Gnostic's - Wallaby Player ratings V ABs Sydney 11/09/2010

[Gnostic]

1. Robinson 5 - Scrum under pressure, played well in the loose.
2. Moore 5 - Scrum under pressure, missed the strike at least 3 times. Good in the loose
3. Ma'afu 4 - Scrum under pressure, get an extra two points for his good defensive effort and a great steal.
4. Chisholm 4 - One carry. Lineout good. For the rest Meh.
5. Sharpe 6 - Lineout good, scrum, under pressure, good in loose and tight.
6. Elsom 6 - Above average game for a 6. Not a Captain, need to pull Lawrence in and have a go and say no you will listen you aren't being consistant etc etc.
7. Pocock 8 - Again my MOTM, hard done by Lawrence (F&&^ Wit).
8. McCalman 7 - Better than last week, is probably a 60 minute player, after 60 starts to fall off tackles.
9. Genia 2 - Not a shadow of his form last year and in the S14. What is wrong. His passing is going to shit as well now.
10. Cooper 5 - much quieter game from Cooper. A massive defensive liability who cannot have a quiet game in attack. He has to make up for the defensive pressure he puts on his team
12. Giteau 1 - Nothing in attack, Ok one run. Defense Ok, but Barnes would cover better for Cooper. Should never kick for Oz again. Face facts people Giteau cannot handle the pressure and consistantly fails when it is on.
13. AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) 7 - Assured in defence and is getting better in the 13 as he gets more time there. Please Brumbies play him at 13 next year.
11. Turner 7 - So who doubts his defence now. Played a very good wingers game.
14. JOC (James O'Connor) 4 - Out of position again for McCaw illegal try (McCaw was Offside as he broke from the scrum and was at least 3 metres from it before Reid picked up the ball). He is a great runner and a real threat with ball in hand but he is not a wing. His defence is as bad as Cooper so he can't play 12 in tests at this stage. Drop him to the bench at best.
15. Beale 8 - Great game from Beale. Needs to play at 15 for the Tahs all next year and grow into what appears to be his natural position.

16. Edmonds - Not Used WTF Deans after a flight back from SA and the third game in three weeks why not?
17. Slipper 5 - Scrum under pressure and was penalised. Offers so much more than Ma'afu.
18. Mumm 3 - No time really. Introduced too late. Gets his three points for counter maul work close to the line. Penalised wrongly by Lawrence as he attacked the ball carrier coming through the maul.
19. Brown 4 - As for Mumm not enough time but was very energetic and very visible in his short time on the pitch.
20. Burgess 6 - The change in pace was significant when he came on and his passing was more accurate than Genia. Genia needs to drop to the bench.
21. Barnes 3 - As for Mumm, not really enough time.
22. Fainga'a - No time really to even give a score. I can't say that I say him there at all even though I know he got about 5 minutes.

Deans 3 - The backline play is coming together niocely now that they are playing some set moves and playing with structure. In a game where bench usage was essential after a test where the bench won the test he has this epic fail. Deans has done some good things but he has some very serious flaws as a coach.

Referees -10 - I will never pay to watch a game refereed by Mark Lawrence or Johnathon Kaplan ever again. Take note ARU and IRB these two f^%%$ wits are not worth feeding and are a blight on the game and you will be losing money if they referee here again. Lawrence determined the outcome of the game with his lack of call against McCaw being offside to score along with his penalising Pocock for not releasing when he wasn't even the tackler and players like Smith flopping on the wrong side (see Scarfie's Vid) to slow/kill the ball.

 

[Reddy!]

Pretty good ratings and pretty close to the mark but I don't think Giteau and Genia were as bad as you suggest - their mistakes didn't directly gift the All Blacks points. Giteau needs to be used as a runner alot more, Quade Cooper needs to be dropped (If you keep those efforts up mate in defence the ARU will be happy they only signed you up for 1 year) and we need to get some forwards to make metres - apart from Sharpe, he is playing excellently.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

I thought McCalman was quite incisive in his contact. Looking forward to the likes of TPN and Palu gets back. Two or three reall threats would be nice and could have had a major impct on tonight's game.

 

[Hawko]

1. Robinson 5 - Scrum under pressure, played well in the loose.
2. Moore 5 - Scrum under pressure, missed the strike at least 3 times. Good in the loose
3. Ma'afu 4 - Scrum under pressure, get an extra two points for his good defensive effort and a great steal.
4. Chisholm 4 - One carry. Lineout good. For the rest Meh.
5. Sharpe 6 - Lineout good, scrum, under pressure, good in loose and tight.
6. Elsom 6 - Above average game for a 6. Not a Captain, need to pull Lawrence in and have a go and say no you will listen you aren't being consistant etc etc.
7. Pocock 8 - Again my MOTM, hard done by Lawrence (F&&^ Wit).
8. McCalman 7 - Better than last week, is probably a 60 minute player, after 60 starts to fall off tackles.
9. Genia 2 - Not a shadow of his form last year and in the S14. What is wrong. His passing is going to shit as well now.
10. Cooper 5 - much quieter game from Cooper. A massive defensive liability who cannot have a quiet game in attack. He has to make up for the defensive pressure he puts on his team
12. Giteau 1 - Nothing in attack, Ok one run. Defense Ok, but Barnes would cover better for Cooper. Should never kick for Oz again. Face facts people Giteau cannot handle the pressure and consistantly fails when it is on.
13. AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) 7 - Assured in defence and is getting better in the 13 as he gets more time there. Please Brumbies play him at 13 next year.
11. Turner 7 - So who doubts his defence now. Played a very good wingers game.
14. JOC (James O'Connor) 4 - Out of position again for McCaw illegal try (McCaw was Offside as he broke from the scrum and was at least 3 metres from it before Reid picked up the ball). He is a great runner and a real threat with ball in hand but he is not a wing. His defence is as bad as Cooper so he can't play 12 in tests at this stage. Drop him to the bench at best.
15. Beale 8 - Great game from Beale. Needs to play at 15 for the Tahs all next year and grow into what appears to be his natural position.

16. Edmonds - Not Used WTF Deans after a flight back from SA and the third game in three weeks why not?
17. Slipper 5 - Scrum under pressure and was penalised. Offers so much more than Ma'afu.
18. Mumm 3 - No time really. Introduced too late. Gets his three points for counter maul work close to the line. Penalised wrongly by Lawrence as he attacked the ball carrier coming through the maul.
19. Brown 4 - As for Mumm not enough time but was very energetic and very visible in his short time on the pitch.
20. Burgess 6 - The change in pace was significant when he came on and his passing was more accurate than Genia. Genia needs to drop to the bench.
21. Barnes 3 - As for Mumm, not really enough time.
22. Fainga'a - No time really to even give a score. I can't say that I say him there at all even though I know he got about 5 minutes.

Deans 3 - The backline play is coming together niocely now that they are playing some set moves and playing with structure. In a game where bench usage was essential after a test where the bench won the test he has this epic fail. Deans has done some good things but he has some very serious flaws as a coach.

Referees -10 - I will never pay to watch a game refereed by Mark Lawrence or Johnathon Kaplan ever again. Take note ARU and IRB these two f^%%$ wits are not worth feeding and are a blight on the game and you will be losing money if they referee here again. Lawrence determined the outcome of the game with his lack of call against McCaw being offside to score along with his penalising Pocock for not releasing when he wasn't even the tackler and players like Smith flopping on the wrong side (see Scarfie's Vid) to slow/kill the ball.

Points of disagreement:
I think Robinson rated less than 5. For someone who is supposed to be the world no. 1 LHP he got owned by the AB's. Maafu was better than Robinson.
I think Sharpie was better than a 6, only negative is the scrum, rest was excellent.
Genia should maybe get a 3, 2 is very harsh. His worst characteristic is he is too slow to get to rucks, that kills our momentum.
Why hasn't Deans instructed Cooper to tackle low every time and let Pocock and others fetch. Ball and all tackles are for mungo's.
Turner 8 and Beale 9. Beale was the best player on the park.
Barnes and Mumm should not be marked down for being introduced too late. That's not their fault.

Agree on everything else especially Giteau, Deans and Lawrence.

 

[fatprop]

Points of disagreement:
I think Robinson rated less than 5. For someone who is supposed to be the world no. 1 LHP he got owned by the AB's. Maafu was better than Robinson.
I think Sharpie was better than a 6, only negative is the scrum, rest was excellent.
Genia should maybe get a 3, 2 is very harsh. His worst characteristic is he is too slow to get to rucks, that kills our momentum.
Why hasn't Deans instructed Cooper to tackle low every time and let Pocock and others fetch. Ball and all tackles are for mungo's.
Turner 8 and Beale 9. Beale was the best player on the park.
Barnes and Mumm should not be marked down for being introduced too late. That's not their fault.

Agree on everything else especially Giteau, Deans and Lawrence.

Pretty hard for Robinson when his THP is consistently losing his hit to Woodcock, there was so much pressure in the scrum that Moore couldn't strike.
I am certain Genia must be wounded, he looked very slow
Cooper got a lesson in test match rugby, the ABs bashed him and he kept sitting deeper in the pocket (not a good sign).

 

[RugbyReg]

I just can't understand why Cooper isn't forced to spend the week in the sandpit tackling the likes of AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper), Rocky, Pocock and McCalman. When he goes to league you can be sure he'll get to now the sand pit very well.

 

[fatprop]

This is the rugby 365 ratings, for another, sometimes harsher opinion

Player ratings: Clone Beale 15 times
Sat, 11 Sep 2010 14:46

Kurtley Beale - The undoubted Wallabies star of the night. (c) Getty

From the joy of a last-minute win in Bloemfontein last week, to the heartbreak of a one-point Tri-Nations defeat in Sydney this week.

Australia's rollercoaster ride continued as they lost 22-23 to New Zealand in the final Tri-Nations match of the season on Saturday.

The Wallabies played well to take a 16-6 half-time lead and later held a 19-9 lead with some great tactical play.

However, they fell off the pace in the final quarter... before eventually going down to NZ for the tenth time in a row.

Jan de Koning rates the Wallaby players:

15 Kurtley Beale:
There was a brilliant early break that eventually resulted in Lachie Turner almost scoring (just stepped into touch). He also easily beat Conrad Smith on the outside in another move and was great as the last line of defence.
8/10

14 James O'Connor:
He worked hard for most part (including his first-half try), but tended to drift out of the game at times.
5/10

13 Adam Ashley-Cooper:
Kept the All Black defence honest and stood his ground on defence. There was a strong run for his own try, but he faded in the second half.
6/10

12 Matt Giteau:
His goalkicking was way down on the past two weeks, when he did not miss a single kick. Clearly Braam van Straaten did not train him this week. At least his tactical kicking was fine and his creative play on attack also caused a few problems.
6/10

11 Lachie Turner:
There was great cover defence and a brilliant counter - step-'n-go from a standing start. He may well have secured himself a more permanent spot after filling in for the injured Drew Mitchell.
7/10

10 Quade Cooper:
Showed that he is not as suspect on defence as people may think. His stepping and jinking runs were, as always, a joy to watch.
7/10

9 Will Genia:
His service was below the expected standards and he is no longer as effective as he was in the Super 14.
5/10

8 Ben McCalman:
There was a penalty at the breakdown, but a brilliant break off the scrum for O'Connor's try. He was strong off the back of a scrum that was always under pressure.
7/10

7 David Pocock:
There were several harsh penalties against him - South African referee Mark Lawrence seemed to have it in for Pocock from the outset and McCaw got away with far more.
6/10

6 Rocky Elsom (captain):
There was a great off-load in the tackle and a great steal at the breakdown. His support play and ball-in-hand work was also invaluable.
6/10

5 Nathan Sharpe:
Had his usual hard-working game. His presence in the contact area was invaluable, but a crucial knock-on in the final 10 minutes cost his team.
5/10

4 Mark Chisholm:
He had a couple of nice runs with ball in hand and some decent lineout work, but faded.
5/10

3 Salesi Ma'afu:
He is still the weak link in the scrums and not worth the trouble.
3/10

2 Stephen Moore:
He does the basics okay, but is nothing special.
4/10

1 Benn Robinson:
There was a great steal at the breakdown and his work-rate was great. One of his better performances of the season.
6/10

Replacements:

16 Huia Edmonds:
Not used.

17 James Slipper (on for Ma'afu, 52nd min):
He conceded a penalty in the first scrum after he came on... and it got worse from there.
4/10

18 Dean Mumm (on for Chisholm, 56th min):
He added some physical value, but not enough of an impact.
5/10

19 Richard Brown (on for McCalman, 73rd min):
Not enough time to be rated.

20 Luke Burgess (on for Genia, 72nd min):
Not enough time to be rated.

21 Berrick Barnes (on for Cooper, 69th min - blood bin):
Not enough time to be rated.

21 Anthony Fainga'a (on for Ashley-Cooper, 79th min):
Not enough time to be rated.

 

[barbarian]

Gee think that 3 for Ma'afu is harsh, thought he played pretty well. Same with the 4 for Moore. The scrum wasn't fantastic but we never lost on our own feed (except for one Slipper penalty late in the 2nd half).

 

[fatprop]

I just can't understand why Cooper isn't forced to spend the week in the sandpit tackling the likes of AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper), Rocky, Pocock and McCalman. When he goes to league you can be sure he'll get to now the sand pit very well.

Like Beale, he needs to bend his bloody back, they both are often more interested in keeping in the next play than getting the tackle done and ending up on the bottom of a ruck

 

[naza]

Ma'afu got through approximately 500 million times more work than Benn Robinson did. Child, please.

Stephen Moore was immense, was everywhere and cleaned up a lot of shit. Along with McCalman was the pick of the forwards.

 

[fatprop]

Gee think that 3 for Ma'afu is harsh, thought he played pretty well. Same with the 4 for Moore. The scrum wasn't fantastic but we never lost on our own feed (except for one Slipper penalty late in the 2nd half).

Ma'afu lost the hit all night and Moore got transferred a lot of pressure, so much so he couldn't strike effectively. Ma'afu did better around the field though.

 

[naza]

Ma'afu lost the hit all night and Moore got transferred a lot of pressure, so much so he couldn't strike effectively. Ma'afu did better around the field though.

I'd rather that than collapsing a la Baxter & conceding 3 penalties. Thought the ABs were going early all night, Lawrence didn't ping them though. He had a very random game did Lawrence.

Fatcat may as well having been sitting in the stands for all the good he did us in general play.

 

[fatprop]

I'd rather that than collapsing a la Baxter & conceding 3 penalties. Thought the ABs were going early all night, Lawrence didn't ping them though. He had a very random game did Lawrence.

Fatcat may as well having been sitting in the stands for all the good he did us in general play.

Yeah, his workrate was down after being excellent in SA, he looked tired after playing 80 mins each game.

Shame we don't use the Link approach of rotating the three props. (giving Ma'afu a break at 45, then giving Fatcat a break at 65)

 

[naza]

Yeah, his workrate was down after being excellent in SA, he looked tired after playing 80 mins each game.

Shame we don't use the Link approach of rotating the three props. (giving Ma'afu a break at 45, then giving Fatcat a break at 65)

This isn't rugby league for fuck's sake.

Link is a bigger cheat than McCaw !!

 

[TheRiddler]

Ma'afu lost the hit all night and Moore got transferred a lot of pressure, so much so he couldn't strike effectively. Ma'afu did better around the field though.

Disagree FP. As I mentioned in my 321s, you look at those scrums again and see how may times he actually wins the hit but immediately The Myth drops his bind, places his hand on the floor to balance himself and then starts pushing/boring in. Very quick, very clever and very illegal.

 

[Jnor]

Gee think that 3 for Ma'afu is harsh, thought he played pretty well. Same with the 4 for Moore. The scrum wasn't fantastic but we never lost on our own feed (except for one Slipper penalty late in the 2nd half).

Agreed. Also think he was a tad harsh on Sharpe too. The rest of his ratings are pretty good too; I always like to see what the neutrals have to say after a game - wheres PB and Blue?

Although saying Cooper is "not as suspect in defence as people may think" is downright weird. Cooper's defence is useless, more pothole than speedbump. Surely someone can teach him how to tackle - I could improve his technique fer chrissakes!!

 

[cyclopath]

Disagree FP. As I mentioned in my 321s, you look at those scrums again and see how may times he actually wins the hit but immediately The Myth drops his bind, places his hand on the floor to balance himself and then starts pushing/boring in. Very quick, very clever and very illegal.

Fat Cat does that too, if you watch. Some of his best scrums are when he drops the hand, then gets the legs pumping up and in. We just love it then cos he's ours. Find me a LHP of any worth that does not.

 

[cyclopath]

Agreed. Also think he was a tad harsh on Sharpe too. The rest of his ratings are pretty good too; I always like to see what the neutrals have to say after a game - wheres PB and Blue?

Although saying Cooper is "not as suspect in defence as people may think" is downright weird. Cooper's defence is useless, more pothole than speedbump. Surely someone can teach him how to tackle - I could improve his technique fer chrissakes!!

Frustrating thing was he put a beauty of a tackle on in the first half - cut someone down (?? Vito) with a nice one. He can tackle, but he just opts to scrag about the upper body / head more often than not and gets bumped away. Attitude readjustment needed.

 

[fatprop]

Disagree FP. As I mentioned in my 321s, you look at those scrums again and see how may times he actually wins the hit but immediately The Myth drops his bind, places his hand on the floor to balance himself and then starts pushing/boring in. Very quick, very clever and very illegal.

To me, that is losing the hit, the THP's role is to stop or absorb the LHPs "efforts", not transfer the pressure the hooker

 

[Gnostic]

This is the rugby 365 ratings, for another, sometimes harsher opinion

You have to question some of these Journo's. Do they have sufficient knowledge of the players to correectly identify them. Fatcat's rating says he was responsible for a great steal surely that was Ma'afu's steal early in the second half. Very wide of the mark on some point such as Cooper's defence and Giteau's kicking.