Rudderless
Trevor Allan (34)
Every Northern hemisphere team had a win
Members Section
John Thornett (49)
So a joint PI deal to grow the 6N, u/20's & womens rugby works better than selfish individual unions looking after their own self interest, who ever would have thought
Wallaby Man
Nev Cottrell (35)
I’m not too down on the team. We were better than the score suggests and the ref had a bit of a nightmare with some decisions than didn’t go our way. However Ireland deserved the victory purely because they were professional in mindset and tactics. Unfortunately club rugby with been a part time professional is not adequate enough to compete in 2023. We will continue to struggle until we have the money and systems to compete. But there is talent there. Many mention our young players get experience playing men but some of these youth teams would win QPrem and SS comfortably and put 50 on most weeks. It’s just a different standard.
We also don’t appreciate how important kicking and territory is. It’s one of Aus biggest downfalls for last 20yrs
We also don’t appreciate how important kicking and territory is. It’s one of Aus biggest downfalls for last 20yrs
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I would think Zane Nonggorr would be up there as one of the best since Angus Bell as well, at least as a prospect. We never saw him for the Under 20s though.
NH Academy systems are miles in front SH and it is showing in the results. For example, Italy, Scotland and Ireland identify talent early, move them into their top clubs and manage them through their national academies. We seem to rely on the state academies to ID and manage talent. We don't seem to have a streamlined national system. Meanwhile 14 and 15 year old boys and pretty soon girls are signed by NRL clubs.
Brumby Runner
Jason Little (69)
Barrett is an exceptional prospect at LHP, certainly, but I reckon last night showed just how important de Lutis is to the set piece. With him on the ground the Junior Wallabies were dominating the scrum, but after he left the scrum was on skates going backward.
Is the replacement THP (Bloomfield?) The Fuse v2.0?
I was surprised by what appeared to be a huge difference in size between the Irish and the Aussie players. Looked like men against boys across the park. The Irish really bullied the breakdown. Did everyone notice just how big their No 7 was? This is the modern game. All big, aggressive, win the breakdown contest type forwards and every one of the forwards able and ready to win possession with dominant rucking. No out and out pilferer who gets blasted off the ball by bigger, stronger players.
I was also disappointed with the slow ball delivery and hospital passes by Teddy Wilson. If he's the future, he will need to smarten up his delivery to his runners at ruck time. The forwards going backwards didn't help, but he looked very slow quite a few times.
The Ghost of Raelene
Simon Poidevin (60)
If you think the Irish are big give the French team a look. They handled NZ pretty easily over the entire 80. NZ had a little run between 60-70mins.
100% agree about de Lutis going off changed it all at scrum time but Barrett looked to still be holding his side but it was being completely crushed on the other. Don't want to go in on just the Props because they don't have necessarily the biggest Second Rowers behind them either.
I really hate when Half Backs take the 2 chain steps before passing every time. It was allowing the Irish Defence to get off the line and meet the Aussie runners at or behind the line. I know conditions were bad and slinging it straight from the back of a ruck would have been harder but the Irish 9 had no issue and the French 9 in the following game was excellent.
100% agree about de Lutis going off changed it all at scrum time but Barrett looked to still be holding his side but it was being completely crushed on the other. Don't want to go in on just the Props because they don't have necessarily the biggest Second Rowers behind them either.
I really hate when Half Backs take the 2 chain steps before passing every time. It was allowing the Irish Defence to get off the line and meet the Aussie runners at or behind the line. I know conditions were bad and slinging it straight from the back of a ruck would have been harder but the Irish 9 had no issue and the French 9 in the following game was excellent.
The Ghost of Raelene
Simon Poidevin (60)
Good shout. Nonggorr and Bell are the same age which is strange in my mind.
The Ghost of Raelene
Simon Poidevin (60)
I agree they are ahead of us but our State academies are aligned with the Top Clubs i.e. Gen Blue are directly linked to the Waratahs.
I think our issue is the amount of playing and quality of play our 18-20 year olds are exposed to. I have no proof of this but with so many teams in France I'd be confident in saying the majority of their players have been exposed to Professional Rugby already and the week to week intensity and sheer amount of games they play in a season. We have a handful of players that have had a couple of games in Super Rugby or exposure to the 7s program.
I love Shute Shield and that level of the game but its not even close to the same. Gives even more credence to the idea that we need a 3rd tier. Whatever concept it may be.
Brumby Runner
Jason Little (69)
I agree, our locks were substantially smaller than their Irish counterparts and maybe contributed to our poor scrum performance in the second half, but in the first half the JWs were indisputably on top at scrum time with the same locks in the second row.
And, yes, Barrett's side still stood up to the pressure in that second half. The difference was simply that de Lutis left the field. Does not bode well for the remainder of the tournament.
Highlander35
Steve Williams (59)
Lots of reaction. In reality: 6 Nations teams have had three full campaigns since the last JWC, whereas for RC teams there's essentially only been showpiece matches: while it's not all the same players, that's a significant difference in scope for backroom and support staff.
That doesn't mean there's not a gap, but the gap is primarily in the cohesion and exposure the team is able to build across long periods of playing against competitive opposition (understanding each other's strengths and weaknesses, building both individually & as a team to overcome them) and the professional support the teams are able to provide to the players in terms of diet, weight training, general fitness etc. I certainly don't recognise a lot of Irish names or English names from URC or Premiership teamsheets.
I'm not certain that the geographical circumstances (of Australia in particular, but I presume NZ would not be dissimilar) would allow for that level on ongoing... support as a collective (e.g. if not playing in England or for Glasgow/Edinburgh firsts, the Scottish U20s will be playing 10 games in our NRC equivalent from August-October), but I think there can and will be more done to emulate that: even if it may just be a more rigorous match schedule in the lead in to the JWC, nor do I think it will dictate the long term quality of players to emerge.
That doesn't mean there's not a gap, but the gap is primarily in the cohesion and exposure the team is able to build across long periods of playing against competitive opposition (understanding each other's strengths and weaknesses, building both individually & as a team to overcome them) and the professional support the teams are able to provide to the players in terms of diet, weight training, general fitness etc. I certainly don't recognise a lot of Irish names or English names from URC or Premiership teamsheets.
I'm not certain that the geographical circumstances (of Australia in particular, but I presume NZ would not be dissimilar) would allow for that level on ongoing... support as a collective (e.g. if not playing in England or for Glasgow/Edinburgh firsts, the Scottish U20s will be playing 10 games in our NRC equivalent from August-October), but I think there can and will be more done to emulate that: even if it may just be a more rigorous match schedule in the lead in to the JWC, nor do I think it will dictate the long term quality of players to emerge.
I'm not sure it's weak but it's probably average.
I think we have some genuinely good players in Barrett, De Lutiis, Wilson, Bowen and Vaihu. We've then got Lynagh and Jorgensen missing who are also clearly outstanding.
The rest of the squad is probably fairly average though. That's not to say that a bunch won't forget decent professional careers but I don't think we're about to see a flurry of Super Rugby starters within the next couple of years coming out of this group.
Micheal
Nicholas Shehadie (39)
Watching the France vs. New Zealand game, I was shocked to see how much bigger the French forward pack was. They made the Kiwis look truly lanky and boyish.
It's interesting to see the French backline though -- there's not the same reliance on power or size. They're mainly quite slim, and the wingers were like greyhounds. It seems to be the modern template.
The Ghost of Raelene
Simon Poidevin (60)
Yeah I don't think its weak. This is unfortunately for viewership about where we sit a lot of the time. Few stand out that should kick on and then we drop off in comparison to other nations after our starting XV.
Something has to be said about the NH systems though.
Ireland 30 -10 Aus
France 35 - 14 NZ
Wales 41 - 19 Japan
Italy 34 - 26 South Africa
Georgia 20 - 0 Argentina
England 53 - 7 Fiji
Dctarget
Tim Horan (67)
Yeah but have you seen the Italian captain speak? He could get me running into a brick wall.
Brumby Runner
Jason Little (69)
I didn't think our backs suffered in comparison with the Irish backline, either in size or talent. Some of the JWs backline moves caused havoc in the Irish defence.