Wallabies v Ireland

[Blue]

Having finally made it through my recording now (damnwork) I think Kaplan had a pretty rocky night which seems to become a habit for him lately.

He was in position to see the tackle of Palu and would surely have seen enough to call it fair or at least give the benefit of the doubt, knowing citing is there in case it really was a bad offense. Even from his position he would definitely have seen arms up. Bad, bad call. Beautiful tackle.

Similarly he was in position and between him and the touchie I cannot believe he didn't see the shoulder charge by Kearney on Elsom as he scored. That was a bigger miss than the Palu error.

He should have binned Hayes. He dropped like a wet rag all too often.

Should also have issued a warning much earlier to the Irish forwards who were falling on their own ball carrier. It was so obvious. Technically they were not sealing off, but made it hard for people to lean over the ball carrier to try and pinch it.

Nevertheless the Wobs should have closed the thing out with 20 to go.

 

[macg101]

unlucky lads,

A few thoughts on the match,

Irelands kicking and lineout got us out of a serious hole!

Who is this Pocock guy? Class!

Amazingly a game in which the tight 5 was beaten the loose forwards were crushed and we only managed parity if not a slight advantage in ROGs kicking in the half backs we managed to draw the game! I think perhaps the Aussies would have walked it had they kept it in the pack for 50 - 60 mins and then ran it through the backs. Our back three would therefore been cancelled out of the game.

Also in conclusion losing to a team full of lads with dodgy tashes would have been unbearable...

 

[Scotty]

When the wallabies started kicking I thought it was just part of the game plan for the first 20, to gain territory and work into the game. I think it is a good thing to do to settle the nerves and try and put some pressure on the other team (and it worked with Mitchells try). However at some point they should have realised that it wasn't working any longer, as Ireland had the longer, and better kickers.

 

[barbarian]

Agreed Scotty. It was the lack of variation that got me. The ABs are so good at varying their kicking game- low, flat kicks to the corners, up and unders, grubbers, cross-kicks, chip and chases, box kicks, etc. All we seemed to do was put in long up-and-unders with little to no chase and long looping drop-punts straight down the throat of Kearney.

I was screaming at Quade to try a little chip and chase or something just to shake it up a bit, but he must not have heard me over the noise of the crowd.

 

[naza]

TOCC,

While I haven't yet seen a replay, I have a funny feeling that QC (Quade Cooper) should have been sliding out in defense, and therefore BOD was his man. Could be wrong though.

While these moments can easily be blamed for preventing a Wallaby win, I honestly believe it is our game plan that lost us the game. Aimless kicking in the backs and directionless play. With a dominant forward pack there is no reason why we should be kicking the ball away. I find our backline alot more concerning than our lineouts.

Amen.

Our backline got outplayed by Ireland. Ireland FFS !! The scary part is we won the contact areas and lost due to lack of skill in the backs. Used to be the other way round. It really is a mystery why they do the things they do, eg: halfback contesting the up and under.

I'm fascinated that nobody seems to have mentioned Genia's performance. If it were Burgess, you'd be over him like flies on Kaplan. His compass was off all game and his running and kicking options were predictable. Giteau once again was pitiful and cost us the match. As the common denominator, surely his time is up.

 

[Grandmaster Flash]

Drunk or sober, Spook's manlove for Gits is reaching waratahjesus/Carter levels. He was good in defence, made one decent break, and kicked most of his kicks. Bout it.

It's said over and over, but AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) needs to run the ball more. He beats the first tackle(s) and the advantage line more often than not so getting isolated shouldn't be a concern.

 

[Viking]

Agree with scotty's comment. The players should be smart enough and have the confidence to change the game plan. But i guess that takes experience. Giteau should be the one leading the guys n implementing a better plan (if he really was a great 10). But cooper played 10 a lot and he doesnt have the experience to do that yet.

On BOD's try, lots of people are blaming cooper, diggers, Gits but in reality it was all their fault. NO COMMUNICATION! And again I think that once players gain more experience either by settling into a position and specialising in it or by playing regulary with the people around them then we will continue to have these problems.

Next year Deans needs to select a team and stick with it. (mainly in the backline anyway, 10, 12, 13). I think AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) at 13 if not stick diggers there and leave him.

On a more positive note. Damn good job by the forwards (minus the lineout).

 

[Thomond78]

The good news is...

It's been pissing rain here for a month. September was lovely, and the ground dried out a bit, but August was a washout, October went that way too, and there's been flooding way too early in the winter. Large chunks of the country are under water when I've never seen them flooded before, and the ground will be farking sodden.

Forecast is for rain all this week, btw. Heavy, too.

Thommo, don't give up your day job. You'll never make it as a weather forecaster. :lmao:

Don't get pedantic on us and claim you were the messenger and not the author.

Four hours after kick-off, on the dot, in comes the gale and pissing rain. The train lines Dun Laoghaire and Bray are shut due to flooding. Given that I got within four hours on a seriously fucked-up occluded front, it was pretty good going.

 

[waratahjesus]

On BOD's try, lots of people are blaming cooper, diggers, Gits but in reality it was all their fault. NO COMMUNICATION! And again I think that once players gain more experience either by settling into a position and specialising in it or by playing regulary with the people around them then we will continue to have these problems.

on a second watching, two forwards join the ruck at the line i think pocock and one other, when it was completely necesary for them to do so, they join it and suck there backline in closer to cover which creates the space to run. not sure why they did it, the ball was already dead and was always going to be passed, it was just a combination of alot of pressure and tiring minds.

agree with the earlier call though, when we gave away the penalty for going over in the ruck when we cleared it we gave away our lead!

 

[Biffo]

The good news is...

It's been pissing rain here for a month. September was lovely, and the ground dried out a bit, but August was a washout, October went that way too, and there's been flooding way too early in the winter. Large chunks of the country are under water when I've never seen them flooded before, and the ground will be farking sodden.

Forecast is for rain all this week, btw. Heavy, too.

Thommo, don't give up your day job. You'll never make it as a weather forecaster. :lmao:

Don't get pedantic on us and claim you were the messenger and not the author.

Four hours after kick-off, on the dot, in comes the gale and pissing rain. The train lines Dun Laoghaire and Bray are shut due to flooding. Given that I got within four hours on a seriously fucked-up occluded front, it was pretty good going.

High class spin. Next you'll be defending Kaplan

 

[Thomond78]

Biffo, Kaplan was just random. Not unfair, didn't affect the result (you should have put us away for good in the first sixty when we were so rusty is wasn't funny, and in the last twenty and especially the last ten, I have to say I was quietly confident we were going to get a try). But random and inconsistent, which is something I hate in a ref.

 

[macg101]

Also a list of excuses on Irelands part for our shocking front line performance

1. The Scrum.

1 - Cian Healy... First start and was excellent around the park. But hammered in the scrum, If you review the tapes you'll see that his back was bent going into contact, which is a fundimental error, will learn though!

2 - Flannery Pretty much injured since meeting up with the lions all of around 6 months ago, first game in a month.

3 - Hayes - Stamped on Healys (see above) head two months ago, hence hes has taken a forced sabatical from the game.

Conclusion - Disaster!

2. All round softness

Excuse - First game of the season.

Can't take much from the Aussies though!

 

[fatprop]

TOCC,

While I haven't yet seen a replay, I have a funny feeling that QC (Quade Cooper) should have been sliding out in defense, and therefore BOD was his man. Could be wrong though.

While these moments can easily be blamed for preventing a Wallaby win, I honestly believe it is our game plan that lost us the game. Aimless kicking in the backs and directionless play. With a dominant forward pack there is no reason why we should be kicking the ball away. I find our backline alot more concerning than our lineouts.

Amen.

Our backline got outplayed by Ireland. Ireland FFS !! The scary part is we won the contact areas and lost due to lack of skill in the backs. Used to be the other way round. It really is a mystery why they do the things they do, eg: halfback contesting the up and under.

I'm fascinated that nobody seems to have mentioned Genia's performance. If it were Burgess, you'd be over him like flies on Kaplan. His compass was off all game and his running and kicking options were predictable. Giteau once again was pitiful and cost us the match. As the common denominator, surely his time is up.

Yeah, anything that would have got aus running at the opps would have been an advantage

 

[TheRiddler]

Worst Performers

As much as our mate Johnathon is rightly getting buckets of it poured all over him here, there are a couple of other contenders for the worst performance during the Ire v Aus test; please step forward Messrs Clarke and Kafer from Fox Sports.

Their commentary was truly awful. I am assuming that they werent actually at the game and instead were sat in a voiceover room at North Ryde, watching the game on TV. It sounded as though they had woken up just a couple of minutes before the kickoff, no passion in their delivery and very flat tones. Having to listen to Kafer at any time is painful but to hear him wanging on about complete and utter crap early in the morning is very painful. As much as they may be complete one-eyed, biased fools for much of the time, at least Kearns and Martin bring a bit of humour and passion to proceedings.

And for those of you asking why I didnt turn over and watch it on One, I recorded the game and got up at 5am to watch it then. Were the One commentators any better?

 

[Scarfman]

Bill Woods and Ben Tune are not exactly the comments dream team.

For naza: where were you last week when the piggies got dominated by some old blokes and the backs scored 2 tries to 0.

 

[chief]

Ben Tune knows what he is talking about. I know this sounds incredibly gay but I just don't think he has the voice for it, even though he was the best winger I have ever seen. Yes better than Lomu. Foxsports are truly woeful.

 

[Ash]

unlucky lads,

A few thoughts on the match,

Irelands kicking and lineout got us out of a serious hole!

Who is this Pocock guy? Class!

Amazingly a game in which the tight 5 was beaten the loose forwards were crushed and we only managed parity if not a slight advantage in ROGs kicking in the half backs we managed to draw the game! I think perhaps the Aussies would have walked it had they kept it in the pack for 50 - 60 mins and then ran it through the backs. Our back three would therefore been cancelled out of the game.

Also in conclusion losing to a team full of lads with dodgy tashes would have been unbearable...

Seen enough games of rugby now where teams hang on by the skin of their teeth for the first 50 - 60 minutes then come back to know it's not a rare event. But the good teams will, more often than not, put the other team away in the first 60, and the Wallabies failed despite the dominance.

Mmmm, Pocock. That kid was playing like he was going to be a star in the S14 two years ago. Only waratahjeebus is still in denial now.

Oh, and www.movemeber.com - those taches really are awful.

 

[naza]

For naza: where were you last week when the piggies got dominated by some old blokes and the backs scored 2 tries to 0.

Weak :fishing but just in case you're serious - Genia scored off a <5 metre run after good lead up work from the pack. AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) scored from a strong <10 metre run after good lead up work by the forwards. Can these gimps score from more than 20 metres out ?

 

[louie]

you need forwards to dominate a match, you need backs to win.
Anyone who follows the wicks will know that you can win with only 35% of the ball if you have a killer backline willing to run.
our backline has had nothing since bernie left.

 

[Scotty]

I thought Genia had an average, but not bad game. He certainly wasn't as good as his previous two outings. But he was certainly better than Burgess' bad games.

Genia didn't lose us the game - the lineout and the kicking (from our own half and at goal) were the main culprits