Wallabies v Ireland

[Groucho]

I can't understand the people who say Pocock 'will never be as good as Smith'. He's as good now as Smith is now and he's just a kid. Different skills, but what skills... more of a McCaw.

Regarding the game, I'm putting together a collection to have Kaplan offed. I know a bloke in East London who will do it for £5k. I could make that up in fucking betting losses!

More seriously, I'm starting to like these young Wallabies in some important ways. I just wish they would apply pressure like they did in the second half, not kick all the time. If they did that they could score a lot of tries and not get into these dire losing situations they always find themselves in.

 

[phatcows]

Are we allowed to bitch about the referee when we draw?

I bitch about the referee when we win! ;p

It may have been a disappointing result, but it was a vast improvement to our games in the Southern Hemisphere (SH). We still made some stupid mistakes, but they weren't as stupid as previous and less were penalised against. Gits kicking wasn't very good, and our lineouts are unmentionable, but did anyone ever think we'd be that good after the woe of the SH season?

Kaplan as always made inconsistent decisions, but we cannot afford to hope he'll ever be consistent and we just have to be better than that.

Ireland was our first, and possibly only real GS challenge and we've definitely improved overall. Let's just hope we don't go backwards again.

 

[Biffo]

Are we allowed to bitch about the referee when we draw?

I bitch about the referee when we win! ;p

For the last few weeks, we have adopted a convention that we can bitch about the referee only when we win - can not when we lose.

 

[phatcows]

One of those unwritten rules I now know of

PS Thanks to Gagger et al for their blog of the Aus v Ire game which brought me to this forum

 

[chief]

Well they just aren't an 80 minute team at all. They had the game in the first half, and then they threw it away, to Ireland's credit they kept the Wallabies from going anywhere close to the line in the last 20 minutes. And when that prop did that run that ultimately turned things. Out of Pocock's great game not tackling that player was his ultimate flaw.

 

[Inconceivable]

A few post-match thoughts:

Not exactly ground-breaking analysis, but our lineout lost us the game. They won a huge amount of field position this way, and had no fear at all of repeatedly kicking for the corners. I think there were four or more occasions in the last 25 minutes where we gifted them a lineout inside our 22 and didn't contest. Had we made them think a little, they may well have taken the penalty at 20-13 and not been in a position to draw.

Close behind the lineout was our kicking. I'd like to see a comparison of how much ground ROG and Kearney gained through kicks from the back, versus our efforts. I didn't think AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) was bad tonight, but we need our fullback to consistently push play back into the opposition half.

Pocock settled the 7 question well and truly. Anybody mentioning Waugh after this game ought to be drug tested. And after this game and the England one, I think Palu has settled the 8 question. Remember Dick Brown? Smith at 8? Talk of Elsom moving there? I only hope he doesn't soften his tackling style as a result of an unfair card.

Cooper still needs a LOT of work but this tour will help immensely (coming soon: Jamie Roberts). I don't mind seeing Cooper exposed to these things, as he will either learn or be discarded.

Gits does a mountain of defensive work, which he doesn't get enough credit for.

The Irish scrum is poor, but a couple of years ago we were on par with them, and look at us now. The guys deserve a huge amount of credit for the improvement.

A few things which made me smile...

1) That awesome scrum
2) Fat Cat's perfect long pass from scrum-half (there were a couple but one in particular was a gem)
3) Pocock running down Wallace or someone, going around the bootlaces, and swinging back on his feet in nanoseconds
4) The Palu hit
5) The many occasions where we committed a stack of guys to the breakdown and drove right over the top of them

 

[Gagger]

Are we allowed to bitch about the referee when we draw?

I bitch about the referee when we win! ;p

For the last few weeks, we have adopted a convention that we can bitch about the referee only when we win - can not when we lose.

We didn't lose. I don't see why we shouldn't bitch.

And welcome Phatcows!

I am trying very, very hard not to go apo-fucking-plectic

 

[phatcows]

Even a few English reviews of the match agree Australia was 'hard done by' by Kaplan. It 's gotta be bad when even they agree

 

[waratahjesus]

I can't understand the people who say Pocock 'will never be as good as Smith'. He's as good now as Smith is now and he's just a kid. Different skills, but what skills... more of a McCaw.

Regarding the game, I'm putting together a collection to have Kaplan offed. I know a bloke in East London who will do it for £5k. I could make that up in fucking betting losses!

More seriously, I'm starting to like these young Wallabies in some important ways. I just wish they would apply pressure like they did in the second half, not kick all the time. If they did that they could score a lot of tries and not get into these dire losing situations they always find themselves in.

having smith there in the last ten would have given the wallabies much more leadership to close out the game (same with waugh) than pocock offered, its an age and time thing and why i think smith is still better. we get stuck into smith for his seagulling or kicking, pocock goes glory hunting and takes the easy route at the side of the ruck for defence way to much, his agility and speed should see him defending wider out so the props can take that spot and not get stepped.

 

[Gagger]

WJ, just admit it, Pocock had an outstanding game. He got the official MoTM for fecks sake!

 

[chief]

I still think Smith is a better player then Pocock. All year the Wallabies forwards have been shit, while Smith saves the day and keeps the score line half respectable.

 

[liquor box]

I think Pocock and smith are equal in all but one area, when Smith gets a hand to the ball he seems to be able to get a grip on it, this morning Pocock seemed to get his hand on the ball at most breakdowns but was unable to control the ball. I dont know if his hands are soft or too small, but at the moment he is an annoyance to the opposition, not a threat.

I would stick with Pocock, he is a player of the future and needs game time.

I am happy with the team except for the wings and fullback, maybe Barnes at full back when fit (would prefer Shepard but he wont get a look in). AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) to one wing, Ione to the other and then find a centre!

 

[Scarfman]

Pocock was was stunning, and I'm a huge Smith fan.

Apart from Kaplan, I reckon the problem areas involved Robbie Deans.

1. Lineout doesn't function - does nothign
2. AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) is not a fullback
3. I reckon 10 and 12 should swap permanently and get used to the positions

Quade cost us 2.5 times in defence, and Gits cost us every time but 1 in attack.

 

[Scotty]

Yeah, Kearney made it abundantly obvious to all what we are missing by having a non-kicking full back. Unfortunately we don't have many options at the moment, so just need to hope AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) can work on his kicking. Bring Latho in as a consultant while over there, or something to that effect.

And, of course Coopers defense was going to be exposed at 12. I believe we would have won if he was defending at 10 most of the night.

No need to mention the lineout.

 

[RugbyReg]

Coopers kicking in the first half, perhaps more the more quarter, was frustrating. As Jack Gibson used to say "kick it to the seagulls" as in kick it to where the opposition aint!

Ioane put some bloody good text book tackles in the first half, but fell of a few in the 2nd half. For someone who is playing a new, and tough, position and only his 3rd game for 6 or so months, he's doing damn well.

The last Irish scrum? The took it down surely? Penalty? Beautiful more though.

Forwards were great. Even Chisholm I thought. Did we lose any lineouts in the 2nd half?

 

[cheezel]

It was a pretty frustrating affair watching our backs kick the ball straight to the opposition. I thought they would have learned from the poms that a good counter attacking team would punish us for gifting them the ball.

Forwards were fantastic, they absolutely smashed them in the ruck and scrums. Lineouts are beyond a joke now, fix that shit.

Would love to have a Kearney on our side, he'd have to be the best 15 in the world at the moment. It may be an unpopular view, but thought Gits had his best game for a while. Good passing when he did pass it, and good organising of our defence.

Why did Deans take off AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) with ten to go and out Brittany on? Surely take off Mitchell or Hynes and stick AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) on the wing. Would they have scored with AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) defending? Not sure.

And no more Monday morning games thanks, i'm falling asleep at my desk.

 

[waratahjesus]

WJ, just admit it, Pocock had an outstanding game. He got the official MoTM for fecks sake!

hold onto your jocks there gagger, i didnt say he had a bad game, i just said i wish we had smith on for leadership in the last ten.

i think judging the two of them when both times pococks played well the entire pack has been on top of our opposition while when smith has played it seems to be more of a lone hand.

im not happy with a couple of aspecs of pococks game and the fact his name has the word cock in it makes him a bad role model for children (something im sure your aware of!)

you can all bow down to him, but i think he takes a few shortcuts, as i said, its an age and experience thing and as a result i would like to see smith on the field when we need it more often!

 

[RugbyReg]

im not happy with a couple of aspecs of pococks game and the fact his name has the word cock in it makes him a bad role model for children (something im sure your aware of!)

and yet in this time of global unrest you would support the selection of a such a violent and harmful name as "Waugh"!!??

 

[cyclopath]

im not happy with a couple of aspecs of pococks game and the fact his name has the word cock in it makes him a bad role model for children (something im sure your aware of!)

and yet in this time of global unrest you would support the selection of a such a violent and harmful name as "Waugh"!!??

Gold, Noddy!

 

[Scotty]

Ioane put some bloody good text book tackles in the first half, but fell of a few in the 2nd half. For someone who is playing a new, and tough, position and only his 3rd game for 6 or so months, he's doing damn well.

I wonder if he shoulder injury (or is concern about a possible shoulder injury) contributed to these missed tackles.