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

[Groucho]

Jones outsmarted Chieka, coached the Poms very well, they had the tempo of the game to perfection - except for about 15 minutes, the first 10 minutes and part of the time when we were down to 14 men and still put a try on the unwashed ones. They played a great game and owned us at the breakdown and as has so often been the case against quality opposition, really poor disipline from the usual culprits let us down.

What was it about that right hand side of the field? the wingers for both sides were playing about 30m in from touch, both sides scored really soft tries on that side of the paddock.

Horne was a big loss and Lilo was poor as a replacment, I thought that 2 dads 2.0 had the best of the debuts, Arnold left me cold. Kerevi was 50/50 at best.

Phipps was huge, we missed Beale, Foley needs to spend all week kicking and I think we need big Willy.

Eddie will think that this is nearly in the bag, a win in Melbourne and its all over red rover. This could be a long winter for the Wobblies, the AB's put the Leek suckers to the sword after conceding a first half lead, we couldnt hold back the side that we humiliated in the world cup, at home, just 6 months ago. Ominous.

This is your day, galumay. It could be your year. I hope you're wrong.

 

[Joe Blow]

Well done England.
Farrell was all at sea dictating from 10 and Ford gave their attack some shape when he came on. No idea why they didn't start with him there and Farrell at 12 but you can rest assured they will do so next week.
Why was Mumm on the bench? No sense to that one at all and to bringing him into the game so early.
Not enough experience on the park at the death there for us to clinch an unlikely comeback win. Some of the replacements and their timing were not great by Cheik. We will learn and be better next week.
Great test to watch even though we ended up on the wrong side of the ledger.

 

[Groucho]

DHP was really good, didn't look out of place and played with composure and awareness.

All we need to do now is see him in space and he's set.

 

[Viking]

Lol, the irony of this post...

I care that little about who through the pass because I'm not going to blame an individual player for something like that, you can if you want. But blaming the player who had to turn and try and clean up someone else's mistake is fucken ridiculous.

How about... it was both their faults. Because it was.

 

[ACT Crusader]

The Lions started there that way in 2001 .. but that series worked well.

Unfortunately for Australia I don't see too many in the current squad with the combined quality of the likes of Burke, Roff, Herbert, Paul, Gregan, Latham, Larkham, Kefu, Smith, Eales, Giffin etc.

 

[Sword of Justice]

I am still confident that we can win the remaining two games. I'm especially confident we will win Sydney which seems to be the new fortress of Australian rugby (fuck me).

Arnold quite good. DHP is a player we need to balance the back three and did that very well. Kerevi showed (for the most part) why he will be a Wallaby centre for many years should he want it but right now I just don't think there's room in the line for him and Kuridrani. People have such short memories, it seems every year TKs super form has people begging his absence in the Wallaby team and every year he performs.

Sio hard done by, but at the end of the day I think he was shocked at how he was targeted. I don't know if you can start him next week because there aren't many refs out there who have ever packed a scrum and perception rules, which is the unfortunate reality of our game at the moment (#onlypropsshouldref #propsforPM).

 

[Groucho]

How about. it was both their faults. Because it was.

It was a Class A mutual clusterfcuk. :-(

 

[Groucho]

Unfortunately for Australia I don't see too many in the current squad with the combined quality of the likes of Burke, Roff, Herbert, Paul, Gregan, Latham, Larkham, Kefu, Smith, Eales, Giffin etc.

Seriously? This squad oozes potential. We have two front rows that are as good as any front row we had in the past. Pocock and Hooper are both in all those players' class. Fardy is as good as Giffin. Foley has incredible potential and is starting to realise it. Kuridrani has hovered around being the world's best 13. Kerevi could be anything. Folau is world class.

Get a few injured players back on the field and it's a highly competitive team against any opposition.

They just played sh1t today.

 

[ACR]

I don't think Cheika wants his team to "save" a test match. He wants them to win it. The choice to go for the penalty was a direct reflection of this.

instead of trying to win the series?

To both; I reckon going for touch gives you a far better chance to win anyway. You have to score a try either way and in international calibre rugby, it is FAR easier to do that from their 22 than yours. The territory has value. After that, and with new touchline rules, you have more options to score.

The series? Depends on the series. As an AB fan, Bledisloe, Rugby Championship, Lions yeah maybe. A series against Ireland perhaps.. draw everyday (for obvious reasons).

The Lions started there that way in 2001 .. but that series worked well.

Does England play NSW this tour? If they can avoid common assault they will have an advantage.

 

[boyo]

Really? Most people prefer winning.
Perhaps the Aussies should have conceded less penalties?????

fewer

 

[TOCC]

How about. it was both their faults. Because it was.

Well I would blame all three, Folau, Foley and Kerevi.... Because that's what happens in team sports

 

[Joe Blow]

Horne was a big loss and Lilo was poor as a replacment, I thought that 2 dads 2.0 had the best of the debuts, Arnold left me cold. Kerevi was 50/50 at best.

Phipps was huge, we missed Beale, Foley needs to spend all week kicking and I think we need big Willy.

Horne was a big loss but I reckon we need some speed out wide on at least one wing. Kerevi was very good giving some deft touches and aiming up well. Arnold was just there and didn't really contribute much. Probably need to start Horwill next week with Simmons. Hope he is OK and his coming off was just precautionary. Big Willy too slow to play the up tempo game we need.
Sio seemed unable to work out what Cole was doing and counter it.

We need to go back to a 5-3 bench. Hopefully To'omua is fit or maybe go with Hodge. Lilo not really up to test rugby I reckon.

 

[Marcelo]

This was like the Scotland game, Australia making tries far from the posts vs penalty kicks in front of the posts. As Australia can do more tries, the advice would be, make the tries as close to the posts as possible. That should be the tactic until you have a top class kicker. If you must make 2 or 3 phases more to make a try closer to the posts, you must do it. The tries at the corner are counterproductive if you don't have a top class kicker and the opposite team has

 

[Marcelo]

Really? Most people prefer winning.
Perhaps the Aussies should have conceded less penalties?????

I never said that I don't like to win

 

[TOCC]

Wallabies backline lost a bit of defensive composure when Horne went off as well..

Wallabies struggled at the line-out, they started throwing for a quick 2 ball which is a safer option but the least preferred option in terms of backline attack as its gives the defence an extra second to move up and doesn't suck in as many forwards.

 

[Lindommer]

.....and I think we need big Willy.

I've watched "big Willy" (the rugby player that is) boy and man for seven seasons of post-school rugby, and until he's both physically mature AND fit enough he shouldn't be in the the frame for a gold jumper. The fitness of the cheese-like Poms tonight should be testament to what big-framed bastards should aspire to. Call me harsh, but that's how I see it.

As he is now I wouldn't pick him.

 

[Viking]

To both; I reckon going for touch gives you a far better chance to win anyway. You have to score a try either way and in international calibre rugby, it is FAR easier to do that from their 22 than yours. The territory has value. After that, and with new touchline rules, you have more options to score.

The series? Depends on the series. As an AB fan, Bledisloe, Rugby Championship, Lions yeah maybe. A series against Ireland perhaps.. draw everyday (for obvious reasons).



Does England play NSW this tour? If they can avoid common assault they will have an advantage.

It still takes time to score a try.
Realistically they had what 4mins to score the try within the 22. That is bloody hard.

So its
Option 1:
You have 4mins to score a try combined with winning a restart and going 60-70metres and winning a pentalty (in kicking range) or successfully kicking a drop goal or going 100 metres and getting a try. Also while avoiding England from winning a penalty or kicking a drop goal.

OR.
Kick a goal now right in front.
Win a restart and go 100 metres to score a try, you don't have to score in 4minutes, you can go into overtime for as long as you want as long as you don't fuck up.

I guess they thought the time restraint on option 1 was harder for them.

 

[TOCC]

This was like the Scotland game, Australia making tries far from the posts vs penalty kicks in front of the posts. As Australia can do more tries, the advice would be, make the tries as close to the posts as possible. That should be the tactic until you have a top class kicker. If you must make 2 or 3 phases more to make a try closer to the posts, you must do it. The tries at the corner are counterproductive if you don't have a top class kicker and the opposite team has

A try in the corner is better then no try...

No team would ever ignore a try out wide just so they can get the ball in closer to the stickers...

 

[Sword of Justice]

Folau: fullback? OC? IC? What about wing? That's where he's played his best game for us in his debut IIRC.

We have DHP who is early days but just played wing for us and was our principle kicker from the back and made some outstanding cover tackles. He also plays fullback for his state.

Then we have Folau at 15 who made some amazing line breaks when chiming in as well as running his trademark support lines. I wouldn't say he was safe as houses at the back though.

It seems like a logical switch to me.

 

[Chris McCracken]

This was like the Scotland game, Australia making tries far from the posts vs penalty kicks in front of the posts. As Australia can do more tries, the advice would be, make the tries as close to the posts as possible. That should be the tactic until you have a top class kicker. If you must make 2 or 3 phases more to make a try closer to the posts, you must do it. The tries at the corner are counterproductive if you don't have a top class kicker and the opposite team has

Did you ever see the Simpsons episode where Mr Burns is coaching softball? He tells Darryl Strawberry, "Strawberry- hit a home run." Then, when he does, he proclaims himself a coaching genius.

It would be great if it were that easy.