Wallabies v All Blacks, Saturday 19th August, ANZ Stadium Sydney

[dillyboy]

another try and the scoreline is starting to look almost respectable

Another try and it'd look like we're playing NBA Jam with auto catch-up turned on......

 

[Rugbynutter39]

Another try and it'd look like we're playing NBA Jam with auto catch-up turned on..

So Kerevi and McMahon should drop out of the 15. But seriously given tahs track record on defence this season plus this game how long before Grey gets punted?

Speight also missed too many tackles and Rona had mixed night - dhp back so one has to go...

At least Coleman and arnold proving quality second row combination and Beale definitely showing what we missed, as he was good in attack and despite the critics did his bit in defence.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Phibbs shouldn't be playing at super level. He can't pass. Makes no sense.

Phipps is no good either

 

[Braveheart81]

The most obvious changes for next week are Kuridrani to start at 13 and Kerevi drop out of the 23 and likewise for Moore to be dropped.

The back row needs to change. Timani to start at 8 and take your pick at 6. I thought Hanigan and McMahon were both largely ineffective. McMahon was better for a while in the second half but was absent in the first when we got pumped. Hanigan absent pretty much throughout.

Nathan Grey needs to be replaced. It just isn't working.

I probably wouldn't make any changes beyond that.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Interesting that all the discussion post game has been focussed on the backs.
Yet a few regulars here deride posts about back selections - after all the game will be won or lost in the forwards.
Perhaps not when your midfield leaks like a seive.
The tight 5 did their job. Set piece was good.
Timani added some starch and balance to the back row.
Beale and folau are about the only starting backs I'd keep in the side.

Folau should be on reduced rations.
He missed an u10 tackle not by being caught in no mans land on the right edge but by moving into no mans land. Maybe it was a preemptive strike to stop talk of him playing on the wing.
He threw a pop pass off the ground in traffic.
Never has so much been paid to so few for so little.
He has been "out of form" for years. In fact, it's a more fundamental issue: he has no kick, poor hands and no judgment.
Move Beale to 15.

It is pure bloody mindedness that In the press conference Chekia says the team needs to doggedly stick to the system

I will have to watch a replay to find out why KEREVI was nowhere near being in the line twice: is him in a sweeping role part of the system?
Any chance the ABs decided not to run the score up more for fear it might motivate us?

 

[vidiot]

The only players that understood the wallabies defensive setup were wearing black.

 

[Rebels3]

One elephant in the room that no one has mentioned is that the all blacks played a warm up game last week against counties. Our guys on the other hand had gone 40 days no matches. How about next year we bring the nrc forward and play one of the teams the week before the first bledisloe. It'll get the cobwebs out and also provide which ever nrc team they play great experience and exposure.

 

[KOB1987]

The most obvious changes for next week are Kuridrani to start at 13 and Kerevi drop out of the 23 and likewise for Moore to be dropped.

The back row needs to change. Timani to start at 8 and take your pick at 6. I thought Hanigan and McMahon were both largely ineffective. McMahon was better for a while in the second half but was absent in the first when we got pumped. Hanigan absent pretty much throughout.

Nathan Grey needs to be replaced. It just isn't working.

I probably wouldn't make any changes beyond that.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

I agree with this pretty much. Was watching the Cheika interview with the wife this morning and when he was asked if he trusted grey (or whatever the question was) and said '100%' (twice), she said 'that did not look at all convincing'. She wouldn't even know who Nathan grey is BTW.

Cheika has to recognise that the defensive structure is the main problem at the moment.

6 is a worry, the cupboard is empty. I think Hanigan is keeping his spot purely for development purposes - that short term pain thing.

 

[Rugbynutter39]

The most obvious changes for next week are Kuridrani to start at 13 and Kerevi drop out of the 23 and likewise for Moore to be dropped.

The back row needs to change. Timani to start at 8 and take your pick at 6. I thought Hanigan and McMahon were both largely ineffective. McMahon was better for a while in the second half but was absent in the first when we got pumped. Hanigan absent pretty much throughout.

Nathan Grey needs to be replaced. It just isn't working.

I probably wouldn't make any changes beyond that.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

As much as evidence shows Grey should go he will stay for the rugby championship as removing a coaching staff member bit different to dropping a player. Will and should be done at the right time which is end of the rugby championship. Actually feel for Grey as first tahs and now wallabies had a shocking record for what he is responsible for coaching re; defence, so would be feeling the pressure.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[KOB1987]

This won't go down well with some but I think something that needs to be considered is Beale to 10, hodge or Meakes to 12 and foley to 22

 

[Beer Baron]

This won't go down well with some but I think something that needs to be considered is Beale to 10, hodge or Meakes to 12 and foley to 22

Hodges boot needs to be out there. We ain't winning a running game

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

 

[Sword of Justice]

It's a combination of both. Poor systems and poor selections. Kerevi a stand-out poor performer, but that is surely magnified by selecting a poor defender inside and outside him. Kerevi would have surely looked better if he had either Gits, Lilo inside him - players who can manage a defensive line.

The system is poor.

Selecting a poor defenders at 10.12. and 13 is batshit crazy too.

It's like Cheika want's to magnify our weaknesses rather then balance them out. Just like how he selects poor kickers at flyhalf and fullback.

I would go as far to say the only starting back who defended well was Speight really. And looking at the team sheet is that a surprise?

 

[KOB1987]

And I'd be making a 6/8 out of Tui, Timani the other

 

[fatprop]

Well that was interesting, I thought after the first half we were going lose by 100.

But we came back and one the second half convincingly.

I thought the pigs did pretty well, set piece was strong.

The backs looked like a group that hadn't played together and didn't trust eachother.

Guys like Speight makes great defensive decisions playing for the ponies, but not for the Wobs. I thought Rona looked very solid, strong running, good defense and soft hands. I also thought Hodge looked effective

We were all right that the Kerevi/Beale centre pairing didn't work, but Beale was the best Aus back by miles, so bye bye Kerevi, enjoy the pine and the NRC.

 

[Quick Hands]

One elephant in the room that no one has mentioned is that the all blacks played a warm up game last week against counties. Our guys on the other hand had gone 40 days no matches. How about next year we bring the nrc forward and play one of the teams the week before the first bledisloe. It'll get the cobwebs out and also provide which ever nrc team they play great experience and exposure.

A double advantage being if any of of guys have been suspended, we can count these games as being real games.

 

[Quick Hands]

This won't go down well with some but I think something that needs to be considered is Beale to 10, hodge or Meakes to 12 and foley to 22

Once he moves beyond playing for Randwick (i.e. at higher levels) Beale has consistently shown that he can't run a game from 10.

 

[louie]

Ahh what bullshit, out of that 3 match series against England the most points the Wallabies conceded was when a Kerevi wasn't even in the team and Lealifano and Kuridrani were the starters.

Lealifano never started a game in that series. He came off the Bench twice.

 

[Rugbynutter39]

I bet the Tahs are pretty happy Grey is now gone as their defence coach and focussed solely on the Wallabies.

 

[Quick Hands]

I admire people's passion and enthusiasm for debating the selection of one player over another. Without it these threads wouldn't exist.

I would point out though that, broadly speaking, we have the best available players in the squad and we have the best available head coach. It's absolutely true that many of our "best" have significant shorcomings in areas of their game which are exposed brutally at test level. This reflects long term, systemic issues which have been pointed out by me and others for quite a while.

While it sounds plausible to replace these guys with someone else, in most cases the "someone else" has just as many, if not more deficiencies although perhaps in other areas.

Unfortunately, as I've pointed out for quite some time, we are now seeing the new reality - we're at the same level as Scotland, Italy and Argentina (in fact I even nominated these three countries as our level two years ago) and slightly better than the Pacific Islands.

We will struggle to beat anyone else on a regular basis unless and until there is a complete restructure of the way rugby is organised/administered in Australia and there is a complete rethink as to how junior competitions and coaching are done.

There's no quick fix. No amount of cheap parochial jibes will do anything either - if anything that sort of stuff is now harmful to the game in the state it currently exists.

 

[louie]

It's like Cheika want's to magnify our weaknesses rather then balance them out. Just like how he selects poor kickers at flyhalf and fullback.

I talked to an ex Tahs player last year who told me Cheika rarely talks to players about their weaknesses. He only wants them focusing on strengths.