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

[Tex]

So on account of my Foxtel Play trial account lapsing and having no TV through which to watch tomorrow's asado, I find myself at my parents' house, about to catch some zeds before a putrid alarm at fuck-knows-whatoclock, and I find myself attending to my ablutions in the spare dunny.

It's essentially a closet filled with the sort of nick-nacks a family accumulates over 35-odd years.

Being a cultured man I like to read when I shit. Apparently this has been so since at least 12 years ago, as the resident reading material happens to be highly relevant to this evening's events. See attached.

Clearly this is a portent from the Gods. An overly-ambitious cutout pass will be snaffled by an opportunistic outside centre who's runaway try will tear the game open.

Gentlemen, may we pray that it's an Argie who throws the errant pass.

Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk

It was an inside pass and a galloping lock, but who are we to quibble on the details!

 

[wamberal]

I have this feeling that behind the scenes the guys have been working on a game plan that's all about beating the All Blacks, and before each game they develop a sub plan to get through the opposition. Which is why we've looked a bit scratchy some times.

Just a hunch.

Totally agree, Cheika is enough of a businessman to have a strategic plan aimed at winning Bill.


Doesn't mean we will, though.

 

[The Snout]

Opinions are like arseholes and since I'm an arsehole, here's mine.....

New Zealand Emergency Services better be on suicide watch next Sunday morning. Could become known as Lemming Sunday.

If New Zealand lose to Australia, 13 years of Bledisloe and general superiority over the Wallabies won't matter for shit compared to that scar.

Laxative sales will be at a low in NZ this week. Expect to see lots of NZ Herald articles on why NZ will win to reassure a nervous populous.

As for our boys, nice to see it finally making the front page around the place.

Australia's defence was great. Arg last scored in the 54th minute, it's this defensive mindset that the Wallabies have established which impresses me the most.

Tries. Under Deans etc we seemed to be 1 or 2 tries short, once again today we scored 4 tries.

We are well set for the Final. Yeah, history doesn't have us favourites, but it's a Final and anything can happen as the 1/4s and Semis have proven.

When optimism was handed out, Australians were first in line, that's just how we roll.

 

[Rugbynutter39]

Was it just me - but I thought Toby Smith brought a lot more solidity to our scrum when he replaced Slipper.

Slipper with his injury is just not the player he was. Our one consolation is NZ scrum not as good as Argentina scrum.

But the positives our back 3 - Fardy Hooper and Pocock - would not swap them for anyone - world beating....

We don't have the fastest wingers but fast thinkers they are - smart positional winger play by them.

And how good did Genia play....very positive....and Foley in terms of leading the side in attackj and moreso cover defence very good....kicking a bit so so - but sealed for me any doubts that he will be our starting 10 for some time....

 

[The Snout]

Was it just me - but I thought Toby Smith brought a lot more solidity to our scrum when he replaced Slipper.

Slipper with his injury is just not the player he was. Our one consolation is NZ scrum not as good as Argentina scrum.

But the positives our back 3 - Fardy Hooper and Pocock - would not swap them for anyone - world beating..

We don't have the fastest wingers but fast thinkers they are - smart positional winger play by them.

And how good did Genia play..very positive..and Foley in terms of leading the side in attackj and moreso cover defence very good..kicking a bit so so - but sealed for me any doubts that he will be our starting 10 for some time..

Yep, give me wingers who are Rugby players first and fast second. Both are nice but I'll take brains over tricks.

Foley is about as fun as my Toyota Camry, but he's been steady and has earned the right to be 10 for some time. Cooper is done, he needed to mature and be more consistent over the past 4 years since 2011 but it's just not there. For me, even as a fan of Cooper, this is his last Wallabies squad appearance, need to move on with the improving Foley and foster young talent.

It's funny, not long ago we couldn't work out who 9 and 10 should be. For the last few games I think I haven't seen any major debate that Foley and Genia are it. Just seemed to sort itself out. Like bonus points and 2 hookers.

 

[Tex]

Was it just me - but I thought Toby Smith brought a lot more solidity to our scrum when he replaced Slipper.

Slipper with his injury is just not the player he was. Our one consolation is NZ scrum not as good as Argentina scrum.

But the positives our back 3 - Fardy Hooper and Pocock - would not swap them for anyone - world beating..

We don't have the fastest wingers but fast thinkers they are - smart positional winger play by them.

And how good did Genia play..very positive..and Foley in terms of leading the side in attackj and moreso cover defence very good..kicking a bit so so - but sealed for me any doubts that he will be our starting 10 for some time..

Toby is a solid as fuck player when he's at loosehead. He got a bit toweled up when he was asked to come on at tighthead earlier in the comp, but he more than made up for it last night.

One other element of his game that he excells at is his technique taking the ball into contact. He initiates contact and drives through the shoulder, making him fucking effective at breaking the gain line.

 

[Rugbynutter39]

What a joke!

Only won by 14.

4 tries to nil.

And if Barnes ref'd the breakdown normally we would have had 3-5 more penalties!

I don't think too many people would be saying Argentina were robbed - 4 tries to nil saids it all.. Argentina made many breaks but credit to our covering and scrambling defence there to hold them out.

 

[Rugbynutter39]

Saw the last 15 minutes. We look rooted.

If you saw how Argentina stretched us across the park you could understand why.

 

[Blue]

Anyone else see the SMH player ratings this morning?

He drives a hard bargain this James Polson fella, whoever he is. If you read his ratings and didn't know the result you'd think the Wallabies lost by 40.

 

[GTPIH]

It wasn't even a line ball. Very obviously backwards!

The chief whinger re the pass is Clive Woodward - enough said.

 

[teach]

It's a Final and anything can happen as the 1/4s and Semis have proven.

Got that part right.
I think (most of ) us kiwis won't be that bad. There will be some hysteria in the media in an attempt to get ratings but I can generally ignore them. We are attempting to do what no other team has ever done. Win back to back. At least we have the opportunity to play for it.

After the 2007 debacle I don't get too worked up anymore. I almost blew a foo foo valve watching that game.

I just hope it is not a dodgy red or yellow, or a missed forward pass etc that decides the game.

 

[Scoey]

Can any of the front row 'experts' on here give me an opinion here? I haven't read the thread as sitting upright at my desk and giving some semblance of being 'present' at work is about all I can muster at the moment so forgive me if it's been done already.

Slipper getting done over at the scrum. From my viewing it didn't look like he was entirely to blame for the numerous collapses. I get that Kafer probably doesn't know what he's talking about but Kearns kept agreeing with Barnes which confused me. A) because he wasn't obviously biased to his team; and B) because he was agreeing with a ref.

It looked to me that Herrera was binding on Slippers armpit and after the set he would slide up onto Slipper's arm. As the weight came on, Herrera's elbow would go from pushing out somewhat to pointing straight at the ground, pulling down on Slipper's arm. Slipper would drop his bind (as Herrera was pulling his arm down) and then the scrum would go down.

I could be totally wrong but it seemed like it was something that Barnes should've been picking up on. Binding on the arm always fucks the scrum so had he sorted that out, we 'might' have seen a better contest?

 

[Pfitzy]

Was it just me - but I thought Toby Smith brought a lot more solidity to our scrum when he replaced Slipper.

Slipper with his injury is just not the player he was. Our one consolation is NZ scrum not as good as Argentina scrum.

Things to note in this discussion:

1) Slipper let Herrera bind such that he could twist down and in, putting Slipper in the weaker position. His dodgy shoulders probably don't help when trying to keep his elbow out and up. Both the penalties I saw were a result of this. Moore should have mentioned to Barnes as such from the first

2) The Argies played us on the "early engage" that Barnes got suckered for. Moore should have taken charge on that.

3) Slipper also had his arse in the air a little.

4) Smith was good after his first scrum, which was penalised for us getting bossed. However the improvement during the game says more about the Argie bench than Smith directly, and the inclusion of TPN around the same time. This happened earlier in the year where we were under a bit of pressure early but monstered the Argies when their bench came on.


Couple of great runs in the open by each of the bench front rowers.

The concerning bit though is we didn't really try to punch holes in the Argies in the early stages, just hit the flanks and got our results there. ABs will be a different beast.

Folau surely isn't fit after that impact.

 

[Scoey]

Got that part right.
I think (most of ) us kiwis won't be that bad. There will be some hysteria in the media in an attempt to get ratings but I can generally ignore them. We are attempting to do what no other team has ever done. Win back to back. At least we have the opportunity to play for it.

After the 2007 debacle I don't get too worked up anymore. I almost blew a foo foo valve watching that game.

I just hope it is not a dodgy red or yellow, or a missed forward pass etc that decides the game.

Amen WOB. As much as I thought Barnes had a hard on for us last night, I think you'd be hard pressed to be super critical of him. I can (hopefully) deal with it if we lose to you guys in an even contest but I don't want to have to deal with the anguish of 4 years of what its. Conversely, if we beat you guys, I want it to be excuse free. Both teams deserve that.

 

[Chunderstruck]

The chief whinger re the pass is Clive Woodward - enough said.

The ITV guys were talking it up post game, basically saying it was definitely forward and shocking that it wasn't referred. Lynagh practically went off on them, never seen him so pissed off.

They used a straight line on the analysis to "prove" it went forward, even though the only thing that matters is whether it's backwards out of the hands. Salty!

 

[dru]

Did he really? Phipps put on a bad pass early on, but fuck me if Genia didn't do some stupid shit in that second half. 90% of his kicks achieved nothing.

I find it just crazy how certain players gain instant disdain and others are allowed a little latitude. From fan elements.

Genia deserves his starting slot, but Phipps has been massive.

 

[Braveheart81]

I thought that was our best impact from the bench as a whole for quite a few games.

TPN especially really provided some great go forward at a time when we were really struggling to control Argentina's momentum. When Toby Smith followed that up with a big run we were suddenly back in control and hung on well from there.

McCalman, Holmes, and Mumm all did what was required.

To'omua and Beale both made some good tackles.

Phipps put Mitchell away down the sideline. That short snipe before passing is something his game has been missing and we need to see more of.

 

[The Snout]

I just hope it is not a dodgy red or yellow, or a missed forward pass etc that decides the game.

Totally agree. Let the Rugby decide. I think we'll be fine.

 

[Pfitzy]

Phipps put Mitchell away down the sideline. That short snipe before passing is something his game has been missing and we need to see more of.

Genia had a couple of opportunities to snipe that he didn't take, too.

I'm wondering if this is Cheika's plan: Genia returns to running from the base against the ABs, and puts the kicking game away.

 

[EatSleepDrinkRuck]

though the only thing that matters is whether it's backwards out of the hands. Salty!

Seems like Australia haven't really won a game since beating the pants off England, if you listen to Home Nation media.
I'm probably being a bit OTT about it but it wouldn't surprise me to hear that many people who were supporting the underdog Argies this week will be supporting the Darkness next week.

It's just weird how hysterical sections of the tabloid media have been about the Wallabies