Wallabies v Poms, EOYT 2010, Twickenham

[vidiot]

I thought Matt Giteau was better than he has been for a while but still hasn't got to anywhere near his best.

I thought that between handling errors, poor option taking and his continuing inability to find holes as a runner he got in the way of any useful attack and that he has taken to darting up out of the line in defense creating gaps. A new low in a pretty ordinary season. If he is picked for this weekend I expect Cooper will be throwing a lot of cut-outs.

 

[Groucho]

What exactly has happened to our scrum since last year? Apart from Palu and TPN personnel are the same so you would think we could have similar levels of performance. The meerkatting from loosies seemed a problem, other than that Moore would've been better but is that the extent of it?

As long as we can win the breakdown and keep getting quick ball (without the errors of this week) against the Poms we have it over them everywhere else.

But then again we have Joubert and the possibility of rain. I think I'll remain quietly optimistic...

Well, Robinson is recovering, Alexander is recovering, Nau is injured, Horwill is injured, Palu is injured. And last night, Moore was injured too.

That is what has happened to our scrum. It is last year's scrum in the same way as an axe that has had three new handles and two new heads, is the same axe.

 

[JJJ]

I dunno about this "Robinson is recovering" business. Surely he's been back long enough now to be fully fit? I think it's just poor form at this stage, which I'm reluctantly conceding is probably the story with Genia too.

 

[disco]

I dunno about this "Robinson is recovering" business. Surely he's been back long enough now to be fully fit? I think it's just poor form at this stage, which I'm reluctantly conceding is probably the story with Genia too.

Genia has been good so far had a very solid game in HK & was one of the better players in Cardiff last night.

 

[disco]

Just read on Planet Rugby that Dylan Hartley may be suspended for a late elbow on McCheats head.

 

[Groucho]

I dunno about this "Robinson is recovering" business. Surely he's been back long enough now to be fully fit? I think it's just poor form at this stage, which I'm reluctantly conceding is probably the story with Genia too.

Recovery from a serious injury has several elements. One is fitness, another is form. We have several forwards who are notorious for taking longer than most to recover their form after an injury, e.g. Palu and Horwill. A third element of recovery is confidence.

 

[Reddy!]

Hmm, but Robinson was only out for a couple of months, if that. Anyway, his poor scrum form might have something to do with the scrum working together as a whole rather than soley on his individual performance. Palu, Horwill, TPN were all part of the scrum on last years EOYT, and haven't been at any stage this year. No surprises really, then, that the scrum isn't doing as well.

 

[Groucho]

Hmm, but Robinson was only out for a couple of months, if that.

Sure, but he had a broken arm. For a dominant style of prop that must be a debilitating injury.

 

[Richo]

Pretty hard to main upper body strength with a broken arm. No weights.

 

[Ruggo]

Got to get the mixture right. Last year we had two good scrummaging locks behind our front row in Horwill and Chisholm but the lineout suffered. Now we have the reverse. I am very interested to see how Van goes against a highly rated Tigers pack. He is one of few that can perform well in both scrum and lineout. I see no harm in trying him if he goes good during the midweek game. Robbie and co will have some idea by half time and if he looks good, bring him off and use him for the test. A second row of Sharpe and Humphries will go alright me thinks. That is my view but I don't expect to see any changes.

Players aside, the focus we be turned on for this weekend and I expect it to show. I think the team got carried away with the hype after Hong Kong and that lead to the drop in performance. That is all done now and the focus will be on this week.

Fainga'a has copped alot of crap but don't forget the little notice he was thrown in under. The combination was disrupted and that was more reflective of the poor scrum rather than the performance of one bloke.

I would like to see us try to depower the English scrum by playing a fast pace which I think we will try to do.

 

[Jnor]

Ok so we are underdone in the scrum and likely to get done there. As far as I see if we play to somewhere near potential everywhere else we should have it over them.

When you don't have the brawn, you've got to use brains; so the question is what can we do to use the scrum deficiency to our advantage? Of course, better technique all round and a stable platform would go well but is there any way we can use it to milk a penalty of our own or two? Under Joubert I guess it's not likely but I think we need to think our way out of this mess more than anything...

 

[cyclopath]

Ok so we are underdone in the scrum and likely to get done there. As far as I see if we play to somewhere near potential everywhere else we should have it over them.

When you don't have the brawn, you've got to use brains; so the question is what can we do to use the scrum deficiency to our advantage? Of course, better technique all round and a stable platform would go well but is there any way we can use it to milk a penalty of our own or two? Under Joubert I guess it's not likely but I think we need to think our way out of this mess more than anything...

I think the big issue may be that brains won't help us if we end up playing at least 10 mins with 14 men, as there is little doubt we will get a man binned if the scrum is as woeful again. Joubert will be looking for it. You can bet the England management will be in his ear pointing out just what happened on Saturday night in Cardiff, and why not? England will be a big hurdle, I think.

 

[RugbyReg]

Yep, yellow cards a big chance so I expect a 5-2 split on the bench with two front rowers there.

 

[vidiot]

TPN could cover prop and hooker

 

[Ruggo]

The Link trick from the Reds this year. Who will be the scond prop though?

 

[Jnor]

Yep, yellow cards a big chance so I expect a 5-2 split on the bench with two front rowers there.

Gentlemen, I believe I have the answer. We will field three front rowers, and three only. One will feign injury in the 6th minute and have to go off. There will be a replacement of Higgers/Hodgo/TPN in a different jersey to confuse the ref.

Then we will have uncontested scrums. England's one advantage will be nullified and we will beat them by 25+

Sound like a plan?

 

[RugbyReg]

Gentlemen, I believe I have the answer. We will field three front rowers, and three only. One will feign injury in the 6th minute and have to go off. There will be a replacement of Higgers/Hodgo/TPN in a different jersey to confuse the ref.

Then we will have uncontested scrums. England's one advantage will be nullified and we will beat them by 25+

Sound like a plan?

sounds like an Eddie Jones plan.

 

[TOCC]

I remember one game 2 of our props went down with injury in warm up, the coached looked at me been the next biggest buy in the forward pack and asked me to step up(I play 8 but used to prop), during our little prep talk before we ran on they just said to see how we go in the scrum and call for a uncotested if we are getting beaten..I went over to the captain and told him I would flog him if he calls for uncontested scrums on my behalf..

We won the match and even destabilized there scrum a fair bit.. point is, A uncontested scrum for a prop is one of the most humiliating things that could ever happen... I would be getting so incredibly frustrated if I were Robinson and Alexander, alomost to the point where I would turn to Sharpe and Chisolm and tell them to bind like real men or get the fuck off the field..

 

[Scarfman]

Nice story TOCC. I got called up in the middle of the game once and I called uncontested without hesitation. I looked like a sook of course, but at least I didn't receive a catastrophic neck injury.

 

[cyclopath]

I remember one game 2 of our props went down with injury in warm up, the coached looked at me been the next biggest buy in the forward pack and asked me to step up(I play 8 but used to prop), during our little prep talk before we ran on they just said to see how we go in the scrum and call for a uncotested if we are getting beaten..I went over to the captain and told him I would flog him if he calls for uncontested scrums on my behalf..

We won the match and even destabilized there scrum a fair bit.. point is, A uncontested scrum for a prop is one of the most humiliating things that could ever happen... I would be getting so incredibly frustrated if I were Robinson and Alexander, alomost to the point where I would turn to Sharpe and Chisolm and tell them to bind like real men or get the fuck off the field..

Good point, TOCC.
How come these guys don't have the nous to work some of this out? I mean, if they've been scrumming for years at all levels, why do they need someone to tell them everything? I assume someone in the hierarchy has pointed out the scrum machine seldom pushes back or bores in?