Scotland v Australia, Murrayfield, 5am 24 Nov 2013

[Hawko]

Hopefully Scott Johnson can get them doing that a bit more, because they didn't really look like scoring last night (or I gather last week either).

Johnson's on his way out, replaced by a NZer.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Johnson's on his way out, replaced by a NZer.

Dingo?

 

[I like to watch]

......That inside ball to Izzy and the angle he ran was beautiful, as was the passing that led to CFS's try. You have to wonder where that's been for the last couple of years.

They just got a mismatch with a fatty on the inside.
Digby scored stacks and stacks of tries running that line.
They have not reinvented the wheel,but they have been improved dramatically with the appearance of Izzy.
Or did Link do that too?

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

They just got a mismatch with a fatty on the inside.
Digby scored stacks and stacks of tries running that line.
They have not reinvented the wheel,but they have been improved dramatically with the appearance of Izzy.
Or did Link do that too?

Sure, but how much have we seen it at test level? I can recall a couple of times with Diggers as you say (one particular try against Argentina last year springs to mind), but bloody hell we should have been doing it more often.

 

[No4918]

Dingo?

Given that he likes to run the backs himself I don't see that improving things.

 

[Brumby Jack]

Dingo?

Vern Cotter from Clermont

 

[Ruggo]

Things are coming together for the Wallabies. Not perfect but the intent is obvious. We just need to finish strong against the Welsh. Our player pool including those coming back from injury will have 2014 super rugby to stake claims and Link will have a full season to assess what players he want's and communicate with the franchises moving forward.

 

[Shiggins]

Not a bad win at all. How about Simmons and fainga. Both guys I never used to rate have had some good games of late. Especially Simmons.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Yep, thought Simmons had a good game (apart from the YC) and he seems to be getting better week by week. This tour might have been the making of him,

 

[Ash]

I've been critical of Folau's defensive reading of plays previously, but he's improving as he gets more experience. He made a couple of key decisions that were spot on, including covering Maitland and drifting to then stop the winger in the corner and again down the short side later in the game.

With his aerial skills, ability to join the backline and dangerous running I'm salivating over Folau as the long term Wallabies fullback. I hope now he isn't moved to 13; fullback just looks such an ideal position for him.

 

[Ash]

The other guy who deserves full credit is Moore. He was really struggling at the start of the RC and I thought was really poor in the first two RC games, but has steadily improved game by game to be the key Australian forward for this EOYT, in my opinion. Great to have Squeaky in great form again.

 

[Braveheart81]

The other guy who deserves full credit is Moore. He was really struggling at the start of the RC and I thought was really poor in the first two RC games, but has steadily improved game by game to be the key Australian forward for this EOYT, in my opinion. Great to have Squeaky in great form again.

It would seem he's well and truly got his second wind recently. The longer the season has gone on, the better his form has become.

 

[fatprop]

Wasn't it nice to see the Wobs play pretty average and win while again keeping the bad guys try-less

 

[barbarian]

With his aerial skills, ability to join the backline and dangerous running I'm salivating over Folau as the long term Wallabies fullback. I hope now he isn't moved to 13; fullback just looks such an ideal position for him.

It does. The problem is he looks SO good every time he touches the ball, that you can understand why coaches might be tempted to play him in a spot where he can get his hands on it a bit more frequently.

He has the potential to be one of the great fullbacks though, I hope he sticks with rugby for the next 5-10 years.
.

 

[Brumby Jack]

Not sure if others saw it but late in the first half when Scotland nearly scored that try there was an incident where the reserve Scottish hooker stomped on Rob Simmons, who was about a metre away from the ball. (Just above the left boot of the player in headgear running away from the ruck)

Now after the business with Horwill during the Lions I fail to see how the IRB can turn a blind eye to this when IMO is worse than Horwills.

The frame after shows him copping a boot in the face but I couldn't get a decent shot of it.

 

[Brumbieman]

I don't know why we kept giving Lealiifano shots from 40m out on that pitch.

Morne Steyn wouldn't have been able to kick more than 30m on it, I was a bit confused when after the first few not going anywhere (hard to kick if you have no solid base to plant your foot on), we didn't just stick it into the corner and maul.

 

[Ignoto]

Wasn't it nice to see the Wobs play pretty average and win while again keeping the bad guys try-less

Second week in a row we've kept a team try-less. Just need to stop giving away silly penalties and the score lines would look a lot better.

Anyway, I'll happily take the win. Under previous management, the Scots have had the better of us. So with a very weakened team, we double the average amount of tries we'd score under Deans and righted the ship by beating the men wearing kilts.

 

[Richo]

It does. The problem is he looks SO good every time he touches the ball, that you can understand why coaches might be tempted to play him in a spot where he can get his hands on it a bit more frequently.

He has the potential to be one of the great fullbacks though, I hope he sticks with rugby for the next 5-10 years.
.

Agreed. I'd like to see coaches just get more creative with ways to bring him into the play. Restarts down the middle that he chases at a run, for instance, or more first phase moves that have him running off Cooper. I'm sure Cheiks and Link will be cooking up all sorts of stuff over the next two years.

 

[Braveheart81]

Now after the business with Horwill during the Lions I fail to see how the IRB can turn a blind eye to this when IMO is worse than Horwills.

The frame after shows him copping a boot in the face but I couldn't get a decent shot of it.

Unless the Wallabies made a complaint about it which is highly unlikely, it won't have been picked up in time.

The IRB like SANZAR just doesn't pour through the footage in the 24 hours after a match looking for players to cite.

It really has to be seen during a match or complained about afterwards for action to be taken in most circumstances.

 

[Elfster]

It does. The problem is he looks SO good every time he touches the ball, that you can understand why coaches might be tempted to play him in a spot where he can get his hands on it a bit more frequently.

He has the potential to be one of the great fullbacks though, I hope he sticks with rugby for the next 5-10 years.
.

He is gifted, but I would rather Australian Rugby would spend more time in developing specialist positional players rather than developing players who can cover multiple positions. Try to get the best out of that player in one position.