Rip 'em a new one
Bob McCowan (2)
Anyone know if Arnold coming off was a straight "I'm rooted" replacement or injury related?
Ireland v Australia, Saturday 26 November
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The sage
Vay Wilson (31)
TSR
Andrew Slack (58)
Interesting comments about Mumm. At my single viewing I thought both he and Simmons got through a truck load of work in the first half when we were under the pump. Mumm obviously blotted his copybook with the yellow, but otherwise I thought worked tirelessly. One thing that won't show up in the stats is the number of times Mumm pushed hard up off the line to push Ireland back into the teeth of the defence.
The problems for mine were our discipline (whatever people thought of the ref I felt like we gave away half a dozen or more needless penalities) and our execution in the backs.
Foley is coming into his own though I think. He'll never be a star, but with the players around him providing more options he is making our backline much more threatening.
One last thought - while we blew 3-4 genuine chances by our breakdown in backline execution it was great to see a set price try off and some genuine creativity coming back into our backline play. I am prepared to cop the dropped ball at this stage, and even cop the loss, as we are trying to play and I think that's something that has been sorely lacking for a fair while. I am quietly confident our execution will improve if we persist.
The problems for mine were our discipline (whatever people thought of the ref I felt like we gave away half a dozen or more needless penalities) and our execution in the backs.
Foley is coming into his own though I think. He'll never be a star, but with the players around him providing more options he is making our backline much more threatening.
One last thought - while we blew 3-4 genuine chances by our breakdown in backline execution it was great to see a set price try off and some genuine creativity coming back into our backline play. I am prepared to cop the dropped ball at this stage, and even cop the loss, as we are trying to play and I think that's something that has been sorely lacking for a fair while. I am quietly confident our execution will improve if we persist.
waiopehu oldboy
George Smith (75)
I'm sure the players were still on the ground when "The King" posted this match review on the blog:
http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/wallabies-fightback-not-enough-to-save-grand-slam/#disqus_thread
Talk about hot off the press! Worth a click for that reason alone, I reckon.
http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/wallabies-fightback-not-enough-to-save-grand-slam/#disqus_thread
Talk about hot off the press! Worth a click for that reason alone, I reckon.
Joe Blow
John Hipwell (52)
Well I reckon if we had won that game then the wrong team would have come away with the spoils. I don't know what happened in the first half but for 37 minutes Ireland were totally dominant. We were bullied at the breakdown, the area where we were supposed to have dominance, and we lost the collisions big time. Our defense was superb aside from another glaring misread from Speight that cost 7 points, but that was about it. For the first 30 of the second the roles were reversed and we totally dominated but left several tries on the pitch. Despite a horrendous injury toll the Irish came back and scored a very good try. We had several opportunities to take the game at the end but were unable to remain composed. It was an excellent win by Ireland and one they will rate alongside the win in Chicago I should imagine.
The ref? Yeah, he was so pro the home side in the first half it was ridiculous, but take nothing away from the Irish, it was their day.
The ref? Yeah, he was so pro the home side in the first half it was ridiculous, but take nothing away from the Irish, it was their day.
Scotty
David Codey (61)
There was two clear reasons we lost that game plus another minor reason:
1 - Ireland very clearly got the rub of the green in regards to referring. At least two tries came off the back of the additional leeway he gave them.
2 - We are still making way too many mistakes. Pushing passes and taking the wrong option. I think we left 2-3 tries out there.
Minor:
The coaching staff aren't willing to make changes to the backline to suit the game. To me this was a perfect opportunity to bring Cooper on for Hodge and push Foley to 12. There was so much space wide and a long Cooper pass to a wider playmaker would have had them in all sorts. As it was Foley had a few opportunities to get the ball wide and around the Irish but his long pass is too loopy and allowed their defence instead to pressure us.
1 - Ireland very clearly got the rub of the green in regards to referring. At least two tries came off the back of the additional leeway he gave them.
2 - We are still making way too many mistakes. Pushing passes and taking the wrong option. I think we left 2-3 tries out there.
Minor:
The coaching staff aren't willing to make changes to the backline to suit the game. To me this was a perfect opportunity to bring Cooper on for Hodge and push Foley to 12. There was so much space wide and a long Cooper pass to a wider playmaker would have had them in all sorts. As it was Foley had a few opportunities to get the ball wide and around the Irish but his long pass is too loopy and allowed their defence instead to pressure us.
Tex
Greg Davis (50)
I only saw limited highlights so can't really comment properly, suffice to say that the Irish try off the line out was fucking disgraceful. Three penalty offences in one phase contributed to it - Poey tackled and pinned off the ball, then two forwards blocking in the defensive line.
Not happy Jan!
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Not happy Jan!
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tragic
John Solomon (38)
Unfortunately that was a predictable result with the team selected.
We got owned in tight and in contact and timani was sorely missed. (As was Coleman but at least his absence was forced)
The backs squandered a number of try scoring opportunities and we could have still got away with that one, but it was lost in the forwards.
And a lot of that comes down to team selection.
Same side against England = same result.
We got owned in tight and in contact and timani was sorely missed. (As was Coleman but at least his absence was forced)
The backs squandered a number of try scoring opportunities and we could have still got away with that one, but it was lost in the forwards.
And a lot of that comes down to team selection.
Same side against England = same result.
Brumby Runner
Jason Little (69)
HJ, that's a totally unrealistic expectation imo. The officiating today was clearly favouring one side over the other. The team on the losing side of the ref's decisions can't just stop competing in certain situations or they might as well just let the opposition go straight through.
One glaring difference in the rulings pertained to mauls and when they formed and whether they were killed. The Wallabies had a few very quick calls made against them and conceded possession when the ball was ruled to be unplayable. The penalty to Ireland that put them out to 20 points followed a play where the Irish ball carrier was held up over a distance of something like 5m but a maul wasn't called and the Wallabies were penalised for holding on. Very inconsistent officiating where the referee can't be taken out of the game. Similarly with a late scrum where the Irish front row clearly collapsed, but the scrum was simply reset.
The call for referees to be taken out of games sounds impressive, but is is really bordering on the irrational. The referee is there precisely to be in the game. They just should be held to a high standard of consistency and accuracy in their decision making, but unfortunately they aren't.
Brumby Runner
Jason Little (69)
And Mumm on one occasion also down the right hand side where Henry was unmarked outside but Mumm held the ball and went to ground.
Brumby Runner
Jason Little (69)
This is spot on TSR. The backline play on this EOYT has been superior to anything we've seen from the Wallabies for quite a number of years. And it looks to be getting better. Long may they continue to play with some flair in attack.
Defensive structure still need a bit of tweaking I think, but are also improving from the dreadful compressed line adopted early in the year.
Unfortunately, the forwards are not showing the necessary dominance they need to for the side to give a wholehearted performance yet. Partly, due to Coleman's injury absence, but also imo because of poor selections. Time to put agression and ability to make ground with ball in hand at the top of the criteria for selection in the second row and back row. On that topic, I thought Kane Douglas showed a return to some good form. He was simply a monster at a late maul where he made his way through the Irish forwards to kill the ball.
Twoilms
Trevor Allan (34)
Jesus Folau's decision making is pretty phenomenally bad for a now seasoned rugby pro. It's like every run he does some good and decides he needs to balance out his rugby karma by throwing a pass to no one or not throwing a pass for a certain try.
Dean Mumm proved his detractors right.
Otherwise, a decent performance for the second 40 nearly glossed over the worst half of rugby we've played all year save for bledisloe 1
For the try that should have been pulled up for obstruction to Ireland, if Poey hadn't of stopped to have a little dig at the Irish bloke holding him back he probably would have been in the defensive line in the exact spot the guy ghosted through. Play the whistle god damnit.
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Dean Mumm proved his detractors right.
Otherwise, a decent performance for the second 40 nearly glossed over the worst half of rugby we've played all year save for bledisloe 1
For the try that should have been pulled up for obstruction to Ireland, if Poey hadn't of stopped to have a little dig at the Irish bloke holding him back he probably would have been in the defensive line in the exact spot the guy ghosted through. Play the whistle god damnit.
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Inside Shoulder
Nathan Sharpe (72)
Any ideas on which penalties Cheika has his knickers knotted over?
wamberal
Phil Kearns (64)
tragic
John Solomon (38)
The refereeing was not great but it always seems worse after a close fought loss.
The obstruction / try ruling was really the only one to me that stood out as a game changer.
Many of the others were 50/50 calls and while I agree we were not getting the rub of the green they weren't absolute howlers either.
We still had the opportunities to win.
We really only have ourselves to blame.
The obstruction / try ruling was really the only one to me that stood out as a game changer.
Many of the others were 50/50 calls and while I agree we were not getting the rub of the green they weren't absolute howlers either.
We still had the opportunities to win.
We really only have ourselves to blame.
Sword of Justice
Arch Winning (36)
A couple of key moments/factors from my observations:
1. Kick off after the first Irish penalty goal - didn't even make 10 metres after we had just played 20 straight minutes in our own half. One would think you would bang it deep into the corner and hope for a poor clearance kick to reset our attack somewhere between the 22 and halfway.
2. The selection of Mumm - I am not for one moment however saying that he didn't work hard. Considering the fact that Timani's work rate in tests has been shown statistically to be among the highest of any Wallaby this season though I would have thought you'd pick the guy who plays with a bit of edge, all else being equal (line-out withstanding). One could also make this argument about Simmons and I would have to accept this criticism though he was not playing as a back rower.
3. Folau's no pass effort 5 metres from the line in the second half - just awful.
4. Body-height in general. You have to respect the fundamentals playing against Ireland. We didn't sustain any pressure and a large part of that was neglecting to run hard, straight, and low. On the topic of tight work, in addition to gain line - our scrum went backwards, our lineout was unreliable and our maul was shit. None of our tight 5, starting or replacement, gave us anything - with the exception of Latu who hit the line hard. Perhaps it is because Rory Arnold came to Rugby late, or that he is just so damn tall but he should have known that it was going to happen to him.
5. Slow service from Genia - enough has been said of this over the last 5 years and it was evident again. I believe this also contributed to the lack of sustained pressure.
6. Leaving Quade and Phipps on the pine till late - what are 'finishers' for? Genia and Foley had extremely high work loads and needed to come off. Phipps would have injected pace into our game.
I totally reject the notion that refereeing decided this game as some other posters espouse. When you spend such a long time defending in rucks in your own 22 you will almost inevitably infringe and get pinned and I thought we were lucky in many rucks that did not get called. I also thought there were many forward passes, hands in the ruck and lying on the ball not called against us.
1. Kick off after the first Irish penalty goal - didn't even make 10 metres after we had just played 20 straight minutes in our own half. One would think you would bang it deep into the corner and hope for a poor clearance kick to reset our attack somewhere between the 22 and halfway.
2. The selection of Mumm - I am not for one moment however saying that he didn't work hard. Considering the fact that Timani's work rate in tests has been shown statistically to be among the highest of any Wallaby this season though I would have thought you'd pick the guy who plays with a bit of edge, all else being equal (line-out withstanding). One could also make this argument about Simmons and I would have to accept this criticism though he was not playing as a back rower.
3. Folau's no pass effort 5 metres from the line in the second half - just awful.
4. Body-height in general. You have to respect the fundamentals playing against Ireland. We didn't sustain any pressure and a large part of that was neglecting to run hard, straight, and low. On the topic of tight work, in addition to gain line - our scrum went backwards, our lineout was unreliable and our maul was shit. None of our tight 5, starting or replacement, gave us anything - with the exception of Latu who hit the line hard. Perhaps it is because Rory Arnold came to Rugby late, or that he is just so damn tall but he should have known that it was going to happen to him.
5. Slow service from Genia - enough has been said of this over the last 5 years and it was evident again. I believe this also contributed to the lack of sustained pressure.
6. Leaving Quade and Phipps on the pine till late - what are 'finishers' for? Genia and Foley had extremely high work loads and needed to come off. Phipps would have injected pace into our game.
I totally reject the notion that refereeing decided this game as some other posters espouse. When you spend such a long time defending in rucks in your own 22 you will almost inevitably infringe and get pinned and I thought we were lucky in many rucks that did not get called. I also thought there were many forward passes, hands in the ruck and lying on the ball not called against us.
Inside Shoulder
Nathan Sharpe (72)
Im the first to blame the ref and I can see an issue in the maul interpretation. The try ruling seemed to me to hing on whether Arnold would have got there so its pretty marginal.
So I tend to agree with Wamberal (for the third time in a row today!) Cheika has got to get over this blaming the ref - for all sorts of reasons.
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