France v Australia

[S120]

France were the better side and deserved the win but the Wallabies did well to get that close. The French side defended really well over the course of the game and Australia looked clueless at times as to how they were going to get past the French defence that kept shooting out of the line to shut down wider attacks. Folau and Kuridrani had barely any opportunities to get space. Folau in particular looked incapable of having his normal impact upon the game, looked tired.

Forward pack held up their end of the deal IMO. I thought the pack was quite good and the scrum in particular was good until Skelton came on and Slipper went off. McCalman had his 2nd really good game in a row, he's really impressing me so far this tour. Fainga'a I thought was good again as well.

The complete lack of a real presence at the breakdown shone out though. Hooper gets to so many breakdowns but is very ineffective in terms of pilfering and winning turnovers. Our best man who has recently been in the side in that regard, Scott Fardy, isn't on tour and Pocock is obviously still unavailable. I'd consider promoting Hodgson to the starting line up in place of McMahon for next week. Makes our backrow very short but we really need someone who is capable of winning turnovers consistently in this side.

 

[Joe Blow]

Right now we are the worst team in the world, last week we were the best team in the world and we were going to win the next WC

There's always next week

 

[barbarian]

TGC - the Great Charletan. He has a lot to answer for and it won't be answered by bringing Beale back into the team.

Over-reaction of the year? For fucks sake we just came an inch away from beating a good French side (who came to play) in France.

Just two tests ago these very same guys came within an inch of beating the All Blacks, then we beat a good Wales side at Millennium.

This is what annoys me about this forum sometimes. All of a sudden these blokes are terrible and we need to put a broom through. But then when the replacements don't step up we will clamour again for someone else. And on and on.

One or two guys need to go, and a couple more are looking tired. That's it. Let's calm down and put things in perspective.
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[Lorenzo]

What agitates me is not the variance in individual or even team performances - I expect that - but the team's inability to adjust their strategy at any point during the match. Bashing into their line was getting absolutely nowhere (for us anyway - it worked for them when we inevitably dropped the ball), a circumstance ripe for fixing with a decent tactical kick, but we saw 2 in the entire test.

Despite having two fly halves on the field, a fullback and a utility back who has played a fair bit of fullback at test level, the starting XV has zero tactical kicking nous.

I thought the whole 2nd-playmaker at 12 thing was supposed to bring with it a whole lot of tactical options that you don't get with a direct runner? You wouldn't know it watching the actual matches.

Our "exit" strategy is fucking non existent. They seem to think they can run the ball the length of the field every time. It's not test rugby and tonight offered a couple of perfect examples as to why.

 

[Quick Hands]

People need to realise that the best available players from Australian rugby are there. There's been a new coach for 3 weeks who has his own way of doing certain things and it will take time for players to adapt and for Chieka to get his stuff right as well. Sure there are things which can be improved, but this will take a little time.

 

[Mr Doug]

agree completely, Hooper's youth and inexperience as a captain gives him no gravitas with the refs. and as for tacking a quick tap when you have a numerical advantage wtf !

I have to agree, swingpass.

 

[Viking]

Was it just me or was the substitutions just bizarre? First was Horne for Lilo. Why put Horne in the centres when he's been playing wing the last 2 seasons and we were lacking in attacking, especially in the playmaking with Foley having a poor game.

And then Cooper was on the wing? What the hell? You got one of the best playmakers in the world on the field but you put him on the wing? Might as well have put Speight on the bench.

Combined with flying Beale over, I don't think Cheika knows what he is doing.

 

[Viking]

agree completely, Hooper's youth and inexperience as a captain gives him no gravitas with the refs. and as for tacking a quick tap when you have a numerical advantage wtf !

The quick tap was the right choice. Our line-out was poor all game and our scrum was deteriorating. But I do agree Hooper has no gravitas with refs.

 

[BarneySF]

I feel a bit surreal about this loss, I don't feel shattered or disappointed like I usually do when we lose..kinda like we are a work in progress and the final result will be exciting and worth a bit of pain getting to.

I'm kinda the same but would have much preferred that to have been a loss with maybe a stack of debutants so we could put if off as first game jitters/not clicking (and also the benefit of having blooded some new cattle. Not saying this was the game to so it though). As it was- was just a strangely jumbled bench/backline in the end with the prospect of KB (Kurtley Beale) playing at 12 next week

 

[Lorenzo]

The quick tap was the right choice. Our line-out was poor all game and our scrum was deteriorating. But I do agree Hooper has no gravitas with refs.

I think they should tap more often in positions like that. Lineouts and scrums are just opportunities to give the ball away when your set piece execution is as bad as ours is.

 

[Tex]

The quick tap was the right choice. Our line-out was poor all game and our scrum was deteriorating. But I do agree Hooper has no gravitas with refs.

He doesn't look to try to engage with them. McCaw and Warburton are much better exponents.

 

[swingpass]

The quick tap was the right choice. Our line-out was poor all game and our scrum was deteriorating. But I do agree Hooper has no gravitas with refs.

no i have to disagree, 5m lineout and back the team to get the set piece right. the french have to decide to contest the linnet and risk being driven over from the maul or stay down, defend and allow easy possession with australia having an advantage in the numbers game out wide. unstructured tap to anyone, with the defence set is imo a higher risk strategy, can't really recall when it has worked at this level.

 

[Lorenzo]

no i have to disagree, 5m lineout and back the team to get the set piece right. the french have to decide to contest the linnet and risk being driven over from the maul or stay down, defend and allow easy possession with australia having an advantage in the numbers game out wide. unstructured tap to anyone, with the defence set is imo a higher risk strategy, can't really recall when it has worked at this level.

The entire strategy is built upon the team being able to control the ball for 10+ phases at a time without fucking up. The quick tap approach should be perfectly manageable for them.

 

[swingpass]

ps i think lilo came off injured, was limping at one stage

 

[Moono75]

Wallabies played like a bunch of rabbits caught in the headlights of a Mack truck. Reality check, this team isn't going anywhere at the WC.

We're still recycling the same shit player wise and expecting a different result (Horwill, Simmons, Alexander, Fatcat and there are more). These guys have reached their peak and gone past there ability to improve their game. IF they aren't world beating players now its not going to magically happen by next year. Skelton is a big body but doesn't use it and has no mongrel. In fact the team is soft with no hard nuts. There is more intimidation trying to put together an Ikea flat pack entertainment unit than this team possesses.

This EOTY is where we should be blooding guys who are going to be around to take the team forward.....and I'm talking about guys like Godwin. We waited and waited for Speight to qualify to play for Australia and then don't give him a run. He needs to be clocking up game time experience at international level.

And Folau....what a waste of space. Knock on, fumbles, bumbles. He is feted as a bloody star player when the going is good and then vanishes when the going is tough and needs to be grabbed by the scruff of the neck. He has been worked out, he is fooling no one. Learn another move other than a stutter step.

Finishing on a positive. We need Kuridrahni playing in every position. He is the class of the team.

 

[Cardiffblue]

He doesn't look to try to engage with them. McCaw and Warburton are much better exponents.

Personally I'm sick of engagement with refs. I like when nige tells them to go away. Particularly unfair on teams from non English speaking countries

 

[Cardiffblue]

There's always next week

Ireland are a better side than frogs

 

[troxler]

Ireland are a better side than frogs

Wallabies made a huge amount of handling errors in the game vs France, but still could have won the game in the last minute. I cant see the Wob's being that poor two weeks in a row.

 

[Cardiffblue]

Wallabies made a huge amount of handling errors in the game vs France, but still could have won the game in the last minute. I cant see the Wob's being that poor two weeks in a row.

I was just pondering whether we'll be the only side to lose to Australia.

 

[troxler]

As long as we beat the pom's, and have you guys covered i'm happy looking towards RWC games..