Ireland v Wallabies - Sunday 1 Dec, 2:10 AEDT

[Dctarget]

Bench let us down beyond Salakaia-Loto and the two props. Missed Faessler, Bell but not sure what to do with the backs.

 

[Derpus]

Yep, Koroibete has probably played his last game. Was one of your worst during the Rugby Championship.

I don't think he was really.

 

[Derpus]

Noah’s poor kicking game was literally the difference between the teams in the end. His clearance kicks were either way too short or not out and his kicks from penalties barely went 5 metres. Compared to Ireland’s kid at 10 that made every penalty a virtual 5 metre lineout and cleared pressure so easily

We can’t win with such a poor kicking game from our 10. It was the exact fear that I had earlier this week

Yes but also no. It's Gordon and McDermott who really let us down here. Most teams exit via boxkick these days.

McDermott looked particulaly at sea when he came on. He really is not the 9 you want when under the pump in your own half for 40 minutes.

Noah once again got schooled in the out of hand kicking department but he was also instrumental in keeping us in the game being heavily involved in our try and kicking off the tee nicely.

Does not seem we have a solution for this issue currently.

 

[stillmissit]

I don't think he was really.

We need to feed our wings better and that starts with the forwards effort.

 

[Derpus]

As an aside I thought Suaallii defended excellently in the backline. Made some terrific decisions and I don't think he fell off a single tackle.

Ireland basically had 100% territory and possession from 20 minutes in so not surprised he didn't get much opportunity on the other side - though he does suck in a few defenders every carry.

 

[Derpus]

Fiiiiiinal thought - the blueprint for the Lions is there. I expect we'll see 3 games where they just look to pin us back within kicks and we fail to exit.

 

[TSR]

I guess the question is TSR, do we go looking or make the most of what we have? Time maybe against us but the game goes on beyond the BIL.

We make the best of what we have. There are no silver bullets prior to the BIL.

 

[TSR]

Fiiiiiinal thought - the blueprint for the Lions is there. I expect we'll see 3 games where they just look to pin us back within kicks and we fail to exit.

Intersting Joe Schmidt indicated in his press conference he felt we should have run it back more.

 

[PhilClinton]

The issues with our exits and execution of box kicks etc. is also due to a misaligned skill set priorities between our club and national teams.

For example when I heard Kiss talk earlier in the year he spoke about how the box kick was an overused strategy and the Reds wouldn’t be looking to use it as a core exit kick.

Based on the way the national team is playing and what our opponents do to us, players like Tate will need to improve that part of their game as an additional training skill.

 

[Sir Arthur Higgins]

Yeah the ref was puss. But he didn't overly favour the Irish. We got away with quite a few late tackles

The TMO was the problem in the first half. Interjected too much. He should interject when clear and obvious.
knock ons favored both teams

 

[Sir Arthur Higgins]

Can’t Wright take clearance kicks? They’re abysmal from Loleiso. But the rest of his game was pretty ace, his place kicking is brilliant.

How good was Tupou! Don’t begrudge the man for not passing the ball on his gallop, Ireland could’ve intercepted it, also tough pass to make.

Kellaway did at least two certain try savers, he really stepped up. His defense was great.

Sua’ali’i really needs to be careful with his off the ball shoulder charges, if you’re gonna do it commit to the tackle and wrap your arm.

Ref let things go both ways, I don’t blame him. The touchie was hilarious with his missed call on Mack.

Yes the narrative that JAS was right on his left shoulder. He was two men wide easily with rush players streaming back. He needed more back our backline options to his right or to have passed earlier to frost(?) and options for frost
He wasn’t supported enough for me

 

[KOB1987]

That’s a great video of Jorgenson and shows an exciting young talent coming. I’m somewhat lost how it shows that he would be suited to 10 though. If anything it clearly demonstrates he’s a back 3 player. It shows his speed, his footwork, ability to hit a good line, offload and some decent kicking most or all of which is on the kick return or off a pass or two wider of the breakdown.

I guess it’s just symptomatic of how much people want to find a 10 option. Maybe young Max would be great there - but I’m not sure that video mounts an argument for it at all.

You don’t think all those things would be useful for a 10? I’m not suggesting he’s not a good fullback but when mentioning his skill set I was mostly referring to his footwork, offloads and drop kicks and kicks at goal. Granted they only show his good ones, but at least he has the ability. We aren’t seeing much of that highlight reel from him on the wing other than his speed and the occasional kick.

I should point out that I’m not suggesting we put him at 10 for the Lions, but from a longer term perspective he should perhaps be in the conversation in case some of these other options that are touted don’t measure up. We shouldn’t put too much weight on where a kid played at school, particularly at a school like Joeys where the goal is to fit all the talented players into the one team. He did play at 10 a fair bit in his earlier years.

Anyway people, Im signing out for the year a much happier Wallabies fan than I was this time last year. Wishing everyone a very happy festive season and will see you all back here late January.

 

[Serge]

Yes the narrative that JAS was right on his left shoulder. He was two men wide easily with rush players streaming back. He needed more back our backline options to his right or to have passed earlier to frost(?) and options for frost
He wasn’t supported enough for me

He needed Sua'ali'i to run on an angle to get closer to him in support. He just ran straight downfield and so remained out of support range for a pass from Tupou. Sua'ali'i is far from an international level OC for me and his defence skills continue to be poor. I think we would be best served with him learning his trade as a winger in Super Rugby, where the team can benefit best from his best attribute (his vertical leap) in both attack and defence.

 

[cyclopath]

Finally watched it. I think it was a very good Wallabies' effort. If you look at the numbers Ireland had the better of most stats. Our defence is really becoming a positive - I know last week was a bit off but the trajectory overall is excellent.
As others have noted we need to get more mileage from kicks - it's just not good enough to be 20-30m shorter than the opponents. Apart from the distance on his kicks from hand, Lolesio was good.
The refereeing was really not Test standard. We did not lose because of it, but rugby did. There were dud calls both ways. The non-yellow for the head contact on Valetini was a howler though. Just not close to consistent with multiple similar incidents in recent times that have all been yellow, at least (this one was a yellow every day of the week).
With a little bit of luck we'd have had 3 wins from 4, something few would have realistically predicted pre-tour. A good tour.

 

[TSR]

They would all be useful at 10 without demonstrating he would be a good option at 10. That clips doesn’t show any real distribution skills or game management. It shows him being great with time and space or running a great line onto a good pass. It also shows him powering through contact a fair bit but I kinda disregard that given it is schoolboy level. I’ll leave it at that.

Merry Christmas KOB. Hope you have a great break.

 

[TSR]

With regards to the break, given it was Tupou I’m honestly a bit surprised he didn’t try to grubber ahead for Sua’ali’i

 

[BDA]

I assume schmidt now has an idea of who his preferred starters are likely to be for the lions series. Would love to know whether he sees Skelton in his best 15. A lot of different opinions on this site.

 

[Brumby Runner]

I'm amazed he hasn't been yellow carded so far. I thought he had a quiet game with a couple of decent patches.

The cards will come when Aussie refs handle the games at SR25, if he doesn't get those charges out of his system. Could see the Tahs losing games because of his indiscretions.

 

[wamberal99]

I assume schmidt now has an idea of who his preferred starters are likely to be for the lions series. Would love to know whether he sees Skelton in his best 15. A lot of different opinions on this site.

Kerevi?

 

[Brumby Runner]

I assume schmidt now has an idea of who his preferred starters are likely to be for the lions series. Would love to know whether he sees Skelton in his best 15. A lot of different opinions on this site.

The difference between the lineout success this week and the abysmal performance last week perfectly illustrates the detrimental effect playing Skelton has on the team. His other assets, ability to disrupt the opposition maul and atytracting multiple defenders when carrying don't compensate for the losses of possession and territory that occur by not having a proper jumper in the lineout. Just how many carries did he make in the game against Scotland? I seem to recall someone listing it as about 6 or 8 carries only, and every one of them was easily handled by the Scottish defence. We, and that means Schmidt and his assistants, should now realise that we have sufficient effective Locks here and as far as test selection is concerned, put Skelton out to pasture.