RWC 2015 Semi Final 2 - Australia v Argentina Twickenham, Monday 19 October, 2:45 AEDT

[Sully]

?

The scrum has arguably been stronger once the bench comes on. The question mark is probably over Smith but he is there for his technique and they'll keep Slipper on for as long as possible.

Don't feed the troll.

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[The_Brown_Hornet]

I'm pretty concerned if that injury news is on the money.

 

[USARugger]

Fun fact: apparently Cheika was close to signing as Los Pumas head coach just before Link resigned.

Not sure how much merit there is to this one - Hourcade signed as Pumas coach in October 2013 (through to the end of the 2015 RWC). McKenzie didn't resign from the Wallabies coaching post until October 2014.

Fun fact: Los Pumas lost to England 31-12 and Wales 40-6 on their 2013 EOYT. That is one hell of a turn-around.. Hats off to Señor Hourcade.

 

[Braveheart81]

Not sure how much merit there is to this one - Hourcade signed as Pumas coach in October 2013 (through to the end of the 2015 RWC). McKenzie didn't resign from the Wallabies coaching post until October 2014.

Fun fact: Los Pumas lost to England 31-12 and Wales 40-6 on their 2013 EOYT. That is one hell of a turn-around.. Hats off to Señor Hourcade.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/r...na-job-last-year/story-e6frf4zl-1227577199398

It can be revealed Cheika was on the verge of signing on as head coach of Argentina midway through last year after being wooed extensively by the UAR and flown to Buenos Aires for meetings.

Argentinian rugby powerbroker Gus Pichot told NewsCorp Australia he held numerous discussions with Cheika and believed he had almost convinced the Australian to move to South America.

Cheika had just won the Super Rugby title with the Waratahs and, at the time, was deciding whether to stay at NSW or not.

 

[USARugger]

Argentina must have been getting cold feet after those European games!

 

[Marcelo]

This is the team that soundly defeated Argentina earlier this year:
1. James Slipper
2. Stephen Moore (c)
3. Greg Holmes
4. Will Skelton
5. Rob Simmons
6. Scott Fardy
7. David Pocock
8. Ben McCalman
9. Nick Phipps
10. Bernard Foley
11. Joe Tomane
12. Matt To'omua
13. Tevita Kuridrani
14. Adam Ashley-Cooper (vc)
15. Israel Folau
Reserves
16. Tatafu Polota-Nau
17. Scott Sio
18. Sekope Kepu
19. Dean Mumm
20. Michael Hooper (vc)
21. Nic White
22. Quade Cooper
23. Kurtley Beale
Interesting that we started with our bench props and I think it's the only game where we dropped Hooper from the starting team.

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaah, that's one of the reasons why I would pick To'omua and Tomane for this game. Tomane always plays hard against the Argies and both are fresh players with too much rest. A big advantage at this level in this moment against tired players who have played about 4/5 full games.

 

[dru]

I keep screaming at my FoxtelGo because all the condensed replays show like 1/3rd of all the scrums. They didn't even show all the scrums for the England game!

*sarcsasm* Sweet, show me 13 phases of crash ball without a single meter gained resulting in a penalty, why would I want to see a powerful dominant scrum crushing an old splintering chariot. *end sarcastic rant*

Absolutely. Scrums are the new black.

 

[dru]

Except that was 16 active players on the field at a time.

This is substantially different because the players were not attempting to participate in the game, did not get in the way of the play and the issue has received no mention apart from here from what I've seen.


You seem to be the only person that thinks it is an issue.

No he's not the only one who thinks it is an issue. It's more about, ok what do you do about it?

From recollection, Mr Doug suggested waiting for the RWC to blow over then look to administrative measures in order to make a statement.

+1 from me.

 

[Tex]

I reckon the injuries to Poey and Folau are possibly worse than we're all hoping. If that's the case I'd prefer to see them rested and given every chance to get up to speed.

Because..........

We're going to do the Argies again.

1. any hint of arrogance will have been obliterated by last weekend's performances.
2. (playing on some stereotypes here) Argentina are driven by emotion and quite possibly torched their well of passion last weekend.
3. we've got the big game experience.
4. the Argie performance against Ireland involved them laying their cards on the table. We know how good they can be and will prepare accordingly.
5. It's the vibe.

 

[pjm]

Compare that with your comment that Slipper has poor core strength.

Review Slippers games to see what I mean.

 

[Omar Comin']

The way I see it we have better discipline and defence while attack and the set piece is fairly even. Breakdown dominance may well come down to whether Pocock is fit and firing. I think they have more good pilfering / counter-rucking players than we do, but no one in Pocock's league. Kicking they have the advantage, both in general play and at goal.

Can't wait for this! I hope it's an epic.

 

[Blue]

Review Slippers games to see what I mean.

Please don't make us do it. Please don't.

 

[BDA]

We're going to do the Argies again.

1. any hint of arrogance will have been obliterated by last weekend's performances.
2. (playing on some stereotypes here) Argentina are driven by emotion and quite possibly torched their well of passion last weekend.
3. we've got the big game experience.
4. the Argie performance against Ireland involved them laying their cards on the table. We know how good they can be and will prepare accordingly.
5. It's the vibe.

One has to wonder whether we've peaked too early though. We seemed to hit our straps against England and then have been on a show descent since then. I'm worried that the Pool of Death will kill us yet.

 

[Blue]

One has to wonder whether we've peaked too early though. We seemed to hit our straps against England and then have been on a show descent since then. I'm worried that the Pool of Death will kill us yet.

No. After two very intense matches you were bound to be a little flat, physically and mentally. Look back at every tournament and the winner will always have a squeaky bum game or two along the way.

 

[aeneas]

One has to wonder whether we've peaked too early though. We seemed to hit our straps against England and then have been on a show descent since then. I'm worried that the Pool of Death will kill us yet.

I suspect the fitness of Mr Pocock may decide your fate. Rather like 1991 when NZ could not select Michael Jones, for religious reasons, missing Mr Pocock from the Wobs could spell doom.

Lol - slightly over the top now I re-read it. But there you go.

 

[Braveheart81]

I agree that if Argentina play as well as they did against Ireland that we will have a difficult time winning without Pocock. That said I don't think it would be anywhere near impossible.

I really don't see Argentina playing as well as they did again this weekend. They produced a scintillating performance against Ireland, particularly in the first 20 minutes and blew the game apart.

Likewise I don't see Australia playing nearly as badly this weekend as they did against Scotland. The game was full of uncharacteristic unforced errors and discipline issues from the Wallabies which haven't been apparent in other recent games.

This will certainly be a tough game as every RWC semi final is but I think it would be foolhardy to use the results of the quarter finals as a predictor of how this game will go.

If you are so sure that Australia are going to get dusted up by Argentina then I suggest putting money on it. You can get well over $3 for an Argentinian win.

 

[Tex]

One has to wonder whether we've peaked too early though. We seemed to hit our straps against England and then have been on a show descent since then. I'm worried that the Pool of Death will kill us yet.

We've got the job done and that's all that counts. A few more sweet kicks from Foley and we wouldn't be having half the conniptions that we've had!

All things going to plan, The Uruk-hai will be waiting in the final and would be white hot favourites to take Bill home again.

Having spent a week deep in Orc territory I've been a bit bemused by the Kiwis' total aversion to anything resembling confidence. Honestly there were blokes chewing their fingernails prior to the France match and would only loosen up and smile once the gap passed 20 points. Strange folk.

 

[Groucho]

Pocock and Sio only did recovery training again, Folau has a run with the team but only for 10 then went back to recovery training as well.

Fun fact: apparently Cheika was close to signing as Los Pumas head coach just before Link resigned.

Interesting. There's a conspiracy in there, given the destination of the flight.

 

[EatSleepDrinkRuck]

As much as is appalls me, I find myself agreeing with B.H. (like when you find yourself half agreeing with an editorial until you realize its Andrew Bolt) -

The Argies put in a spectacular performance against weakened opposition and the Wallabies put in a very flat one against opposition who played a blinder and used up all their luck by the 77th minute.

If all these unusual things (+ an additional 3 minutes of luck) occur then the Wallabies will lose and we will all console ourselves with $15 from a $5 bet.

The likely reason the boys were flat and tired last week is because they have played some monumental games which would be draining not only physically but mentally. It is for this reason that Argentina have a higher chance of being off their game this week after what was a ferocious battle with the Irish (despite the score). Although, it must be said the Scotland game could be still replaying in Wallaby minds and result in a weak performance again.

I think as long as the Wallabies get to bed early this week and practice some scrums in the wet everything will be OK

 

[Braveheart81]

As much as is appalls me, I find myself agreeing with B.H. (like when you find yourself half agreeing with an editorial until you realize its Andrew Bolt) -

WHAT. THE. FUCK???