Gosh. Where to start? Some good things, some not so good things. Yet again we dominate possession and look dangerous right until the moment we're in there 22. After that we're headless chooks.
Moore had a better game tonight. Not so sure about him playing the full 80 at altitude - why have Hanson on the bench Cheika if you don't trust him enough to use him?
Kepu had a good game, as did Sio. Slipper gave away too many scrum penalties when on, Robertson was ok.
Simmons. I've never understood him and never will. Workrates fine but other 2nd rowers can provide that. Both him and Mumm seem to fall over at the mere thought of contact. Nup. Those two are supposed to reinforce the lineout, but howd that work? We seriously seriously seriously need to get a handle on the set piece - you can't build momentum or win a game when you're constantly turning the ball over.
McMahon had a cracker until he got injured, Hooper energetic as always. Not as effective tonight but still one of the Wallabies best forwards as per usual.
I liked what I saw from Fardy and Coleman. Liked is a relative term in this context. What I mean is that I liked what I saw from Fardy and Coleman more than what I saw from other Wallabies forwards. Coleman didn't have the best night ball carrying though.
Douglas added some starch in defense but no more silly knock ons please. They're coach killers.
Genia started fantastically and didn't stray far from that. I think he overplayed his hand a bit too much and wanted to go himself often when there were better options. Still hate how his first reaction after a turnover is to box kick. Thats probably as per instruction however.
Cooper was uninspiring. Some good, some bad. Some good runs / passes let down by forward passes / passes to no one. Foley was much the same, although he really stepped up in defence tonight and made a couple of good runs.
Kerevi was strong as per usual and Kuridrani hasn't been letting down off the bench. Two good options there.
DHP had a great game tonight. I was disappointed to see him subbed.
Hodge was decent. Not much of a winger, but he's put there to play a role and that role is to defend like a champ in the centre channel and to lend the team his monstrous boot when they need it. Missed 3 from 3, but I thought Moore was getting a bit carried away when he elected for him to kick. The first one from 65+m and the other two from close to the sidelines. Let him build confidence with a few easier kicks (e.g. a 50m from infront) and then test him.
Folau. At what stage do we drop him? He's in a real rough patch of form at the moment. DHP was far better and perhaps Naivalu/DHP/Hodge is stronger than DHP/Folau/Hodge. The only positive here is that his kicking from the back was far improved tonight, but everyones kicking looked good at altitude. Foley even had some big roasts down field.
I'd like to see us revert to more traditional roles in the pack next week. We could have really used the go forward a bigger 8 would've provided there in the second half (McMahon provided solid go forward when he was on). At the end we had Douglas / Mumm / Coleman / Fardy on the field. Those 4, and Simmons, provide absolutely nothing in terms of ball carrying.
I want to see:
Sio / Moore / Kepu
Douglas / Coleman
Fardy / Timani / Hooper
Genia / Cooper
Foley / Kerevi
DHP / Folau / Hodge
Reserves:
Slipper / Hanson / Robertson
McMahon / ?
Phipps / Naivalu / Kuridrani
