Wallabies vs Italy - 25th Nov

[Braveheart81]

As many have said, the first half was alright but everything fell apart in the second.

Phipps threw a lot of very average passes. It's a shame we lost Sheehan and I feel for him. Waiting so long for his first Wallaby start and it ends after half an hour in a lot of pain.

Higginbotham was largely anonymous. He didn't inject himself physically, barely ran the ball and missed a few tackles. Dennis had his best test yet against England and should start again against Wales.

Timani had a shocker which has been well pointed out already. He needs to keep the ball in contact. The offload should be a calculated option to a support player, not a 'fling it out the back every time and hope someone is there' option.

Discipline in the forwards was really poor. Too many dumb penalties from the locks in particular.

Hooper was strong but missed an uncharacteristic number of tackles. One led to a big line break.

AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) was excellent. A pretty common choice for MOTM from the other thread. His defence was superb and he caught a few telling high balls.

I thought Mitchell had a good return and it was great to see him get through the 80 minutes. His defence was good.

Barnes put in some dumb kicks (as did Beale and everyone else who kicked the ball) but he had a strong game. He made excellent ground to field a few kicks on the full. His positional play at fullback is good.

The lineout and scrum were again an issue. Our scrum would have probably been slightly better if it wasn't for the soft surface.

I thought the refereeing was poor. I can accept that it was only his third test and the previous two were refereeing minnows but it wasn't a good performance. His scrum calls early in the game were ridiculously slow. It seemed to speed up as the game went on even though he said he wouldn't change his call.

He liked calling up rucks very quickly saying that the ball wasn't coming out and team going forward etc. This seemed to be a bit of a throwback to junior football where you call things up quickly for safety reasons. I'm 99% sure the ball would have come out each time without too much drama and a scrum wasn't needed. This played into Italy's hands giving them scrum ball where they could win a penalty instead of slow ruck ball.

I thought there was an obvious knock-on when Italy scored. Firstly the player fought with Mitchell for the ball and it surely went forward at that point. Secondly, I am sure his hand grazed the ball after it came loose and propelled it forward.

 

[The Rant]

Can someone please explain what Beale brought to the game last night that makes him the saviour at 10 and Cooper the pariah???

He just has to stop trying to do it all himself and PASS. So many times he didn't pass and got caught.

This is what robbie deans should be coaching Beale. (wrong sport I know but still applies - great simple lesson).

 

[ChargerWA]

Any word on Sheehans injury? I would love for it to have just been a strain and he gets a game this week.

 

[No4918]

Any word on Sheehans injury? I would love for it to have just been a strain and he gets a game this week.

He could be right to go but they are looking at options. You would think it is very unlikely. Lucas and Prior are apparently the most likely replacements.

 

[Braveheart81]

Any word on Sheehans injury? I would love for it to have just been a strain and he gets a game this week.

Getting your knee squashed under you like that is normally a medial ligament injury (I'm not sure if he had ankle problems as well).

I'd be very surprised if he was right for this weekend. I'd be thinking more like 3-4 weeks.

 

[No4918]

Only injury being reported is the ankle.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/spo...ent-in-the-works/story-e6frg7o6-1226523797666

WALLABIES coach Robbie Deans will consider bringing a replacement halfback to Wales if Brett Sheehan fails to recover from an ankle injury.

Sheehan, in his run-on debut, limped off the field in the 31st minute after injuring his ankle.

While scans have revealed no breakage, the Wallabies medical staff is still assessing him.

Australia has only two halfbacks -- Sheehan and Nick Phipps -- in the squad.

Queensland Reds utility back Ben Lucas would be the most likely candidate as a back-up if he were fit, while the Brumbies' Ian Prior would also be a possibility. "We'll have some conversations about that," Deans said. "Prior to leaving, we skilled up a couple of blokes domestically."

 

[nathan]

McKibbin has been called up and is on his way to Cardiff.

 

[Sully]

Asking higgers to play tight and then sitting Timani in the centres all game seems a waste of both players strengths.

Sent using Tapatalk

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

He just has to stop trying to do it all himself and PASS. So many times he didn't pass and got caught.

This is what robbie deans should be coaching Beale. (wrong sport I know but still applies - great simple lesson).

Absolutely. The ball beats the man nearly every time. His tutelage from Mark Ella should have taught him that.

 

[Floggn']

TPN's a lot of things, but soft isn't one of them. Did you happen to see him get close enough to KO'd and keep playing last week?

He probably should have gone off and there seem to be issues with his positioning in contact but he is definitely not soft.

Thats exactly what I am talking about. Teams that play TPN target him because they KNOW he will go down even if you brush him. I give you a perfect example. When he dropped the ball cold in a tackle against NZ in Brisbane, no-one of thing ground included went near his head. He faked... YES FAKED... he had been knocked out. He actually looked up and then put his head down. The bloke is absolute disgrace to the jersey he wears. Any other player in that contact against England wouldn't have put on the show we get from TPN then and every week. Moore and Hanson are the answer. On a side note there isn't a player in any grade in this country who has the opportunity to play for Australia who would go to a coach and say he can't play because he is sore.. twice!!

 

[Bruce Ross]

I don't think that this type of outrageous personal attack belongs on this forum.
.

 

[barbarian]

Yeah Floggn you are talking shit. I'm with Bruce. Calling TPN a disgrace- give yourself an uppercut.

 

[Floggn']

Bruce its not a "personal attack" its an observation and opinion, I know for a fact that 2 Super Rugby teams are very aware of it. Now common sense would say if two teams are aware it then there would be more. I do notice that its two Waratah fans that disagree but I'll leave it at that.

 

[Lindommer]

Isn't it insightful how poor decisions can lead to subsequent events biting the original perpetrator on the arse? .....Dingo Deans: WTF didn't he pick Sheehan as run on halfback against the Poms and give the lesser Phipps another go in the least important match on tour, the Italian one?

So it's come to this, Sheehan's injured instead of, potentially, Phipps. The poor play from our halfbacks could well cost us the test against Wales.

Another thing: Slipper plays THP for the Reds while Alexander fronts up at 1 for the Ponies. I've written elsewhere I don't think Deans and/or Blades know these two props' best positions, but to play them arse about against a very good Italian scrum seems odd. There again, who'd be a selector.

 

[Sully]

I call it personal.

Sent using Tapatalk

 

[Braveheart81]

To be fair, Phipps played a much better game against England than he has against France or Italy. He was instrumental in setting up our only try against England.

Our problem is that we seriously lack depth and experience at halfback. With Genia injured and Burgess gone, White suddenly looks like he is head and shoulders better than the other options even without playing a test and he is also injured.

It's not like there are obvious selections to make instead of Phipps at this point in time. Most other options have barely played a handful of games at halfback in Super Rugby.

 

[barbarian]

Bruce its not a "personal attack" its an observation and opinion, I know for a fact that 2 Super Rugby teams are very aware of it. Now common sense would say if two teams are aware it then there would be more. I do notice that its two Waratah fans that disagree but I'll leave it at that.

What team you support has nothing to do with it. You have basically called TPN a faker, which is a huge accusation to make without evidence.

And simply saying 'two super teams are aware of it' (again with no factual backing) doesn't make it better.
.

 

[Braveheart81]

Bruce its not a "personal attack" its an observation and opinion, I know for a fact that 2 Super Rugby teams are very aware of it. Now common sense would say if two teams are aware it then there would be more. I do notice that its two Waratah fans that disagree but I'll leave it at that.

My observation and opinion is that you are making a personal attack and backing it up with complete hearsay.

 

[barbarian]

So it's come to this, Sheehan's injured instead of, potentially, Phipps. The poor play from our halfbacks could well cost us the test against Wales.

I'd say that's a fairly wild statement Lindo, well in the zone of the hypothetical. Sheehan starting didn't have anything to do with him getting injured. And Phipps set up the game-winning try against the Poms. So I'm not sure you can claim anything from your original statement.

 

[Lindommer]

I realise it's very hypothetical, but still, there was the possibility the (lesser) Phipps could've gone down instead of the (better) Sheehan. But, hey, we're on an internet rugby forum, it wouldn't be the wildest thing posted here. Deans' selections of late have left me somewhat bewildered, I'm merely drawing attention to this one and the unintended consequences.

The quality of our halfbacks against Wales fills me with concern.