Wallabies v Pumas - Saturday 17 September, nib Stadium Perth

[The_Brown_Hornet]

I got to see more of Jono this season than at any other time and I have to say that I rather liked what I saw in his limited minutes. I think he could make a pretty handy 12 at test level, but then again I think Hodge could too. In Reece's case, I see the gait and demeanour of Mortlock about him and that's a good thing. He's big, physical and a straight ahead kind of player. That boot is also very, very handy.

 

[Joe Blow]

The inside balls from Quade for the two tries were excellent but he was better all around in the previous game against the Boks. By that I mean that his defense was more front on and direct and he underplayed his hand better holding onto the ball under pressure so that we could retain possession.
There were some worrying signs on the weekend for QC (Quade Cooper). The cross field kick when under pressure, a couple of high body grapple tackles targeting the ball rather than the man, the slight sidefield drift putting his outside runners under pressure and some hesitant tackle attempts.
As Kafe says over and over, he is very dangerous when he squares up and runs at the line. He creates space for those around him and has the vision to put the right person into a hole when this happens.
Steve Larkham and Cheik need to get him back on track for SA.
I do not see the point in bringing McCalman back into the fold. He is a good safe option but he has never excelled at test level. McMahon should start at 8, which is probably what Cheika had in mind for next year all along, with Timani or Mumm on the bench as the back row reserve, assuming Fardy comes back in to offset the loss of Pococks breakdown presence. I would opt for Timani as he at least deserves a few more chances to impress and he may just turn out to be much better than most think. McMahon, Hooper and Fardy are all 80 minute players and durable.

 

[Viking]

The inside balls from Quade for the two tries were excellent but he was better all around in the previous game against the Boks. By that I mean that his defense was more front on and direct and he underplayed his hand better holding onto the ball under pressure so that we could retain possession.
There were some worrying signs on the weekend for QC (Quade Cooper). The cross field kick when under pressure, a couple of high body grapple tackles targeting the ball rather than the man, the slight sidefield drift putting his outside runners under pressure and some hesitant tackle attempts.
As Kafe says over and over, he is very dangerous when he squares up and runs at the line. He creates space for those around him and has the vision to put the right person into a hole when this happens.
Steve Larkham and Cheik need to get him back on track for SA.
I do not see the point in bringing McCalman back into the fold. He is a good safe option but he has never excelled at test level. McMahon should start at 8, which is probably what Cheika had in mind for next year all along, with Timani or Mumm on the bench as the back row reserve, assuming Fardy comes back in to offset the loss of Pococks breakdown presence. I would opt for Timani as he at least deserves a few more chances to impress and he may just turn out to be much better than most think. McMahon, Hooper and Fardy are all 80 minute players and durable.

I wonder if Quade overplays his hand against lesser opposition though. Given we were 3 tries up that is probably a safe time to try the low percentage plays.

Against NZ he was decent on defence and under-played his hand, then slightly more against SA (i think a good balance) and now against Argentina probably overplayed his hand. Hopefully it's not a natural progression and just Quade trying too much when we are ahead.

 

[fatprop]

The inside balls from Quade for the two tries were excellent

They were, but as much as they were great passes, the work of the other runners to create doubt in the defenders was as important if not more so.

Having guys in motion is the key. It was great to see Kerevi in motion on a decent line instead of waiting on the outside in a static backline playing pass the parcel laterally

Now if we can have that effort for more than ten minutes we might have something

Shit we may even get some kick return structure one day to give the catcher some decent options and create doubt

 

[fatprop]

Great to see another win, and a few old faces and some new ones played very well. We saw a few glimses of the future there as well.

Another 31 missed tackles last night though!

Our defence has had plenty of plaudits over the last day or two, and the Argies were held well with all of that possession, and a lot of it has to do with the rush defense but, that's still pretty worrying.

Since game 2 against England the missed tackle stats have been nothing short of embarrassing. Thankfully it didn't matter on Saturday night. Defence held up, but at times the tackling didn't

They push up hard and will miss tackles doing so, it is the scrambling that is important and working hard for each other. I think Cheika calls it getting off your arse and back in the game

 

[Joe Blow]

They were, but as much as they were great passes, the work of the other runners to create doubt in the defenders was as important if not more so.

Having guys in motion is the key. It was great to see Kerevi in motion on a decent line instead of waiting on the outside in a static backline playing pass the parcel laterally

Now if we can have that effort for more than ten minutes we might have something

Shit we may even get some kick return structure one day to give the catcher some decent options and create doubt

I agree to a point FP. The other key is having the person with the ball in his hands creating doubt in the minds of the opposition. Quade does it when he runs at the line as does Will Genia when he has both hands on the ball. Both of them have the ability to hit runners at anytime.
Foley can do it too with set moves but is not so comfortable in broken play in this respect.
But that little quote was not really the jist of my post. I was more concerned with how Quade was looking unstable in his defense and option taking. I am a big fan of his abilities but there were some worrying signs in parts of his play on the weekend.

 

[fatprop]

Every playmaker needs inside and outside runners, they need the ability to hit them, but they have to be there to be hit

I would be more comfortable with Cooper "being the answer" if he could be a bit(a lot) braver and effective in contact and stop arm grab tackles.

 

[Train Without a Station]

Joe Kafe can be very astute analyst, but in this case, I don't think he knows what the fuck he's talking about.

Just about every time he chastises Quade for attacking too laterally, within a very minutes Quade has sent somebody into a game from an inside pass.

Quade knows exactly what he's doing. He's dangerous when he varies his attack. Quade drifting on some phases causes the defence to drift. What does that leave?

Holes on the inside.

Quade gets all the credit he deserves for the good passes he throws and the gaps he puts players into. Little things like this, setting up the defenders to exploit in a scheming manner is what he does not get enough credit for as a player.

 

[Viking]

Funny that the runners are never there with anyone else at 10.

Cooper clearly managers the backline better or certainly has an influence on getting the runners in right positions, he calls the right plays and he hits the right man - he did that that twice to perfect execution. Not only that he directs the forwards to push forward if there is nothing on.

I think you gotta give credit where credit is due, it's not just co-incidence that more inside runners seem to be running the right line with Quade at 10.

It's not called playMAKER for nothing. Otherwise we'd just call him a distributor.

Although I do agree about his defence, needs to muscle up in contact - he's capable but the technique and attitude ain't there.

 

[fatprop]

Funny that the runners are never there with anyone else at 10.

Cooper clearly managers the backline better or certainly has an influence on getting the runners in right positions, he calls the right plays and he hits the right man - he did that that twice to perfect execution. Not only that he directs the forwards to push forward if there is nothing on.

I think you gotta give credit where credit is due, it's not just co-incidence that more inside runners seem to be running the right line with Quade at 10.

It's not called playMAKER for nothing. Otherwise we'd just call him a distributor.

Although I do agree about his defence, needs to muscle up in contact - he's capable but the technique and attitude ain't there.

It also helps that we are now playing teams nearer our own standard


And the runners weren't there very often on Saturday.
I didn't see anyone running that inside line consistently.

It is why the ABs are so effective, they work so hard to give the ball carrier options.

 

[Brumby Runner]

It also helps that we are now playing teams nearer our own standard


And the runners weren't there very often on Saturday.
I didn't see anyone running that inside line consistently.

It is why the ABs are so effective, they work so hard to give the ball carrier options.

Little steps FP, little steps, especially when you're coming off such a low base as the Wallabies are at present. It's encouraging that Quade is leading in those little steps and the others are starting to follow. Just need to see a continuation of improvement from game to game.

 

[Twoilms]

The inside balls from Quade for the two tries were excellent but he was better all around in the previous game against the Boks. By that I mean that his defense was more front on and direct and he underplayed his hand better holding onto the ball under pressure so that we could retain possession.
There were some worrying signs on the weekend for QC (Quade Cooper). The cross field kick when under pressure, a couple of high body grapple tackles targeting the ball rather than the man, the slight sidefield drift putting his outside runners under pressure and some hesitant tackle attempts.
As Kafe says over and over, he is very dangerous when he squares up and runs at the line. He creates space for those around him and has the vision to put the right person into a hole when this happens.
Steve Larkham and Cheik need to get him back on track for SA.
I do not see the point in bringing McCalman back into the fold. He is a good safe option but he has never excelled at test level. McMahon should start at 8, which is probably what Cheika had in mind for next year all along, with Timani or Mumm on the bench as the back row reserve, assuming Fardy comes back in to offset the loss of Pococks breakdown presence. I would opt for Timani as he at least deserves a few more chances to impress and he may just turn out to be much better than most think. McMahon, Hooper and Fardy are all 80 minute players and durable.

Only issue i have with all this is that Fardy probably isn't an 80 minute player and if he is he won't be for much longer. The man is not getting any younger.

 

[Scrubber2050]

Well done Wallabies.

Wallabies dominant in first 12 minutes

A win is a win but overall it was a mediocre performance.
Kerevi is improving but fuck me, he was sucked in to taking the inside man leading to a Puma try. That is so elementary
Any other player other than Folau would be dropped after that performance.
Our defence was good particularly in light of possession.
Set piece pretty good.
Coleman certainly seems to have one lock spot sewn up.
Genia was great and back to his best ever.

I don't think the Wallabies will be leaking confidence after the win,

A long way to go.

 

[Scrubber2050]

Kepu seems to be playing his way back into form. Quite busy in attack and defence so his fitness has improved greatly
Read Cully's comment this morning that this is the second week that Sio has not carried the ball once. - seems odd if he is started again

Good to see Robertson get his cap. Nothing special but huge step up for the kid and will only improve once he feels more comfortable within the group. It is always difficult for a prop to enter the fray from the bench - he is expected to go at 'em immediately with no time to build into his game. Anyway, he did well.

Timani never showed anything to me.

Taf continues to push to start but I think the win (and the last one as well) confirms Moore's retention until at least the end of the RC and probably beyond.

Pocock looked very distressed when he came off and I had a wry smile when one of the commentators basically said it was just to give another bloke a go. It looked like a shoulder or sternum injury to be but ended up being a broken hand. Poor bugger. Suppose it will be a forced rest and Chek will be finally forced to play some matches without his fabled Pooper.

Boks will be better and we need to be as well.

 

[Upthenuts]

the last two games point out that the ARU should start the RC with games against the pumas and boks to warm for the Abs, two wins and 8 to 10 championship points would have the wallabies much better set for a real game of rugby.

 

[Pfitzy]

the last two games point out that the ARU should start the RC with games against the pumas and boks to warm for the Abs, two wins and 8 to 10 championship points would have the wallabies much better set for a real game of rugby.

Yeah but then you give the ABs a chance to warm up on someone as well

 

[Sword of Justice]

I can't wait for ForceFan's stats.

In a game with almost all defence - we are going to find out who is really who in the zoo.

 

[Scrubber2050]

Yeah but then you give the ABs a chance to warm up on someone as well

Yes - and I didn't like the result when they warmed up on us.

 

[kiap]

Yes - and I didn't like the result when they warmed up on us.

Requires a cunning plan.

We schedule the warm ups for the weekends before the window of TRC.

None of the Aus teams will be in soup contention so it won't make a difference to us. The Wallabies get some tune-up matches.

 

[Dismal Pillock]

Impressed with Folau, bundled into touch with ball, refuses to give it back, cops a scragging, sets off a 10 man handbags stoush, yet at the end of it all, Folau emerges 2 minutes later, hello, still in secure possession of the rugby football. hashtag#fuck_yuz!