New Zealand vs Australia - Bledisloe 2, 24th August 2013

[Rassie]

MMM makes Palu look like he is indestructible. There are numerous Wallabies who've missed similar amounts of football in the last few years as Palu. Pocock and Horwill are two examples.

As Pfitzy raised in another thread, Hooper did get four steals at the breakdown. That is an excellent outcome however you look at it. Would he have got significantly more steals if he'd been involved in a lot more rucks? It's impossible to say but potentially he chose to involve himself where there was greatest opportunity for impact.

As has been mentioned in numerous places, the Wallabies played with a lot of width (without really providing enough go forward to earn the right to go wide) which meant that rucks were formed right across the field.

Now if you look at part of Scott Allen's video he showed Hooper on the right of the field, MMM in the middle and Mowen further out on the left. It has also been highlighted that our locks got to the most rucks first.

Now perhaps the backrow were tasked with spacing themselves out across the field because the plan was to spread the ball whenever possible and the locks were tasked with staying in tight and hitting the rucks off pick and drives etc.

Whilst our gameplan didn't work, perhaps some of the statistical outcomes are more a reflection of that gameplan than the workrate of some players.

But a game plan won't be effective with players that have a lower work rate than the opposition doing a specific task.

Considering Australia are a lot depending on a frontal assault IE the locks make carries and the hard yards and ruck clear outs if their life depends on it. For Australia to be successful they have to top the opposition at that as it has a knock on effect. No quick ruck clearance meaning your 10 are going to get slow ball with less space and a organized defense.

Not questioning the ability of the player here but the performance against the opposition who also had similiar tasks and who also try to disrupt them.

But without those quick breakdown work your 9 and 10 will have a bad time no matter who they are. That is why Smith Cruden looked to perform much better than Genia Tamooa but its basically the difference between quality ball and slow ball. When Australia got it going AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) almost scored but was pulled down by the cover.

Australia's locks were hitting the rucks first considering they carried the ball twice as much as any other player in the Aussie team. But same goes for McCaw who carries the ball more than the others . Maybe the perception is created by Hooper not being used as part of the sledgehammer squad when trying to create quick ball from the phases as the bigger locks are used to do that. So they will not be close to rucks but spread out a little. That also makes them less predictable as otherwise the oncoming attackers would be forwards for Genia like Hougaardt had with SA which made us predictable and easy to defend against.

 

[KOB1987]

ba

Point taken.It's just that normally when you refer to the "back" it is usually 6,7 and 8.If he was referring to 4,5 and 8,then I thought Simmons had a reasonable game too.

back 3 is 11, 14 & 15..I was just being a pest though, so ignore me

 

[KOB1987]

That's the key right there. Shatz needs a few years yet before he can be even considered for Test duties, if ever. Good S15 level player but not physical enough to take the next step.

If Link brings Shatz in then getting rid of RD has achieved nothing..hopefully it's just speculation by the journo (which it implicitly is) and nothing more.

 

[Phil]

ba
back 3 is 11, 14 & 15..I was just being a pest though, so ignore me

Sorry,it is only Tuesday,I must be a bit slow on the uptake.You are right,back 3 should be 11,14 and 15.Maybe I was pinning all the blame on the forwards,but if Rassie meant that back 3 then I must agree!

 

[Braveheart81]

I'm not sure what Rassie means unless he posts a miniaturised animated gif.

 

[No4918]

From 2 pieces of analsis:
Damien Hill - Hooper has an excellent workrate
Scott Allen - Hooper is very effective when involved but needs to a lot more

No wonder mugs like me can't get this stuff right.

 

[ACT Crusader]

3M has had some rotten luck with injuries. You can't help but feel sorry for the guy.

I won't be surprised to see Link go with the two flyers on the flanks to start especially with the ABs being forced to play a new 10. Setting Gill and Hooper on to our 1st 5 could really do some damage and put pressure on the likes of Nonu and Dagg to come into 1st receiver more often than usual thus changing our attack.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

3M has had some rotten luck with injuries. You can't help but feel sorry for the guy.

I won't be surprised to see Link go with the two flyers on the flanks to start especially with the ABs being forced to play a new 10. Setting Gill and Hooper on to our 1st 5 could really do some damage and put pressure on the likes of Nonu and Dagg to come into 1st receiver more often than usual thus changing our attack.

I wouldn't be surprised either. One possibility is that Hooper could play eight and Gill openside, with Mowen to blindside, though I've always loved the French left/right style with a brute at the back of the scrum (as evidenced by my avatar I suppose). I still can't help but feel that we need a real abrasive type somewhere in the back row just to let the AB forwards know they're in a contest. Fardy seems like the obvious choice off the bench I would think. The other possibility is that Mowen will move to 6 and McCalman to come in at eight for some work rate and run metres.

Gutted for MMM, he's played some good footy when fit this year. Maybe he was carrying that injury through most of the game, hence why he was so quiet.

 

[Pfitzy]

The other possibility is that Mowen will move to 6 and McCalman to come in at eight for some work rate and run metres.

This should be the ONLY possibility. We can't have two hound dogs and one brute, because we lack brutes in the tight five.

Having not mentioned it yet, what I want to see is more fucking hunger to just be utter, UTTER c***s in the next game. Don't worry about anything else except snotting whatever is in front of you.

 

[ACT Crusader]

This should be the ONLY possibility. We can't have two hound dogs and one brute, because we lack brutes in the tight five.

Having not mentioned it yet, what I want to see is more fucking hunger to just be utter, UTTER c***s in the next game. Don't worry about anything else except snotting whatever is in front of you.

Bring back Brial aye Nick

 

[Rassie]

No4918 compared to the opposition it was nowhere near as it should be to challenge them. I am referring to the first test and not what he is capable of. But I think his frame a bit smaller if you compare it to SMith, Pocock, McCaw and others who have bigger frames counts against him as to the way he can be used.

 

[Scotty]

This should be the ONLY possibility. We can't have two hound dogs and one brute, because we lack brutes in the tight five.

Having not mentioned it yet, what I want to see is more fucking hunger to just be utter, UTTER c***s in the next game. Don't worry about anything else except snotting whatever is in front of you.

Who are the AB brutes?

Brute and effective are two different things.

 

[Brumby Runner]

Well, McMeniman is injured again and will miss the rest of the Rugby Championship (shoulder injury - surgery and out for six months) so that makes selection issues a bit more straight forward.

Presumably Fardy will start and Douglas or McCalman will come onto the bench.

If Link is going to add another player to the squad, Dennis seems the most likely option.

Prefer to see Jones but as he wasn't in the original 40, I doubt that will happen.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Who are the AB brutes?

Brute and effective are two different things.

A point well made. Read isn't really a brute, just a skilful perpetual motion machine, like all good eights. His work rate is outstanding and he can handle the tough stuff. Haven't seen enough of their new 6 to form much of an opinion yet.

Hooper/Mowen/McCalman could be our best available combo, though slightly lacking in mongrel.

 

[Hawko]

Gutted for MMM, he's played some good footy when fit this year. Maybe he was carrying that injury through most of the game, hence why he was so quiet.

The newspaper report was that the injury occurred during the Super season and that he is now going for surgery. If true, it says that our medical staff somehow think that seriously injured players who really need a shoulder reconstruction are a good pick for a game against NZ.

If the newspaper report is correct, then the first cleanout needs to be those who made that decision.

 

[Slim 293]

Likely Wallaby team according to the Oz:

Possible Wallabies team: 15: Jesse Mogg, 14: Israel Folau, 13: Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12: Christian Lealiifano, 11: James O'Connor, 10: Matt To'omua, 9: Will Genia, 8: Ben Mowen, 7: Michael Hooper, 6: Scott Fardy, 5: James Horwill (c), 4: Rob Simmons, 3: James Slipper, 2: Stephen Moore, 1: Ben Alexander. Reserves. 16: Saia Fainga'a, 17: Sekope Kepu, 18: Scott Sio, 19: Kane Douglas, 20: Liam Gill, 21: Nic White, 22: Quade Cooper, 23: Tevita Kuridrani.

​

Essentially the only change being Fardy coming in for MMM and Douglas to the bench...........

 

[Rassie]

If anyone ask you why the Stormers do not score so many tries just show them this game. People reading stats trying where did it go wrong for teams would go HUH? Rassie WTF you talking about?

 

[Zander]

Most likely the journo is not very smart but they have Slipper at 3.

 

[KOB1987]

Likely Wallaby team according to the Oz:



Essentially the only change being Fardy coming in for MMM and Douglas to the bench.....

The journo backs up his line-up there by saying that there aren't expected to be unforced changes..so it hinges on the validity of that statement.

 

[RoffsChoice]

You'd think would want to get "his team" solid and going ASAP, sticking with the squad from last week and patching up errors makes sense if that's his thoughts.