RWC - Wallabies v Ireland - 17th September 2011

[BPC]

Boring my ass.

You may want to rethink that comment. If it wasn't for some many of us Wallaby supporters drowning in a mire of depression today, there would be much potential for hilarity and double entendres.

 

[BPC]

We got shafted by the Poms in the forwards when we were rolled out of the RWC07 quarter-final. I know someone close to the Waratah set-up who was involved in the post-mortem and the conclusion was that the Pommie forwards got a roll-on then went for some heavy sledging and our forwards went into their shell and didn't crawl out until a few weeks later. That is, they were mentally fragile when under pressure.

Skip ahead four years. Where is the improvement? A few weeks ago we start well against the Darkness, get a bit of confidence and deliver an epic first half and a satisfactory second half. Last night, we got pummeled early and the forwards collectively went MIA.

Sorry Robbie but for a coach whose strength is supposedly man-management, you seem to have done little in this area.

 

[whatty]

No team has ever won the World Cup losing a game.

The game for my 2c was won by a team who would have beaten just about anyone on the night.
Just forward domination and specifically holding the ball carrier of the ground, out muscled.

 

[Scotty]

They held the ball carrier both off the ground and onto them on the ground. Can't remember one penalty for tackler not releasing, nor one for going off feet at the ruck. Hard to believe in this day and age, isn't it?

What was the final penalty count?

 

[jollyswagman]

Let me say unreservedly: Barb, I admired the guts and honesty it took to write that blog post as you did. It was remarkably eloquent for someone in that condition . 90% of Aus Wallaby fans would have privately thought that way pre-game re the expectation that we'd beat Ireland, and why. Well done mate.

I especially respected your openness re your emotions last night in that you were/are a self-described 'optimist' re Deans and the recent Wallabies (like many others). But there comes a time of repetitive team deficiency when the dam of positive belief and expectation just breaks, the negative facts are simply too overwhelming to ignore, or hope are just temporary aberrations.

hear, hear....couldn't agree more (especially the eloquence displayed in the face of intoxication)

 

[barbarian]

Cheers RH.

I suppose every man has his breaking point. Last night was mine.

 

[Groucho]

Well done Ireland. Far better to lose to the Celts than to the Poms.

Just the usual under Robbie. String a few good games together then a complete implosion. Ireland were up for it in a big way. We weren't

I am feeling much more philosophical about the loss after a few beers and some shots of Armagnac.

BPC, If you think the Wallabies started doing this under Deans, then you only started watching rugby. I've been putting up with this shit since the seventies.

 

[RedsHappy]

We got shafted by the Poms in the forwards when we were rolled out of the RWC07 quarter-final. I know someone close to the Waratah set-up who was involved in the post-mortem and the conclusion was that the Pommie forwards got a roll-on then went for some heavy sledging and our forwards went into their shell and didn't crawl out until a few weeks later. That is, they were mentally fragile when under pressure. Skip ahead four years. Where is the improvement? A few weeks ago we start well against the Darkness, get a bit of confidence and deliver an epic first half and a satisfactory second half. Last night, we got pummeled early and the forwards collectively went MIA.

Sorry Robbie but for a coach whose strength is supposedly man-management, you seem to have done little in this area.

BPC, first, I agree, do a trace line from that awful day in October 2007 in Marseilles to September 2011 Auckland, and what do you see but an almost identical set of Wallaby deficiencies, fundamentally uncorrected (and a not dissimilar scoreline) including a poor scrum performance. It's worse in that the ARU and our supine, docile rugby media have trumpeted the 'great increase' in Wallaby squad and player depth and the raft of supposed X-factor players that were in aggregate meant to make the 4 year Deans experiment an ascending triumph that would reach its climax at RWC 2011. Essentially, this line has been a shrewd con to disguise and deflect from the many obvious and continuing examples of poor coaching and selection and game planning (or its absence) that we've witnessed since Deans' Year 2, 2009. But large tracts of Australia's Wallaby-following system developed a kind of collective colour-blindness to these deficiencies as though we could only detect brilliant blue sunshine, and not the cold deep black of repetitive mediocrity.

Second, Deans is in 2011 (if not before) well exposed as a poor man-manager. As I have said on a number of occasions: just look at this Wallabies 2010-2011 coaching staff and its structure, it's a botch potch of manifest failures still in place, odd titles that describe no clear role, specialists that come and go, and the complete absence of key specialists performing crucial roles at Test level, etc. Deans is today himself backs/attack coach, which is clearly not optimal for the team and unprecedented at national elite rugby levels. His selections have been afflicted by a reckless and indulgent 'teacher's pet' syndrome (no better example than that of McCalman at replacement 7), he has not coached into form a single world-class kicker (J'OC last night 50% success ratio), he does not provide good specific player micro-coaching (e.g., non-curing of KB (Kurtley Beale)'s repetitive reckless grubbers and chips in attack, aiding AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) to play less possessively and learn to work to and with his support runners, aiding QC (Quade Cooper) to calm more under pressure and play more cautiously when critical to do so (and that Link has done so well with QC (Quade Cooper) btw). Our scrum - 4 years in the making - is at best an occasional 'nearly right' entity that can easily collapse back into serious failure (a la last night).

Finally, Deans has not been able to build a strong, consistent mindset and culture of intense application in the Wallabies - they typically only really 'turn up' as world class warriors for all of 80 after being humiliated a game or two beforehand. Once they have their 'we really turned up and blasted the the opposition' standard one or two game sequence, they soon fall back into complacency and self-pleasure, and then fail once more, and the cycle restarts. They'll likely play superbly vs USA after this 'we let ourselves down' match v Ireland. They're like secret masochists. So revealing was KB (Kurtley Beale)'s comment to Kafer last night (after the game) that 'in the break we were really relaxed, probably complacent...'. Said it all, but nothing new there, nothing surprising.

 

[Groucho]

Player ratings from the S-M-Hurled (Paul Cully: Fairfax, September 18, 2011):

AUSTRALIA

15. Kurtley Beale. 6 - Most dangerous Wallaby back by a distance. Magnificent take in first half from own up and under.
14. James O'Connor. 5 - Showed tremendous pace to chase down Bowe and prevent an intercept try but had no chances on attack.
13. Anthony Fainga'a. 4 - Threw one dreadful pass into touch with Wallabies chasing the game.
12. Pat McCabe. 4 - Held up twice in the tackle as Ireland won the tactical battle in contact zone with mauling tactics. Struggling to dominate the advantage line.
11. Adam Ashley-Cooper. 5 - Defended manfully in busy No. 10 channel and looked a threat with limited ball. Not a night for wingers.
10. Quade Cooper. 4 - Addiction to miracle ball came back to haunt him with late intercept pass to Bowe. Frailty under the high ball in fullback position exposed.
9. Will Genia. 5 - Badly let down by his struggling pack and was rag-dolled by Ferris. Couldn't get the quick ball he thrives on.
8. Radike Samo. 4 - Brisbane heroics seem a long time ago. Strangely anonymous. Time for Wycliff Palu.
7. Ben McCalman. 4 - Had massive boots to fill and fell short. Highlighted the absence of genuine openside back-up to Pocock.
6. Rocky Elsom. 4 - Has he left his best form in Leinster? Well beaten by his former mates in the back-row battle.
5. James Horwill. 4 - Outpointed comfortably by opposition captain in the tight stuff and was seen lazily lingering on wrong side of ruck twice. Got away with one, not the other.
4. Dan Vickerman. 4 - Efficient at the restarts but discipline was again lamentable. Gave away two penalties.
3. Ben Alexander. 3 - Scrum was ambushed disastrously by fired-up men in green. Comprehensively lost his battle with Cian Healy.
2. Tatafu Polota-Nau. 3 - Unsurprisingly well short of his best after injury lay-off. Beset again by familiar lineout wobbles on his throw.
1. Sekope Kepu. 3 - Technique problems highlighted by Italy game resurfaced disastrously, especially on Irish ball. Could not keep his side up. A major, major worry.

Bench:

James Slipper. 3 - Could not stem the bleeding at scrum time.
Rob Simmons. 4 - Replaced Vickerman and made an impact but the game was already slipping away.
Wycliff Palu. NR - Brief spell but created a turnover at scrum.
Scott Higginbotham. NR - Big Queenslander had little time to do any damage.
Drew Mitchell. NR - A welcome return in the worst of circumstances.

NR = no rating

IRELAND

15. Rob Kearney. 7 - Used thunderous left boot to good effect. Matched Beale's up-and-under effort with one of his own.
14. Tommy Bowe. 7 - Nearly scored from 90m after picking off Cooper intercept. Dangerous on the counter-attack.
13. Brian O'Driscoll. 8 - Pumped up the troops and was fulcrum of mighty defensive effort.
12. Gordon D'Arcy. 6 - Injury forced him off prematurely, but had been a willing runner.
11. Keith Earls. 7 - Irish back-line defensive structure creaked at times, but held firm.
10. Johnathan Sexton. 7 - Made one nice incursion with neat footwork and held nerve after early kicking woes.
9. Eoin Reddan. 7 - Distribution was crisp throughout and compared favourably with the world's best in Genia.
8. Jamie Heaslip. 7 - Whole hearted but discipline let him down at times.
7. Sean O'Brien. 9 - Got the Irish going forward with his muscular carries and huge work rate. Man of the match.
6. Stephen Ferris. 8 - The big Ulsterman revelled in the contact and memorably monstered Genia at base of scrum in first half.
5. Paul O'Connell. 8 - Vintage performance from the Britsh and Irish Lions captain, showed some nice hands in close.
4. Donncha O'Callaghan. 7 - Outshone by others in the pack, but contributed to mighty forwards effort.
3. Mike Ross. 8 - Gave Kepu a hugely difficult night as Ireland turned the screw at the big moments.
2. Rory Best. 8 - Excellent at the scrum, prominent around the park. Could do no more.
1. Cian Healey. 8 - The Wallabies said their scrum woes were over. They aren't.

Bench:

Ronan O'Gara. 7 - Replaced D'Arcy and kicked the two penalties that sealed the match.
Connor Murray. 7 - Thought he had scored a late try to blow out the score, but was called back for offside.
Tom Court. NR - Came on late and was part of a staunch defensive effort on Irish line.
Andrew Trimble. NR - Andrew Trimble. Got on to the pitch in time to be part of the Irish celebrations.

Those are the ratings from a 50-0 drubbing.

 

[Blob]

I really struggle to understand how a neutral could find that an enjoyable spectacle. Every time the ball went dead play was held up for a couple minutes as the Paddies dropped to their knees feigning injury.

I would be very interested to know the amount of time the ball was actually in play.

If, as a neutral rugby fan, one can't find great love for the drama and intensity of that match rugby might not be the right sport for one.

 

[Groucho]

Writing a fake letter to your team while inebriated and callously referring to the opposition as "fucking Ireland" looks like sore losing to me.

A self-indulgent, entirely pretentious sore loser.

 

[Blob]

Those are the ratings from a 50-0 drubbing.

Nope. Those are ratings for the underdog giving the favourite a bit of a stuffing.

 

[Scarfman]

Fuck that. In the last four years I've seen this posted again and again. ... We're not going to win this world cup, and I'm certain as long as Robbie Deans and his sidekicks are in the coaching box we're going to be 'learning' for a very long time.

:lmao: I was joking, bro.

 

[barbarian]

A self-indulgent, entirely pretentious sore loser.

Jeez, tell us what you really think.

 

[Scarfman]

Hey Groucho - while you're here, why don't you admit you were wrong about almost everything to do with Deans?

 

[disco]

The better team won last night because they know the difference between international rugby & world cup rugby. The Wallabies aren't patient enough to go 5 phases without Cooper or Beale throwing a flick pass or attempting a grubber kick which doesn't help.

Look at the All Blacks in Bledisloe 2 when they were getting caned by 17 points they actually strung together 26 phases & the most amazing stat of the 26 phases is that neither Horwill or Vickerman got penalised.

 

[MrTimms]

I am not going to defend Robbie, in no way at all. Some of his selections, squad and team, and his use of the bench baffles the mind.

But you can't really blame him totally for the players not showing up. My manager is a complete clusterfuck but I still show up to work everyday and do a damn good job.

I know I'm not putting my body on the line, but that is their chosen career path.

 

[Happy]

I can't help thinking that our passive defensive line was actually part of the game- plan. In fact, it may have been our only game-plan. That is the only explanation for it continuing the whole match.

 

[BPC]

BPC, If you think the Wallabies started doing this under Deans, then you only started watching rugby. I've been putting up with this shit since the seventies.

I will defer to your greater experience. I was simply pointing out that the post-mortem in 07 was 'weak between the ears' and four years later the post-mortem seems to be 'weak between the ears". WTF are we paying Deans for?

 

[BPC]

I still show up to work everyday and do a damn good job.

True. It does seem to be broader than Deans. Many of the players since RWC07QF have changed but the problems seem to be the same. That said, it is also parts of Deans' job to manage the individual players.

I am sure we can all agree that there is enough blame to go around. I think in a separate thread even the supporters got blame. Personally I don't know how I can bear the shame. I will have to give myself a stern talking to.