Tri Nations - AUS v SAF 23rd July 2011.

[qwerty51]

I demand a recount, as Rocky and Sitaleki' stats are too awful to be true. What the hell were they doing? I guess Sita spent some time knocking the ball on. I don't understand the reluctance to Higgers, I am no reds fan but I thought he was strong this year.

I'm not convinced by these statistics. I'm not sure what constitutes a ruck for them but they have McCabe down as hitting 12 rucks and Ioane 9 and Vickerman 2. I definitely saw Vickerman hit more than 2 rucks.

 

[Braveheart.]

I'm not convinced by these statistics. I'm not sure what constitutes a ruck for them but they have McCabe down as hitting 12 rucks and Ioane 9 and Vickerman 2. I definitely saw Vickerman hit more than 2 rucks.

Neither. If one of our flankers is hitting only a handfull or rucks, well, he's not doing his job.

EDIT

May explain why we got hammered at the breakdown. Using our wingers and flankers and our flankers as wingers.

 

[Athilnaur]

It's possible they are inaccurate. As I posted elsewhere on Monday the tackle counts were screwed up, but those got fixed before SMH published.

Slightly unrelated but still tri-nations and selection issues;


Henry on selections pre RWC (maybe mods can move if this needs diff place?)

 

[Ash]

Ruck stats are notoriously iffy. Generally only the first couple of people there quickly are counted in the ruck stats. Slower or lazy forwards who are slower to the ruck and merely help secure it (as opposed to actually being one of the first two there who will do the real clearing out / protecting) don't get credited with being at rucks.

 

[What2040]

I demand a recount, as Rocky and Sitaleki' stats are too awful to be true. What the hell were they doing? I guess Sita spent some time knocking the ball on. I don't understand the reluctance to Higgers, I am no reds fan but I thought he was strong this year.

Rocky and Timani made 66% and 33% more tackles than Kepu (missed 1 which has not been adjusted in the percentages) and Alexander respectively - all played 80 minutes - Rocky and Timani were obviously everywhere

 

[RuckinGoodStats]

I demand a recount, as Rocky and Sitaleki' stats are too awful to be true. What the hell were they doing? I guess Sita spent some time knocking the ball on. I don't understand the reluctance to Higgers, I am no reds fan but I thought he was strong this year.

If you did recount Rocky would be 35 m not 25m for his 5 runs.

 

[RuckinGoodStats]

Ruck stats are notoriously iffy. Generally only the first couple of people there quickly are counted in the ruck stats. Slower or lazy forwards who are slower to the ruck and merely help secure it (as opposed to actually being one of the first two there who will do the real clearing out / protecting) don't get credited with being at rucks.

Totally agree. Couldn't agree more and some players know this so go in for a lean on the ruck to boost numbers. It can be dangeous when players start playing to the stats and the team suffers.

 

[Lee Grant]

I remember my youngest lad going towards a ruck when he was little and I thought - great, he's going to get stuck into a ruck, but all he did was to put his hands on the backs of his team mates, standing up, and put in a few deep breaths to have a rest.

That would have counted as a ruck participation by the stats men no doubt.

 

[Tangawizi]

So who will takeover Wallabies captaincy if Elsom gets subbed off?

Horwill, Genia, Pocock?

Qantas Facebook page had 2 for 1 ticket offer on it today so must be plenty of seats left for the match.

 

[What2040]

So who will takeover Wallabies captaincy if Elsom gets subbed off?

Horwill, Genia, Pocock?

Qantas Facebook page had 2 for 1 ticket offer on it today so must be plenty of seats left for the match.

Horwill I would expect - Genia would be OK but Pocock not yet (he will be) ready

 

[No4918]

Horwill. Just had him on the news talking about the lack of training due to Sydney's weather. Is he getting more responsiblity or it could just be that he is a local though so a more familiar face to Bris viewers.

 

[What2040]

Certainly is appearing more comfortable with the media and his delivery improves all the time although I don't think he will ever be considered a media tart

 

[No4918]

Certainly a better image for the non-rugby fans out there than Elsom usually portrays.

 

[TOCC]

From all reports Elsom is a bit of a introvert, this might not help him in terms of PR and media commitments, but there is nothing stopping a player who is introverted being a good leader.

There are numerous examples of introverted coaches/captains across the years..

Likewise your media darlings don't necessarily make the best captains.

 

[qwerty51]

Horwill. Just had him on the news talking about the lack of training due to Sydney's weather. Is he getting more responsiblity or it could just be that he is a local though so a more familiar face to Bris viewers.

More important why the fuck aren't we training in wet weather!

 

[What2040]

From all reports Elsom is a bit of a introvert, this might not help him in terms of PR and media commitments, but there is nothing stopping a player who is introverted being a good leader.

There are numerous examples of introverted coaches/captains across the years..

Likewise your media darlings don't necessarily make the best captains.

TOCC - agree totally about introverts and captains - was just commenting on a replacement if Rocky replaced. Captains and certainly Rugby (and Cricket) captains are expected to be comfortable with media

 

[jay-c]

Ruck stats are notoriously iffy. Generally only the first couple of people there quickly are counted in the ruck stats. Slower or lazy forwards who are slower to the ruck and merely help secure it (as opposed to actually being one of the first two there who will do the real clearing out / protecting) don't get credited with being at rucks.

i knew there was a logical reason i didnt win the fantasy $10 000

 

[daz]

I remember my youngest lad going towards a ruck when he was little and I thought - great, he's going to get stuck into a ruck, but all he did was to put his hands on the backs of his team mates, standing up, and put in a few deep breaths to have a rest.

That would have counted as a ruck participation by the stats men no doubt.

Quite similar to my post count. I'm so knackered after each one that every second post has to be ghost-written....

 

[vidiot]

More important why the fuck aren't we training in wet weather!

Crikey, man - think about it! An attack of the sniffles now could kill off our RWC campaign!

 

[Swarley]

A win against SA means that the Wallabies move back to #2 on the IRB Rankings. I was feeling pretty demoralised after the Samoa upset, but I'm slowly regaining confidence. Genia seemed to rally the forwards pretty effectively when he came on and Beale transformed the attack immediately- looked like a (largely) new unit. A lot depends on Alexander- his scrummaging and field-work. This match is make-or-break for him, McCalman and McCabe. If they don't perform Deans needs to swing the axe.