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

[Brumby Runner]

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.

Think you must have missed the numerous times Cooper passed directly to Kuridrani. Seemed that the game plan early on was to have either Kuridrani or Folau running in the 12 channel off Cooper's passes.

 

[teach]

I meant to add, please please Cheika, play Skelton against the All Blacks!

Yes! I think Skelton needs a full 80 minutes against the All Blacks.

 

[ChargerWA]

I have to say, Nigel Owens ran the game really well last night. He must have, because I'm yet to see anyone bitch about a call he made! We're usually pretty quick to sink the boot in when the ref has a shocker, so it's only fair to acknowledge when they have a good game.

If I had a criticism, it would be he tended to referee one team more heavily in each half. It all worked out but the Boks probably got the rub of the green in the first half and the Wallabies in the second.

 

[Ulrich]

Ok next morning and was just sitting here thinking we have seen a couple of bloody entertaining tests this weekend. I think the result and how it was achieved (an extra time try) is real good for the game here in Aus, it really needed a boost like that. A hell of a lot of part time supporters will only see the result etc and will think all is rosey again, no probs with that as like I say it gets people talking and watching game more. I don't think Saffas will be cutting wrists, we have all talked about travel factor all year in S15, and how teams fade. I know they won't use as an excuse, and not saying it is, but helps make losses a little less painful. I think they have found a pretty useful looking midfield combo, and don't care what anyone says Schalk Burgher is still one of my favourite non All Black players, the man doesn't know how to throw in the towel.
For the Wallabies on the Genia /Phipps/Cooper/Gits/To'omua discussion, although I not a Genia fan, I wouldn't rule too much in anyone's favour as To'omua and Phipps both came on as Bok forwards in particular tired, or became less effective. Looking forward to next weeks tests!!

Burger is a colossus! Neck problems before RWC 2007. Then got a knee injury, with the operation he obtained some bacteria and affected his brain. Fought out of it. 2 years later he's playing.

Today he's probably one of the most calm players on any pitch that never neglects his responsibility towards his country.

 

[Dismal Pillock]

for 50 mins the aus backs, with all that possession, went nowhere and were down 5-20. Genia, Quade and Giteau did zero.

aus forwards just too slow (SKELTON) or feeble to clear out rucks, ball pilfered by bok

Bok coach will be mortified that his bench shat the bed to such disastrous effect (apart from that Looger guy at lock, he looks like a big softie but is not someone you want to run into) "yeah 20-5 up, we'll put the fresh legs on to coast home, oops wft"

POCOCK has to be on the field for Aus. Are you shitting me? Put him in at bloody hooker if you have to. If God loves a winner then he is going to be brokeback riding this golden chariot up the arse, side to side, up and down, back and forth, from dawn til' fucking dusk.

 

[Brumby Runner]

for 50 mins the aus backs, with all that possession, went nowhere and were down 5-20. Genia, Quade and Giteau did zero.

aus forwards just too slow (SKELTON) or feeble to clear out rucks, ball pilfered by bok

Bok coach will be mortified that his bench shat the bed to such disastrous effect (apart from that Looger guy at lock, he looks like a big softie but is not someone you want to run into) "yeah 20-5 up, we'll put the fresh legs on to coast home, oops wft"

POCOCK has to be on the field for Aus. Are you shitting me? Put him in at bloody hooker if you have to. If God loves a winner then he is going to be brokeback riding this golden chariot up the arse, side to side, up and down, back and forth, from dawn til' fucking dusk.

Nailed it again DP.

 

[FrankLind]

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.

You could start the critique by first learning how to spell his name

SA fucked that up in my view.
Subbing of their dominant front row was a big mistake.

 

[Brumby Runner]

For our best 15, Pocock must start. He is a world class player and one who would make just about any other national side. Not saying Hooper isn't good, but is not world class. Start Pocock and if it's thought to be becessary, Hooper on the bench.

Matt To'omua was the only inside back to take the line on last night and it opened up opportunities for those outside. He is also a must at either 10 or 12 for the best 15. Christian Lealiifano offers more options and straighter running than Matt Giteau and could play either 10 or 12. Partner with Matt To'omua in the best 15, or alternatively start Foley at 10 and To'omua at 12. Christian's better defense puts him well in front imo.

James Slipper is injured and needs a rest. Start Sio with Toby Smith on the bench for the remainder of the RC.

Will Genia is still not anywhere near his best and injury notwithstanding should make way for Nic White on the bench.

Higgers and Hooper together doesn't work. The breakdown in both attack and defense was atrocious last night until Pocock came on. Blind Freddy could see beforehand that this would be the case. Until and if Palu can return, Ita Vaea would be the best option at No 8.

Looks like Squeaky Moore will be playing 80 minutes now as Captain. TPN only there for injury cover.

Big question marks over Will Skelton after last night's performance. Sad.

 

[barbarian]

Just watched the game again.

Don't get the Skelton hate at all. He had one ineffective carry in about seven. He didn't make any mistakes. Made his tackles. Gave away one offside penalty. But wasn't a liability at all IMO.

My issue is we relied on him too much for ball-carrying. I think the blame should be falling far more on the shoulders of Fardy, Higgers, Moore and Kepu. None of them did nearly enough effective work with ball in hand or presented themselves as an option for Genia.

The reason our attack struggled in the first 50 was our forward runners gave us no momentum. Your 2, 6 and 8 are three of the most important carriers and they didn't give us enough.

If it wasn't for the lineout I'd be starting McMahon ahead of Fardy. I'm not sure what Fardy is giving us outside of set piece. No pilfers, no dominant tackles, no bullocking runs. Same goes for Higgers.
.

 

[mudskipper]

Boks defence was excellent last night... They didn't commit men to the breakdown... always watchful for line breaks... Plenty of work for the Wallabies to improve but great start ... well done lads... I hope Genia pulls up OK , we need him...

 

[KOB1987]

I think the next Skelton experiment is to use him as a sub. Need to manage that such that the set piece doesn't suffer though.

Hooper and pocock have to both be on. With a row of Simmons and Horwill and Ben mc at 8 it's doable now.

Or fardy at 6 and poey at 8 like last night. Try both for mine.


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[Tomikin]

For the period he had Bernie on his inside and Mortlock outside, yes.

But without them, he was never the goods. Do you not remember his last stint at the Brumbies, and his form for the Wallabies in that period? Only thing Deans did that improved the Wallabies was to omit him.

Yeah I do remember he wasn't playing well for the Brumbies in his last stint and for his time for the Dean's period. But that wasn't what was said, it was said that he was never had the goods at test level which is rubbish.

He was also pretty good when he played for the force. Personally I would have To'omua at 10 and Git's at 12 for the next match just to see if it would work, with Foley coming on to 10 and To'omua moving to 12 if it struggles.

 

[Train Without a Station]

Baa baa it's not so much hate as he didn't really excel enough to compensate for his flaws and weaknesses.

He's a lock who dictates the balance of the back row. Relying heavily on his ball carrying is his meal ticket

 

[BDA]

Quick thoughts on the game:

-really need to work on our attacking ruck work. Sloppy and ineffective.
-we never got out of first gear in the first half.
-the scrum in the first half was a mess. Skelton needs to improve his body position quickly if he wants to play in the side this year.
-Thought the injection of Pocock and To'omua in particular off the bench turned the game in our favor.
- I thought Phipps gave much quicker service than Genia. Genia should go back to the bench.
- both Cooper and giteau did some good stuff. However given a staunch the boks were defending I'm not sure it was the right partnership. I'd prefer cooper/To'omua with giteau on the bench.
- James horwill was great off the bench. Those people who said he shouldn't even be in the squad are kidding themselves. The set piece was much better with him out there

 

[mark_s]

I reckon skelton would have look good last night had he come on for the last 25 mins against a tiring boks.

our forwards (all of them) started the game poorly. Our breakdown work was inaccurate. Our scrum was under pressure. OUr runners struggled to make the gain line. We won very few (no?) turnovers. Skelton had plenty of friends in playing poorly in the first half. Atleast he didn't kick the ball over the deadball line when we had a break

 

[Pfitzy]

Tell us how shithouse Horwill is again mate. You've been on the money there this season.

Well, take off your little victim/PMT shroud for a minute, rest your banjo-pluckin' fingers, and listen close as I lay down the shizzle based on one viewing:

Genia fucking killed us that first half. Just. Fucking. Killed. Us. Delivery slow as a wet week, based on his readings of the Monty Python's Holy Grail Book Of Halfback Play.

It was a good thing he was injured at half time because we needed something to change. I called Bronwyn Bishop to get references for a chopper hire company to get me to Suncorp, but the top speed would still take me three or four hours to get to Brisbane, headwinds permitting.

So I wish Genia all the best in France, and meantime let's bring in Stirzaker or someone who, you know, can pass from the ground.

The performance of the midfield in the first half is then hard to judge, because they were trying to powerlift a freight train on a diet of shit sandwiches. Cooper was a little deep, but then that was the game plan - to run onto the ball. Which you can't do when the ball is coming straight at you (if you're lucky), and more often than not behind you or above your head.

The key points for the Wallabies were:

Introduction of Phipps - sheer speed of ball from the base allowed us to attack that second channel with more urgency. In the first half we were getting turned over regular because the Boks had time to call high and low, with the third man on the ball.

Introduction of Pocock - which was pertinent as it removed Higginbotham from the game... Not that Higgers did much except one massive brain fart. Pocock added some of that urgency and threat at the ruck, as well as doing the hard work that Higgers wasn't covering at 8. The kind of hard work a Palu or McCalman do, while weathering the criticism of idiots for not shedding 45 tackles a game.

Introduction of Holmes and Horwill - our scrum got better from that point on and Big Kev was an asset running the ball because he kept it simple and straight, which is what the team needed. Skelton was doing the same thing earlier in the game, but due to the poor quality of ball all our runners were getting cleaned up and turned over. Horwill's 20-something minutes were more effective than Skelton's 50-something minutes IMHO, in terms of providing an outcome.

On the subject of scrums: what I don't get is why Skelton was packing on the TH side when Simmons is the go-to guy there. Still, its frustrating that Skelton can't seem to move mountains at scrum time.

Introduction of To'omua - straightened everything and put the Boks midfield under threat, which was particularly noticeable when we consider the last, and probably most important, aspect of this game:

Heyneke Meyer is a fuckwit - now look, I rate Adriaan Strauss highly. I think he's been an excellent leader for the Cheetahs, is a great hooker, and ball runner. But when Bismarck du-fucking-Plessis is out there turning the ball over at will and smashing blokes in contact, you don't take him off unless someone has shot him at least twice. I'm happily gobsmacked by that decision, and bringing on Lambie when you have decided to play without the ball, but mostly around the timing.

The Boks injury list - man those were some bitter shitcakes to eat - losing blokes early is going to disrupt things more often than not. But in this game, where Cheikaball got its cock out and waved it at the inside centre channel with a visible tattoo saying "come at me bro" it wasn't really going to affect their defence. They knew where the ball was going and backed themselves to make the tackles. And in the first half, that wasn't a problem.

The fact that they kicked away so much ball - ending up with 38% of possession - is an understanding that their attack isn't really about consistent build-up anyway. The try to young Kriel was a classic blitzkrieg, in that they got a field position they wanted, got it wide, and let individuals do the work. Contrast that to the AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) try where a set move came off brilliantly.

Here are two other stats that matter:

Kick metres AUS 728 v 714 RSA
Kicks made AUS 21 v RSA 27

Therefore we averaged 34.7m per kick to their 26.4 - and even if you take out a couple of little dinkys that Willie tried from the back, its telling, because they were putting up contestable kicks despite knowing Folau is good at them. A couple of times they got Cooper and it worked for them, but overall I'm just flummoxed at what Meyer hoped to achieve.

Another stat: we took two of their lineouts and they got none of ours, so well done us on that front. Scrum needs work, but then a couple of clear choices have been made there. In the backline, we don't need to throw the baby out with the bathwater, so we start small.

My team for the Argentina game would be, injuries permitting:

1 Slipper
2 Moore (captain)
3 Holmes
4 Simmons
5 Horwill
6 Fardy
7 Pocock
8 McCalman
9 Phipps
10 Cooper
11 Horne
12 Giteau
13 Kuridrani
14 AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper)
15 Folau

16 TPN
17 Sio
18 Kepu
19 Skelton
20 Hooper
21 White I suppose, though IMHO he's no better than Genia for Cheikaball
22 To'omua
23 Mitchell

 

[mudskipper]

Praise to Larkham backs finally played with some promising strcuture, lines and plays...AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) try is a good example with the short inside ball...

 

[Pfitzy]

- James horwill was great off the bench. Those people who said he shouldn't even be in the squad are kidding themselves. The set piece was much better with him out there

See my thoughts above on his impact.

But please look objectively at his ill-tempered, rudderless season for QLD before throwing rocks at our glass houses; those of us who said he was lucky to be there. Because he is fucking lucky to be there.

It is concerning that he can play like that for Cheika but not for Richard Graham, but hey that's a Reds problems, not a QLD-versus-everyone-else problem.

 

[Train Without a Station]

Pfitzy your comments are exactly my point. You don't even have Foxtel so how much of his "Ill-tempered, rudderless" season are you basing objectively on what you saw?

 

[Train Without a Station]

Agree spot on with your summation though. Genia was poor. Too often the ball just sat there waiting for him to get there, or if he was there, clear it.

I thought Skelton created opportunity on the next phase with his runs, but he didn't quite have enough impact.