Springboks v Wallabies, Newlands, September 28 2013

[Blue]

My 2 cents into the piggy bank:

1. Flip vd Merwe is a tool. He has a tendency to lose his head. Has cost the Bulls and Boks many times. Can't wait for PS du Toit to step up. Get rid of this guy.
2. Nothing in Hooper tackle. Accidental.
3. Boks lost composure after 30 mins. No offense but we should have won this game by 30+
4. Fourie du Preez is just an incredible player. Any doubts if he is still the best 9 in the world were dispelled. He looks better than he was in 2010/2011 when he was carrying injury to both shoulders.
5. You guys have serious issues in the pack. I really have no idea what you're going to do but it's broken.
6. Wallabies came in with a plan to push and shove and disrupt the Boks. Lots of off the ball niggling and trying to cajole the bok forwards into reacting. This is not something I associate with Wallaby play. You blokes usually focus on playing rugby at pace, not fucking around after every play. Very lucky not to lose more players to the bin.

 

[Blue]

The boks should of had 4 cards. We should of had none. That's the truth about the cards.

God you whinge like a pussy.

The Wobs were not angels in this game. They went in with a negative mentality to try and coax the boks into reacting. You cannot claim the moral high ground, sorry.

The Wobs are always hard done by the ref eh? Time for armbands. You'll probably be the first to wear one.

 

[Scrubber2050]

My thoughts:
AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) was very good
QC (Quade Cooper) only average and Matt To'omua may get another shot
White not so good and genia will start next week
Mowen is just not an 8 - (replace with Mccalman)
Folau is only average - at least moggy is prepared to run the fucking ball direct and at speed
Robinson brought nothing more at scrumtime than what was there already and a lot of posters thought he would be the saviour One fantastic scrum to Oz but these new laws are shit.
Hooper on the edge of non selection - cant wait for Pocock to return ????
Mccalman made a huge impact when he came on.

Possession in that first half just killed us. think Boks only made about 8 tackles

 

[Richo]

Robinson brought nothing more at scrumtime than what was there already and a lot of posters thought he would be the saviour One fantastic scrum to Oz but these new laws are shit.

From memory there was only a handful of scrums after he came on, none of them disastrous. No way to really tell if Robinson made an impact. In the first one Alexander went straight down but I think the got pinged. In the second one (that I remember) Kepu was on and we were much more stable, but that's only one scrum. Were there others that I've forgotten?

The only dominate scrum we had was against 7 men.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Don't get all the gushing over AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper).

His propensity to hold on to the Gilbert makes the move to wing a good one, but he is just not fast enough to be an international winger.

In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king. With many underperforming Men in Gold, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper)'s performance looks stellar in comparison but IMHO his performance last night we was just satisfactory.


McCalman made a difference when he came on, but is he a 80 minute player? He certainly showed the other piggies what running hard and straight with leg drive in the tackle can do. It is a basic skill that our boys seem to have difficulty executing.

 

[Ulrich]

Hugh Jarse,

Seems you guys always want other players to compensate for the deficiencies of another. Mostly takes 2 or more to compensate. Bad idea. Hooper is probably as big as Brussouw? Then surely it is only his own fault if he cannot stand his own. Cannot hide behind your teammates.

Scrubber2050,

The laws always suck when they do not suit Australia.

 

[Mr Doug]

I'm not confident at all. Boks by 20.

RoffsChoice, what do you charge for providing race tips or lotto numbers?!

 

[Slim 293]

A few observations.......

Once again Fardy was our standout player, and once again he gets subbed with 20 mins to go?

That was Mowen's best game in the RC so far. Was getting through a lot of work, putting in big hits and doing his best to disrupt Bok ball.

It was probably Moore's best game of the RC so far as well, but that isn't saying a lot..........

Simmons has been copping quite a bit of criticism, and rightly so......... but in my view Horwill is just as useless.

I'm not sure either of them deserve to be starting at the moment.

The following might be nice:

4. Fardy
5. Timani
6. Mowen
7. Hooper
8. McCalman

I'd like to see Gill start ahead of Hooper, but he's not on tour...

Cooper's defence has improved remarkably, but his attacking game has gone backwards.

Lilo still seems to be our best performing "playmaker."

Kuridrani improved as the game went on. He deserves another start due to the lack of our quality wingers, but he won't keep AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) out of the 13 jersey.

Tomane has some seriously bad second year syndrome going on. He's a shadow of the player he was last year.........

 

[Ulrich]

You are essentially saying that a rule that makes the scrum safer and fairer by having its outcome judged by physical power - as it should be, is a bad law. If the scrum is not judged by physical power then something is wrong with Rugby.

 

[Zander]

Simmons has been copping quite a bit of criticism, and rightly so... but in my view Horwill is just as useless.

I said that from the Lions series but no one wanted a bar of it. He's pathetic.

 

[Ulrich]

Slim293, I really do not think Cooper's attack has gone backwards. Really, if you look at the bigger picture, your forwards have gone backwards.

 

[Slim 293]

Slim293, I really do not think Cooper's attack has gone backwards. Really, if you look at the bigger picture, your forwards have gone backwards.

They're both going backwards........ both metaphorically and literally...........

 

[Dan54]

Ulrich is probably right, Cooper is attacking the way he always has, which is a bit sideways for international rugby I think, but it getting shown up more by poor forwards.

 

[KOB1987]

the simple fact is that we benchmark ourselves on the 1991 forward pack and the 1999 backline..the current Wallabies team is poles away from that, but it's not anyone's fault, it's just that we are void of the necessary composition to be number 1 or 2 in the world at the moment. Despite that we still sit at number 3 or 4 and it's not going to get any worse, so have a bit of faith guys, by 2015 we will have both the ABs and Saffers scared to meet us in the semis.

 

[KOB1987]

And I'm tipping a grand slam to get things going at the end of the year.

My 2 cents worth

 

[It is what it is]

My 2 cents into the piggy bank:

1. Flip vd Merwe is a tool. He has a tendency to lose his head. Has cost the Bulls and Boks many times. Can't wait for PS du Toit to step up. Get rid of this guy.
2. Nothing in Hooper tackle. Accidental.
3. Boks lost composure after 30 mins. No offense but we should have won this game by 30+
4. Fourie du Preez is just an incredible player. Any doubts if he is still the best 9 in the world were dispelled. He looks better than he was in 2010/2011 when he was carrying injury to both shoulders.
5. You guys have serious issues in the pack. I really have no idea what you're going to do but it's broken.
6. Wallabies came in with a plan to push and shove and disrupt the Boks. Lots of off the ball niggling and trying to cajole the bok forwards into reacting. This is not something I associate with Wallaby play. You blokes usually focus on playing rugby at pace, not fucking around after every play. Very lucky not to lose more players to the bin.

Blue, I think your first 5 points are spot on.
Re No 6 I think the majority of the scuffling came about because the Wallabies decided not to cop the bully boy tactics of the Boks.

 

[FrankLind]

I said that from the Lions series but no one wanted a bar of it. He's pathetic.

But he looks like a badass coming out of the changing room tunnel with his mouth-guard dangling out of his mouth.

 

[A mutterer]

Another horrible performance, where we are once again reduced to trying to find some positives from the game. I'm getting very tired of the news-speak. Soft tries, ill discipline, no support and an appalling lack of fundamental skills - it's the same issues week after week.

It's about time Horwill and McKenzie just call it as it is - a poor team performance. There are no positives to take out of it. The team is not good enough. Players need to stand up. Positions are on the line. etc

For next week, I'd prefer to see Robinson start with Slipper, same with Genia and Cooper. Unlikely to happen but I would like to see Alexander sent home.

 

[Ruggo]

The lack of size in Hooper can be compensated when the 6 and 8 are in the opponents face. Fardy was OK but Mowen's play does not complement a smaller seagulling pilferer like Hooper.

We need a better balance in the loosies. If we keep Fardy, we need to revisit our 7 and 8 combinations.

Size isn't his issue. his technique stinks. Little men should be running with their center of gravity low to the ground. This is why he was so effective last year. he seems to have lost that. The lineout before half time was a classic example. Clever move stuffed up by poor body height in contact. Hooper gets held up and we go to oranges with a wasted opportunity which could easily have been a critical point in the game.

Hooper is over rated anyway. Either we play a competent on the ball seven or we just play a workhorse like McCalman.

 

[biggsy]

Unlikely to happen but I would like to see Alexander sent home.

PLEASE send him home......I just dont get why he is there and never have.