TRC Round 1: South Africa v Australia, Sunday 21 July 1:05am AEST

[Derpus]

If Petaia gets a spot, I imagine we would see him on the wing for a 'lesser' game.

Cant see it, but gosh he would be of use.

 

[Up the Guts]

If you watch the replay, I think To'omua would have tackle Jantjies if he'd been able to from the offside position because he knew there was no other defender. To'omua sees him potentially darting between To'omua and the ruck but then Jantjies steps around him and goes on the outside and To'omua can't react in time because he's facing the wrong direction.

It's 100% DHP's fault.

It’s just really odd that DHP committed himself to the ruck. From about u10s up it’s drilled into backs and forwards that if there’s no one filling the 10 spot that’s where’s you stand and you don’t move. I guess test rugby and altitude does weird things to your decision making.

 

[Dctarget]

When did the LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto) non try happen? Trying to watch it as it's not in the highlights.

 

[Braveheart81]

Kerevi split them wide open

Nice series of phases which deserved a try

The one criticism of Kerevi there is that he didn't need to wait so long to pass. He had support on both sides and could have drawn and passed rather than trying to take the contact and offload.

This is something he has been a bit prone to over the last couple of years but he has certainly improved. He just didn't do it this time.

LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto) is in the perfect position for the draw and pass but is too shallow for the offload in contact. Given how the play unfolded he was in the correct position. Clearly the first option should be to draw and pass because it is much safer.

 

[Strewthcobber]

When did the LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto) non try happen? Trying to watch it as it's not in the highlights.

From the kickoff after Wallaby penalty. Around 17 mins on the match clock

 

[formerflanker]

DHP getting excoriated forii-wide but wft was To'omua up to when DHP left his wing to join the ruck? Havent seen a replay but To'omua sort of let the bok HB scamper away like he didnt know wft to do? Looked like a byronian case of Brainlock Deepfreeze Maximus to me

To'omua stood up from the ruck with his back to the opposition.
Half back scampers past the unprepared To'omua who suddenly goes into WTF mode.
As you do. Just like Dunning's expression when he kicked that drop goal.
"Oh shit what have I done? Is there a hole big enough to fall into?"

 

[Braveheart81]

I'm not really sure what To'omua is meant to do from here.

He's still getting up and is offside, Jantjies already has the ball in his hands and is preparing to scoot down the blindside and score.

Players should generally be backpedalling rather than turning their back on the play to run back but if he'd done that he would have been even slower to his feet and more out of position when Jantjies ran past.

 

[Derpus]

I'm not really sure what To'omua is meant to do from here.

He's still getting up and is offside, Jantjies already has the ball in his hands and is preparing to scoot down the blindside and score.

Players should generally be backpedalling rather than turning their back on the play to run back but if he'd done that he would have been even slower to his feet and more out of position when Jantjies ran past.

Tackle him and cop the penalty, i think.

 

[Braveheart81]

Tackle him and cop the penalty, i think.

Watch the replay. To'omua would have grabbed him if he could.

Jantjies stepped him whilst he was still trying to get to his feet. I agree with the concept though. That was definitely the time to commit a professional foul try prevent a try.

 

[KOB1987]

I just had to watch it, I didn't notice it in real time, I was too frustrated. WTF was DHP doing??

Anyway, overall I'm not going to lose sleep over the performance, a few calls and bounces go our way and we win. They rarely do though! We went into that game with them ranked 5th and us ranked 6th and that's how we came out of it. We will see how much of a B team it was when they announce the team v the All Blacks this weekend. Probably about as much a B team as ours was I suspect.

 

[BDA]

That aside, Hooper was one of our best players as he generally is. We are going to need a more active defensive line if we expect any of our players to compete harder at the breakdown. We were too passive on Saturday night.

Honestly I'm a bit surprised at all the people on this board singing Hooper's praise. There seems to be this suggestion that simply because Hooper is busy and gets to more rucks than the rest of our players that somehow means he was one of the best on field. Whoever plays 7 for the Wallabies is going to get through a shit tonne of work, but they need to be effective. Hooper did fuck all to be effective at the breakdown on the weekend and his running game just ain't what it use to be. ​

Moreover his captaincy for the Wallabies is an objective failure; the bloke has zero rapport with the referees and his decision making is just dumb at times.​

If Pocock returns to good health there must be a serious discussion about who our starting 7 should be.

Not sure who our Captain should be. Genia seems like the best option from a leadership / communicator perspective, but I appreciate there might be other reasons he's not suitable

 

[Derpus]

No thanks to Genia as captain. Maybe Rodda.

I actually kind of agree about his captaincy. He's not the greatest captain ever.

His play is still heads and shoulders above those around him though. He carries every team he's in. I almost feel sorry for the bloke.

 

[Braveheart81]

Honestly I'm a bit surprised at all the people on this board singing Hooper's praise. There seems to be this suggestion that simply because Hooper is busy and gets to more rucks than the rest of our players that somehow means he was one of the best on field. Whoever plays 7 for the Wallabies is going to get through a shit tonne of work, but they need to be effective. Hooper did fuck all to be effective at the breakdown on the weekend and his running game just ain't what it use to be.
Moreover his captaincy for the Wallabies is an objective failure; the bloke has zero rapport with the referees and his decision making is just dumb at times.

He did have twice the run metres of our next best forward and always 8x the run metres of the third best (according to ESPNscrum Hooper had 38 with 3 clean breaks, Naisarani 19 and the next best was 5). That was a huge problem for us. Our forward runners were almost non-existent.

He was also second in the tackle count with no misses.

I agree his rapport with referees is not good. I'm not sure we have anyone who is much better though.

We do need more breakdown presence but that has to start with a more aggressive defensive line. We're never going to challenge at the breakdown strongly if we're so passive in defence.

 

[Purce]

The pass behind Hodge is a tricky one. When it first happened I was fuming at DHP but on the replay it didn't really look like he could have thrown it much flatter without it being forward. The ball seemed to float to Hodge pretty slowly and by the time it got there Hodge was past it.

Hodge was probably a bit flat for the distance he was away from DHP. Not sure if DHP could have done much differently to get the ball to Hodge successfully.

Exactly how I saw it BH. DHP could not have thrown it any flatter. Hodge was too flat.

This is a real problem with not playing actual wingers on the wing. A decent winger would have held his depth and pace holding his line off the person he was going to receive the ball from. Then abruptly accelerated onto the ball when passed in front of him so he could be hitting it near top pace allowing him to get around and in behind the defensive corner. From there it is usually a pretty simple draw and pass (or two) for a try/solid meters gained.

Unfortunately these are skills not many wingers in oz have. I'd say Banks and Pulu would be a couple who can execute this well.

 

[KOB1987]

A lot of people seem to have forgotten that Koroibete was flown home? Not using that as an excuse per se but when people are offering up solutions to the wingers we had on display he has scarcely been mentioned..

 

[Up the Guts]

The thing about DHP’s performance was he actually bungled the easiest aspects of the game that had nothing to do with being a winger. Dropping a ball with the tryline in front of him, getting sucked into a ruck when he should have sat as the pillar, throwing offloads in contact in his own 22m, these aren’t really positional screw ups. His finish for the first try was actually pretty clinical as he had a bit of work to do, he also was safe under the high ball all night. Not a good performance by any means but I can’t really criticise him as a winger per se.

That said, I’d like to see Beale at 15 with Banks at 14 and Koro at 11 this week. JOC (James O'Connor) to 23.

 

[Brumby Runner]

Who gives a shit about being onside. The guy was going to score a try and you're the last man. Just grab the little bastard and let any "heyy wasnt that guy offside?" video ref bollocks play out later on

With a YC?

 

[Dismal Pillock]

With a YC?

Fuck yeah. Do you want to give yourself even a chance to win the rugby football match or just usher pricks to the tryline? Stop the bastard and roll the dice with a yellow down the road. Chivalry is dead baby, winners go home and fuck the prom queen.

 

[chasmac]

I would be very interested to see some analysis on the Defense patterns and systems used.

Some comments I have heard are;
- No linespeed
- Some confusion
- TK virtually invisible (in attack).
- Hooper was seagulling.
- 2 front rowers with concussion.
- Good kicking tactics.

What I haven't been able to filter from reading the forums about our defensive system is;
- Were the usual musical chairs employed?
- Did anyone have to be hidden ?
- How did their halfback score 2 tries and nearly a third and Nick White still get good player ratings for his contribution?
- Was LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto) too slow for #6 ?

I have not been a fan of Nathan Grey's previous defensive gameplans and I would like some informed opinion on the matter.

 

[Ulrich]

I would be very interested to see some analysis on the Defense patterns and systems used.

Some comments I have heard are;
- No linespeed
- Some confusion
- TK virtually invisible (in attack).
- Hooper was seagulling.
- 2 front rowers with concussion.
- Good kicking tactics.

What I haven't been able to filter from reading the forums about our defensive system is;
- Were the usual musical chairs employed?
- Did anyone have to be hidden ?
- How did their halfback score 2 tries and nearly a third and Nick White still get good player ratings for his contribution?
- Was LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto) too slow for #6 ?

I have not been a fan of Nathan Grey's previous defensive gameplans and I would like some informed opinion on the matter.

From my observation there was some rush defense early in the first half but it seemed to wane as the game wore on.

A rush defense requires an extremely high work rate off the ball and without the need to say it it requires great fitness levels. I get the feeling that Australia are starting to move in this direction, but this was the first game they tried it and it was not quite good enough.

SA had similar mixed results last year against the incoming tour of England where the defense was good in patches only.

I still feel as though the Wallabies are slightly confused as to what to do all the time and part of that may be because they are now also adjusting defensive patterns.

The Darkness have reportedly been brooding a plan to counter this defensive measure for a while now so it will be interesting to see how they go about it. I believe Mo'Unga is a good player to counter it, whether they will use him now already or in the RWC only as a surprise remains to be seen.

Just my opinion though.