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

[Micheal]

One thing I found interesting from the game, with respect to Rennie's comments that he likes Wright / preferred Foley over Lolesio as Foley 'has a voice' in the team:

Ikitau is becoming increasingly vocal with his role in the team, which continues to speak volumes about how important he is for us moving forward.

After we made a break and fluffed it in the first half, the camera cut to him essentially screaming at Donaldson and then just before half-time, after we had two scrum penalties in a row, he ran in from his position at 13 to individually fire up each of the forwards in the pack.

I find Lenny such an interesting player. He's probably my favourite current Wallaby and yet I don't know a single thing about him. I don't think I've ever even heard him speak. I couldn't tell you what he sounds like, or give you a single insight into his personality.

All I know is that it's seemingly not in his programming to miss tackles or make simple mistakes. And he's only 24!

 

[Viking]

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.

SA did with the Marx I think. You risk using up your bench if there actually is an injury.

 

[stillmissit]

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.

Joe, I think Samu is one of the best 'finishers' in world rugby and he proved that again last night. In his starts he's OK but nothing like his skill from the bench. Leave him where he does most damage.

 

[PhilClinton]

SA did with the Marx I think. You risk using up your bench if there actually is an injury.

Doesn’t matter for hookers or props though, which is why you could do it for Marx. They’re allowed to be replaced again if any injury in the front row occurs. Unless that has changed recently.

 

[Viking]

Joe, I think Samu is one of the best 'finishers' in world rugby and he proved that again last night. In his starts he's OK but nothing like his skill from the bench. Leave him where he does most damage.

Except in his start against NZ where he was just about Man of the Match.

 

[Viking]

Doesn’t matter for hookers or props though, which is why you could do it for Marx. They’re allowed to be replaced again if any injury in the front row occurs. Unless that has changed recently.

Good point. I like a fit and firing Tupou starting for this reason. Although AAA can be pretty good too.

 

[wamberal]

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

Errr, yes. But it did work, because we won the game.

 

[dru]

Yeah Dru, Rennie via lifting a large rock of injuries has found a few diamonds, not sure if he would have picked any of them without all the injuries. Some of the posts here are a bit OTT regarding our chances in the RWC.
After the first half, I thought it could be a cricket score, our discipline, handling and structure was poor and Gordon managed to do a yellow again!
I thought Donaldson was better than Lolesio but the bench was very strong as I mentioned before the game, with Samu outstanding again.
Huge game from Marky Mark (Nawaqanitawase) (Nawaqanitawase).
I don't think 10 is solved, fullback is unknown, 12 if Kerevi is missing.
Front row issues, backrow unsettled (Gleeson doesn't appear to be an answer). McRight better version of Hooper, pack needs to work together better.

With you SMI - plenty of promising stuff for sure. Late though and when we are down on our haunches. Is it too late for the green shoots to grow?

Very "just in time" for the RWC and only if discipline continues to improve and somehow injury management is resolved.

I think we are being a little harsh on Gordon on this occasion, but if he doesn't want the reaction, perhaps it would help if there was no recent history.

 

[rugboy]

Errr, yes. But it did work, because we won the game.

Naive way to look at it. Would suggest the yellow Gordon gave away in stopping a try worked because we won. Neither had a correlation to the result. It made no sense, and Ikatau, Campbell and Lolesio will hopefully learn, it showed a lack of understanding of the game situation. Particularly as Wales had 13 on the field, no doubt they loved the thought of wasting time with a kicking duel in that situation. It worked? not really, we didn't gain any territorial advantage or force an error. Wright just decided to not continue with it and ran it, 2 phases later, unsurprisingly, with a 2 man advantage we shifted it, Marky Mark (Nawaqanitawase) made the line break which set us up for the final try.

 

[Viking]

Errr, yes. But it did work, because we won the game.

That's like saying the missed line out throw in the first half worked because we won the game.

Gordon's yellow worked, because we won the game.

 

[PhilClinton]

Great to get the win. But I’m still not convinced Rennie has any idea how the team he picks will work together or map a gameplan.

Our ‘best’ team likely would have played much differently to how we did last night. More direct in the midfield with Kerevi, Bobby V, Koro and Hooper looking for work etc.

What works best for us? Not sure. Definitely very hard to select our ‘best’ 23 next year.

 

[Doritos Day]

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.

All teams give away a penalty in that situation now. Sealing off is called in the last 90s probably 70% of the time now.

Which, relating to your previous post, is why they kick it away

 

[Derpus]

There goes your bias radar set on extreme again.

Reg packed in the efforts at impartiality years ago. Personally, im all for it. Who the fuck wants a whole forum of fluffybunnys being calm and reasonable like BH.

Plus - its cute to watch him try and defend Reds players despite the fact theyve been fucking shite across the board (except for McReight).

 

[Viking]

Reg packed in the efforts at impartiality years ago. Personally, im all for it. Who the fuck wants a whole forum of fluffybunnys being calm and reasonable like BH.

Plus - its cute to watch him try and defend Reds players despite the fact theyve been fucking shite across the board (except for McReight).

Haha fair call.

Although I thought McReight was fairly average last night and was poor against Italy.

 

[dru]

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

I imagine Welsh fans are saying something similar this morning.

 

[dusk]

Thought Campbell was pretty quiet when he came on

 

[Brumby Runner]

I also think Lolo was better than Donaldson when he came on.

Just my observation, but Noah seemed to have a lot more touches than Ben. Also had a hand in a couple of those late tries.

 

[Tomikin]

Errr, yes. But it did work, because we won the game.

And scored from it when eventually it opened up in front and we ran...

(Or alternatively they kicked it to Wright and he loves to have a crack lol )

 

[dru]

Just my observation, but Noah seemed to have a lot more touches than Ben. Also had a hand in a couple of those late tries.

Exactly the same number of touches, BR. Though Lolesio had half the time. Remember however that Donaldson on his first start needed to start with underpaying. Thought he worked it well.

Neither are going to light it up.

 

[Brumby Runner]

Just further on the No 10s. There was an analysis recently, on the Roar I think, that points to Rennie's game plan being to use forwards, fullback and No 12 as first receiver on attack. I think that was more in evidence while Donaldson was on the ground. Noah seemed to get more touches but mostly out the back off a Frost pass at first receiver.

I think Dave Rennie's most obvious failure has been the way he uses Noah and Ben Donaldson as second receiver or worse having them cut out of backline moves altogether. He must think Quade is the only 10 capable of playing up in the line, much to the detriment of the development of the young 10s.