Wallabies v Wales, Principality Stadium, Sun 27th November, 2.15am AEST

[wamberal]

Why on earth were we kicking the ball away with 7 minutes to go and down 3 or 9 points?

It worked, though, didn't it?

 

[Viking]

I thought Gleeson and Halloway went missing too much when we needed go forward in the first half. Somehow the lightest forward in McReight was constantly doing the hit ups?

Gleeson did some good things too though. That tackle on the kick chase was a beauty. He nearly got a pilfer at one stage. He was physical in contact. I think the worst thing was he seems to get caught out on defense.

But not bad for a player who barely has a super rugby season under his belt. Lots of good signs for the future.

 

[Viking]

It worked, though, didn't it?

Only because Wales also decided it was a good idea to kick it back.

 

[molman]

Great to get the final win especially on the back of the injury list.

Not quite prepared to call it a pass mark for the tour largely because of the debacle that was the Italy / Ireland results / performances.

There will be a review but in the end all of Rugby Australia needs to step up. It’s going to have to start with the 5 super rugby coaches. Accountability and discipline are the key buzz words for mine (they go hand in hand I guess).

The wallabies coaching team take some of the blame but it’s got to be shared amongst all our coaches. Players just not good enough.

Reg, do you feel that we are out and out much less disciplined than other teams, or is there something about our approach which makes our actions gain the referees notice more often? Is it a by-product of Super Rugby pushing for a style that less aligns with how the international game is refereed?

There is a plethora of things other teams are getting away with every game but they seem to just be smarter (or more in-tune) in how and when to push it. I can't tell if they are better conditioned to the way refs are seeing the game, have better intel and prep from their couches on certain referee's nuances, if its the dimension of how their captains and teams communicate with the referees or if we now have some inverse McCaw aura where we seem to get undue focus on our actions and everything gets picked up. I mean, we've been called from some pretty odd things this year and many things that feel a little out of the blue at times.

... or are we honestly just this undisciplined? I personally don't see collective trends in the nature of our penalties but rather a lot of individual transgressions. Many were due to pressure, like even this game Gordon's soft yellow was a byproduct of a situation caused by the poor defensive patterns/read by Petaia. All that said, yes, some players do have some obvious things to work on, but it almost feels more like a Rugby IQ thing. Descision making more than skill execution.

 

[Pfitzy]

Fainga'a has already moved to the Force for next year.

FF (Folau Fainga'a) (Folau Fainga'a) playing for the force next season, if you missed it

I did miss it, and thanks for the correction, team.

 

[Pfitzy]

Only because Wales also decided it was a good idea to kick it back.

Neither team was prepared to run it out. Wait for the error is becoming common in Test rugby, because the risk/reward isn't good enough

 

[Viking]

Neither team was prepared to run it out. Wait for the error is becoming common in Test rugby, because the risk/reward isn't good enough

Yeh I can accept that. Wasn't nearly as bad as some previous moments we have kicked the ball away with 2minutues to go (Nic White).

 

[Viking]

Our inability to play down the clock is an issue we have never been able to address. We always seems to give away a penalty.

 

[Micheal]

Gleeson did some good things too though. That tackle on the kick chase was a beauty. He nearly got a pilfer at one stage. He was physical in contact. I think the worst thing was he seems to get caught out on defense.

But not bad for a player who barely has a super rugby season under his belt. Lots of good signs for the future.

It’s pretty common for a young player in his run on debut to be a bit too eager, and I think that might’ve been why he got caught out.

Rushing up too fast or wanting to absolutely thump someone when it’s not on can cause you to slip off tackles or outright miss them. He’ll be better for it. I think he showed physicality we don’t get from many other players in the squad.

 

[molman]

Donaldson v Lolesio - I thought they were both good, but not excellent. The former got almost no ball to play with, and did a lot of defending which was fairly solid, as well as being scrum half for 10 minutes. The latter did what he does at the Brumbies: distribute well, make most of his kicks, and let the other guys shine, even if he still plays too deep.

It's a hard game to judge Donaldson v Lolesio on. It's hard to compare the two at this level at all yet.

Lolesio has had a number of opportunities with a first pick Wallabies 15 and extensive time at the Brumbies whilst Donaldson has had limited time with a second string lineup against Italy and this last man standing Wallabies team in this game plus shared shifts at the Waratahs. Harrison, Edmed & Donaldson all hold promise. I like elements of all their games. Harrison I really feel for with his injuries.

 

[PhilClinton]

There will be a review but in the end all of Rugby Australia needs to step up. It’s going to have to start with the 5 super rugby coaches. Accountability and discipline are the key buzz words for mine (they go hand in hand I guess).

I think the ‘simple’ answer is, head coaches are employees of the franchises, they can hire one preferred assistant coach to work alongside them as an employee of the franchise. The rest of the coaching team, managers, S&C, physios etc are all centrally contracted by RA and seconded to franchises each season.

As a minimum I’d like something like the above to be implemented for the physios, S&C and medical staff, to keep some accountability across all teams and ensure standards are being met ASAP

 

[Adam84]

Gleeson did some good things too though. That tackle on the kick chase was a beauty. He nearly got a pilfer at one stage. He was physical in contact. I think the worst thing was he seems to get caught out on defense.

But not bad for a player who barely has a super rugby season under his belt. Lots of good signs for the future.

Gleeson is a raw prospect, I think like Harry Wilson he has a few technical deficiencies in his game. How they carry into contact and defensive positioning.

Exciting to see what another season of Super Rugby can do for him though.

 

[Joe Blow]

It worked, though, didn't it?

It was inexperience but they got away from it and will learn from it. Inexplicably the Welsh kept kicking it back?

 

[Pfitzy]

It was inexperience but they got away from it and will learn from it. Inexplicably the Welsh kept kicking it back?

Have lead. Will kick.

 

[Marce]

It worked, though, didn't it?

Against a weak Welsh side. If you kick to the ABs, Will Jordan will dive in your ingoal

 

[Pfitzy]

Against a weak Welsh side. If you kick to the ABs, Will Jordan will dive in your ingoal

Horses for courses.

 

[Rugby follower]

Good end to a very long season, the patched up team showed some real character to win that game albeit against a pretty ordinary side. I know we have had lots of injuries however Rennie’s selections have been puzzling and didn’t help trying to find some continuity. How Gordon keeps getting picked is a complete head scratcher. White is easily no 1, Tate no 2, wide open for a third half back. Hopefully everyone has a good rest for a few months and then we are back into it.

 

[Joe King]

It worked, though, didn't it?

I wouldn't say it 'worked'. However, it didn't do any harm, thankfully. But if ever there's a time to not kick it away, it's probably in the dying minutes when we need a score and we have more players on the filed than them.

 

[Joe King]

Not sure if this is worth discussing elsewhere, but at one point Horan said he thought Samu should start every game. DR also did something different by bringing reserves on early.

These two things got me thinking about when the best time is to bring particular reserves on. The standard is to start the best players and replace at 65 mins or even later. I wonder if there is a big under-utilised strategy here.

Maybe there are certain players who play really well off the bench as impact players, such as Samu, Tupou, even Nic White, and you kind of want them playing the most minutes, but at the same time, they never quite play as well when they start and play 65 mins. So maybe there’s a place to not start these players, but bring them on at the 30 minute mark? That way they can make an impact on either side of the break, and finish the game without being too tired. Just a thought. We don’t have a lot to lose, and I think we need some out-of-the-box thinking to give us an advantage.

 

[stillmissit]

It’s pretty common for a young player in his run on debut to be a bit too eager, and I think that might’ve been why he got caught out.

Rushing up too fast or wanting to absolutely thump someone when it’s not on can cause you to slip off tackles or outright miss them. He’ll be better for it. I think he showed physicality we don’t get from many other players in the squad.

I thought he started well and went downhill, apart from an attempted jackle and a couple of tackles. I thought he looked clueless out there. As for being able to take us over the gain line or to do what Bobby V does, that was missing in action. He needs a lot more rugby under his belt and is not the answer to anything atm.