They controlled the territory by dominating our lineout and kicking game. They slowed our ball down pretty well (mostly by lying all over the rucks) but I didn't think they won the collisions particularly or disrupted our ball that well. I think they stood off the rucks a fair bit.
Agree to disagree, I thought they completely controlled the rucks completely. The collision was irrelevant because they slowed down every ruck by either sealing off or having the tackler roll directly into Jake Gordon every time. They also took wallabies out past the ruck to speed up theri own ball. On re-watch especially I noticed this constantly
That's what I just said lol.
They disrupted the ball more than anyone we have played this year, so my disagreement was with the comment that "they didn't disrupt our ball that well"
Absofuckinglutely Right! Their control of the breakdown was total, either in very fast ball for them whilst slowing ours down, Then picking the right ones to attack and occasionally leave. The reports say that Townsend ID'd that we were poor in the breakdown and defence and they were good in those areas, they always knew they could beat us and they did.
Mate… you're a dope. He was the best back we had! Great debut.
He was very good, best back (a winger) maybe a bit of a stretch...
Who in the backs played better?
Scrum looked poor but I'm no doctor.
Ideally our 6 would be a legitimate lineout target like Wright or Cale. Of course then one of Valetini or Wilson need to warm the bench?
He got penalised 2-3 times in the scrum from memory. Around the field he seemed sound without doing anything outstanding.
Good points...........defense and breakdown work are key areas to address. If Schmidt is already refining the structure, the next step could be faster adaptation through more intense scenario-based training. Building instincts under pressure takes time, but focusing on smaller squad units for targeted drills might speed up the process.
