New Zealand v Australia - Auckland - 23 August 2014

[Tip]

I would have loved to see Hooper doing his job on&after the last scrum of the match.

How Sam Cane can beat Hooper to the tackle by 5 metres is unbeknownst to me, especially considering Hoopers apparent speed.

But then again I did say that Hooper would have a good game however would not perform the core duties of a 7 well. I got shouted down to smithereens for that "fence sitting" statement. Yes he ran well with the footy and yes he was ineffective / absent at the breakdown. Talk about bittersweet predictions.

 

[Slim 293]

How Sam Cane can beat Hooper to the tackle by 5 metres is unbeknownst to me, especially considering Hoopers apparent speed.

It's quite puzzling how his direct opposite number with fresh legs might've beaten him to the ruck.........

 

[Tip]

What is more puzzling is that Hooper did not even compete at said ruck.

 

[Braveheart81]

Fardy Carter was on that side of the scrum from what I can see (as Skelton had replaced Palu and was playing lock) Higgers was at number 8.

AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) was the first player to the breakdown and missed the clean out.

 

[Train Without a Station]

But still Braveheart he's a 7 goddammit! Shouldn't matter if the 13 other players on the team had committed to the breakdown, he should hit that ruck too!

 

[Slim 293]

Actually, Carter was packing down at openside flanker.........

Carter............

Just looking at the recording of the game at work and it would appear that Higgers was the one guilty of the ineffective cleanout..........

 

[Braveheart81]

I'm waiting for Tip to suggest that it's ridiculous that the 7 was packing behind the loosehead prop when the ball was going to go the other way!

 

[Train Without a Station]

To just say Hooper should be there because he is the 7 is really a ridiculous statement. It needs to be considered what side of the scrum he was on in relation to the breakdown, how far from the breakdown he was and most importantly, what players were between him and the breakdown.

If, as is suggest, Carter, Higginbotham and AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) were all in between him and the breakdown, he has no business following the ball in and should be preparing to get to the next breakdown.

 

[Tip]

Due to the grainy nature of the youtube video match replays it was hard to see exactly where each forward was packing down. It was indeed Carter. Apologies for assuming our Openside flanker was packing down on the Openside.

And yes Braveheart, in Australia we play Openside and Blindside flankers. We don't have the Afrikanz method of a left & right flanker.

So yes, why the fuck was the openside flanker and our captain, packing down on the blindside!? If we that concerned with our reserve prop at scrum time, then don't sub them on.

 

[Slim 293]

Obviously Carter was packing down on that side of the scrum to strengthen it as Kepu had just come off, however he didn't arrive to the breakdown until after the penalty had been awarded........

I'm just wondering if in that situation it's better to have Simmons on the side of the scrum with Carter in the second row, as he has more experience there?

 

[Braveheart81]

And yes Braveheart, in Australia we play Openside and Blindside flankers. We don't have the Afrikanz method of a left & right flanker.

So yes, why the fuck was the openside flanker and our captain, packing down on the blindside!? If we that concerned with our reserve prop at scrum time, then don't sub them on.

I'd have to watch through a replay of each scrum but I'm pretty sure our 7 packs on the loose head side at every scrum on our feed.

 

[Slim 293]

Due to the grainy nature of the youtube video match replays it was hard to see exactly where each forward was packing down. It was indeed Carter. Apologies for assuming our Openside flanker was packing down on the Openside.

And yes Braveheart, in Australia we play Openside and Blindside flankers. We don't have the Afrikanz method of a left & right flanker.

So yes, why the fuck was the openside flanker and our captain, packing down on the blindside!? If we that concerned with our reserve prop at scrum time, then don't sub them on.

You really are reaching........

 

[Train Without a Station]

Where on the field was the scrum. I cannot be bothered looking it up on a youtube video.

 

[Tip]

I was actually really disappointed in Ewen for bringing Benny A on.

Benny A has a reputation. If Kepu can last 77 minutes without giving away a scrum penalty what use is it to sub him off!?

Alexander is not going to get "the rub of the green" from referee's unless the Aus scrum pushes the opposition backwards 3 metres before it collapses.

Plus, said interchange meant our fastest forward was the furtherest away from the 1st phase ball.

EDIT: TWAS, it was about 20 metres in from touch

 

[qwerty51]

It wasn't just that scrum, when Skelton went on Carter went to the right flank all the time. I can only assume this was to provide more support to the tighthead. It wasn't just for Benny A it was for Kepu too. Anyway, there were 2 other Wallabies that failed in the cleanout before Hooper arrived. We had the numbers there easily, they didn't do a good enough job and Cane got the penalty - it happens. Singling out Hooper for that is just ridiculous.

 

[Braveheart81]

I was actually really disappointed in Ewen for bringing Benny A on.

Benny A has a reputation. If Kepu can last 77 minutes without giving away a scrum penalty what use is it to sub him off!?

Kepu had an injury concern and they brought him off. At the 77 minute mark I'm pretty sure the plan was to keep Kepu on the whole game.

 

[Wilson]

Also not the first time Link has played the flankers left and right, definitely did it against Italy last year, probably other games as well.

 

[qwerty51]

Also not the first time Link has played the flankers left and right, definitely did it against Italy last year, probably other games as well.

Horwill @ 6 with the Reds too but we'll never mention that again.

 

[Tip]

Simmons @ 6 with the Reds too but we'll never mention that again either

Hopefully Ewen doesn't bench Slipper this week. I'd rather see Slipper move to TH in the event of an injury with Cowan coming on than risk the wrath of the Referee with Alexander at TH.

 

[Brumby Runner]

I guess it will depend on the flow of the game.

In the French series, Beale came on for To'omua twice and Foley once. You could probably assume there's equal chance of Foley replacing either of them.

Hopefully Link shows more faith in his bench this week. A bit more urgency and pace on the game at the end would have probably got us across the line.

Skelton, Phipps and Foley 10 minutes earlier together with Kuridrani for McCabe with 15 to go (and shifting AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) to the wing).

I think sticking with our front row for as long as we did was probably the right call though. They were going well and we probably had more to lose by changing them than having fresh players in those positions would have gained.

Exactly. Slipper especially should stay on for the full 80 if he can, but if he needs to have a rest Benny A should replace him, and then only shift to TH if Kepu has to go off thus leaving Pek on the bench for as long as possible.