TRC Round 2: Australia vs Argentina @ Brisbane - Saturday 27 July 2019

[Braveheart81]

After a disappointing first match, the Wallabies have to put in a convincing performance at home against the Pumas.

Slipper and Uelese are presumably a reasonable chance of being unavailable due to concussion.

Koroibete will presumably slot back into the side and DHP may lose his spot after a woeful game against the Springboks.

It will be tempting to start Beale to add some extra playmaking. The Wallabies instantly looked much more threatening with him on the field and he produced a highlight reel try. Banks played pretty well though and might get switched to Hodge's wing if that happens.

Genia will presumably start although White was close to our best against South Africa. Leali'ifano might get a start too if his shoulder is ready.

 

[KOB1987]

I'll have a go:

1. Sio
2. Fainga'a
3. Alan
4. Rodda
5. Arnold
6. Dempsey
7. Hooper
8. Naisarani
9. Genia
10. Lealiifano
11. Koroibete
12. Kerevi
13. Kuridrani
14. Banks
15. Beale

16. Latu
17. HJH (Harry Johnson-Holmes)
18. Tupou
19. Simmons
20. LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto)
21. White
22. Foley
23. Hodge

I think both Slipper and Uelese should be given the week off.

 

[Braveheart81]

Yeah, I'd probably go with that 23 as well.

I'd maybe have JOC (James O'Connor) on the bench instead of Hodge although that is with the caveat that JOC (James O'Connor) isn't a liability at wing these days. I would assume he isn't and would pick him there. The planned substitution would be him coming on at 12 late in the game and shifting Kerevi to 13.

 

[Derpus]

Is Robertson definitely out? Much prefer he was on the bench over HJH (Harry Johnson-Holmes) (he's not ready).

I want to see Jones given some time. I barely noticed Dempsey on the field the other night.

I'd ditch Hodge and DHP completely. Neither showed form warranting selection before the game, and neither showed form in the game warranting further consideration. Having two proper wingers would have served us so much better. Shit even the bog standard, middle of the rung Tah wingers (Clark and Newsome) would have finished that try and defended their wing.

 

[Braveheart81]

Is Robertson definitely out? Much prefer he was on the bench over HJH (Harry Johnson-Holmes) (he's not ready).

I want to see Jones given some time. I barely noticed Dempsey on the field the other night.

I'd ditch Hodge and DHP completely. Neither showed form warranting selection before the game, and neither showed form in the game warranting further consideration. Having two proper wingers would have served us so much better. Shit even the bog standard, middle of the rung Tah wingers (Clark and Newsome) would have finished that try and defended their wing.

Yes, Robertson is a multi week injury.

I'b probably go with Koroibete and Banks on the wings and Beale at fullback this week.

 

[jollyswagman]

I am curious as to your reasonings for wanting to start Genia ahead of White. I thought White was one of our best on the weekend and certainly didn't see anything from him to warrant his benching. His service was crisp, his kicking both on attack and defense for up to test standard and he wasn't afraid to dive into the ruck to secure the ball when needed.

I agree wholeheartedly that changes need to made and will happen but I am wondering if Beale to 10 whilst leaving Banks at 15 is something Cheika should consider. I know, I know.....we have been down this road before but bugger me if Foley showed anything on Sunday that suggest that he is the answer to anything. Personally, I would have CLL, To'omua, Beale or QC (Quade Cooper) at 10 before Foley.

DHP needs to be dropped from the 23 altogether after that performance. One of the worst in Wallaby gold I can recall from recent memory. Bring Marika on to the wing and give Pulu a run in the place of Hodge. Hodge can ride the pine and can provide legitimate cover for anything from 13 through 15. Likewise, To'omua can cover the inside backs.

 

[KOB1987]

I am curious as to your reasonings for wanting to start Genia ahead of White. I thought White was one of our best on the weekend and certainly didn't see anything from him to warrant his benching. His service was crisp, his kicking both on attack and defense for up to test standard and he wasn't afraid to dive into the ruck to secure the ball when needed.

I agree wholeheartedly that changes need to made and will happen but I am wondering if Beale to 10 whilst leaving Banks at 15 is something Cheika should consider. I know, I know...we have been down this road before but bugger me if Foley showed anything on Sunday that suggest that he is the answer to anything. Personally, I would have CLL, To'omua, Beale or QC (Quade Cooper) at 10 before Foley.

DHP needs to be dropped from the 23 altogether after that performance. One of the worst in Wallaby gold I can recall from recent memory. Bring Marika on to the wing and give Pulu a run in the place of Hodge. Hodge can ride the pine and can provide legitimate cover for anything from 13 through 15. Likewise, To'omua can cover the inside backs.

It's just that it is expected to happen. Experimentation to see where they're at compared with each other. White was given preference due to his kicking game at altitude, whereas Genia's strength is his playmaking and running game. It could be a case of 'horses for courses' throughout the whole RWC campaign.

No to Beale or To'omua at 10 but the rest of the post is pretty right, although Pulu has left his run a bit late, if they bring another flyer in it will likely be Speight or Naivalu.

 

[Braveheart81]

I am curious as to your reasonings for wanting to start Genia ahead of White. I thought White was one of our best on the weekend and certainly didn't see anything from him to warrant his benching. His service was crisp, his kicking both on attack and defense for up to test standard and he wasn't afraid to dive into the ruck to secure the ball when needed.

The only reasoning is that it has already been planned to give them both a start in these first two tests. I agree that White was close to our best against the Springboks.

I agree wholeheartedly that changes need to made and will happen but I am wondering if Beale to 10 whilst leaving Banks at 15 is something Cheika should consider. I know, I know...we have been down this road before but bugger me if Foley showed anything on Sunday that suggest that he is the answer to anything. Personally, I would have CLL, To'omua, Beale or QC (Quade Cooper) at 10 before Foley.

I think Leali'ifano will get a start at 10 if his shoulder is right and again that will be planned.

I thought Foley was generally fine. It took him a while to adjust to the rush defence and get both himself and his outside players playing deeper. We need more playmaking options not less and purely replacing him and expecting that replacement to improve things dramatically won't work in my opinion.

We have to somehow work on getting Kuridrani involved more. Kerevi making multiple linebreaks should lead to Kuridrani getting the ball in space as a support runner but it never happened.

 

[Derpus]

I agree wholeheartedly that changes need to made and will happen but I am wondering if Beale to 10 whilst leaving Banks at 15 is something Cheika should consider. I know, I know...we have been down this road before but bugger me if Foley showed anything on Sunday that suggest that he is the answer to anything. Personally, I would have CLL, To'omua, Beale or QC (Quade Cooper) at 10 before Foley.

Well he scored a try and should have got a try assist for DHPs clusterfuck, kicked his goals and made no glaring mistakes.

Beale looked electric as soon as he came on, but he's wasted at first receiver. He needs to be running onto it into half-spaces.

 

[Derpus]

The only reasoning is that it has already been planned to give them both a start in these first two tests. I agree that White was close to our best against the Springboks.




I think Leali'ifano will get a start at 10 if his shoulder is right and again that will be planned.

I thought Foley was generally fine. It took him a while to adjust to the rush defence and get both himself and his outside players playing deeper. We need more playmaking options not less and purely replacing him and expecting that replacement to improve things dramatically won't work in my opinion.

We have to somehow work on getting Kuridrani involved more. Kerevi making multiple linebreaks should lead to Kuridrani getting the ball in space as a support runner but it never happened.

Its all the more strange given Simone and Kerevi are like for like. Kerevi is obviously better, but they play very similar games.

 

[KOB1987]

The only reasoning is that it has already been planned to give them both a start in these first two tests. I agree that White was close to our best against the Springboks.




I think Leali'ifano will get a start at 10 if his shoulder is right and again that will be planned.

I thought Foley was generally fine. It took him a while to adjust to the rush defence and get both himself and his outside players playing deeper. We need more playmaking options not less and purely replacing him and expecting that replacement to improve things dramatically won't work in my opinion.

We have to somehow work on getting Kuridrani involved more. Kerevi making multiple linebreaks should lead to Kuridrani getting the ball in space as a support runner but it never happened.

:

12. Beale
13. Kuridrani

It's no doubt a pitfall of having Kerevi at 12, his distribution skills are sub par still. I'm not suggesting going back to starting Beale at 12 and leaving Kerevi out, but it could be a formation they could run off the phase ball with Beale at fullback.

 

[KOB1987]

Its all the more strange given Simone and Kerevi are like for like. Kerevi is obviously better, but they play very similar games.

and it's a level down from test footy

 

[Braveheart81]

Its all the more strange given Simone and Kerevi are like for like. Kerevi is obviously better, but they play very similar games.

Kuridrani is far more the focal point of the Brumbies attack though. They play off him rather than Simone.

It's a different role he needs to take with Kerevi being the focal point of our ball running.

 

[Derpus]

^^^^ True. Maybe we should look to get TK involved more off first phase hit ups and push Kerevi a little wider?

Another thing i found odd was that we still looked to go deep and wide, even in our own half. Why? We were completely outgunned for pace out wide, we'd never get around them.

 

[Braveheart81]

Another thing i found odd was that we still looked to go deep and wide, even in our own half. Why? We were completely outgunned for pace out wide, we'd never get around them.

It wasn't really about getting around the whole backline though, just getting past those rush defenders one or two passes wide of the ruck. Where we did it well was mostly having Kerevi cutting back in against that rush defensive line a few players wider and being able to make good metres or a break.

We were on a hiding to nothing hitting it up in closer.

 

[KOB1987]

Is Robertson definitely out? Much prefer he was on the bench over HJH (Harry Johnson-Holmes) (he's not ready).

I want to see Jones given some time. I barely noticed Dempsey on the field the other night.

He was on the field for the 15 minutes that it went pear shaped. He was pretty involved in the tight stuff but didn't really get an opportunity to show off his running game. I'm just working on the theory that he showed enough for the selection panel to pick him on the bench ahead of the other options and given that LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto) was underwhelming without being horrible it could be worth switching them this weekend.

 

[jollyswagman]

If the plan all along was to tive Genia and White a start each in the first two games then fair enough, but based on the rationale of "only as good as your last game" I wouldn't be making the switch. If kicking at altitude was seriously a consideration I would have had Genia starting at Ellis Park as he is the one who needs the extra metres when kicking not White......White kicking distance is fine at sea level. All that said, White's general energy around the park and potential long range goal kicking could be a bonus toward the end of a match. His long range kicking off the tee is close to that of Hodge and with question marks over Hodge's inclusion next week.....who knows.

My main criticism of Foley last weekend was his general level of involvement. Bar your half back, your #10 should be getting their hands on the ball more than anyone else in the team and IMHO, he is simply not "directing" the team on attack as well as I think he should. I feel he is playing more like a "second playmaker" behind the line and went missing for a lot of the match on attack. Yes, he did do a few good things on Sunday but he also made a fair few errors. Maybe this is simply my general frustration with under-skilled forwards acting as distributers in the modern game.

Oh....how good was it to see the Wallaby fullback making a try saving tackle!!! Can't remember the last time I saw one of those from a Wallaby 15.

 

[Tex]

I am curious as to your reasonings for wanting to start Genia ahead of White. I thought White was one of our best on the weekend and certainly didn't see anything from him to warrant his benching. His service was crisp, his kicking both on attack and defense for up to test standard and he wasn't afraid to dive into the ruck to secure the ball when needed.

I agree wholeheartedly that changes need to made and will happen but I am wondering if Beale to 10 whilst leaving Banks at 15 is something Cheika should consider. I know, I know...we have been down this road before but bugger me if Foley showed anything on Sunday that suggest that he is the answer to anything. Personally, I would have CLL, To'omua, Beale or QC (Quade Cooper) at 10 before Foley.

DHP needs to be dropped from the 23 altogether after that performance. One of the worst in Wallaby gold I can recall from recent memory. Bring Marika on to the wing and give Pulu a run in the place of Hodge. Hodge can ride the pine and can provide legitimate cover for anything from 13 through 15. Likewise, To'omua can cover the inside backs.

This is one of my main bugbears with Sanchez' game. It happened at least once, where he was 2nd to the breakdown and hung back waiting for a non-existent forward to secure the exposed ball. Sometimes you need a halfback to take a whack and keep the ball secure.

Regardless, I think White was good but not great. A few more darts at the line early to keep that rushed defence guessing would have helped, rather than crisp lateral passes each phase. Still warrants a start.

 

[jollyswagman]

^^^^ True. Maybe we should look to get TK involved more off first phase hit ups and push Kerevi a little wider?

Another thing i found odd was that we still looked to go deep and wide, even in our own half. Why? We were completely outgunned for pace out wide, we'd never get around them.

You hit the nail on the nead there Derpus.....first phase ball should be going straight to the midfield and quickly. Give the driving maul a rest every now and again to allow for some traditional backline running in the wider channels.

 

[Slim 293]

Against a Pumas team with another excellent lineout - we’ll need LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto) or Jones at 6.........

Having four jumpers worked a treat.