Where did we go wrong? Wallaby Recovery thread.

[Athilnaur]

Both of them caught the ball and out ran slower opponents. We have other people who can do that.

Are you even looking at what you type?

-------------------------------------------
I hate autocorrect .

Nope I just hit the keyboard for random letters, what is your excuse?

As for JOC (James O'Connor) and Genia you are wasting your breath, both players are class and will be selected for the next test. Not saying they had good games, but they are players who find a way.

 

[cyclopath]

Just watched it again.
Hooper and Simmons both very good.
Horwill, Moore, Slipper not bad.
Leali'ifano not bad, kicked well, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) had moments.
JOC (James O'Connor) was not as bad as many have said, I reckon. He tried to get involved, and did some decent stuff, and I agree with barbarian that it is harsh to sheet all the tries down his side home to him. Defence a bit off, otherwise fine.
Cooper looked much better in his time than To'omua.
Liam Gill made a difference too.
Others all a bit meh.

 

[lewisr]

ANother observation:

I think Link was really puttng faith in the brumbies kicking game when it came to clearing and penalties. Mogg is usually so effective and can get up to 40-50m off a kick like Latho used to. It just didnt happen on the night, probably because mogg didnt want to screw up.

Lilo's goal kicking was brilliant as always. But there needs to be some adjustments for next week.

barbarian Nice 12 points mate. Agree with pretty much all of them. WOuldn't have called To'omua's debut 'poor' but it wasn't the standard that we were all expecting. I think he mustve been fazed by what he was coming up against. Link said he didn't know when the right time was to debut players, he can cross "Vs All Blacks in Bleidsloe 1" off the list. REally didnt serve them much good.

Quade back into the 10 jumper for a lovely night in WEllington where he will get given absolute hell. To'omua on the bench and then starting against the Argies/ SA at home. Still think he's the long term option.

 

[Bullrush]

Just watched it again.
Hooper and Simmons both very good.
Horwill, Moore, Slipper not bad.
Leali'ifano not bad, kicked well, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) had moments.
JOC (James O'Connor) was not as bad as many have said, I reckon. He tried to get involved, and did some decent stuff, and I agree with barbarian that it is harsh to sheet all the tries down his side home to him. Defence a bit off, otherwise fine.
Cooper looked much better in his time than To'omua.
Liam Gill made a difference too.
Others all a bit meh.

I watched it again and I was surprised how much Horwill jogged around. Unless he was hitting it up himself, he didn't really seemed involved a lot, especially in the 2nd half.

 

[The Rock]

Just watched it again.
Hooper and Simmons both very good.
Horwill, Moore, Slipper not bad.
Leali'ifano not bad, kicked well, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) had moments.
JOC (James O'Connor) was not as bad as many have said, I reckon. He tried to get involved, and did some decent stuff, and I agree with barbarian that it is harsh to sheet all the tries down his side home to him. Defence a bit off, otherwise fine.
Cooper looked much better in his time than To'omua.
Liam Gill made a difference too.
Others all a bit meh.

I like JOC (James O'Connor) and felt sorry for him, plenty of attack on his side, but he should have stayed outwide and marked his man. The backs should slide as well across, rather than leaving holes.

 

[cyclopath]

I like JOC (James O'Connor) and felt sorry for him, plenty of attack on his side, but he should have stayed outwide and marked his man. The backs should slide as well across, rather than leaving holes.

Agreed.
Defence can be addressed - it has been a while since he played wing, and his positional play needs to be better.
He actually did quite a lot of pretty good stuff. It was less obvious at the game last night, but a TV viewing helped.

 

[Pfitzy]

The game is struggling.last nights poor crowd is proof of that.
The crowd was inflated by selling 1/2 price tickets for the last week,and they were still short by 12,000 odd.
It is a long way from sell outs in a day!

After the Lions series, I was reminded yet again what a dud venue it really is. And I'd blown my money on the Lions yet again so it was far better to sit at home and get the value of my iQHD thanks very much. Especially playing like that

-------------------------------
I hate autocorrect ...

 

[The Snout]

I wouldn't make any changes. There's no magic combination, it's all about working as a team and building a winning culture. Or more importantly a culture where they know they are all in it together, win or lose.

The line up, as is, is fine, it can win matches, but not if we are going to change players every game. I'd rather the team as is to just sit down, discuss and learn from what happened and use the experience in Welllington.

For my 2 cents, I've always thought the problem is in the forwards more than the backs. Big boys that belt over the advantage line, consistently, and take no shit.

 

[Pfitzy]

After the Lions series, I was reminded yet again what a dud venue it really is.

Caveat: unless it's a Lions Test. Then, provided you don't need to leave your seat, it's awesome.

But full of kiwis who are full of themselves, and Aussie fans who don't know how to support their team vocally? Meh.

-------------------------------
I hate autocorrect ...

 

[Ruggo]

Agreed.
Defence can be addressed - it has been a while since he played wing, and his positional play needs to be better.
He actually did quite a lot of pretty good stuff. It was less obvious at the game last night, but a TV viewing helped.

Could it be that JOC (James O'Connor) actually tried a bit to hard?

 

[I like to watch]

After the Lions series, I was reminded yet again what a dud venue it really is. And I'd blown my money on the Lions yet again so it was far better to sit at home and get the value of my iQHD thanks very much. Especially playing like that

-------------------------------
I hate autocorrect .

That's sort of my point.
Many of the crowd there last night were also at the Lions game.
Rugby in NSW has about 1/2 the support of any one of 5 or 6 Melbourne based AFL clubs.

 

[No4918]

Watched most of the replay and JOC (James O'Connor) was second to AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) on attack in the backs. He has proven many times he can handle tests, dropping him would be mad.

A few others were a bit better than I remember. Mowen, MMM and Mogg still poor.

 

[Buster]

I said this in the match thread, that the selection of mostly brumbies players who 3 weeks ago tried to win the Super Rugby combo with a slow northern hemisphere % rugby, yet the game plan is all of a sudden to have a wide expansive running game was always going to lead to trouble.

JOC (James O'Connor) and Quade and the gen y brand all need to piss off and play league and link needs to find a bunch of guys with the raw passion needed to play rugby for Australia. Look at guys like AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper), Horwill and moore who have more passion then sense at times, that's what AUS rugby needs not another bunch of stuck up twats, who think their shit doesn't stink. Sorry for rant, but it's gets me all fired up. Rugby is first and foremost a hobby played for the passion and love of it. If you play for any other reason you're doomed before you start. Just watch the haka!

 

[TOCC]

I said this in the match thread, that the selection of mostly brumbies players who 3 weeks ago tried to win the Super Rugby combo with a slow northern hemisphere % rugby, yet the game plan is all of a sudden to have a wide expansive running game was always going to lead to trouble.

JOC (James O'Connor) and Quade and the gen y brand all need to piss off and play league and link needs to find a bunch of guys with the raw passion needed to play rugby for Australia. Look at guys like AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper), Horwill and moore who have more passion then sense at times, that's what AUS rugby needs not another bunch of stuck up twats, who think their shit doesn't stink. Sorry for rant, but it's gets me all fired up. Rugby is first and foremost a hobby played for the passion and love of it. If you play for any other reason you're doomed before you start. Just watch the haka!

They are stuck up twats yet both of their performances weren't lacking of effort, yes JOC (James O'Connor) had some defensive lapses, but his actual contribution to the game was solid.

 

[TSR]

I wouldn't make any changes. There's no magic combination, it's all about working as a team and building a winning culture. Or more importantly a culture where they know they are all in it together, win or lose.

The line up, as is, is fine, it can win matches, but not if we are going to change players every game. I'd rather the team as is to just sit down, discuss and learn from what happened and use the experience in Welllington.

For my 2 cents, I've always thought the problem is in the forwards more than the backs. Big boys that belt over the advantage line, consistently, and take no shit.

Agree. If Link thought this was the best 23 last week, I am hoping he backs them to have another crack next week. Not every player has an outstanding (or even solid) debut at top level. Some start with shockers and still go on to be outstanding test players.

Link is picking guys with potential to excel - if he gives up on each one that falls at the first hurdle then selection will become a turnstile. That has never succeeded as far as I can ever remember.

 

[Tordah]

Izzy: Was shut out of this game to a degree. He and Savea both quiet and cancelled each other out. Needs to go on the hunt for work in this case.

I think Savea was way better than Folau in that game. While both didn't have much ball in hand (Savea made one break and caught a high one of an attacking bomb when there was indecision between Simmons and Genia, Folau one break and a pass to Richie), Savea showed much more work, I thought.
In the buildup to McCaw's try Savea made a peach of a cleanout seconds before the try. He made one big tackle on Slipper who was running at him, and the difference in attitude in that game between the two was epitomised in the Cruden intercept and kick. Folau was jogging back, it seemed, had a 10 meter head start on Savea who almost scored because of Folau's apparent laziness. Was really weird.

I love how Savea has grown in the past couple of seasons, and he showed winger's can involve themselves so much more than score tries or make linebreaks.

What I found weird was how the Wallabies didn't really try a tacitcal kicking game at all, even though the AB lineout was crap. Why?

 

[It is what it is]

Fatigue seems to be our greatest enemy.
When we tire we lapse back into the same habits of directionless kicking, isolated cross field running, high risk cut-out passes and forced passes instead of toughing it out and having faith in each other that they can get set and go again.
We get multiple-phase-itis and try and force things when we have the ball for too long or panic too soon after getting the ball back when we haven't had it for a while.
The best things Ewen can teach this team are self belief, patience and composure.
This may mean ignoring the scoreboard and results for a while too.

 

[redstragic]

Would Richie leave the stadium on his flying unicorn?

Can't get this picture out of my head.

 

[ACT Crusader]

Would Richie leave the stadium on his flying unicorn?

No. The cloak worked fine last night...

I too was a little surprised by the lack of tactical kicking by To'omua to get Folau more involved or putting the ball in behind the AB midfield.

I wonder how his nerves were? Whilst not a sell out it was still a massive occasion. Playing a Bledisloe on home soil in what is in all reality a must win test match all on debut.

He'll be better for it after watching some tape and the coaches pointing out some of the little things he could've done to better exploit some of the opportunities that were there for the taking.

I'd be very surprised if he didn't start again next week.

 

[foybus]

What's the background of this obsession people have with the 10 "taking the ball to the line"?

I thought To'omua played a fine game and principally it was because he didn't hold onto it for any longer that he had to.

I'd quite like them to persevere with this reasonably simple approach of giving the centres some space and time to do their thing, rather than having the 10 hang on to it for eternity a la leaguie halfbacks.

Nailed it in one, I thought with To'omua's passing game it really helped get it out to our danger men in mid field, wouldn't hurt with some inside passes and support play though. Would like to see a sneaky inside ball to Izzy every now and then as well.