Wallabies v France - June 14 Etihad Stadium

[Scotty]

Since the directive from Link was to go for territory, I'm sure there would've been a much different reaction if we'd relied on Genia's box kicks.....

Anyways, White had an overall good game....

The main issue I have with Whites game is that when he is asked to play a kicking game plan he goes over the top with it. Even good ball near halfway gets kicked. Everything gets slowed down.

Plenty are blaming the forwards for not providing fast ball, but I saw a lot of instances where White was happy to slow it down himself.

 

[Train Without a Station]

Last week everybody saying kuridrani was great and they could see why link picked up. Now one average, not bad, game and AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) starts? Pull your bloody heads in.

Also leading in to the series everybody agreed Genia had been mostly poor and hadn't earned a spot on anything post Lions last year. Now everybody is saying he should be playing because white didn't have a dominant performance? Once again, pull your bloody heads in.

Reading some of the dribble on this thread is about on par with David Lord's latest hyperbole, reactionary, poorly reasoned piece saying the Waratahs backline needs to start next week.

Oh and way to break the mould. I'm a Reds supporter who has defended a Brumby and bagged a Red.

 

[fatprop]

Different style?

Not really, better opposition, yeah.

The French defended really well and stopped Aus getting the pigs over the advantage line. When any team stops the front foot ball, then the backs have to ensure the game is played at the other end of the field. So it becomes a kicking fest and you just can't run complicated back line moves behind the advantage line

Aus again defended well so the French had the same conundrum. So we had two sides with little front foot ball using the plan B kicking game.

But my continual annoyance with Aus sides is the lack of urgency off the ball. Compare the effort the Kiwis put into chasing those kicks and working back to give the receiver options in counter and you see the biggest area we can improve.

Get Folau support, have that support running decent support line and we have more options.

Let him receive kicks on his lonesome and he can either kick himself or potentially be isolated.

In that game kick return and kick chase were the biggest opportunities we had in a tight game and we never had the regular options to leverage those opportunities

 

[Tomikin]

Then why wouldn't he pick a side best suited to play that game game?
To'omua @ 10,McCabe at 12...

Rugby Heaven unsung hero's article

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[Scotty]

Last week everybody saying kuridrani was great and they could see why link picked up. Now one average, not bad, game and AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) starts? Pull your bloody heads in.

Also leading in to the series everybody agreed Genia had been mostly poor and hadn't earned a spot on anything post Lions last year. Now everybody is saying he should be playing because white didn't have a dominant performance? Once again, pull your bloody heads in.

Reading some of the dribble on this thread is about on par with David Lord's latest hyperbole, reactionary, poorly reasoned piece saying the Waratahs backline needs to start next week.

Oh and way to break the mould. I'm a Reds supporter who has defended a Brumby and bagged a Red.

I didn't think he was great at all last week and in fact called for AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) to come into 13.

Even last week there was a stark difference between the two when AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) ran in the 13 channel.

Last week Kurindrani was our worst back. This week he had a few mates to keep him company.

He needs to find form fast. We won't get let off against the ABs.

 

[Tomikin]

The main issue I have with Whites game is that when he is asked to play a kicking game plan he goes over the top with it. Even good ball near halfway gets kicked. Everything gets slowed down.

Plenty are blaming the forwards for not providing fast ball, but I saw a lot of instances where White was happy to slow it down himself.

You do lots of analyst mate go find how many Times White kicked from the French half..

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[Train Without a Station]

Kuridrani our worst back last week? That's an interesting analysis that doesn't really align with what I saw, nor what I read from what others saw.

Seemed to threaten and break the line, make a few heavy hits and combined well for Beale's try.

 

[fatprop]

I didn't think he was great at all last week and in fact called for AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) to come into 13.

Even last week there was a stark difference between the two when AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) ran in the 13 channel.

Last week Kurindrani was our worst back. This week he had a few mates to keep him company.

He needs to find form fast. We won't get let off against the ABs.

Disagree mate, Kurindrani is very important and plays his role very well for the wobs

His defence is just excellent and last week he gave us the front foot ball we needed out wide. This week due to forwards not getting us forward first he struggled, but we have only had one 13 ever who could do that (off back foot ball), and Mortlock was a very, very rare individual.

AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) would have struggled more IMHO

 

[Highlander35]

Not seen a replay, but at the ground, Kuridrani was impotent in attack and ineffective on defense. Two Dads would be preferred for mine, but without Speight and Tomane, the combinations probably remain better if he's left out on the wing.

 

[Scrubber2050]

My turn:
1.Game was a war of attrition and Wallabies won. French came to play
2. Defence was awesome (on both sides)
3. Way too much kicking.
4. We did not run the ball enough
5. great set pieces
6. Slipper great again - got Castol MOM and players award as well
7. Kepu terrific
8. White Foley and To'omua fairly average
9. Beale brought a spark to the game.
10. Hooper showed good and measured captaincy.

Onwards and upwards - we need a clean sweep next week in Sydney

 

[EatSleepDrinkRuck]

I'm in too minds about this game - on one hand I'm whinging like a newspaper journalist but on the other, I feel like this ugly win was Ewen doing two things:

1. Avoiding what would have otherwise been an embarrassing ambush by the French.

2. Reacting to the Eng v NZ game from last week.



The French team clearly came out with passion and bastardry in the breakdown contest. My logic on this point is that the French played a game that was a reaction to the Wallabies performance last week and Ewen anticipated it. Winning 6-0 is better than having lost the match because they did the same thing again and were predictable.

Ewen Mckenzie talks about not just being on top now, but being ahead of where the game will be in the future. Watching the way the English were squeezing the ABs may have been a factor in ensuring that the Wallabies are versed in winning ugly.


This is my optimistic, post-match view - during the game I was banging my head on the bar every time they kicked the bloody thing.

 

[Proud Pig]

It is a good thing that we won and we deserved to.
However, Link did make a major mistake especially in the first half.
He decided that the best strategy to apply was to get into a kicking duel but did not select players who are good enough kicks of the ball for that purpose.
You do not go into a territorial kicking game against a side who are vastly superior field kicks than you. Thankfully the sacrificed territory was nullified by a magnificent defensive effort by the whole squad. However, you give up that much territory to a superior attacking side and you are asking for trouble.

 

[Train Without a Station]

He selected White and To'omua, 2 of our best long kickers. The only other good option to include would have been Mogg.

 

[Braveheart81]

If that was a definite game plan then we executed it poorly.

I get the concept that we need to be able to play a more kicking oriented positional game, particularly so we don't get flogged as soon as it starts raining. We also need to be able to do it with our best team.

The Wallabies need to be able to change their game plan mid match if things aren't working and/or the conditions on the day dictate it.

It doesn't really work that if we want to play a different game plan for whatever reason we need to select the team to suit that. Generally we'll have announced a test team on a Tuesday so there really is never going to be planning for weather variances etc.

 

[Train Without a Station]

I don't believe the game plan was that bad. Considering the improved defence it was good to not bank on breaking the line at well.

But the execution was pretty rubbish for most of the match. Only a few great kicks were put in. I'm concerned this performance may require more in lesser games in order to improve it!

 

[Braveheart81]

I fail to see how you can have a kicking/territory oriented game plan that doesn't involve any up and unders.

Surely that is the kick you need to execute when there isn't space to find the turf or you're not trying to kick the ball out of play. Almost all the 30-40 metre kicks that were caught on the full should have been up and unders.

As others have said, it is particularly confusing when we have Folau who is the best high ball catcher in the game.

 

[cyclopath]

He selected White and To'omua, 2 of our best long kickers. The only other good option to include would have been Mogg.

Or to maybe look at a specialist kicking coach, so that, in addition to being able to kick long, we can kick accurately and well, something which is hard to remember the Wallabies doing for some time.

 

[Train Without a Station]

next thing you're going to want a scrum coach at the Tahs too Cyclopath!

 

[barbarian]

You must agree that it was just a little crazy that White got MOM on 10 and also by a few on this site!

Actually you probably won't since you think he was our main attacking threat.

Agree he wasn't MOM. But did think he was top 5.

 

[BDA]

Agree re the lack of Up and Unders. England used them to get effect on the weekend. Not just the up and under from the back three but the up and under from the 10. which goes out towards the opposite winger.

The Wallabies now and then attempt the cross field kick. I'd like to see those kicks given a bit more air and have the likes of Folau coming through to contest.