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BillyWebb
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Thought that looked like a good opposed training session for the Wallabies.
Now just don't go and let me down against the Poms pleeeeease!
I couldn't bear all the drivel that will be sprouted in their papers if the English win.
Now just don't go and let me down against the Poms pleeeeease!
I couldn't bear all the drivel that will be sprouted in their papers if the English win.
Jethro Tah
Bob Loudon (25)
A good hitout for the second string side and hopefully the winning vibe is shared amongst the whole touring party.
Jeez I hope we beat the Poms as I am still recovering from the loss in RWC 07. I've got my Johnny W voodoo doll ready and I hope he leaves his boots at home on Saturday.
Fingers crossed the lineout works or maybe they should do more of those sneaky short throws that the B team did in this game.
Good stuff on your efforts Gagger.
Jeez I hope we beat the Poms as I am still recovering from the loss in RWC 07. I've got my Johnny W voodoo doll ready and I hope he leaves his boots at home on Saturday.
Fingers crossed the lineout works or maybe they should do more of those sneaky short throws that the B team did in this game.
Good stuff on your efforts Gagger.
Lee Grant
John Eales (66)
Welcome aboard Paris Tah - you go to any of the SF games - or Racing-Metro? If so, keep us posted.
This is from a local source at Gloucester:
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Gloucester given a lesson in finishing by Australia
Wednesday, November 04, 2009, 08:05
GIVEN the performances of recent weeks, all the Kingsholm crowd could expect was for Gloucester to go out and have a really good go at Australia last night.
And that’s exactly what they did, hammering the visitors up front but lacking the ideas and cutting edge out wide to turn pressure into points.
The Wallabies excelled in their ability to sniff out a chance and take it – they did it three times and that was the story of the game, with three runaway tries at the end the result of a huge home effort.
But if ever there was evidence of what a full house can do to galvanise a side, the home effort was it. The Gloucester forwards found an opposition eight there for the taking and went to work on them.
Paul Doran-Jones could well be making the number one shirt his own with his performances at the moment, at the centre of a scrum which never gave an inch.
The problem was out wide, where the backs were too flat, did not run straight and lacked the pace to do anything against the sharp Australians.
If the Aussie backs had the platform their opponents were afforded, the horror show many were predicting before the game would have happened.
Led by Quade Cooper at fly-half, the likes of Kurtley Beale at full-back, Ryan Cross at outside-centre and two-try Drew Mitchell on the wing were far too much for the youngsters in cherry and white.
When those youngsters did get the ball, the frantic errors returned as they were clearly desperate to put on a bit of a show for the watching hoards. Dave Lewis, who otherwise had his best game of the year, and Henry Trinder twice were both guilty of errors with the ball in hand and the breakaway on.
There were also countless other handling errors which meant the home side could never maintain the type of pressure which would have seen their illustrious visitors break down.
Gloucester took a while to get started and probably showed the Australians a bit too much respect in the opening salvos. After Cooper had given them the lead through a penalty, a scything break from Beale set up the first try on 12 minutes.
The penalty came five metres out and a quick thinking Luke Burgess took quickly and chipped to Cross who stepped inside the defence to score.
It was then that Gloucester responded with a fine score of their own.
After a driven line-out which was afforded the biggest cheer of the night, apart from the announcement of Jake Boer’s name beforehand, Adam Eustace took a tapped penalty and nearly scored himself.
The ball went out to Carlos Spencer who cross-kicked to Charlie Sharples, who showed lovely hands to release Freddie Burns to score in the corner.
Last night could be the winger’s last action for a week at least, as he faces an RFU disciplinary hearing today following a red card against Sale.
Australia bagged one more before the break, a simple midfield move allowing Cross to break and find centre partner Tyrone Smith to go over.
After the break Gloucester, led by their dominant scrum and the sniping of Lewis, camped inside the Aussie half but could not break through.
Eventually the effort the home side had put in showed and two late tries for Mitchell and a third for Cooper gave the scoreline a hefty weighting in the Wallabies’ favour.
But Gloucester showed grit and determination in abundance in a game where, for once, the result did not matter. They were given a lesson in being clinical by the Australians and the frustration of countless errors will again be what they take away.
Gloucester: F Burns; C Sharples, H Trinder, T Molenaar, T Voyce; C Spencer, D Lewis; P Doran-Jones, D Dawiduik, P Capdevielle; W James, A Eustace, J Boer (capt), A Qera, D Williams. Reps: B Phillips (Dawiduik 67), R Harden (Doran-Jones 69), D Attwood (Eustace 40), A Satala (Williams 61), J Pasqualin (Lewis 61), J May (Trinder 71), J Simpson-Daniel (Burns 53).
Australia: K Beale; L Turner, R Cross, T Smith, D Mitchell; Q Cooper, L Burgess; S Kepu, T Polata, S Ma'afu, D Dennis, D Mumm; M Chapman, M Hodgson, R Brown. Reps: P Cowan (Polata 37), M Dunning (Ma’afu 50), M Chisholm, W Palu, R Kingi, M To'omua, J O'Connor.
Referee: A Small (SARU)
Attendance: 16,500
This is from a local source at Gloucester:
*************************
Gloucester given a lesson in finishing by Australia
Wednesday, November 04, 2009, 08:05
GIVEN the performances of recent weeks, all the Kingsholm crowd could expect was for Gloucester to go out and have a really good go at Australia last night.
And that’s exactly what they did, hammering the visitors up front but lacking the ideas and cutting edge out wide to turn pressure into points.
The Wallabies excelled in their ability to sniff out a chance and take it – they did it three times and that was the story of the game, with three runaway tries at the end the result of a huge home effort.
But if ever there was evidence of what a full house can do to galvanise a side, the home effort was it. The Gloucester forwards found an opposition eight there for the taking and went to work on them.
Paul Doran-Jones could well be making the number one shirt his own with his performances at the moment, at the centre of a scrum which never gave an inch.
The problem was out wide, where the backs were too flat, did not run straight and lacked the pace to do anything against the sharp Australians.
If the Aussie backs had the platform their opponents were afforded, the horror show many were predicting before the game would have happened.
Led by Quade Cooper at fly-half, the likes of Kurtley Beale at full-back, Ryan Cross at outside-centre and two-try Drew Mitchell on the wing were far too much for the youngsters in cherry and white.
When those youngsters did get the ball, the frantic errors returned as they were clearly desperate to put on a bit of a show for the watching hoards. Dave Lewis, who otherwise had his best game of the year, and Henry Trinder twice were both guilty of errors with the ball in hand and the breakaway on.
There were also countless other handling errors which meant the home side could never maintain the type of pressure which would have seen their illustrious visitors break down.
Gloucester took a while to get started and probably showed the Australians a bit too much respect in the opening salvos. After Cooper had given them the lead through a penalty, a scything break from Beale set up the first try on 12 minutes.
The penalty came five metres out and a quick thinking Luke Burgess took quickly and chipped to Cross who stepped inside the defence to score.
It was then that Gloucester responded with a fine score of their own.
After a driven line-out which was afforded the biggest cheer of the night, apart from the announcement of Jake Boer’s name beforehand, Adam Eustace took a tapped penalty and nearly scored himself.
The ball went out to Carlos Spencer who cross-kicked to Charlie Sharples, who showed lovely hands to release Freddie Burns to score in the corner.
Last night could be the winger’s last action for a week at least, as he faces an RFU disciplinary hearing today following a red card against Sale.
Australia bagged one more before the break, a simple midfield move allowing Cross to break and find centre partner Tyrone Smith to go over.
After the break Gloucester, led by their dominant scrum and the sniping of Lewis, camped inside the Aussie half but could not break through.
Eventually the effort the home side had put in showed and two late tries for Mitchell and a third for Cooper gave the scoreline a hefty weighting in the Wallabies’ favour.
But Gloucester showed grit and determination in abundance in a game where, for once, the result did not matter. They were given a lesson in being clinical by the Australians and the frustration of countless errors will again be what they take away.
Gloucester: F Burns; C Sharples, H Trinder, T Molenaar, T Voyce; C Spencer, D Lewis; P Doran-Jones, D Dawiduik, P Capdevielle; W James, A Eustace, J Boer (capt), A Qera, D Williams. Reps: B Phillips (Dawiduik 67), R Harden (Doran-Jones 69), D Attwood (Eustace 40), A Satala (Williams 61), J Pasqualin (Lewis 61), J May (Trinder 71), J Simpson-Daniel (Burns 53).
Australia: K Beale; L Turner, R Cross, T Smith, D Mitchell; Q Cooper, L Burgess; S Kepu, T Polata, S Ma'afu, D Dennis, D Mumm; M Chapman, M Hodgson, R Brown. Reps: P Cowan (Polata 37), M Dunning (Ma’afu 50), M Chisholm, W Palu, R Kingi, M To'omua, J O'Connor.
Referee: A Small (SARU)
Attendance: 16,500
Lee Grant
John Eales (66)
Here's another one:
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Deans - We really enjoyed it
Wallabies head to HQ on a high after running in five tries against Gloucester
"When you are going from Test match to Test match, you don't get the opportunity to give guys that development time on the field."
Australia coach Robbie Deans was delighted to get the chance to play a midweek match after seeing his side beat Gloucester 36-5 at Kingsholm.
First-half tries by centres Ryan Cross and Tyrone Smith sent Australia on their way, before wing Drew Mitchell's late double and a Quade Cooper solo score finished the Cherry and Whites off.
Fly-half Cooper also booted four conversions and kicked an early penalty, with he and Cross arguably being the tourists' star performers.
However, Cross is unlikely to play on Saturday against England having played both on Tuesday and against New Zealand in Tokyo last weekend. Deans announces his line-up on Thursday for the fixture at Twickenham.
"The blokes really enjoyed it," said Deans, whose side also play Cardiff Blues in three weeks' time. "It was great for us to have the opportunity of rugby outside of a Test match.
"Gloucester played with a lot of spirit and asked quite a bit of our guys, but we finished strongly.
He added: "Our guys wanted to make the most of it. A lot of them are only going to play twice on tour.
"When you are going from Test match to Test match, you don't get the opportunity to give guys that development time on the field."
Basic errors
Even so, Gloucester deserved so much more for their efforts than full-back Freddie Burns' well-worked try.
Despite fielding several fringe first-team players and only a handful of internationals, they showed plenty of character and commitment.
And had they shown more composure in attack, the game could have proved a rather more uncomfortable experience for the Wallabies.
Gloucester captain Jake Boer was hugely disappointed with the final margin of defeat, claiming: "We played all the rugby.
"It seems to be the story of our season. We made too many basic errors, and Australia took their opportunities.
"At this level you are not going to get away with making mistakes. They didn't really play in our half, but this game is about winning.
"I just feel frustrated for the guys - rugby can be a cruel game.
"We played some good stuff out there, but we need to start getting some results. All we can do is to keep working."
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Deans - We really enjoyed it
Wallabies head to HQ on a high after running in five tries against Gloucester
"When you are going from Test match to Test match, you don't get the opportunity to give guys that development time on the field."
Australia coach Robbie Deans was delighted to get the chance to play a midweek match after seeing his side beat Gloucester 36-5 at Kingsholm.
First-half tries by centres Ryan Cross and Tyrone Smith sent Australia on their way, before wing Drew Mitchell's late double and a Quade Cooper solo score finished the Cherry and Whites off.
Fly-half Cooper also booted four conversions and kicked an early penalty, with he and Cross arguably being the tourists' star performers.
However, Cross is unlikely to play on Saturday against England having played both on Tuesday and against New Zealand in Tokyo last weekend. Deans announces his line-up on Thursday for the fixture at Twickenham.
"The blokes really enjoyed it," said Deans, whose side also play Cardiff Blues in three weeks' time. "It was great for us to have the opportunity of rugby outside of a Test match.
"Gloucester played with a lot of spirit and asked quite a bit of our guys, but we finished strongly.
He added: "Our guys wanted to make the most of it. A lot of them are only going to play twice on tour.
"When you are going from Test match to Test match, you don't get the opportunity to give guys that development time on the field."
Basic errors
Even so, Gloucester deserved so much more for their efforts than full-back Freddie Burns' well-worked try.
Despite fielding several fringe first-team players and only a handful of internationals, they showed plenty of character and commitment.
And had they shown more composure in attack, the game could have proved a rather more uncomfortable experience for the Wallabies.
Gloucester captain Jake Boer was hugely disappointed with the final margin of defeat, claiming: "We played all the rugby.
"It seems to be the story of our season. We made too many basic errors, and Australia took their opportunities.
"At this level you are not going to get away with making mistakes. They didn't really play in our half, but this game is about winning.
"I just feel frustrated for the guys - rugby can be a cruel game.
"We played some good stuff out there, but we need to start getting some results. All we can do is to keep working."
Lee Grant
John Eales (66)
But wait - there's more
By Brendan Gallagher
Published: 10:56PM GMT 03 Nov 2009
Gloucester 5 Australia 36: match report
With one of the southern-hemisphere giants in town for the night, Kingsholm was packed. An injury-afflicted Gloucester did not dare to field all of their first team, unfortunately, and the game never threatened to become a classic, but there are worse ways of spending a Tuesday night. Welcome back old-style midweek tour games.
The last time a senior Australian touring side were seen in Gloucester was back in 1981, when three young brothers – Mark, Glen and Gary Ella – featured prominently in the Wallabies’ 16-3 victory over a powerful South West Division. Great memories for those present and half the attraction last night was spotting the global names of the future.
The task was made easier as Australia put out some of their brightest prospects – Lachie Turner, Ryan Cross, Drew Mitchell and Luke Burgess to name but four bristling backs, and blockbusting hooker Tatafu Polata-Nau before he limped off before half-time.
With the Wallaby Test team in a state of flux, some would say decline, the young tyros had everything to play for and Australia were in business-like mode from the off.
After an early penalty from Quade Cooper, Cross — who had been in action against the All Blacks in Tokyo 72 hours previously — struck for a fine try.
Cross claimed the score but the plaudits went to the livewire Burgess and Polata, who showed exceptional pace and ball skills for a hooker.
Cooper added the extras but Gloucester hit back with a fine try of their own when Carlos Spencer, a veteran of many Australian clashes, launched a clever crossfield kick for Charlie Sharples to gather superbly and throw a clever over-the-should pass to Freddie Burns, who gratefully dived in for the try.
Another score then would have been interesting but Australia moved straight back upfield and fashioned a beautiful try, Cooper and Cross combining to send Tyrone Smith over.
The Australians have always devised cutting-edge back moves and although they have endured a tough Tri-Nations there is still a fine array of talent coming through.
After the break Gloucester battled gamely for 20 minutes which got the crowd going and the introduction of Apo Satala to their back row livened proceedings up but Australia made their big tackles when they had to and stood firm.
Rangy lock David Dennis strode 50 yards downfield before an adroit inside pass — much too flash for a lock really – to Mitchell allowed the wing to saunter under the posts.
The tourists were in the groove now and finished off with a second try for Mitchell and one right at the death by Cooper.
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It was a flash run by Dennis and even a better pass, but nobody ever said he couldn't run with the pill, or pass it. We're just saying that Shorty is not a 2nd rower - and Mumm is marginal too - more like a 2nd 6 - not really one nor the other. Put them together and factor in Ma'afu having problems at 3 and you could work out that the set pieces weren't going to be of international quality.
By Brendan Gallagher
Published: 10:56PM GMT 03 Nov 2009
Gloucester 5 Australia 36: match report
With one of the southern-hemisphere giants in town for the night, Kingsholm was packed. An injury-afflicted Gloucester did not dare to field all of their first team, unfortunately, and the game never threatened to become a classic, but there are worse ways of spending a Tuesday night. Welcome back old-style midweek tour games.
The last time a senior Australian touring side were seen in Gloucester was back in 1981, when three young brothers – Mark, Glen and Gary Ella – featured prominently in the Wallabies’ 16-3 victory over a powerful South West Division. Great memories for those present and half the attraction last night was spotting the global names of the future.
The task was made easier as Australia put out some of their brightest prospects – Lachie Turner, Ryan Cross, Drew Mitchell and Luke Burgess to name but four bristling backs, and blockbusting hooker Tatafu Polata-Nau before he limped off before half-time.
With the Wallaby Test team in a state of flux, some would say decline, the young tyros had everything to play for and Australia were in business-like mode from the off.
After an early penalty from Quade Cooper, Cross — who had been in action against the All Blacks in Tokyo 72 hours previously — struck for a fine try.
Cross claimed the score but the plaudits went to the livewire Burgess and Polata, who showed exceptional pace and ball skills for a hooker.
Cooper added the extras but Gloucester hit back with a fine try of their own when Carlos Spencer, a veteran of many Australian clashes, launched a clever crossfield kick for Charlie Sharples to gather superbly and throw a clever over-the-should pass to Freddie Burns, who gratefully dived in for the try.
Another score then would have been interesting but Australia moved straight back upfield and fashioned a beautiful try, Cooper and Cross combining to send Tyrone Smith over.
The Australians have always devised cutting-edge back moves and although they have endured a tough Tri-Nations there is still a fine array of talent coming through.
After the break Gloucester battled gamely for 20 minutes which got the crowd going and the introduction of Apo Satala to their back row livened proceedings up but Australia made their big tackles when they had to and stood firm.
Rangy lock David Dennis strode 50 yards downfield before an adroit inside pass — much too flash for a lock really – to Mitchell allowed the wing to saunter under the posts.
The tourists were in the groove now and finished off with a second try for Mitchell and one right at the death by Cooper.
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It was a flash run by Dennis and even a better pass, but nobody ever said he couldn't run with the pill, or pass it. We're just saying that Shorty is not a 2nd rower - and Mumm is marginal too - more like a 2nd 6 - not really one nor the other. Put them together and factor in Ma'afu having problems at 3 and you could work out that the set pieces weren't going to be of international quality.
Lee Grant
John Eales (66)
Wayne Smith, London | November 05, 2009
Article from: The Australian
Cooper delivers hope in midfield
Just when it seemed Robbie Deans had run out of options in the Wallabies midfield, Quade Cooper arrives with a suitcase full of them.
It would be folly to read too much into Cooper's masterly display in Australia's 36-5 win over Gloucester at Kingsholm on Tuesday night, and Deans is way too shrewd to fall into that trap.
He would be the first to realise the unstructured, devil-may-care approach Gloucester took into this game played right into the hands of Cooper, who is among the least structured of international playmakers.
Indeed, it could even be said Cooper has spent his whole life preparing for precisely this match, because masterminding the Gloucester attack was the player on whom he has modelled his own rugby - former All Black maestro Carlos Spencer, 34 now, but still full of tricks.
On what passed for a balmy autumn night in Gloucester, Spencer tried every one of those tricks - the inside-out crossfield kick, the trademark no-look pass, the fake dummy, but somehow it seemed that whatever he tried 21-year-old Cooper had already done it before him - and better.
Cooper had a hand in just about everything brilliant the Wallabies did against Gloucester. Certainly all five Australian tries - the last of which he scored himself - revolved around him.
With the Queensland Reds desperately needing to find a goalkicker, Cooper turned on a near faultless display with the boot, officially missing only the conversion of his own late try although it seemed the only people convinced his first shot at penalty goal went between the posts were the two assistant referees who raised their flags.
It was that sort of night for Cooper and, being the mercurial player he is, there are always going to be games when it all comes magically together.
It wasn't, however, the sleight-of-hand switches or the Larkham-like wire-guided wide passes that caught Deans's eye. That's what he has come to expect from the Waikato-born Queenslander. Rather, he was impressed by more mundane achievements such as Cooper's strong tackling and his willingness to steer his young side around the park.
"He'll come out of this experience with a lot more belief in his own capabilities and he just grew in stature as the game went on," Deans said. "He defended consistently, which is what we've asked of him, but he also brought a bit of shape to the game. So if and when we do call on him, he'll be better for that."
At the moment it's more if than when. Australia's midfield did not distinguish itself against the All Blacks in Tokyo last week, but the option of shoring up the inside centre position by switching five-eighth Matt Giteau back to his old position seemed to evaporate when Berrick Barnes suffered a tour-ending ankle injury.
After the Gloucester match, that opportunity is back on the table, with Cooper, not Barnes as the new 10. It would be a radical move, admittedly, but if disaster strikes at Twickenham on Saturday and the Wallabies go down to England, their seventh defeat in eight Tests, Deans might well be ready to think the unthinkable.
Cooper aside, the Australian midweek side did not exactly lay siege to Deans and his co-selectors although a number of players would have made favourable impressions.
Number eight Richard Brown was full of energy but happily for him - given that his star went steeply into decline following his sin-binning in the Cape Town Test - he kept his enthusiasm within bounds.
Centre Tyrone Smith, on debut for his country, showed that older brother George is not the only member of the family who does unflappable well, while Kurtley Beale, in the unfamiliar position of fullback, made a number of mistakes but also moved with the authority of a player who seemed destined for a long stint in the gold jersey.
On the face of it, replacement hooker Pek Cowan had a night to forget, with both the scrum and lineout deteriorating after he took over from Tatafu Polota-Nau. That was hardly surprising, as he is a specialist loosehead prop and, as Deans wryly noted, not too many players can say their first throw to a lineout was in an international match.
Mostly, however, the biggest feelgood factor was the result. September 5, the date the Australian rugby team last experienced success - against the Springboks no less - is a long time ago and what the Wallabies needed more than anything from their midweek side was a confidence-building win.
Deans was delighted with his younger brigade.
*********
Well done young Quade. Most of the stuff I saw in the highlights did not surprise me but I never thought much of him as a defender or goal kicker before.
Keep it up son; keep it up.
Jethro Tah
Bob Loudon (25)
As there wasn't any footage in the highlights, Gagger what was your view of Cooper's defense? Was it really that good?
Pfitzy
Nathan Sharpe (72)
Mumm is only marginally shorter than 2m and lighter than some of the other blokes (Victor Matfield is only 108kg while guys like Horwill are reportedly 115kg which sounds like bullshit to me). Mumm's reach probably negates any difference and his strength and lineout form make him as good as anyone we've got running around.
Paris Tah said:
Rarely tested. King Carlos preferred to kick it away or ship it wide. I think he ran it once the whole game. Obviously protecting those old bones.
In the loose QCs defence doesn't seem to have changed.
In retrospect I'd dial down my disappointedness in :beale:, although he was definitely shown up by Quade.
For a guy made captain, Mummba did make fuckall impact. I'm yet to be impressed and his best games have been when playing more of a 6 role, although he's a million miles from an Elsom
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How was Chapman Gags?
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