Wallabies v. Springboks, 18th July 2015, Suncorp, Brisbane

[HighPlainsDrifter]

When attacking we just don't seem to get to the ruck and clean out with any real urgency , efficiency and power , which seemed at odds with the effort in defence which appeared excellent . I think if we had a genuine workhorse in the forwards we would have more balance in attack through the delivery of quicker ball from our rucks . We are moving in the right direction and we do have a lot more upside if cohesion builds , I particularly liked the way the team fought back and enjoyed the bench making a positive contribution to the effort .

 

[biggsy]

Mmmmm, just got home and wAtched replay of the last try. From the stands wasn't convinced but replay showed a try for sure.

I like the the wallabies agsin.

Good crowd solid crowed tonight at the best stAdium in Aus...

3 to many rums to spell check.


Wallabies won, woooowhooo

 

[Marcelo]

But the real worry was the tight 5. Slipper, Simmons, Skelton looked well off the pace. Kepu not much better, and I thought Moore was below his best as well. The first half scrums were a shambles.

Yeah but at least Holmes and Sio smashed their reserve front-row. Slipper and Kepu need rest, Sio and Holmes should start at Mendoza against the Argies

 

[Beefcake]

You know those times when Phipps couldn't decide where to pass and looking looked like a headless chicken? It's because he was getting there so quick his forwards weren't ready for the next phase. They weren't used to his pace compared to Genia. His long ball is much better too, he cleaned up at the back of a lineout a through a pass to To'omua on the other half of the field easily. He scored that Hooper try by cleverly holding it up and getting the defender planted.

Nice spin but No.

Phibbs headless chicken act usually follows his poor execution and option taking (i.e. vs Highlanders semi-final). This could suggest he's too stressed to think (which is fair enough given his job) about what happens next so he shovels it on so he can regain composure. He is such a rhythmic hb, likes tempo and works hard, but finds scrappy and messy games difficult to negotiate and this is where I think Genia excels, atleast in the sense of organising troops and maintaining cool option taking.

Genia passes are much crisper and more accurate than Phibbs every day of the week including last nite. In saying that, Phibbs certainly brought impact off the bench and his combo with MT added another dimension that brought the show home.

Against more cunning opposition such as the darkness Phibbs delays are delightful meals for backrowers and competent fetchers like McCaw, Cane, Reid even Pocock & Hooper would eat that up.

 

[cyclopath]

Nice spin but No.

Phibbs headless chicken act usually follows his poor execution and option taking (i.e. vs Highlanders semi-final). This could suggest he's too stressed to think (which is fair enough given his job) about what happens next so he shovels it on so he can regain composure. He is such a rhythmic hb, likes tempo and works hard, but finds scrappy and messy games difficult to negotiate and this is where I think Genia excels, atleast in the sense of organising troops and maintaining cool option taking.

Genia passes are much crisper and more accurate than Phibbs every day of the week including last nite. In saying that, Phibbs certainly brought impact off the bench and his combo with MT added another dimension that brought the show home.

Against more cunning opposition such as the darkness Phibbs delays are delightful meals for backrowers and competent fetchers like McCaw, Cane, Reid even Pocock & Hooper would eat that up.

Problem is Genia did not excel. Not bad, not excellent. He didn't organise anything that wasn't organised by the game plan. He was fine, but Phipps was faster with the ball getting to runners. And then there were the box kicks. Not great, mostly. Partly the chasers, but also the execution.
And it's Phipps, not Phibbs. It detracts from your point if you can't even work out who you're critiquing.
Genia has upside in that he can be better, but that's a future hypothesis. Currently, it's Phipps first and Genia second. That can change.


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[Beefcake]

Problem is Genia did not excel. Not bad, not excellent. He didn't organise anything that wasn't organised by the game plan. He was fine, but Phipps was faster with the ball getting to runners. And then there were the box kicks. Not great, mostly. Partly the chasers, but also the execution.
And it's Phipps, not Phibbs. It detracts from your point if you can't even work out who you're critiquing.
Genia has upside in that he can be better, but that's a future hypothesis. Currently, it's Phipps first and Genia second. That can change.


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Depends how you're looking at those apples.

Compared to Genia, the ball was noticeably on the ground openly exposed at the ruck longer when Phipps was at hb. Further, Fhipps seemed to be searching somewhat indecisively for runners, and organising cattle more often at the back too, where it seems with Genia, players are organised according to game plan. Why the sudden disparity? Perhaps it was new combo with MT, maybe it was the headless chicken act.

Im no expert but assessing the velocity of ball passed by two different players (at different times of the game) seems beyond the capability of the eye and a telly screen unless your Batman. But if your an expert in this, then I'll accept your opinion, Batman.

Since your so pedantic, ensure you pull up all others who dont spell those polynesian and ethnic alphabet names otherwise Im reluctant to consider those credentials authentic.

Genia has a good combo with QC (Quade Cooper), the pair should play and since QC (Quade Cooper) is favoured, Genia is run-on. Phipps backs up or as starts as part of another combo such as MT, Foley et al.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Bloody lucky escape tonight for mine. For long periods in the game we weren't getting any go forward up the middle and were being killed at the breakdown (which should never happen to a Wallaby team). That all changed when To'omua and Pocock came on. They were the difference I think. Nothing against QC (Quade Cooper), Gits and Hooper, but it just confirmed to me that To'omua should be our starting 12 (or maybe 10 and Gits at 12) and Pocock has to be on the paddock from the beginning. Whether or not that means dual opensides I don't know, but bloody hell the ruck area was a different story when Pocock was out there. That said, Hooper did have a storming game in attack and defence.

I thought Skelton didn't do enough as a starter, but I'd still go with him next week to see if he can improve. The front row replacements were excellent and a couple of those scrums in the last quarter really hit home that we've got some front row depth.

Bottom line though: we've got a lot of work to do because we looked rusty as hell out there and should have lost that game. I did like the steel they showed in the last 10-15 minutes to get the result and the confidence Moore showed in the team to go for the try. That took some guts and the team rallied around it.

 

[teach]

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In regards to the last try, it looked to me like it wouldn't be given; the ball looked held up, and the 'contact' with the grass was, in my mind, minimal.

It only has to touch a blade of grass. Contact with the grass can be as minimal as you want, as long as there is contact.

Just like in the suoerXV final.

 

[biggsy]

Compared to Genia, the ball was noticeably on the ground openly exposed at the ruck longer when Phipps was at hb.

bang on. Phipps left the ball exposed way to long and richie/all blacks will be All over that pill.

 

[something]

^phipps will have to play even faster

Another thing i liked is our discipline during the second half, i think we only conceded 2 penalties to the saffers 7 or something...

Also, our lineout was really good.

 

[saulityvi]

I think it also seemed odd, considering that Cheika does not care about numbers on backs that Kuridrani was not used more for punch in the 12 channel, I would have got him closer to the game thus giving more space on the outside for Gits.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

I think it's fair to say Higginbotham failed. He already had a rep of not performing at Test level and with McCalman's form you can't possibly play him over Ben again.

Don't know how or why there's a game plan to,play him wide if, when the opportunity to make ground with the ball comes along he roosts it dead.
On the other hand the very fast flick pass from If was so late and blind he was entitled to drop it.
Did he win any line out ball because that's the downside of the 2 hobbits.

 

[saulityvi]

Higgers had atleast one steal

 

[Slim 293]

I don't know what game you watched last night Beefcake, but your observations on Genia and Phipps are in complete opposition to what actually happened............

Phipps and To'omua were the two key improvements to our backline last night.

 

[Rugbynutter39]

Rugby365 website gave gits rating of 9 out of 10 for
His game - for me was 7 out of 10

I dont get the anti gits - I saw some rust but lot of positives and played well with To'omua when came on

Cooper has been inconsistent performer at test level and don't believe he is the answer at 10

 

[Bullrush]

Wallabies very lucky last night. In the end I thought the Boks didn't deserve to win simply because of the way they stopped playing in the last minute. In saying that, the Wallabies really didn't play well enough in the first 60min to win it either but did enough to be close enough to steal it I guess. But very lucky with that last TMO call....I don't think that was a try but I didn't think Dixon's effort in the Super Rugby final was one either so what do I know!!

 

[something]

yeah the boks game plan was pretty average to be honest - i can only imagine how annoying it must have been for the bok supporter's watching a game plan that just kicks it down the opposing full backs throat.... oh wait

 

[Rugbynutter39]

All have our bias - me not a Cooper fan - and yes poor game but I recall more poor games than good games at test level for him.

For gits I recall more good games than bad - and if pass over sideline made his mark good chance Horne would have scored - game of inches - had awareness that pass was on

Jolly swagman I don't need an uppercut as just not the Cooper fan you and other queen slanders are - when he can string some quality consistent games together I will happily back him but been waiting for years for that to happen and hence my view of him has not changed as the most over rated player

 

[Ulrich]

I have already given an abbreviation of my thoughts on this game in an earlier post on this thread.

First of all; both teams, playing as they did, will not win a knockout match in the world cup (unless they meet each other - quite probable). The Springboks were far too reliant on their defense, Le Roux was up and down (much like we know Cooper to be), the Boks got into their shell and didn't assert themselves as a champion side would do when 20-5 in front.

Also, why persist kicking down Folau's throat all the time when it clearly doesn't work?

The Wallabies on the other hand, for all their endeavor struggled immensely to break the Springbok defense. They won and rightly so. It was the most experienced Wallaby team of all time against a so-so Bok side (experience-wise) and the Boks suffered some injury setbacks during the game, including the loss of their captain early on.

Willie is a great player but having him on the field is just as much of a risk as it is a reward.

For me the most disappointing Wallaby on the park was Skelton. I've never heard his name in Super Rugby but read a lot of him here on G&G. Looked very, very average, much like our "Oupa" Mohoje.

I also don't understand why there are so many complaints from the Australian supporters' side. Your team did pretty well out there. This wasn't a walk in the park and it was your first game for the season under a new coach. You're arguing about players etc (we Saffas have that too although I'm less inclined to join such discussions).

At the end of the day I don't care whether Matfield is 38, 18 or 28. Nor do I care whether Schalk is his old self or a new, modern-type of Schalk with a different skillset. His value was underlined. Habana was on song even though not as quick as he used to be - he's a calm head on the field. JP looked for work ALL the time and unfortunately for him he always seems to draw the short end of the stick when it comes to try scoring time.

The youngsters in the midfield did well so it's a pass.

Avg winning margin for the Wallabies before this game is 18 points so a 4 point loss against the most experienced Wallabies side at a venue where we've recorded 1 win (and city where we've recorded 2 wins in 40 years) is fairly decent.

Genia was OK. Not great, not bad, just OK. Hooper was very busy but isn't exceptional. 2/3 of the Bok backrow could be considered second string and they didn't fare too badly I'd say.

I don't think Bismarck should have been subbed and I also don't think the Springboks are all that well conditioned as the coaching team would have us believe. We have won games like this before and the substitutions simply didn't bring anything. I'm not saying they are bad players, I'm saying they didn't perform as well as required.

The Wallabies upped the tempo and we simply retreated whilst allowing them to go gung-ho.

Cheika selected a great 23 for this match. Skelton is probably a failed experiment at this point in time though.

 

[Dave Beat]

This pick its shows the reasons why I'd like to see both Hoops and Poey on the field at once.
They play different games.
They both go at 100% consistently.
Both do inspirational things to lift the team.
Whilst it is just a still photo i reckon it says allot.