Wallabies v England

[Spook]

First half penalties when we had the ball were killing me. Anyway, we blew 2 or 3 tries but I was happy with our combinations. I thought Smith was pretty quiet..solid at best. Palu was rampaging in the first half. Genia was outstanding. Our scrum was great on our ball - the Poms kept collapsing on theirs. Quade spent a lot of time at 10 and I thought Gits and QC (Quade Cooper) interchanged beautifully. Watching the Poms attempt to do the same was laughable. Gerraghty can't pass. Wilko can't run a backline - stands so deep - and yet the Pommy press are RAVING about his performance.

I saw some signs of the destructive Elsom I witnessed last season for Leinster. He is starting to hit form. Was happy with the way the lineout came good after a bad start. Moore impressed me this game. He looked also like he was getting back to form. Ioane is the the energiser bunny- he just keeps going. I thought Alexander and Robinson were great around the pitch. Fat Cat is world class but one has to admire Alexander's ever improving game at TH. The Pommy scrum must have been shit because he had the legs to run this match.

Chisolm and Horwill got stuck in today. Both carried well and smashed the Pommy mauls.

Finally the Earl...great leg drive and fend. Very good under the high ball as well.

Ireland will be much stronger but I really enjoyed this win.

 

[Ash]

Yeah, wasn't it good to see the 2nd rowers getting involved and being notived around the rucks? Horwill has now strung together two good games in a row, I don't think he's done that since he came back from injury.

And gee it's great to have a dominant loose head who also does a heap of good work around the ground. Plus - good to see Dunning, who was rock solid on his cameo.

Smith was disappointing - as you said Spook, pretty anonymous at ruck time - he got outplayed by Croft and Moody, who were, as Lee said, excellent. Moody would've been my pick of the English forwards, and actually showed some real skill on the ground - something I have not seen from him before. Plus that dropped ball from Smith in a huge hole was so frustrating.

Palu and Elsom were good, and Pocock had good energetic cameo from the bench. Both this week and last week our bench loosie has added intensity, and it's been good to see. Biggest blight on Elsom was bombing that try by ignoring Hynes. As for Palu, his blight appeared to be knocking the ball out of Ioane's hands as he tried to place it from that run, but Ioane probably blew it for not passing or driving his legs harder, as someone said above.

Gits seemed reluctant to pass a few times, apart from that had an OK game. The frustrating thing was, though, he was very well marked for each run but kept trying it. Run yourself back into form at club level, dish some more ball please Gits.

Still not set on Ioane at 13 - think he's a better winger at this level still. Needs more time at 13 for the Reds.

Hynes also had a decent game and is starting to cement a spot over Mitchell and Turner for this tour, I think.

All in all we should've won very very comfortably - if we don't have that clinical finishing against Wales or Ireland then the scoreline may not look so good.

 

[Ash]

Oh, and anyone want to teach England a game plan that does not rely on cross field kicks and chips?

 

[Pfitzy]

They'd have to pay me more than Martin Johnson is getting to try that... Danger money in case the Pommy backs get confused and start resorting to rage...

 

[James Buchanan]

It was an indictment of the Ch.10 commentary that I switched to Foxtel pretty quickly, and stayed there.

Lawrence's first half of reffing nearly had me apoplectic. Although, it was good to see that the team came out in the second half and played to the ref's interpretation of the game. Which is why he seemed to much better in that half.

Cooper looked better at first receiver. Gits wants to run more and should be at 12.

Hopefully this win will give the team some confidence about stepping it up a level.

 

[Spook]

Wilko's defense on his left shoulder was incredibly suspect when he came back from injury both in 05 and 07. I remember in the Lions tour of 05 that it was a real issue. I think the Wallabies found out yesterday that he is back to full fitness.

 

[fatprop]

Mils kicks about as well as AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) and no one in NZ seems to complain.

It is about the backs and backrow working back hard to give him options and support. A good chase can make a bad kick look magical.

 

[PaarlBok]

Really enjoyed this test. Thought Genia would have been the MOTM. Bruse wasnt that bad and I like the way he turned penalties for holding on. The Wallabies had to many forwards at the back in the first half but they rectify it in the second half and thats when they start dominating. Hell that England 11 look like a snail. The Wallaby scrum was outstanding and this win will put them in a good state. Cooper was also good in 12.

 

[Scotty]

I'm not saying anything original here. The best thing to take away from this game is that we can stop buggerising around trying to place someone at 13; Diggers owns that now and that means AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) can take 15 and Britney can stay in his tracksuit. The only positions that haven't been claimed are 11, 7, 3 and 2.

I'd suggest that the only positions that have really be 'nailed' at this stage are 1, 6, 7 & 9, plus ensuring that Ioane and AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) are somewhere on the team sheet.

2 - If Moore gets back to 08 form, then that is nailed, but TPN also offers a lot
3 - Alexander needs to string a whole tour together to say he has nailed TH
4 - Horwill also needs to get back to 08 form
5 - Chisholm might be a bit weak in the air to be a good foil for Horwill
8 - If Palu keeps that up (and his ball security) he will have nailed 8 with a game or two
10 - I'd suggest we can't say Cooper has nailed it until a year or two at the top level - too inconsistent in the path
11/14 - These guys aren't a patch on the likes of Tune/Roff so I think there will always be scope for someelse to put their hand up
12 - It needs to be Gits
13 - Ioane still untested, and Mortlock to come back
15 - Again not a patch on the likes of Latham/Burke, and we are all still not convinced his best position isn't 13.

 

[ACT Crusader]

Don't get the Wilko knockers. With his backline/attack line pretty much standing around waiting for him to do something, how can he be expected to set it alight. Rarely did any one run off the shoulder or attack with pace from deep. Hell in 2001 Lions he sure looked the goods in setting up a backline because he had guys (like BOD, Robinson) running from deep and in good lines.

The watch and wait game wouldn't even make the love child of Bernie and Ella look world class

BTW really thought Quade made a big difference in the overall intent of the OZ attacking game. While it didn't rain tries, there was at least a feeling (when I watched it at least) that OZ were more likely than in all the previous tests this year.

Digby's contribution has been understated IMO. He made yards up the middle after taking ball off rucks. Decent hitout for him for test match back in a different jersey number.

I'd persist with the T5, they just need more and more experience IMO, and Jim Williams running tape all week long showing them little parts of their game that they need to improve on. I'd be surprised if the numbers 1-5 (including 16) aren't there in 2011.

Genia continues to show great composure for such a young test footballer. Great find.

 

[Moses]

I missed the reason for Digby leaving the field (was working on the live blog), was it an injury?

 

[mark_s]

Spiro had an interesting take on Giteau's game. He implied that Gits was running at Wilko in order to tire him out and take him out of the game. Spiro reckons Jonny was sucking in the big ones in the 2nd half.

Didn't see this myself but would be interested if anyone is watching another replay whether this is actually the case or not.

 

[PaarlBok]

Spiro had an interesting take on Giteau's game. He implied that Gits was running at Wilko in order to tire him out and take him out of the game. Spiro reckons Jonny was sucking in the big ones in the 2nd half.

Didn't see this myself but would be interested if anyone is watching another replay whether this is actually the case or not.

Tell you what, Wilko's defense was top stuff, he knocked the big ones also over. The bit on Giteau was only a few ones. Spiro talking his usual kak.

 

[Biffo]

Spiro had an interesting take on Giteau's game. He implied that Gits was running at Wilko in order to tire him out and take him out of the game. Spiro reckons Jonny was sucking in the big ones in the 2nd half.

Didn't see this myself but would be interested if anyone is watching another replay whether this is actually the case or not.

Tell you what, Wilko's defense was top stuff, he knocked the big ones also over. The bit on Giteau was only a few ones. Spiro talking his usual kak.

Watch the game this time before opining, Mate? Honest, please

 

[PaarlBok]

Look at my first post Boet, I watched the test with big interest.

 

[BillyWebb]

Well done the Wobblies!
Geez.. you guys did make me sweat for a bit though.

Some random thoughts...

The Wallaby scrum is damn impressive these days. (There's a sentence I never expected to write!)
AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) should NEVER be moved away from fullback again. He's so much more effective from there.
Cooper impressed. I was worried that he can be flaky at times... but not a sign of it, and he took a lot of responsibility off Gits.
Digby Ioane is another guy who I think makes a big difference to the backs.
Genia.... how the f#ck did they keep picking Burgess ahead of him?! He's a handful!

There's the seeds of a bloody good side in there. I think the addition of one true lineout specialist (Vickerman?) and you have all the ingredients for a damn good side.

 

[chief]

I really think Australia should start developing Kingi as well. Giving him starts in the mid week games. All year Burgess has failed to impress me.

 

[Scorz]

Now, I admit I haven't read the thread yet - but I wanted you all to know right now I think England had 16 men from the moment any Convict Yellow showed up in the Pom 22. Watched it with my old man, and we were literally laughing at some of those "infringements" that were blown up. Aussie did bloody well to win that. Still don't know why Wilko didnt take more droppies, but that's Poms for you.

 

[Biffo]

Genia.... how the f#ck did they keep picking Burgess ahead of him?!

"They" didn't keep preferring Burgess. Genia missed a lot of S14 and club games because of suspension and injury. As soon as he was fit, he was on the bench for the Wallabies and got 7-8 minutes in that game. His workload was increased over the next two games and then he was selected to start.

Rather than panned for poor selection, "they" should be credited with excellent management of a player returning from injury AND of precocious talent.

 

[BillyWebb]

Genia.... how the f#ck did they keep picking Burgess ahead of him?!

"They" didn't keep preferring Burgess. Genia missed a lot of S14 and club games because of suspension and injury. As soon as he was fit, he was on the bench for the Wallabies and got 7-8 minutes in that game. His workload was increased over the next two games and then he was selected to start.

Rather than panned for poor selection, "they" should be credited with excellent management of a player returning from injury AND of precocious talent.

Aah, well... I stand corrected.