France v Australia, Saturday 19 November

[Tip]

By the way, some of the French attacking rugby, when they got their off-loads going, was just spectacular. Like all French sides, they can be brilliant at times.

There's one thing I notice about the French, and no other country employs the tactic.

Hit & Spin at contact.

If there's a sniff of open play in attack, their first movement after contact is to turn and recycle, whether it be a pop, offload or rip to/by their supporting player.

Now, I'm not saying we should employ the tactic, as I don't believe we should be discouraging leg-drive at contact after all the ground we've made (figuratively & literally) with the ball over the past month.

It's just a different tactic and an absolute marvel to watch when when the French feel that "It's on"

 

[ForceFan]

Big effort from some players tonight

Tackles
Simmons 17 16 (0 missed)
Douglas 13
Godwin 12 (0 missed)
Pocock 12 18 (1 missed)
Fardy 11 12
Latu 10

Missed tackles
Naivalu 3 2
Foley 2
Sio 2
Simmons 2 0
McMahon 3
Douglas 2
Latu 3
Fardy 3

Carries
Simmons 12 13
McMahon 10 8
AAA 9 10
Pocock 7 6
Slipper 6 9
Douglas 6
Morahan 12

G'day SC

From someone who's been bitten more than once.
ESPN's numbers are a work in progress for 6-8 hours while they review and collect their numbers.

I've made corrections as above.

Heads up on the Wallabies Rucks:

Pocock - 49T (31A/18D)
Fardy - 37T (27A/10D)
McMahon - 30T (23A/7D)
Douglas - 30T (30A)
Latu - 26T (16D/10D)
Simmons - 25T (23A/2D)
AA - 23T (18A/5d)
Slipper - 18T (13A/5D)

Best Backs
Kuridrani - 13T - 11/2
Foley - 11A
Speight - 10T - 7/3
Godwin - 10T - 7/3

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Morahan did DH-P's claims to play fullback ahead of Folau no harm.....but Cheika will stick with his favourites

 

[Tip]

Oh, and FFS

One would think that after a few weeks watching Coleman, Arnold, Timani (and to a lesser extent Simmons off the bench) with the ball, Skelton would have gotten his head around the simple concept of running onto the ball.

I said before the Scotland game that Big Willy was a liability and a mistake on MC's half.

I was told off for not giving the bloke a chance who is now at "peak fitness". Surely his ship has sailed.

I don't understand why people are so fascinated with Big Willy's.

Sure, it's got size, girth and is bloody impressive - if not a little scary - to look at.

But when it's time to do the dance, all parties realize that it's 90% show and can only penetrate the loosest of defenses.

 

[Rip 'em a new one]

Oh, and FFS

I don't understand why people are so fascinated with Big Willy's.

Sure, it's got size, girth and is bloody impressive - if not a little scary - to look at.

But when it's time to do the dance, all parties realize that it's 90% show and can only penetrate the loosest of defenses.

I see what you did there...

I totally agree with what you're saying - someone just needs to coach some leg drive into him. Lose another 5-10kg and up his aerobic fitness by another 50% and he's still such a tempting prospect.

I've always wondered how he'd go at 8 in that ^^ condition.

 

[Froggy]

Trouble with Skelton is he came in showing as a giant with great hands, real potential, but just hasn't developed.
His fitness, running onto the ball and driving through contact, careless penalties etc. He is no better than the first day he appeared on the Super rugby scene, not a test footballer, and for mine he's going to have to get a whole lot better to make the Tahs run-on squad next year!

 

[BDA]

Probably not enough has been said about the quality of some of the French play. They're a rocks and diamonds team. Sometimes they offer nothing in attack and other times they look really dangerous with ball in hand. I feel like they showed more of the latter today. They look like a team on the rise. At times they looked a little pedestrian but I really think that's a credit to the Wallabies defensive effort. They consistently came up off the line and tackled the opposition behind the game line.

It's been probably the best feature of our play over the last 3 games. Our ability to move the advantage line in both attack and defence. On attack we again were able to get on the front foot and move up the field when we wanted to. A big part of it is attitude and physicality, two important features of a Cheika coached team and something we sorely lacked at the start of the season.

It's a really good sign of what these guys can achieve as a team. Unfortunately we're still rough around the edges. Too many times we make a great break down field and then push the pass or lose composure. That needs to be a focus. Test rugby is about building pressure and so I'd like to see us show more composure once in the opposition 22. Likewise the defence comes apart at times. Again that's something that needs work.

I'm not sure we are polished enough to beat In form Ireland / England at their home grounds but we are certainly tracking in the right directions. That's great to see given that, at the start of the year, it I was really worried about the direction of the team.

 

[wamberal]

The French lack what they always used to have in spades: a couple or three really creative players; a flair for making something out of nothing.

 

[Braveheart81]

Shit stirring deleted - Ed

Does this post do anything apart from try and start an argument?

Foley has played well but this is a really adversarial way to say it!

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

I thought this was a pretty good win against a French team who attacked like the France of old and tested our defence considerably. Considering the changes made from the Scotland game and the inevitable disruption that causes with systems of play, I thought we did quite well. Certainly I feel we played well enough to deserve to win, even though France will feel a little unlucky.

I have to say that I didn't fully agree with Cheika's high risk strategy but it came up with the win and we should all be happy about that. A big challenge the next couple of weeks though.

One thing I will say too is that Simmons, Godwin and Morahan fully justified their selections and all had excellent games. Latu also played well I thought. Slipper struggled though.

 

[BDA]

Shit stirring deleted - Ed

Haha. no one has anything bad to say about Foley, Waratah fan still has a go at the forum for being bias. wtf? I cant remember reading much criticism of foley at all over the last 3 weeks. the forum has been for the most part unanimous in its praise for his play. I must be missing something.

 

[Twoilms]

Oh, and FFS

One would think that after a few weeks watching Coleman, Arnold, Timani (and to a lesser extent Simmons off the bench) with the ball, Skelton would have gotten his head around the simple concept of running onto the ball.

I said before the Scotland game that Big Willy was a liability and a mistake on MC's half.

I was told off for not giving the bloke a chance who is now at "peak fitness". Surely his ship has sailed.

I don't understand why people are so fascinated with Big Willy's.

Sure, it's got size, girth and is bloody impressive - if not a little scary - to look at.

But when it's time to do the dance, all parties realize that it's 90% show and can only penetrate the loosest of defenses.

Probably wishful thinking. He seems like a top bloke and he's been struggling with Injury and mental health issues. Plus, in theory that mass should be useful in rugby he's just been struggling to utilize it properly.

 

[amirite]

I don't understand cries of we got lucky when we led virtually all game. It was ours to lose all game.

 

[Highlander35]

Having only seen the second half, you weren't lucky because you didn't deserve to win.

You were lucky in the sense that a different ref (dare I say, a better one?) would have pinged Pocock for not supporting his body weight after the hooter.

And lucky in that the drop goal wasn't taken 2 phases earlier, when they were 5 metres to the right and both teams had roughly the same set up.

Regardless, you won, and you deserved the win, so there's not much else to say in that matter.

 

[amirite]

Having only seen the second half, you weren't lucky because you didn't deserve to win.

You were lucky in the sense that a different ref (dare I say, a better one?) would have pinged Pocock for not supporting his body weight after the hooter.

And lucky in that the drop goal wasn't taken 2 phases earlier, when they were 5 metres to the right and both teams had roughly the same set up.

Regardless, you won, and you deserved the win, so there's not much else to say in that matter.

Personally, I think France were lucky that their wingers try was awarded when he picked the ball up in front of it when he was arguably part of a ruck, and that the following try was awarded when Goodwin (the key defender) was taken out when he was not part of the ruck and then driven way past the offside line (which even when someone is part of the ruck is often penalised).

 

[BDA]

Having only seen the second half, you weren't lucky because you didn't deserve to win.



You were lucky in the sense that a different ref (dare I say, a better one?) would have pinged Pocock for not supporting his body weight after the hooter.



And lucky in that the drop goal wasn't taken 2 phases earlier, when they were 5 metres to the right and both teams had roughly the same set up.



Regardless, you won, and you deserved the win, so there's not much else to say in that matter.

Maybe rewatch the whole game. the welsh held back on blowing penalties against the French several times at the ruck. plus I thought Pocock's steal was legal. I think the ref wasn't quite sure whether it was a legal steal and he didn't to blow the whistle to either side. He was certainly on his feet. The question mark was only on whether there was a clear release. it was line ball.

 

[Joe Blow]

Having only seen the second half, you weren't lucky because you didn't deserve to win.

You were lucky in the sense that a different ref (dare I say, a better one?) would have pinged Pocock for not supporting his body weight after the hooter.

And lucky in that the drop goal wasn't taken 2 phases earlier, when they were 5 metres to the right and both teams had roughly the same set up.

Regardless, you won, and you deserved the win, so there's not much else to say in that matter.

We left a couple of tries out there and there were a few decisions that could easily have gone to our advantage. I reckon the win was well deserved although it could have gone the other way.
It's in the book!

 

[Teh Other Dave]

Thought the Irish captain <snip>

You could at least have posted this in the Scotland v Argentina thread

 

[Tangawizi]

Where are all those Foley haters gone...Oh that's right he is a Waratah and MC favourite..nothing to do with fact he has consistently been one of our top performers for the last 4 games!!!

Well it was still a bit of an up & down performance from Foley today. He did plenty of good but then general play kicking let him down too. Failed to kick a penalty into touch in 2nd half from which the French essentially recycled the ball until they picked up a try and that's the sort of basic error that shits me to tears.

 

[PeterK]

Having only seen the second half, you weren't lucky because you didn't deserve to win.

You were lucky in the sense that a different ref (dare I say, a better one?) would have pinged Pocock for not supporting his body weight after the hooter.

And lucky in that the drop goal wasn't taken 2 phases earlier, when they were 5 metres to the right and both teams had roughly the same set up.

Regardless, you won, and you deserved the win, so there's not much else to say in that matter.

and a better ref would have reviewed and penalised or yc the early tackle on Naivalu.

There are always things a ref misses or does inconsistently.

Many cases where france were off their feet at the breakdown as well.