Wallabies v England, Sat 11th June, 8.00pm, Suncorp Brisbane

[Groucho]

Am I the only one still worried about our scrum?
England traditionally strong in this area and our win over them in RWC was hyped up so much - when in reality they won a few scrum penalties early on and it wasn't until our reverses came on that we completely dominated.

And line-out. Always a worry with the Pooper.

And their back-three are under-rated. White and Watson were superb at the RWC, probably their only consistent players and always looked dangerous.

Goal-kicking always a worry too, can't expect Foley to land any difficult kicks from the side-line or more then 40m out.

Not me. It's a strength. The timing of our scrum's dominance in that game (and in some others) isn't a weakness but a reflection of the fact that we have two international quality front rows, which gives us the option of going harder at the end, that clearly pays dividends.

The lineout, yes. While Moore and Simmons are on we're adequate. Without them, we're weak.

The goalkicking, slightly. Foley does land plenty of difficult kicks from the sideline, for the Waratahs. Lacking a long-range kicker isn't a major weakness unless your policy is to take long-range shots for goal, and I'm sure our policy will be to kick for the corners from 50m out, regardless of who's in the side.

 

[Mr Pilfer]

no one has really mentioned Horne as a possibility to play 12? He would fill the crash ball role nicely and has great defence. You could then counter this by having DHP on one wing and Izzy at full back to inject themselves into the line and take pressure off Foley.

 

[Slim 293]

And Horne partnered quite well with Foley against the Chiefs in their last match............

 

[Braveheart81]

I'd be paying closer attention to Intruder's posts and the various articles from this week.

Horne has seemingly trained exclusively on the wing and doesn't seem likely to play anywhere else.

 

[dru]

I also fancy our scrum. Especially when 16, 17, 18 line up from both sides. Push-over or penalty time.

Line outs not so much.

 

[Groucho]

Whether or not our scrum is really a strength, there's been a refreshing lack of ten pounders braying about our weak pack this time. In fact all they're braying about is our arrogance. Which is how losers talk.

 

[Pfitzy]

The lineout, yes. While Moore and Simmons are on we're adequate. Without them, we're weak.

Hope Squeak's throwing has improved since RWC2015. Was getting picked off with regularity.

 

[Scrubber2050]

I also fancy our scrum. Especially when 16, 17, 18 line up from both sides. Push-over or penalty time.

Line outs not so much.

Frankly our reserve front row is a stronger unit than the starters. It is just refreshing that it hopefully will be a weapon in the last 20 as opposed to being a weakness.

Also reckon Arnold gets the nod. If so, what a great story and rapid rise to this level.

 

[barbarian]

Hope Squeak's throwing has improved since RWC2015. Was getting picked off with regularity.

So many people saying that our lineout is a massive weakness, but there really isn't much evidence to support that.

It was an issue in the World Cup Final, where we lost 3 throws of our 10, operating at 70%.

But in the Semi we won 11/12. In the Quarter we won 7/8. In the Wales match we won 8/9. In the England match we won 7/8.

You would always like to eliminate lost lineouts, and our lineout is far from perfect.

But it's hardly a glaring weakness, and Moore was not getting picked off 'with regularity'.
.

 

[dru]

barbarian, its more that the English line out has been on fire, and wherever we head our locks wont really be a proven pairing. Our back row choices also constrain jumping options. It seems a points victory to England -as far as pre-game review goes.

 

[Groucho]

Hope Squeak's throwing has improved since RWC2015. Was getting picked off with regularity.

He's been bang-on this year. Unless he succumbs to test match pressure (not a Moore thing) then it's the same wind, light and ugly boofhead forwards to throw to.

 

[barbarian]

barbarian, its more that the English line out has been on fire, and wherever we head our locks wont really be a proven pairing. Our back row choices also constrain jumping options. It seems a points victory to England -as far as pre-game review goes.

I don't disagree their lineout is better than ours. But I'm not sure it will make a huge difference in the overall outcome of the game. Being beaten at the scrum can really sting you, but it's a bit easier to mitigate the damage of an inferior lineout.

 

[Groucho]

An interesting statistic from the World Cup. We scored 19 tries from lineouts (the 2nd highest in the tournament) which was 68% of all our tries (the highest in the tournament).

Perhaps the 'weakness' was simply us taking more risks?

By comparison, the 'on-fire' England lineout only scored 5 of their 13 tries (or 38%) from it in the Six Nations. What they did well was steal: 12 of them, twice as many as any other team.

So it would seem that we have a world-class attacking lineout (despite the compulsory overriding mood of pessimism on the Internet) and they have a world-class defensive one.

 

[Strewthcobber]

An interesting statistic from the World Cup. We scored 19 tries from lineouts (the 2nd highest in the tournament) which was 68% of all our tries (the highest in the tournament).

Perhaps the 'weakness' was simply us taking more risks?

By comparison, the 'on-fire' England lineout only scored 5 of their 13 tries (or 38%) from that setpiece in the Six Nations. What they did well was steal: 12 of them, twice as many as any other team.

So it would seem that we have a world-class attacking lineout (despite the compulsory overriding mood of pessimism on the Internet) and they have a world-class defensive one.

So we are really good with it once we get it, and they are really good at stopping us from getting it?

 

[Braveheart81]

We're in unstoppable force meeting immovable object territory.

 

[Groucho]

So we are really good with it once we get it, and they are really good at stopping us from getting it?

Indeed so.

They weren't so good last time we played though. We won 11/13 and they won 7/8, so about even. But they seem to have gotten better since, against different opposition.

The only way to be sure is to play them!

 

[Pfitzy]

So many people saying that our lineout is a massive weakness, but there really isn't much evidence to support that.

It was an issue in the World Cup Final, where we lost 3 throws of our 10, operating at 70%.

But in the Semi we won 11/12. In the Quarter we won 7/8. In the Wales match we won 8/9. In the England match we won 7/8.

You would always like to eliminate lost lineouts, and our lineout is far from perfect.

But it's hardly a glaring weakness, and Moore was not getting picked off 'with regularity'.
.

I wasn't saying "only" RWC2015. I said since.

Last year we were getting done regularly against the ABs, and the big issue was not the numbers but where we were getting stuffed - usually in good attacking positions.

 

[Strewthcobber]

I wasn't saying "only" RWC2015. I said since.

Last year we were getting done regularly against the ABs, and the big issue was not the numbers but where we were getting stuffed - usually in good attacking positions.

this is only a problem if we score lots of our tries from lineouts

 

[Groucho]

I wasn't saying "only" RWC2015. I said since.

Last year we were getting done regularly against the ABs, and the big issue was not the numbers but where we were getting stuffed - usually in good attacking positions.

So the World Cup lineout was a dramatic improvement? But now it's gone off again. Admittedly we haven't won a lineout since the World Cup. Something must be done.

 

[Sully]

Am I the only one still worried about our scrum?
England traditionally strong in this area and our win over them in RWC was hyped up so much - when in reality they won a few scrum penalties early on and it wasn't until our reverses came on that we completely dominated.

And line-out. Always a worry with the Pooper.

And their back-three are under-rated. White and Watson were superb at the RWC, probably their only consistent players and always looked dangerous.

Goal-kicking always a worry too, can't expect Foley to land any difficult kicks from the side-line or more then 40m out.

It's only you. I'm in denial until we get smashed.