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

[Sword of Justice]

I'm thinking Horne in for Mitchell for this game if fit. Just think his all round game, especially on defense is going to be needed even though Mitchell is playing very well.

Horne almost plays like a winger - flanker hybrid.

 

[Iñaki Zubizarreta]

I only watched the first half and I saw an Argentina scrum that completely dominated the French? Did that not continue?

I always thought they had one of the best scrums in the world.

You mean the Irish, right? Today it didn't make the difference. Argentina just won their own scrums and push the irish back in their first scrum. It was not the solid scrum we saw against SA in Durban. And it didn't make the difference against Georgia and Tonga (Argentina was supposed to dominated widely, but even made 2 penalties for Georgia for collapsing ).

 

[Viking]

I'm thinking Horne in for Mitchell for this game if fit. Just think his all round game, especially on defense is going to be needed even though Mitchell is playing very well.

Horne almost plays like a winger - flanker hybrid.

Our defence is fine, refer to the Wales game. I'd much prefer Mitchell who has a boot and a knack at finding the try line.

 

[daz]

Good teams find a way to win, even when they have an off day. That was what I saw this morning against Scotland. Lucky? Perhaps, but that is how sport goes sometimes.

Cheika has made me a believer, so I have faith that the boys will do the job against a massively pumped and confident Los Puma team.

But by golly and by gosh, I'll be feeling a whole lot better when D. Pocock is listed on the team sheet for this week.

 

[BDA]

Not sure why you'd drop Mitchell for Horne. Horne's played no rugby for weeks and Mitchell has been excellent.

 

[qwerty51]

Horne definitely needed if fit, those Argies outside backs are scary.

Plus he needs the game time so if we progress he can go opposite Savea.

 

[BDA]

Australia are now 9 from 10 in 2015! impressive!

 

[Hugh Jarse]

According to this article: http://www.americasrugbynews.com/2015/09/13/foreign-born-players-rwc-2015/, Argentina is the only "Vanilla" country at RWC 2015 with no players in their squad that were born overseas and qualified for them on residency or parent/grandparent grounds.

 

[BDA]

I'm pretty happy that Australia has made it to the Semis because from my point of view anything less would have been a major disappointment. Whilst I'd really like to see us go all the way, if we were to bow out this weekend, I'd be pretty happy with our performance at the RWC.

One concern for us is the effects of the Group of Death. We had to peak a lot earlier than most other teams, who were able to build over the first 4 weeks. The result is that the quality of our performance appeared to take a bit of a dip last night. There's a big question mark over whether he'll be able to get back up to top form for the next two weeks.

I think this is a good match up for Australia. We had the wood on Argentina in August. Unless it rains they'll have trouble containing us.

 

[No4918]

If Pocock isn't fit then we can still win. We've beaten Argentina numerous times without Pocock and we can do so again. Have a little faith people!

This week - yes, next week - very unlikely.

 

[aeneas]

Your blokes will need to score early and often to take the wind out of the Pumas. I wouldnt want Aus to be in an arm wrestle ie < 3 ahead with 15 to go against them.

 

[Braveheart81]

One concern for us is the effects of the Group of Death. We had to peak a lot earlier than most other teams, who were able to build over the first 4 weeks. The result is that the quality of our performance appeared to take a bit of a dip last night. There's a big question mark over whether he'll be able to get back up to top form for the next two weeks.

I think this is a good match up for Australia. We had the wood on Argentina in August. Unless it rains they'll have trouble containing us.

Hopefully Folau and particularly Pocock are available this week.

If they can train for most of the week and are then obviously picked in the side it will provide a big mental lift for the whole team. You can say as much as you like about how they trust in the whole squad to get the job done but everyone in the team will also know how important those guys are.

It should also be much easier for Cheika to refocus the team and lift them mentally this week as well. They'll be under no illusions how close they went to bowing out this morning and will know that a whole lot of things need to be a whole lot better.

I think that match was a better preparation for the semi-final than if we'd won by 40 points.

 

[KOB1987]

I agree. Complacency was a big factor in this morning's game. If we'd notched up a big win they'd still be complacent but now know they can't afford to take anything for granted.

 

[Braveheart81]

Urghh... just realised that daylight saving ends this weekend in the UK so this game is 1 hour worse. 3am kick off on a Monday morning means that is almost certainly the end of sleeping for the night.

At least I can watch NFL Red Zone afterwards.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

I'm pretty happy that Australia has made it to the Semis because from my point of view anything less would have been a major disappointment. Whilst I'd really like to see us go all the way, if we were to bow out this weekend, I'd be pretty happy with our performance at the RWC.

Think back 12 months.
Everyone outside the playing enclosure should be either happy or relieved or a bit of both - whatever happens from here on.

 

[rugbyskier]

Another message for the Wallabies:

Never. Forget. Mendoza.

(At least this time they won't have to worry about fricken laser beams)

 

[Viking]

Never. Forget. Mendoza.

That's funny because it's probably the same message Argentina are sending themselves.

 

[Rugbynutter39]

I actually think Beale has made his case to start....and until the game against Scotland was thinking more had just sown up bench spot but now believed showed should start the game. Replacing Mitchell with latter moving to the bench perhaps?

I hope pocock is back as he has been rated by many as player of tournament so far and we definitely struggled without his presence. Hard to see us winning the RWC without Pocock on the field.

 

[Rugbynutter39]

So looks like RWC is over and we are back to playing the Rugby Championship.......given all Rugby Championship sides are now left to play the semi's

We have already won the Rugby Championship so this should be a walk in the park should it not....

 

[galumay]

I havent really fully analysed the reasons and strategy, but I think the Pumas made just 2 kicks in general play in 80 minutes of rugby against Ireland. They relied totally on promoting the ball by smashing across the advantage line, getting go forward then going wide to go round the Irish. It was all done with ball in hand.

In the 2nd half when Ireland stiffened up the defence and the Pumas were unable to make any progress with ball in hand they still firmly resisted any temptation to kick.

I suspect they wanted to avoid as many lineouts as possible and had also identified a softness in the Irish defence - but I think if they stubbonly refuse to kick against australia they will get a different outcome, they wont get across the advantage line nearly as often and if Pocock is back they will be turned over more often.

I suspect it is something Chieka and the coaching staff will be looking at closely.

None the less it was a great game from the Pumas, they held their nerve when the game turned and found a way to take it to another level, almost AB'ish in their approach.

The Wobblies will have to play very well to beat them, hopefully now we have got our 1 bad game in the world cup out of the way!