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RWC: Pool C - Wallabies v Georgia, SdF Sunday 10th September 2am

KOB1987

John Eales (66)
A lot of posters are down on Nic White. While I agree he kicks the ball too much, it is clearly Eddie's game plan. Three phases at most and kick. Carter Gordon did it exactly the same in the first half, even when there was a clear and obvious overlap in the backline. Where Nic had it over Tate in this game was his speed to the breakdown and in clearing the ball. Tate was extremely slow.

Halfback will be of interest for next week. I presume Tate will have to sit out at least 12 days under the concussion protocol, and it looked like Nic finished with a bad shoulder. I'd say it will be Fines-Leleiwasa to start. Hopefully Eddie doesn't pull one of his usual tricks and put Donaldson on the bench as cover at No 9. With Kellaway maybe coming back in, that could be the sort of mind blowing move Jones would make.
Yes refer to my post above about it being 35 degrees. IFL starting against Fiji would be appropriate, White would be on the bench but possibly only used if necesssary.
 

SteveWA

Charlie Fox (21)
It was a good win, I thought it would be closer. The Wallabies played to their strengths and negated the Georgian strengths. Whether they are good enough to progress remains to be seen, but they did what they had to do in this one.
 

rugbyAU

Bob Davidson (42)
Plenty of Positives

- Back 3 very good
- Goal kicking much better at 6/7, good to have two goal kickers in the XV and take the pressure off Gordon
- Skelton & Arnold forming a good combination
- Front row good at scrum time
- No serious injuries, with slipper & Pone coming back
- Better discipline (we gave away our lowest number of penalties this WC cycle)

Negatives

- Tate probably out next week, White was poor when he came on
- Lineout was woeful late, but we had a lack of height and no specialist second rower on the bench so that can be solved
 

Joe Blow

John Hipwell (52)
We neede to have Frost on the bench, or Philip if Frost not available. There was too much indiscriminate kicking, just punching the ball back straight to the opposition. That looks like the plan, to play without the ball. I’m not sure our defence is up to it, particularly late in the game.
Both Gordon and Donaldson were very deep at first receiver and did not connect with Kerevi. We have some explosive and talented outside backs. Hopefully we plan to use them at some point.
A good game for Donaldson but not yet convinced. Kellaway would have brought more structure.

Selecting a non jumping lock and a poor goal kicking 10 mean sacrifices elsewhere.
Bench was always going to be a problem
 

molman

Jim Lenehan (48)
Yes refer to my post above about it being 35 degrees. IFL starting against Fiji would be appropriate, White would be on the bench but possibly only used if necesssary.
It's an interesting one. Do you start with the pace Issak Fines-Leleiwasa brings or with the veteran White. IFL hasn't been in the squad for as long (being in the Aus A's most of the time) and likely has a lot less cohesion with the team, so if White is fit, I wouldn't be surprised to see him start.

I also agree with @Brumby Runner somewhat on the criticism of Nic White. He was fine. His passing was crisper than Tate's and he is an asset defensively. His box kicking is fine, technically good actually, but it just doesn't seem to work with the Wallabies. We're just not attune to it as a team like some of the NH who use it tactically to move down the field and to shift the defensive patterns of the opposition with good effect. White does seem a little less keyed into the way the team is looking to play however. Maybe he reverts to old patterns too much, but it seems that our attack stutters a little under him.

There was a reasonable amount of space out there in that game and I'm not sure White and/or Carter unlocked it as well as they could have.
 

molman

Jim Lenehan (48)
We neede to have Frost on the bench, or Philip if Frost not available. There was too much indiscriminate kicking, just punching the ball back straight to the opposition. That looks like the plan, to play without the ball. I’m not sure our defence is up to it, particularly late in the game.
Both Gordon and Donaldson were very deep at first receiver and did not connect with Kerevi. We have some explosive and talented outside backs. Hopefully we plan to use them at some point.
A good game for Donaldson but not yet convinced. Kellaway would have brought more structure.

Selecting a non jumping lock and a poor goal kicking 10 mean sacrifices elsewhere.
Bench was always going to be a problem
Any coach will be looking at the campaign as a whole, so there was always going to be compromises in this game, not to mention our existing injury impacts (Slipper, Pone, Kerevi returning.. etc..). If you are going to try things out, rest some players and/or explore certain things then this was a game to do it. I was actually surprised the goal kicking didn't shift to Carter in the second half. He needs some more time in front of the sticks under game pressure.

Much of the kicking was fine and more-oft resulted in a next gain and again gives the Wallabies more time getting use to the notion of kicking being part of our game. Even though far from clean, I actually really appreciated seeing more kicking from a range of players. Marky Marks 50-22 was great. The lineout wasn't the best in the second half, but with the jumpers we had it wasn't entirely unexpected. Players got shuffled around a lot so that Eddie has some insight into their capacity in what-ifs. Koroibete shifting into the centers like Daugunu has at the Reds/Aus A's etc is actually something I wished had been tried more earlier. I mean Koro roams so much already.
 

Sully

Tim Horan (67)
Staff member
I think that many of you are forgetting that this is a tournament and we have limited players. Player who have injuries and fatigue that must be managed. We don't know how Frost is travelling, he may have needed freshening up. Arnold and Skelton may have better heat adaption. Who knows. The coaching staff picked a team to defeat Georgia, it wasn't our best team but it did the job. Look at the bigger picture occasionally.
 

Tomikin

David Codey (61)
White kicked a few he shouldn't have but he did have a belter 50/22 attempt that was only stopped by a pretty impressive dive from the 15.

He put it in the corners and then put it away when it stopped working towards the end of the game. He hasn't played for while and did the job.

Wouldn't be mad if ILF started next week with White on the bench again.
 
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