Springboks v Wallabies, Newlands, September 28 2013

[cyclopath]

From my view, it's not a gouge but regardless of what he was trying to do (no idea) it ended as a rake across the face and that's bad enough. He should get 4 - 8 weeks. It's not acceptable.

I have to ask, why? What was he trying to accomplish?

That's my take. Rake or gouge makes no difference to me. Why use your hands around someone's eyes, which he clearly does by wrapping his arm around and doing what he did?
It's inherently risky, and just unnecessary.

 

[Scotty]

It should happen occasionally, but for about a 10 minute period there I noticed that Quade was the first one to far too many breakdowns.

Regardless, I think there is something seriously wrong with the Wallaby forwards. They hardly ever look to really get stuck in at the breakdowns. They are either too slow in getting there, and when they do get there they aren't physical enough. A classic case I noted down was at about 47:20 where the flankers put on an aggressive, dominant tackle on the Bok halfback after a scrum, driving him back 3-4 metres. The next forwards should have been piling into it and they should have won the turnover, either outright, or earned a scrum, but instead the arriving forwards just stood off and watched. Take a look if you have a recording.

I agree completely.

I believe this is the number one issue by a long way for this side.

Forwards just seem lazy by comparison to the opposition. Fardy and Slipper might be the exceptions. Horwill and Mowen should be leading front the front but they are two of the worst in this area.

 

[Scotty]

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...

You really struggle to be objective with some brumbies.

Did you not see the incident in the second half where Mowen strolled out of the defensive line, leaving a gap then just turned to watch the Boks make a break? Didn't even bother chasing!

Horwill, Mowen and Moore are meant to be the leaders if this pack but are consistently failing - a lot of which appears to be laziness. Alexander and Simmons are also average, while Hooper, Slipper and Fardy are the only ones that can hold their heads up with consistent, body on the line performances.

 

[maxdacat]

10. I don't know that Leali'ifano has made the most of his chances at 12 - I'd be happy for To'omua to be given a shot there or even Kuridrani if there's merit in having a crash runner in closer to suck in their inside backs and get us over the advantage line. Leali'ifano could be an option at 15 together with AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper).

So your answer to our current selection dilemmas is to play yet more players out of position eg Kuridrani and Lilo. I'm not having a go at you but i'm not sure the solution is just to shift people around.

 

[maxdacat]

Amid all the gloom....congrats to Chris Feauai-Sautia for scoring on debut.

 

[Pfitzy]

Robinson
Moore
Kepu
Douglas
Horwill
Darcy
Fardy
Hooper
McCalman
Genia
Cooper
Betham
Kuridrani
AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper)
Folau

Toss Simmons, Tomane, teach Alexander what a bind looks like, and point out to Slipper the difference between his shoulders and his hips, and we might do alright.

 

[ChargerWA]

For what? Seriously I have screen that covers a wall and I can't see it.

Come now Blue. Normally you are very impartial and I have respect for your point of view, that was clearly a hand raked across Moore's face at eye level.

It's pretty clear that he didn't actually insert his finger into an eye socket and it was a brushing action across the face at the eye area, but even that's enough. The eyes are sacred and the good doctor should be on a 4 week holiday.

 

[Scotty]

If Moore believes he has been gouged he would have walked straight into th dressing room and told management. Horwill was right there and would have backed it up.

Why did he not?

There would have been a citing. There wasn't.

Might not have been a gouge but pretty obvious there was some raking which could have lead to eye damage.

Do you want to follow a game that allows that sort of thing?

 

[Mank]

Regardless, I think there is something seriously wrong with the Wallaby forwards. They hardly ever look to really get stuck in at the breakdowns. They are either too slow in getting there, and when they do get there they aren't physical enough. A classic case I noted down was at about 47:20 where the flankers put on an aggressive, dominant tackle on the Bok halfback after a scrum, driving him back 3-4 metres. The next forwards should have been piling into it and they should have won the turnover, either outright, or earned a scrum, but instead the arriving forwards just stood off and watched. Take a look if you have a recording.

Classic example. That is something other teams can learn from the All Blacks, they're excellent at knowing when to pile in and force a turnover, ferocious about it.

 

[Shiggins]

The commentators mentioned that it looked bad, as any hand to the face does. This one is certainly no exception and it looks very bad. However, is there any actual evidence/vision that shows his fingers in Moore's eyes? A lot of screaming of "eye gouge" when none of the camera angles on the YouTube videos show the front of Moore's face.

JDV is involved in trying to break it up long before Jannie even gets involved, so stupid comment (again).

He looks right at him after. Don't whinge about people bringing it up. Jannie shouldn't have put his hands on Moores face. End of story.

 

[Forcefield]

Jannie du Plessis has a history of pushing the boundary very, very fine- see crocodile roll tackle on David Pocock in 2011. There are handfuls of other similar events. If he doesn't want to get a reputation of being a complete dickhead- see Schalk Burger- he had better get his shit together and stop with the weak-assed, unnecessary shit that he gets up to.

 

[Brisbok]

He looks right at him after.

Ha, he looks at him right after! Geez, I'm surprised they don't suspend Jannie for 3 weeks on that evidence alone!

Don't whinge about people bringing it up. Jannie shouldn't have put his hands on Moores face.

I'm not whinging about people bringing it up, and if you actually read my post you would have noticed that I actually said it looked bad. I was, however, 'whinging' about the number of people who specifically mentioned that there was an eye gouge based on a YouTube clip that at no stage during the incident actually showed Stephen Moore's face.

Jannie was asking for trouble putting his hand anywhere near an opponent's head/face, but let's not automatically call that an eye gouge just based on assumption.

As a side point, has there ever been a rugby game which your team loses that you haven't immediately jumped up and down post game about refereeing decisions that went against your team?

 

[Shiggins]

As a side point, has there ever been a rugby game which your team loses that you haven't immediately jumped up and down post game about refereeing decisions that went against your team?

We got spanked in Brisbane. If u read
My posts, like I said I don't think we would of won even if the cards were handed out correctly. It's almost like your trying to start an argument. I'm not interested.

I will go as far to say eye gouge could be strong and raked across the face should be used instead. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion though.

 

[Sandpit Fan]

Robinson

Toss Simmons, Tomane, teach Alexander what a bind looks like, and point out to Slipper the difference between his shoulders and his hips, and we might do alright.

I was wondering if I was the only one worried about this. He binds on the opposing props arm every f*&$#@g time.

 

[thierry dusautoir]

Cooper's defence was solid. He made one mistake on that strauss try and i think he was looking at vermuellen not strauss coming in on the angle.

His attacking game isn't at its best but what wallabies is.

I think people are calling for change and we just need to play somethings out

 

[Shiggins]

Cooper's defence was solid. He made one mistake on that strauss try and i think he was looking at vermuellen not strauss coming in on the angle.

His attacking game isn't at its best but what wallabies is.

I think people are calling for change and we just need to play somethings out

Agree on defence.
I thinks it either or ATM. We just need to stick with one bloke for a while

 

[Zander]

Jannie du Plessis has a history of pushing the boundary very, very fine- see crocodile roll tackle on David Pocock in 2011.

Force game, I remember that. One of the worst incidents in modern rugby. He should've been wiped from the game for that. "Next time I'll break your fucking neck".

 

[Pfitzy]

I was wondering if I was the only one worried about this. He binds on the opposing props arm every f*&$#@g time.

Yeah it's fucking bullshit from a supposed international prop. No wonder refs think we're numpties

 

[USARugger]

To'omua looked like a better foil to Cooper than LLF did.

 

[RoffsChoice]

To'omua looked like a better foil to Cooper than LLF did.

I really liked the Quade-To'omua interchange, for what we saw.