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You are going to be financially worse off come Saturday night, but at least your heart will be full.....
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You are going to be financially worse off come Saturday night, but at least your heart will be full.....
The_Brown_Hornet
John Eales (66)
My heart says the men in gold by +13 but the head is finding it hard to say it with any confidence. I can't remember being so downcast about our playing group since the dark times of the Greg Smith era (darker still for poor old Greg, RIP). Still, they are a young group and this series could be the making of them. I hope so, because we don't have a lot else in the cupboard.
jay-c
Ron Walden (29)
re langthorn
i actually thought baxer was one of the best performing props in australia this year however him and dunning are a major reason the australian scrum has been the laughing stock of the world for the past 10 years>> cmon memory cant be that bad
dunnings only ever had one dominant test as far as i can remember >< i belve it was in south africa> a good scrummaging performance and and i remember him passing off the ground for what went on to be a try
baxter has had a couple of good tests one against england but the reality is hes like a heat seeker for penalties and u may believe the excuse that hes targeted and the scrums arnt all his fault but seriously even if they arnt> can we afford to have him on the team on his past australian performances
waugh is past it. without discussing rumours of how he dictates play in the tahs and restricts the backline (and his awful finals attempts as captin)
hes miles behind hodgeson and even further behind pocock and like bax and waugho hes not getting any younger and defos not showing the improvement the other two are
good to be onboard officially i guess<> ive posted on here fora while but never log in properly so it never registers= lazy
i actually thought baxer was one of the best performing props in australia this year however him and dunning are a major reason the australian scrum has been the laughing stock of the world for the past 10 years>> cmon memory cant be that bad
dunnings only ever had one dominant test as far as i can remember >< i belve it was in south africa> a good scrummaging performance and and i remember him passing off the ground for what went on to be a try
baxter has had a couple of good tests one against england but the reality is hes like a heat seeker for penalties and u may believe the excuse that hes targeted and the scrums arnt all his fault but seriously even if they arnt> can we afford to have him on the team on his past australian performances
waugh is past it. without discussing rumours of how he dictates play in the tahs and restricts the backline (and his awful finals attempts as captin)
hes miles behind hodgeson and even further behind pocock and like bax and waugho hes not getting any younger and defos not showing the improvement the other two are
good to be onboard officially i guess<> ive posted on here fora while but never log in properly so it never registers= lazy
Lee Grant
John Eales (66)
Welcome aboard Hornet and jay-c
Hornet - That's much the same thought as I have had about the team. They are good enough players but too many don't have the experience to play 80 minutes, or as close to that as is possible, in a 3N type match. In particular they won't have the know how to contribute to finish tough games should they have a lead, though there will be an exception from time to time.
There will be no disgrace for the youngsters if they stumble in this area, as their elders scarcely shone in that department either. But by and large it is older, more experienced players who have the composure of the inner coach I keep talking about.
Some of the youngsters will provide flashes of brilliance that could win any 3N game, including the one next Saturday, or any other test this year; but the 2010 Wallabies may well be defined by how many new players can get old heads quickly.
As usual it will be relentless physicality applied up front that will have to facilitate what happens behind.
I wouldn't go as far to suggest trying to slug it out with the Bok forwards minute by minute as they will lose that contest most of the time. But in prosaic matters like falling in the tackle correctly, getting to the breakdown quickly, supporting the ball carrier every time and not 4 guys doing it once and 1 the next time, applying force to arms in a position with low hips on the ruck hit, working in tandem at the ruck hit etc etc, are all matters that don't have a lot to do with brute strength.
Doing those kinds of things will help the Wallabies to ensure quick ball for the backs, or to legally slow down the Boks ball, or even pilfer it. But the forwards will have to exhibit better fitness and rugby intelligence than they did in the last two test matches.
I have every confidence in the backs to outwit the Bok backs with good pill or to stop their backs if they get slow pill, even though they are not the biggest dogs in the kennel.
But if they don't get good ball or the Boks get too much of it, let's not spend 80% of our time talking about Giteau come Sunday.
.
Hornet - That's much the same thought as I have had about the team. They are good enough players but too many don't have the experience to play 80 minutes, or as close to that as is possible, in a 3N type match. In particular they won't have the know how to contribute to finish tough games should they have a lead, though there will be an exception from time to time.
There will be no disgrace for the youngsters if they stumble in this area, as their elders scarcely shone in that department either. But by and large it is older, more experienced players who have the composure of the inner coach I keep talking about.
Some of the youngsters will provide flashes of brilliance that could win any 3N game, including the one next Saturday, or any other test this year; but the 2010 Wallabies may well be defined by how many new players can get old heads quickly.
As usual it will be relentless physicality applied up front that will have to facilitate what happens behind.
I wouldn't go as far to suggest trying to slug it out with the Bok forwards minute by minute as they will lose that contest most of the time. But in prosaic matters like falling in the tackle correctly, getting to the breakdown quickly, supporting the ball carrier every time and not 4 guys doing it once and 1 the next time, applying force to arms in a position with low hips on the ruck hit, working in tandem at the ruck hit etc etc, are all matters that don't have a lot to do with brute strength.
Doing those kinds of things will help the Wallabies to ensure quick ball for the backs, or to legally slow down the Boks ball, or even pilfer it. But the forwards will have to exhibit better fitness and rugby intelligence than they did in the last two test matches.
I have every confidence in the backs to outwit the Bok backs with good pill or to stop their backs if they get slow pill, even though they are not the biggest dogs in the kennel.
But if they don't get good ball or the Boks get too much of it, let's not spend 80% of our time talking about Giteau come Sunday.
.
Scotty
David Codey (61)
The decision to start Moore from the bench, will end up being a very good one IMO.
With Ma'afu unlikely to play a full game it will fall to Robinson to try and finish the game off, even though he is coming back from injury and is likely not 'match fit'. If Robinson tires it will be good to have the better scrummaging and stronger hooker coming off the bench to help hold up the scrum and keep the work rates high.
With Ma'afu unlikely to play a full game it will fall to Robinson to try and finish the game off, even though he is coming back from injury and is likely not 'match fit'. If Robinson tires it will be good to have the better scrummaging and stronger hooker coming off the bench to help hold up the scrum and keep the work rates high.
Bruce Ross
Ken Catchpole (46)
I am afraid that the worthy Dr Grant has correctly identified the symptoms then made the wrong diagnosis.
I suspect I'm in a sub-group which has only one member, but I am convinced that the underlying reason why our team cannot sustain intensity over 80 minutes is that there is not enough emphasis on strength training in their conditioning.
Some weeks ago I posted an article on the blog titled, "Wallabies: the right conditioning for the 3Ns?" In it I pointed out that in the 8 Wallabies-All Blacks Tests since Robbie Deans has taken over the Wallabies have led at half time on 6 occasions. However, they have lost 7 out of 8 second halves and 7 out of 8 matches! The only time they won the second half and the match was the first match after Deans and his assistants had taken over.
The fact that in their current conditioning, every one of the players is fitted with a GPS tracking device to "record the intensity of their training" is indicative of an obsession with aerobic fitness.
Traditionally Australian rugby has placed less emphasis on strength and physicality than any of the other major rugby nations and this tendency has become more pronounced in the Deans era. This is not the way that Deans's Crusaders teams were prepared. At Canterbury legendary conditioner Ashley Jones is a great advocate of strongman training like farmer's walks and tractor tyre flipping.
Langthorne
Phil Hardcastle (33)
Some very good points there jay-c.
I agree that Dunning should not be considered as despite his experience, his s14 season was not great.
Baxter would be an option for me, if he wasn't injured, for a couple of reasons - his s14 form, his international experience. I recall very well the Wallaby scrummaging disasters of the past, the latest being all too recent (although many of them didn't involve Baxter at all). The unfortunate thing is that having suffered through Baxter's rough initiation into international scrummaging, we are not now benefiting from what he has learnt (which is quite a lot - you don't put one over the English front row if you haven't), because he has not been selected.
Waugh is close to the end of his career, no doubt, but whilst he is around I'd like to see the things he has to offer utilised. I'm not saying I'd pick him ahead of Pocock, but it would be nice to have him in the team to add that all so elusive 'mongrel', see also experience, will to win, leadership in a tight match...what a shame he doesn't play in one of the many positions the Wallabies are weak in.
In the case of all 3, you haven't made clear how they didn't 'do it', nor what the other options have done better.
Subgroup of two Bruce. You would know more than I, but it seems our guy like to spend time in the gym getting buffed, but are they building useful strength?? They certainly don't spend a lot of time muscling up at the breakdown, despite maybe getting there without raising a sweat.
Well, maybe to outpace him. I would back JO'C to tackle him one on one though.
Blue
Andrew Slack (58)
No. I think what he is really worried about is when he is actually going to see he ball again.
Honestly he would be worried about his own game. I hope it involves his non-existent kick chase.
Brumby Jack
Steve Williams (59)
I'm getting fired up :angryfire: by watching the replay of the 2006 game in Brisbane
RedsHappy
Tony Shaw (54)
BJ, if you are an Aus rugby patriot, that game was hard to beat! I'll never forget being in near front row seats and seeing the disbelieving+distressed looks on the SA players' faces as their zero score didn't change...
Me too!! Geez I miss some good old "ugly" tough backs like Morty and Latham, not to mention Larkham. Oh, and how much better is Giteau running off Larkham? And Vickerman is a fantastic organiser in the forwards. And Smith is a pretty good player. And...now I am getting depressed.
RedsHappy
Tony Shaw (54)
Maybe too does it cause us to say that, with hindsight, Knuckles was not all bad with the Wallabies? He still gets some very harsh assessments in many quarters.
rsea
Darby Loudon (17)
Knuckles using a team developed by former coaches and doing nothing to develop depth. Yep stellar job and great result in the WC
Lets get the useless c**t back and sack deans
Brumby Jack
Steve Williams (59)
Instead of a pre-match motivational speech by Deans or some other prominent figure, just show this replay to the players
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