France v Australia

[Quick Hands]

I think we are all talking about the wrong things. A good defensive effort by the wallabies in this game has us winning easy. We gave away easy trys and with better defence we could of scored more points through the French errors. We have been woefull in defence since link left. This is the problem.

Wasn't Link the coach when we conceded 50 points against the ABs? Not a particular criticism of Link, just your thought process.

 

[tragic]

To avoid being accused of 20/20 hindsight, before this game I suggested that it was an even money bet because of the very small backrow and the poor selections on the bench. IMO those were the main reasons the game panned out as it did. And I would add that really the final score flattered the Wallabies as they played poorly for most of the game.

FWIW the improvements that I would suggest for next week include :
- strengthen the backrow by including Jones. McMahon moves to the bench in place of Hodgson;
- remove Skelton from the bench. If Sam Carter is still not available, move McCalman to lock when one of the starters has done his job and bring Schatz on from the bench;
- Nic White to the bench in place of Will Genia. White outplayed Will in the Baa Baas game in what was supposed to be a shootout between them for the bench spot, and Will has done very little in his two games;
- I would bring Cooper into the starting 10 spot as he offers a whole lot more in attack than Foley and can kick goals with almost as much accuracy;
- To'omua at 12 to reignite the Cooper/To'omua combination we all raved about at the end of last year;
- Henry Speight at 14.

I would then go with a bench of Hanson, Faulkner, Alexander, Horwill (assuming Carter starts), McMahon (or McMahon and Schatz if Carter isn't fit), White, Lealiifano and AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper).

I will be especially disappointed if Cheika persists with Skelton, the current combination in the backrow, Hodgson on the bench (if he is to be used should only be at 7), Genia on the bench and not selecting Speight. If he keeps the same team or heaven forbid he brings Beale in, then we should be bracing for a 1/4 winning record on the EOYT.

I like your thinking.
My only point of difference would be to give genia a little longer to regain his form. We know at his best he is better than white, and only game time will see him back there. His cameo didn't lose us the game against france, but some of the other deficiencies you have addressed did.

 

[Lorenzo]

Trimming off what pickngo considers tier 3 and shittier, here are the pro era wallaby coach for and against averages.

Macqueen had 10 wins in which we scored 24 or less, of his 29 tier 1 + 2 wins. Situations in which it was good we weren't giving up 25+ points per match, obviously. Smith, Connolly, Link and Cheika (who is scoring more so far though hasn't played the SH teams yet) are all within a penalty goal of Macqueen's scoring. All but Connolly are more than a penalty goal adrift of his defence.

Greg Smith

27-24​

Rod Macqueen

28-16​

Eddie Jones

24-20​

John Connolly

25-18​

Robbie Deans

21-20​

Ewen Mckenzie

25-24​

Michael Cheika

30-29​

​

​

​

 

[tragic]

Interesting that deans had a very defensive midfield with McCabe/Horne and was not far off the best numbers in points against. By the end of his tenure though we couldn't buy a try, and his points scored stats are awful. Now we've rectified our inability to score with an attacking midfield we are losing by leaking points. We need the best of both worlds!!

 

[Cardiffblue]

When does matt giteau become eligible to play for France? He'd be great captain and he'd be able to kick off

 

[RugbyReg]

I suspect all those guys will be back available for the RWC. We will see Gits, Mitchell, Maafu, Douglas, Mowen et al back in the wallabies.

I don't agree it will happen but reckon it will happen.

 

[Pedrolicus]

When does matt giteau become eligible to play for France? He'd be great captain and he'd be able to kick off

Yet will miss easy penalties.

 

[Shiggins]

Wasn't Link the coach when we conceded 50 points against the ABs? Not a particular criticism of Link, just your thought process.

I'm making the point that our defence is shit. That is all. Look at the barbarians game as well. The game before that we did not leak that many against the all blacks.

 

[Cardiffblue]

Yet will miss easy penalties.

No you re ok. Rule 8.2 still in place. Guess he ll just keep raking in the euros at Toulon. Can't see the aru relaxing their rules. The super15 franchises will empty overnight

 

[I like to watch]

I think we are all talking about the wrong things. A good defensive effort by the wallabies in this game has us winning easy. We gave away easy trys and with better defence we could of scored more points through the French errors. We have been woefull in defence since link left. This is the problem.

If we are going to hark back to the glory days,pick a period where the coach had a winning record.
What coach had a poorer win loss ratio than Link in the professional era?
He was not the Mesiah.
Lets just judge the players (and the coach) on performances and not Soup allegiances.

 

[KOB1987]

If we are going to hark back to the glory days,pick a period where the coach had a winning record.
What coach had a poorer win loss ratio than Link in the professional period?
He was not the Mesiah.
Lets just judge the players (and the coach) on performances and not Soup allegiances.

Rod Macqueen should be the benchmark for every Wallabies coach..

in fairness to Link, none of the aforementioned coaches would have played the All Blacks and Springboks in the same proportions as Link..

 

[Quick Hands]

I'm making the point that our defence is shit. That is all. Look at the barbarians game as well. The game before that we did not leak that many against the all blacks.

So you base you contention that since Bledisloe 3 our defence has gone to the dogs and is now much worse than before on 1 match?
Let's look at the results

TRC

AUS 17 ARG 21
AUS10 RSA 28
AUS 32 ARG 25
AUS 24 RSA 23
AUS 20 NZL 51
AUS 12 NZL 12


EOYT
AUS 33 WAL 28
AUS 26 FRA 29

There appears to have been no significant change in points scored or conceded since the change of coach. If anything we'e scoring slightly more and the defence is as close to the same as you'll get in rugby.

But you said: We have been woefull in defence since link left. This is the problem.

 

[Bairdy]

Please remove rose tinted specs at once. They are sending you blind. France win the 6n or come second? Seriously. I'd be seriously worried about the Tarmac boys next weekend if I were you. If france had been good it wouldn't have been close.
Ireland are better organised better players than france

Like we need lecturing from a Welshman. Didn't you guys barely scrape through 17-13 at home against lowly Fiji?

 

[Biffo]

I suspect all those guys will be back available for the RWC. We will see Gits, Mitchell, Maafu, Douglas, Mowen et al back in the wallabies.

I don't agree it will happen but reckon it will happen.

yep.
didn't some old geezer or geezerette remark that necessity was the mumma of invention.

come on down, Maafu, Douglas and Mowen and maybe, that Korean bloke Kim Lin

 

[Lorenzo]

Yeah the defence was shit under Link also. The averages above reflect that.

 

[Biffo]

Like we need lecturing from a Welshman. Didn't you guys barely scrape through 17-13 at home against lowly Fiji?

hey, Blue from Cardiff, two Qs:
1. how are Wails travelling against the Wallabies in recent times?
2. is "blue" an expression of low feeling, sadness, ineptitude and so forth?

 

[Biffo]

I'm making the point that our defence is shit. That is all. Look at the barbarians game as well. The game before that we did not leak that many against the all blacks.

please produce also all the stats from all opposed training sessions

 

[tragic]

If we are going to hark back to the glory days,pick a period where the coach had a winning record.
What coach had a poorer win loss ratio than Link in the professional era?
He was not the Mesiah.
Lets just judge the players (and the coach) on performances and not Soup allegiances.

At least he never lost to the French.
Link had a higher proportion of games v the top two sides in the world than any of the other coaches.
I don't think there's much in it to be honest. The only stat that really stands out is the low points for in the deans era.
The deficiencies at the moment lies mainly with the defense and the available cattle.

 

[Biffo]

Please remove rose tinted specs at once. They are sending you blind. France win the 6n or come second? Seriously. I'd be seriously worried about the Tarmac boys next weekend if I were you. If france had been good it wouldn't have been close.
Ireland are better organised better players than france

if you are going to slag off the colour of my specs, please delete "rose" and replace with "gold".

this man could never support, or even respect, any team that played in any shade of red.

that's a good chap
thank you

 

[Lorenzo]

At least he never lost to the French.
Link had a higher proportion of games v the top two sides in the world than any of the other coaches.
I don't think there's much in it to be honest. The only stat that really stands out is the low points for in the deans era.
The deficiencies at the moment lies mainly with the available cattle.

Er, really? Here are the Blacks and Boks averages.

GS

20-33​

RM

24-19​

EJ (Eddie Jones)

21-22​

JC

21-20​

RD

19-25​

EW

19-32​