funnily enough, the home media didn't show that side of the scrum when they were doing replays
TSR
Andrew Slack (58)
Gee - I thought Frost was pretty good. Very industrious. Turned up a lot when we really needed him. Seemed a key part of defending the driving maul.
I know a lot will disagree but I’m happy if they stick with the three that got the job done knowing they will also be available for 100% of Australian tests.
dillyboy
Colin Windon (37)
I usually put a bet when the odds are so far against us but was too scared too
KentwellCup>ShuteShield
Ted Thorn (20)
i put 10 bucks on us. will buy me lunch today.
dru
David Wilson (68)
Our line out wasn't as good as it should be today with our two preferred jumpers. Squeezing in Skelton will be interesting.