Tri Nations Game 3 New Zealand v Australia - Saturday 6 August 2011 - 3N2011

[Slim 293]

The difference being that what he is capable of doing is more likely to lead to a length if field try or something like that.

Cooper is capable of playing better, but he played poorly last night.

Let's judge him, like we are of the other players, on their performance and not silly 'what could have been' scenarios.

When Luke Burgess throws a pass that goes to nobody 15m backwards and leads to a turnover, it's a bad pass.

It seems that when Cooper does it it's "Oh, imagine if that had led to a length of the field try'.

Let's stick a gold star on his forehead for trying, and then put down other players who also tried but were also ineffective.

 

[No4918]

I think that first intercept by Smith got stuck in his head resulting in the 2 chip passes in the AB 22. For mine it was just an off night. His performances in beating the Crusaders & Blues twice and winning the S15 should have shown his ability in the big games. Beale was just as bad last night and AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) worse.

The forwards though is where we keep losing these games. The AB were just so much smarter at the breakdown. They committed just enough to slow the Wobs ball down and kept the extra bodies in the defensive line. The Wobs on the other hand appeared to need at least an extra man to get the ball out and committed too many on the AB ball. Simmons is doing ok and should be persisted with but McCalman needs to be dropped and Elsom put on notice. Our guys just don't look like they enjoy the battle where as the AB guys couldn't be happier in the middle of a ruck or smashing the ball up.

 

[Slim 293]

Indeed, and I hope he learns that he doesn't need to go for the miracle pass everytime.

It's a shame that pass was intercepted by Conrad Smith, because it was the right idea and we had players that could've been away.

Some of those other passes though... yeesh...

 

[Athilnaur]

Had Cooper passed another only to be intercepted pass we'd all be calling him a twit for not learning the first time. Let's not criticize him too heavily for his decisions,as long as he is making them. It's the indecisive Cooper that worried me.

 

[Slim 293]

The backline, outside of Genia (and Ioane) seemed to lack any form of leadership or intelligence last night.

It was certainly the kind of game we needed an experienced head like Barnes or Giteau in the midfield.

There were a number of guys out there who had quiet, or bad games.

It's funny because I didn't think I'd come out of this game praising our tight 5, and putting down the backline.

 

[aussie1st]

Part of the problem for Beale was being shoved on the wing in attack, that would have confused him on what his role was meant to be. JOC (James O'Connor) seem to be playing at fullback for most of the 1st half which was working but we would be better off with him at 12 and leaving Beale where he has been killing it for over a year.

 

[What2040]

Overall tight 5 poor - Moore and Horwill good - Alexander and Kepu not enough work at breakdown - Pocock average (was it 3 or 4 penalties), McCalman and Rob Simmons will be gone. Higgers to start. OZ just didn't have the intensity of the AB'S - jeez they were good.

 

[FrankLind]

McCaw actually did not infringe that badly tonight.

I am not sure. I am waiting for the G&G video "analysis" b4 I believe anything!

 

[Slim 293]

Overall tight 5 poor - Moore and Horwill good - Alexander and Kepu not enough work at breakdown - Pocock average (was it 3 or 4 penalties), McCalman and Rob Simmons will be gone. Higgers to start. OZ just didn't have the intensity of the AB'S - jeez they were good.

You must've been watching a different game.

Alexander and Kepu put in a lot of work at the breakdown.

I was actually surprised with Alexander who was doing some big clearouts.

 

[Toddy]

I was surprised with how well the ABs played. I definitely thought the game would be a lot closer than it was.

OZ scrum went quite well. Not sure if Crockett will suffer any world cup repercussions due to penalties he gave away.

Genia and Copper were on a hiding to nothing when the OZ forwards couldn't create any real go forward for long periods. It really allowed the ABs to get right up in their face to pressure mistakes. Cooper really didn't like it but what 1st5 does.

 

[TOCC]

Purely a case of the All Blacks defence been superior tonight, there defensive patterns were designed to shut down the Wallabies backline which is evident as to why the Wallabies made so many easy meters around the ruck when they started playing fluently with pick and drives.

The Wallabies backline wasn't nearly as bad as some on here are saying, Giteau was not the solution for last night he would have just compounded matters. The Wallabies needed to revise there tactics and really start pushing through the ruck channels to suck the defenders in, every time the backs got the ball they rarely ever had overlaps or even 1:1 ratios.

Yes the forwards were going well last night, but thats becaus the All Blacks had there eyes(correctly) focussed elsewhere.

 

[Richo]

Part of the problem for Beale was being shoved on the wing in attack, that would have confused him on what his role was meant to be. JOC (James O'Connor) seem to be playing at fullback for most of the 1st half which was working but we would be better off with him at 12 and leaving Beale where he has been killing it for over a year.

Beale did not look good with the sideline pressed up next to him.

 

[What2040]

You must've been watching a different game.

Alexander and Kepu put in a lot of work at the breakdown.

I was actually surprised with Alexander who was doing some big clearouts.

just MO but will look at stats when available

 

[liquor box]

Rocky and Pocock (shut out of the game? carrying an injury? He was quiet also against the Springboks).

I get the feeling that Pocock is trying to "pace" himself through the game to ensure an even performance for a full 80 minutes. From memory he used to just go crazy for as long as he could and this intensity is what made him so awesome. I think he is missing this intensity.

I will draw a very long bow here, but he needs to have a look at how Robinson and Gill performed for the Reds, they knew they would not polay 80 minutes so they went as hard as they could for as long as they could and ensured 80 full minutes of hassling the opponant.

I think we could also look at having Robinson in the starting team, I have always liked two fetchers in the team because at the moment if you can tie up pocock at the bottom of the ruck then you get at least one or two phases immediately without threat.

I think that we are only competing about 70% of the time and the game is one by conesting the ball. I really hate when we dont contest a line out as it indicates that we are not hungry enough (my opinion) and we are basically telling the other team they are better than us. Losing pocock at every third breakdown is also lowering the number of times we contest for the ball.

 

[antipodean]

@bringontheWC - there's enough bias on this site without you having to give Wallaby supporters good cause to think Kiwis are ungracious ****s.

 

[Honky]

My thoughts about last night...

McCalman was found out.
QC (Quade Cooper) needs to learn how to take a tackle and not offload.
Rocky still didn't do that much for me and although he did get a try what was he doing on the wing?
One of my Kiwi mates told me he wants to buy that ref and i think thats probably money well spent...
I wonder also when we will get a ref that will rule the breakdown properly. AB's laying all over the ruck and not penalised??
Also, first try of the match, did anyone see QC (Quade Cooper) get taken out illegally leaving the short side open?

 

[Jay]

Cooper is capable of playing better, but he played poorly last night.

Let's judge him, like we are of the other players, on their performance and not silly 'what could have been' scenarios.

When Luke Burgess throws a pass that goes to nobody 15m backwards and leads to a turnover, it's a bad pass.

It seems that when Cooper does it it's "Oh, imagine if that had led to a length of the field try'.

Let's stick a gold star on his forehead for trying, and then put down other players who also tried but were also ineffective.

That happens with flashy players. There was one moment in the SA v Aus game where Cooper put a nice half step on and threw a scoop offload around a defender - unfortunately it went about 2 metres in front of Pat McCabe who was running a support line on the outside. Of course the commentators blamed McCabe for not anticipating the pass when in fact he had anticipated the pass in running support - he just isn't as fast as Bryan Habana or Lachie Turner. A good pass is one that goes to hand and at some point you have to put the blame on the passer if the support player is running a constant line.

 

[Jay]

Also, first try of the match, did anyone see QC (Quade Cooper) get taken out illegally leaving the short side open?

Did anyone see Weepu being held onto by Simmons leading to the Wallabies first try?

 

[Richo]

Did anyone see Weepu being held onto by Simmons leading to the Wallabies first try?

Yeah, minor crap like that happens in every game.

 

[Jay]

Yeah, minor crap like that happens in every game.

It's obviously some player's role - it's no coincidence that it was Ali Williams & Rob Simmons that were responsible in the instances being discussed, they both spend half their time about 3 feet on the wrong side of the tackle/ruck.