Wales v Australia, Monday 18 November 3:10am AEDT

[JRugby2]

Reffing was generally okay. Not sure about the HIA penalty being overturned on the basis of the tackler being "out cold", who's then determined to be fine but "stunned".

Since when was being stunned an explanation for loitering at the bottom of our ruck?

Doleman jumping at shadows all game. Perfect example of referee wrongly imposing himself on the game and overplaying their hand.

The non-head knock, then his own referral for the clean out that was perfectly legal (both adding additional stoppages to the game) are 2 clear examples of many I thought

 

[Adam84]

Quick thoughts.

- A great result but I didn’t feel we were as dominant as last week
- White is a step backwards from Gordon
- Discipline was a concern tonight but admittedly Doleman is terrible
- I echo the concerns about Slipper. He looks done and I’m not sure why Kailea isn’t getting a run off the bench
- The red shouldn’t have been a red
- How can a player who has been knocked out not go off for a HIA??

Biggest mistake Schmidt did this tour was not letting Slipper stay home and have a full pre-season and bringing in someone like Scott Sio for the tour itself.

 

[Dctarget]

Thoughts on players:
- Interesting we got great change from our maul & lineout but not scrum, even with big Willy.
- Thought Uru was fairly quiet and didn't do enough in an easy win to displace Wilson
- Trying to tackle Valetini is an occupational hazard and should be banned.
- Skelton was easily one of our best. He carries so often for a man his size and always makes metres and takes multiple players with him. Add on his maul defence/attack he was crucial.
- I thought White was fine, not sure what people think he did wrong? He navigated a good half where we scored 19 unanswered, his box kicking was very useful.
- Wright is playing on easy mode. His stats are going to be bananas. Hard to go past him for MOTM.
- Kellaway learning from Koroibete, he was everywhere. His best in Gold in years. He plays 10kg above his weight, makes way more metres in contact than he should. He made a couple defensive reads that brilliantly shut down Welsh potential tries.
- McDermott is perfect for a bench role, I'd keep him there.
- Our players looked so, so, so much fitter than the Welsh.


We always play down to the Welsh, I think our winning margin against them is always a couple of points, so enjoy this victory.

 

[Dctarget]

Oh, also that Salakaia-Loto one handed lineout steal was very, very sexy.

 

[Alex Sharpe]

Reffing was generally okay. Not sure about the HIA penalty being overturned on the basis of the tackler being "out cold", who's then determined to be fine but "stunned".

Since when was being stunned an explanation for loitering at the bottom of our ruck?

This was messy but did make me laugh. Dolman was basically saying there was nothing clinically wrong with the bloke but nobody can reasonably be expected to remember the laws of the game and roll away after being steamrolled by Bobby V

 

[JRugby2]

Oh, also that Salakaia-Loto one handed lineout steal was very, very sexy.

Yeah mate that was an incredible grab by you and good to see you self-felating the forums only hours after

 

[Tex]

Anyone got footage of the Valetini tackle in the second half? He bodied the Welsh forward front on, picked him up like a sack of potatoes.

So good to see him having a physical impact at international level.

 

[LeCheese]

What a different team this is to a few months ago. We’re looking like a well rounded team who’s comfortable with ball in hand, able to take our chances, and whose defensive systems mostly working. The Grand Slam is alive.

Some rapid fire thoughts:
- Really liking that we have Ikitau and Wright stepping in at first receiver quite often, particularly in the first quarter of the game
- Skelton was large in every sense of the word - a must keep in the team. Uru took his opportunity and played his role well.
- As a former second rower, Frost’s try was what dreams are made of.
- I thought Kerevi was fine and brought some physicality. I don’t think we’ve seen his last game just yet, but I’m also not sure his style of play is congruent with when the Wallabies are at their best. Is Kerevi/Ikitau a better combo than Ikitau/JAS though? I’m not so sure…
- Short contestable kickoffs seem to be the new go-to - JAS last week and Wright this week contesting each and every kickoff.
- Noah seems a lot more comfortable with this team. Glad Joe stuck with him.

I’ve been critical of Doleman in the past, but I think he’s copping a fair bit of unnecessary flack - I thought he controlled the game well overall, let it flow, and communicated clearly. On the ‘big’ decisions:
a) I can understand why he didn’t change his call based on the outcome of the Welsh doctors’ assessment. They were the ones who fucked it. It was great to see Doleman react to McReight and White’s insistence that Botham was out cold.
b) I thought both cleanouts on Kerevi and White were the ‘commonsense calls’ we were all screaming for, albeit they are inconsistent with the ‘any head contact is a card’ line in the sand that had seemingly been drawn.
c) Kerevi’s tackle definitely a yellow and probably a tad unlucky to be upgraded, but a 50/50 call imo and not one that was made by Doleman

Sua’ali’i reeeeally needs to be careful with his tackle height and wrap

 

[Ignoto]

We just put FIFTY on one of the home nations at home. Scored eight tries. How bloody good!?!?

We've played 2 matches and scored 13 tries. Across the entire failed RWC campaign, we scored 11.

If Joe manages a Grand Slam, I hope Waugh will be calling the Governor General to have Joe on the AO list come Australia day!

 

[Tomthumb]

Yep that was my take on it also..
Dolemans approach was the right one, the Welsh medical team were the ones who stuffed up here..

No, Doleman should have demanded he go off for an assessment if he was so sure he was knocked out, or should have reverted to his original call of penalty for not rolling away if the player wasn't actually knocked out. Keeping it as a scrum was moronic

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

Probably repeating a lot of peoples manifestos but my 2c

Bad:
- White is off the pace from Gordon and Tate right now. Feels strange to say with a 50 burger put up.
- Kerevi looks underdone. But it's not underdone, it's just what he is now I think. Effective enough in contact but that instant jolting speed ins't there. Good Centres would comfortably handle him.
- Slipper needed this summer to kick the feet up. He looks broken and if the Brums want him good they should sit him for a few weeks to start the year and have him come in fresh.
- This is really making me think Rennie stunk. Eddie was chaos and he tried to light a fire under them but he burnt the house down

Good:
- Wright deserves huge kudos. This time last year I shuddered seeing him play for the god awful brain fart that would happen. He's in the form of his life right now and it sounds like he's responsible for it from what Larkham said.
- Skelton was a straight up menace and the sheer girth of the man gave room for the likes of McReight and Feassler to snipe around with so many pre occupied with Skelton.
- Ikitau is the focal point of the attack. He glides and looks to always have time.
- Noah. Look he aint setting the world on fire but he's getting the ball where it needs to go and kicking goals.
- Excited to see what development Jorgo gets from playing with Wright. They are both quick and natural footy players. The lack of speed we have been guilty of might be gone?

 

[JRugby2]

Kerevi's Red Card is definitely a red card.

He rockets into the tackle at considerable speed, and while in isolation there is nothing wrong with this, the degree of danger is higher as the force of impact is higher/ larger and reduces the amount of control he has over the collision. This is pretty obvious watching it both slowly and at full speed. Kerevi's going in too quick for even himself and doesn't have time to adjust to what the ball carriers doing to make a legal tackle. Going hard into contact is clearly high risk and high reward, but ultimately tacklers have an onus on themselves to be in control of their own contact.

He's also upright, and upright doesn't mean 'standing tall' - ball carriers always dip late and brace for contact instinctually and ultimately it's predictable as a defender, you need to be lower than them.

Then it's direct head on head at the same moment his body hits the ball carriers body, or - there is nothing that will take away from the initial force of the impact.

Easy red - he won't play again on this tour.

 

[LeCheese]

No, Doleman should have demanded he go off for an assessment if he was so sure he was knocked out, or should have reverted to his original call of penalty for not rolling away if the player wasn't actually knocked out. Keeping it as a scrum was moronic

Doleman has to trust the doctors' judgement. If he reverted his call, we enter the territory of the injury outcome dictating the decision.

 

[Agent]

I haven't watched the Aus XV game yet, but reports of Lonergan's performance weren't great and that's what might keep White in the squad for next year.

Which is a shame because 12 months ago Lonergan was well and truly in the mix of up and coming Aussie 9's. I'm also amazed and pleased how much Jake Gordon's worth to the Wallabies has increased this year. At the end of Super Rugby there would have been very few people expecting Jake to be a regular starter and arguably the first choice 9 in Oz.

Well done Wallabies!! I just hope for consistency going forward.

 

[JRugby2]

Doleman has to trust the doctors' judgement. If he reverted his call, we enter the territory of the injury outcome dictating the decision.

A better way of handling this would have been to whistle time off, have him assessed and if he was knocked out - then make that decision to pack a scrum - and leave himself the option to keep it as a penalty.

 

[LeCheese]

Interesting to hear in the post-game that Schmidt implied Sua'ali'i was likely going to come on for Ikitau, not Kerevi.

 

[LeCheese]

A better way of handling this would have been to whistle time off, have him assessed and if he was knocked out - then make that decision to pack a scrum - and leave himself the option to keep it as a penalty.

Sure, but hindsight's 20/20. Doleman called the penalty before realising Botham was potentially injured - McReight and White can be heard on the ref mic alerting him to it as the ball is cleared from the ruck.

 

[Tomthumb]

My issue with it is we saw Ellis Bevan clock Nic White flush on the head (forcing him off through HIA) and was told by the ref it was only a penalty

Kerevi's wasnt great to look at, but initial contact was shoulder to shoulder, which was the exact reason given as to why Kolisi wasn't red carded in the World Cup Final. The inconsistency is mind boggling

You also have the Irish prop getting yellow carded for the exact same thing that the Scottish lock was red carded and banned for just last week

 

[Tomthumb]

Doleman has to trust the doctors' judgement. If he reverted his call, we enter the territory of the injury outcome dictating the decision.

The injury outcome already had dictated the decision. It was a penalty he rescinded because he thought the player was knocked out

 

[Tomthumb]

Sure, but hindsight's 20/20. Doleman called the penalty before realising Botham was potentially injured - McReight and White can be heard on the ref mic alerting him to it as the ball is cleared from the ruck.

Then why didn't he demand the player go off for an HIA?