Tri Nations Game 4 South Africa v Australia - Saturday 13 August 2011 - 3N2011

[HKTiger]

Watched Wales v England where after about 15 minutes Allain Rolland stopped the game and told both sides what he expected at the breakdown and ruck. A clean game ensued. Then we get that dog''s bollocks. I hope Paddy watches both games and the gets the Refs on as close to one page as possible for the World Cup. Get a common definition of what is and is not allowed at the break down. Explain it to the Refs the teams and the spectators and then just be consistent about it.

Each game at the moment is referreed so differently so as to cause huge frustration.

 

[daz]

Obviously I'm pleased we won the game and some lads had a solid hit out.

However...I spent the entire game in a state of frustration and turmoil. Forget the ref; the soft handling errors were simply an embarassment for a third division squad, let alone an international team.

FFS, stop with the hot potato shit. Hold the fucking thing for a phase or 10, and stop trying to go for a try with every touch.

Ant Finger: You just made the 22 for the RWC. If I had my way, you would be in the starting 15.

 

[Riptide]

A good tough win win in a dreadful game in which neither team respected the ball once they won it.

Wallaby execution was poor at times but they played smarter rugby. Upfront, the tight 5 were strong and enabled the back-row to get into the game more. Pocock & Moore were standouts and Deans now has his second row combination to take the Wallabies through the WC..

Cooper was more measured this week (but Christ is there a more gutless player wrt to contact in the game?) Fainga'a was superb and gave the Wallabies real midfield potency in attack and defence when he replaced AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper). He deserves the start against NZ. Beale was excellent in all he did..

Some worries; JOC (James O'Connor)'s place kicking still doesn't offer much comfort.

As for the Boks, they were just shithouse in so many areas, but Smit was just awful. Long may PdV continue keeping the best hooker in the game on the bench. FdP was poor, and offered little direction. Only just back, he must rediscover some form if the Boks are to be much of a threat at WC time.

 

[cyclopath]

Ant Fainga'a certainly said "Pick me" tonight. But McCabe was pretty strong. He might have a case to answer at the judiciary though.

 

[Bruwheresmycar]

I honestly don't care about the scrappyness. We closed out a close game in SA against their "A" team. We didn't choke, we kept composed and we didn't have any brainsnaps. Great experiance for the world cup.

Also, i think Higgers is great. But it seems the role our #8 plays must be a quiet one, maybe we were a tad harsh on McCalman. Still i think both the #8s did their job well tonight.

Final note, Ant Fainga'a you have my vote!

 

[Shiggins]

Well that was..........
Kinda boring first of all. My heart was still pounding at the end though. I think any other top 6 test team would have beaten us. The bold were terrible ( only caught the second half) we were terrible. I felt better loosing to NZ. 4 points though and all we have to do is get 99% better and beat the all blacks in 2 weeks and then we can claim the tri nations.

Scum won us the game. It's not often you can say that. I think squeaky called the "let's go for a penalty" at 77 min. Great call and I think we were all thinking it.

Simple stuff to fix our problems like pushing passes when the next guy still has to beat someone that's 1/2 a meter in front of them.


---
- Go the force!!!!

 

[Joe Blow]

Samo was strong at the breakdown and brings some attitude to the pack. He dropped that one ball but I would have him starting ahead of everyone except Palu(in form) at 8.
RD sees A. Finger as a 13 not a 12. I think he is probably right too, although he could be an option at 12 while McCabe has his 2-3 week rest.
Well played Quade. It was a sensible underplayed performance from him.

 

[daz]

Nice try by Australia; but to be honest, lads, it's not like the Wobblies were much cop either. Against a half-way competent team, those first 30 minutes would have cost you the game. Held your nerve well, to be fair.

Yeah, I agree with that. My feeling was that tonight (based on that performance) the Wobs would have been beaten (or even smashed) by the AB's, the Poms, the Welsh, the Irish and probably the French.

 

[Scotty]

Ant Fainga'a certainly said "Pick me" tonight. But McCabe was pretty strong. He might have a case to answer at the judiciary though.

I would have him replace AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) not McCabe.

 

[AkRiD]

Thought the commentating was absolutely woeful tonight, absolutely woeful indeed their observations on everything throughout the game was incorrect, and idiotic at times.

Cannot agree more on that.

I was throwing abuse at them more than I was at the actual game.

 

[Bruwheresmycar]

wow reading all these comments. I thought we got the bad end of a lot of calls but geez, talk about an over-reaction. We got the vital calls such as a scrum penalty in front of the posts. It was mostly 50/50 calls that were not going our way. I was shouting at the TV for a lot of the game, but most of it was just blind abuse. The ref didn't have much effect on our performance or SA's, those constant knock-ons and bad passes did though.

 

[cyclopath]

Yeah, I agree with that. My feeling was that tonight (based on that performance) the Wobs would have been beaten (or even smashed) by the AB's, the Poms, the Welsh, the Irish and probably the French.

Well, a tad hyperbolic. Maybe the first two, but not the last 3, I think. Although with France, you never know.

 

[daz]

Thought the commentating was absolutely woeful tonight, absolutely woeful indeed their observations on everything throughout the game was incorrect, and idiotic at times.

9 or Fox?

 

[cyclopath]

I would have him replace AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) not McCabe.

Fair enough. I guess AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) is tailor-made for bench duties - utility value and all that.

 

[Brumbies Guy]

The game had a sense of inevitability about it from the kick off; Wallabies to get over in a scrap. But there were lots of positives to come out of it still.

Defence all round was good.
Scrum was solid
Locks had a blinder - some genuine competition in the squad
Elsom, Higgenbotham and Samo dug in and were solid in the tight which has been somewhat missing
Pocock and Beale were their usual self
Cooper kept a cool head and didn't overplay his hand - HM for two try saving tackles from breaks on The Beast and Spies.. though still needs to teach him the rules in the breakdown
McCabe and Fainga'a were outstanding in defence
And most of the problems the Wallabies had were handling and discipline issues - the easiest kind to fix!

 

[daz]

Well, a tad hyperbolic. Maybe the first two, but not the last 3, I think. Although with France, you never know.

Come on cyclo. That was not the performance I was really expecting. I was expecting a statement. Ok, we won. But the manner was hardly convincing.

Based on what you saw tonight, do you really think we are seriously challenging for the RWC?

 

[cyclopath]

Bokke have some work to do. They have the players, but they looked pretty clueless. God help them against a coherent AB XV.

 

[cyclopath]

Come on cyclo. That was not the performance I was really expecting. I was expecting a statement. Ok, we won. I am not sure that is enough at this stage of the year.

Based on what you saw tonight, do you really think we are seriously challenging for the RWC?

Not challenging the ABs at the moment. But I really doubt that many NH teams would have done better than the Wobbs in the past 2 weeks. And obviously, I want to see some big improvement on that dross they served up. But they won in SA, which we have a habit of not doing.

 

[RuckinGoodStats]

Such a close game stats wise, so RSA first: Rucks 70 v 76; Lost possessions/turnovers 21 v 20; missed tackles on average 1 in 4, v 1 in 5; tactical kicks from the hand 27 v 27;

Australia conceded 12 penalties to South Africa's 6. Both side conceded 2 penalties inside their 22.

South Africa made 4 critical handling errors inside the Australian's 22. This was 4 of the 12 they made. Australia made 9 handling errors in the match.

An unusual, well for me anyway amount of charge downs in the match. South Africa charged down 1 and Australia 2.

 

[Skippy]

Good win and pretty decent performance. Ovbviously playing to only 60% of their ability but I'll take it. Fainga'a, Samo did exactly what you want off the bench - well done. Higgers played well and some of his work in tight in clearing out was excellent. For the first time in a long time I've seen the Wallabies bend backwards and not be bullied by players like Botha.

Handling errors - There were a few. But in fairness I'm not bothered. I think it was a lot more wet and slippery than the TV showed.

Goalkicking - Big Concern.

Counter rucking was improved. Work in tight was good. Scrums were improved once more. I would however love to see more backline set moves and the Wallabies do away with hitting the 3rd forward from the ruck flat on a hit up... he gets smashed everytime or knocks on as the defence is right on top of him by the time he gets the ball.

Rocky - Finding form. Caught out once or twice including by Spies on the blind side of a scrum but Higgers equally at fault. But his talking to referee's comes across on TV as just being dismissed by the referee who often didn't even turn to face him. Rocky needs work on this area... he needs to do what Horwill does and tower over the ref and allow his body language to make his point because his voice doesn't seem too.

Genia - outstanding. Pulled the strings like a master. Need to quicken up his box kicking motion a little as he got charged a few times.

Quade - excellent game in my opinion. Aside from not taking ball on full almost leading to SA try. But the first 10 minutes he didn't touch the ball... and the side just eased him into the game which was great. Quade did a 'Carter' tonight. He did the basics, kicked well, passed well and injected himself when the time was right. I even saw a few tackled thrown in. This is how he needs to play... play the percentage and then explode when the chance comes.

Referee - Missed a lot of knock ons and ruck infringements.. .and without being biased I thought Australia were harshly done by. Perhaps he didn't get enough support from his touch judges.

McCabe - solid once again and I didn't think there was anything in that tackle to be worried about. However I have no faith in the citing panel. If he is ruled out of the next game... I actually think Fainga'a will stay on the bench and Barnes will be straight in at 12 for the All Blacks in Brisbane (and be goal kicker).

Penalty count - To win at 6 nil down at half time (I think it was 6 nil) but behind a 7 to 2 penalty count was an great turnaround.

Next week - SA to drop Smit and promote Du Plessis. Steyn gone from fullback with hammy but Aplon is a weak link. Morne to come back either at fullback for Steyn or possibly Butch at 10 and the SA to turn over NZ who are resting McCaw and Carter I believe. A victory in Brisbane should see Aus win the Tri Nations and go into the WC feeling confident.

The 22 from today will all be on the plane to the WC and Deans can now give his injured players more time to recover because Deans will be confident this 22 can win the pool games.