What I have been saying for the last few months. Not only were the Wallabies penalised with the Uruguayan LH boring in and up, this is exactly how the English got dominance early over the Welsh. The first and second scrums clearly showed Marler at 65 degrees to his front row team mates who drove straight through the welsh as they no longer had a THP. This is exactly what got the Wallabies penalised off the park last year. Now the Welsh eventually realised that the referee wasn't going to call Marler (obviously they know he will get away with it) and practiced a quick strike and clearance. The Wallabies haven't shown that they can achieve that quick clearance. Indeed they seem to want to go the other and win the battle, which is commendable but unwise if the opposition is not going to be held to the rules, which I have no doubt the Wallabies will be even a hint of weakness will see them penalised.
No such thing as a no-brainer with some refs. Sir Muggins yesterday and his erstwhile ARs (including Jaco) couldn't pick up the Uruguayan THP pulling backwards for several scrums (they eventually cottoned on) or one they won by hooking it back by hand! If they cannot even deal with what is happening, how will they get around their preconceptions?The problem is that you would think it would be a no brainer for the refs to pick up. But they either don't or choose to ignore it. I find it unlikely that Gatland wouldn't have pointed it out to the refs before they played England - yet I don't recall Marler getting pended for it once.
Let's hope Poite is paying attention.
Barbarian said:The centre pairing England goes for will certainly be interesting.
Do they go with Burgess and Barritt again? The amount of criticism they have copped suggests probably not.
Does Barritt move back to 12 and Henry Slade come in at 13?
Does Burgess retain the 12 jersey and Slade comes in at 13?
If Tom Wood gets injured will Burgess move to 6 and Barritt and Slade combine in the centres.
This is of course assuming Jonathan Joseph is still injured. That seems almost certain.
I certainly can't see them playing Farrell at 10 and Ford at 12 which is how they finished the game against Wales.
I don't know if they'll play Slade at 13. Bit of a waste putting him there. Better to leave Barritt at 13 and put Slade inside him?
Trouble is that Slade is a Rookie with a capital "R" and this is a big game.
They'll probably play it safe, they might go for Farrell/Ford at 10/12. They've used it before.
Farrell definitely won't be dropped IMO. With Poite blowing up every scrum, they'll want Farrell to knock them over all day.
Settle down mate, we're only playing England. It's not Japan or anything.Going to be a tough one for the Wallabies. England will be desperate and will beat them by 50 to set the record straight.
Japan? Dunno what you'r about. This is England vs Wallabies.Settle down mate, we're only playing England. It's not Japan or anything.
Don't underestimate this England side, they will be hurting now and will be out to prove a point,
Marlar bores in at every scrum, but our TH is young and lacks the experience to sort it, a good TH will and then Marlar is negated to the second division,
Is your TH up to the job?
My thoughts are that Cheika's strategy isn't to send emails to Poite, it's to do what you suggest - negate him. No doubt they have been working on it, the fact that Holmes didn't get time last night is a pointer that he is going to be given said gig. And yes, he's up to it.
Who's the ref'?
Is it Poite?
Fuck me, Poite and Clancy. Fair dinkum those two are ordinary.Yup & just to add to the fun Clancy is AR (with someone called Mitrea who I know nothing about) & Veldsman TMO. Good luck with that lot, you're gonna need it.