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

[Derpus]

Both Kerevi and Koreibete to a lesser extent look a little out of sync with the play. Its a completely different set up to what they are used to and both are damaging runners.
Kick, chase and defend will not work for us against anyone in the top 5-6.
Kerevi needs a 10 who plays close to the line and can put him into gaps. Both Gordon and Donaldson were very deep. JOC (James O'Connor) (James O'Connor) looks in decent for for the Baa Baas?
Fiji will be a big step up.

Carter does play close to the line. Its a clear tactical decision.

 

[Joe Blow]

Carter does play close to the line. Its a clear tactical decision.

Looks like it. We are passing back 20 yds to kick 30-40? Better to kick off your 9 and we have the chasers out wide in MK, Marky and Petaia

 

[swingpass]

it is possible of course that what we saw last night is not THE game plan just a game plan. an easy introduction to RWC for both Carter and Donaldson. Enough space to execute without the pressure. We will see what transpires against Fiji and Wales

 

[Members Section]

it is possible of course that what we saw last night is not THE game plan just a game plan. an easy introduction to RWC for both Carter and Donaldson. Enough space to execute without the pressure. We will see what transpires against Fiji and Wales

I'm going to have to agree with this, i've never seen Carter play so deep on the release kick. I dont think he just made that decision at the start of the game

 

[Herman Winchester]

Experience at losing? Or getting carded/shut down by refs....

I thought Skelton did a good job (and I've never been a fan). Spoke with the ref well when he had to & was giving the side a good reving when we started to fall away at towards the end.

It was 9th vs 11th going in and we smashed them so can be proud of the result!

This is the problem right here. If we want to be a chance at winning the World Cup then we should be knocking off Georgia by 50+.

But hey, if you’re all ok with a quarter final finish then good for you.

 

[molman]

Experience at losing? Or getting carded/shut down by refs....

I thought Skelton did a good job (and I've never been a fan). Spoke with the ref well when he had to & was giving the side a good reving when we started to fall away at towards the end.

It was 9th vs 11th going in and we smashed them so can be proud of the result!

Speaking of speaking to the ref well, can we give Tupou props for just saying to the ref he'd knocked it on when on the line rather than wasting everyones time as the TMO looked for a angle to confirm.

 

[Ignoto]

First game where we won the penalty and yellow card count in what I would imagine would go back to sometime in 2015?

 

[molman]

Carter does play close to the line. Its a clear tactical decision.

Agreed. Clearly is part of the plan.

I'm not sure what the fascination is with 10's having to play close to the line as if that's the only way to setup and/or manipulate defensive patterns.

 

[stillmissit]

I thought they all got through some work. I felt no one really hit Valetini on the chest alot of his runs he had to stutter step.

Bit like Samu but felt his hands were a little off he juggled the ball a bit although seemed to regather well but stunned his runs.. will be better for the 40 minutes.

I thought Valetini played one of his poorer games in Wallaby colours. He has always hit the contact too upright but he didn't seem to get into this game, the stats will be interesting. Hoping for a big one from him in the next game.
Gleeson strikes me as Valetini light, and after noting his red helmet in one run, never noticed him again.

 

[dillyboy]

Speaking of speaking to the ref well, can we give Tupou props for just saying to the ref he'd knocked it on when on the line rather than wasting everyones time as the TMO looked for a angle to confirm.

Agreed - thought it was good form from Thor at the time!

 

[dillyboy]

This is the problem right here. If we want to be a chance at winning the World Cup then we should be knocking off Georgia by 50+.

But hey, if you’re all ok with a quarter final finish then good for you.

Really, 9th vs 11th and you think we should be beating them by 50+

The reality is that the players left out of the squad aren't the top choice for their position so we're left out.....

 

[stillmissit]

Both Kerevi and Koreibete to a lesser extent look a little out of sync with the play. Its a completely different set up to what they are used to and both are damaging runners.
Kick, chase and defend will not work for us against anyone in the top 5-6.
Kerevi needs a 10 who plays close to the line and can put him into gaps. Both Gordon and Donaldson were very deep. JOC (James O'Connor) (James O'Connor) looks in decent for for the Baa Baas?
Fiji will be a big step up.

Gordon's normal game is to play it close to the line but his standing back was not his natural game, it seemed to me to be a tactic to keep him out of too much contact and D as it is him then daylight (Donaldson?).

 

[dusk]

Jordy, Koro, Mark and Suli were all good.

Donaldson was ok. The only thing he offers over Kellaway is goal kicking. He may have him in general play kicking as well. He doesn't offer anything to spark the attack. 2 right place right time tries, good on him. Some very poor defense.

"right place right time" that's kind of how rugby works...

 

[HogansHeros]

Wasnt a bad game, cant say it was a great game for the wobs. Was a fair 9th ranked v 11th ranked match. It was only 4 tries to 2, which isnt great when coming up against essentially a semi-professional side, would have been interesting to see the score if Carter had kicked. Hopefully we can keep building and improving throughout the pool matches without too much chopping and changing in the line up.
Good to see the Wallaby scrum being so dominant as that is the one place Georgia likes to compete with the big boys.
Hopefully it continues and Bell and Tuopu stay injury free!

 

[Brumby Runner]

Scrums were great. Even the reserve front row went well when they came on which no one expected.

The lineout was mostly good.

I thought all the forwards had good games.

Gordon wasn't at his best but kept working into the game which is admirable.

Kerevi was well marked but doesn't look to be his old self in attack or defense. He does look a bit slower.

Jordy, Koro, Mark and Suli were all good.

Donaldson was ok. The only thing he offers over Kellaway is goal kicking. He may have him in general play kicking as well. He doesn't offer anything to spark the attack. 2 right place right time tries, good on him. Some very poor defense.

The reserves were all generally OK. Stupid not carrying a lock on the bench.

Tactics are exactly what Eddie said. A couple of phases then kick. Personally I hate it and any time we play a team with better kickers than us or a good counter attacking team we will get pumped. Kicking the ball away immediately on turnover ball when you have an overlap and against an unstructured defense is moronic IMO. More like robots than thinking rugby players.

Fiji will be a real test. I'm worried about our backline defense and their counter attacking ability.

This is precisely how I saw it too. We will have a much harder time playing against Fiji if we continually kick possession away, at any and all points on the ground. Eddie has been quoted as saying most tries are scored in the first three phases, and his plan seems to be if a try hasn't happened in three phases, then kick and try again next time you get possession. This completely ignores the benefits of tiring out the defence with ball in hand, and I am also rather skeptical of the premise in any case. Some stats I've seen say that most tries are scored from lineouts. If that is anywhere near the fact of the matter, why would anyone go into a test match with no specialist lock/lineout operator on the bench?

Anyway, it was a comfortable win, and that is immeasurably better than previous form this year.

 

[dru]

Agreed. Clearly is part of the plan.

I'm not sure what the fascination is with 10's having to play close to the line as if that's the only way to setup and/or manipulate defensive patterns.

With big men ready to hit the line in the centres, and big wingers ready to hit hard at his hip, and a flyhallf who can stand and play in traffic, I want a flat 10. There is always the option to retreat deep, doing the opposite with a naturally deep 10 is more problematic.

It is far from the only way to manipulate defensive patterns, but on the whole it does not negate the alternatives and gives a lot more potential. keep the deep setup for the set piece or nominated set plays.

 

[todd4]

Donaldson was ok. The only thing he offers over Kellaway is goal kicking.

That 'only' thing is huge. The close games are usually decided by goal kicking. If he is able to maintain that kicking accuracy I can't see how he could be dropped. I admit that Kellaway is better on attack and probably defence but we wont advance very far without an accurate goal kicker.

 

[Pfitzy]

Kicking: it's north of 30degC, you have a big pack of forwards, and you want some of them to last 80 minutes.

You don't hang onto the ball unless you absolutely want it. Keep the ball in front of the pigs and make the other guys work up a sweat. If that means kicking inside the opposition half, then OK. As long as it is with purpose.

Overall, some good things, some less-than-good things.

Starting team good at getting the job done. A few flick passes might make Campo shut up about players not expressing themselves or whatever bullshit he said most recently (usually something about over-structured play blah blah blah). We will need to tighten up a bit for Fiji tho as they will eat us alive in unstructured play.

We were more consistent because the opposition were of lower quality and couldn't make us pay for the mistakes we made.

Bench didn't have the impact we needed to put that game away. Probably says more about the quality of the bench, and the disruption of losing Tait early.

For all his great things, Donaldson's missed tackle prior to Georgia's bombed try illustrates why he's not a last-line defender. Awesome boot tho.

Lessons learned, move on.

 

[Joe Blow]

Agreed. Clearly is part of the plan.

I'm not sure what the fascination is with 10's having to play close to the line as if that's the only way to setup and/or manipulate defensive patterns.

I think in Kerevis case it is so he can play off him. When he gets the ball flat footed and deep he is a much easier target to stop. When he comes off the hip of a 10 paying flat he is at pace and into gaps getting us up over the ad line. Its similar with Petaia albeit out wider

 

[Rebel man]

Everyone is saying we have the easiest pool. I think it's one of the toughest for the teams in the pool. They are all at similar skill levels. I honestly think Georgia can upset Wales and probably Fiji, which would mean they could go through and everyone but Portugal have a chance.

100% it is the most even pool, while that’s partly because of Wales and Australia underperforming it’s also a credit to Georgia and Fiji and this is what the World Cup needs.

Going into the Cup there was so much negativity about the weak side of the draw and how it’s no good. Yet pool C has 4 teams that have a genuine chance to advance and it’s great for Rugby. I’d love to see Georgia or Fiji advance obviously not at the cost of my Wallabies