Australia were well and truly beaten by a better team this evening, and we need to be honest about that. We can't blame it on the referee.
Joubert was very interesting tonight. I think there is a big problem ahead of the RWC, and that problem is Paddy O'Brien. He has failed to educate four sets of focus groups and that is, educating the players on what is the actual interpretations.
The referees, the referees have clearly not been educated. Joubert whistled fine, he was mostly consistent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9PRo4-oUL4 check out that video, and you'll see what Kaplan has to say, it differs the approach of every referee which Aus and any other i, they all have their own set. I blame none of these referees, I blame O'Brien.
The players, I spoke briefly about it just previously, and that is they have a new set of laws, for a new ref. Simple as that. It needs to be changed. None of this, adapt to the ref bullshit. There is a certain amount of adapting which is to be done, but there is too much, now is too much. A referee is not another competitor, it is an arbitrator. Right now referees, are being treated as the third team, they are there to facilitate. Players need to be on the same terms, ahead of the WC. Players need to be on even terms, the same terms as the public.
The next is public, Rugby is a complicated game, it loses people because of its over complication, and its inconsistencies.
The next is the media, Greg Growden, Brian Moore, Spiro Zavos, Glen Ella, every commentator, has absolutely no idea what the fuck is going on. Consistency.
Now back to the game. Was there a complete scrum all day? I am critical of Joubert's handling of this area, his goal was quite clear, to fault someone for every collapse. Fair enough. However you cannot engage in guess work in this facet of the game, you simply cannot do so if you are not 100 percent sure. English heads were popping up all the time in the scrum. Australia had the better scrum today, one of the few things I can say.
How good is Ben Young's and Mark Cueto, for that fact the whole English team, fantastic stuff indeed. Great attacking play, and here I was sitting back on my cloud of judgement writing them off for next years RWC.
Beale: How good is this ripper. I think Cooper needs to face the axe and make room for Beale at Flyhalf, who knows how it will go. But this could be a Stephen Larkham transformation (even though he's played Flyhalf). Cooper is light on tackles, heaving on touching. Give me a bit of Beale at 10 and we will see where it goes.
Giteau had his ups and downs. His highlight was the binning, where he saved a try, his lowlight was probably his return. Beale at 10, Fainga'a at 12 is worth a shot.
James Slipper. How good is this guy. He is showing maturity that a senior rugby player would struggle to show, he missed a tackle, I can forgive that, but he showed maturity in holding the ball which shows he's up to test rugby oh right.
I seize here, and I comment on past comments of members, call me Reds Happy, call me conservative, but I still think room needs to be made for Hynes. He is a safe option and his defense is some of the best in the Wallabies team and the world for that matter. Beale at 10, Hynes at 15 would certainly be worth a midweek trial.
Until next week, where we take on Italy?
