Well, bugger me with a fish fork, G&GRs, who saw that one coming? Not me. The first victory over England since 2015, and, to do it at Twickenham in extra time. Wow! But that wasn’t the only game that was great to watch. There were masses of rugby this weekend. For the record, this is published early Monday morning so the Scotland v South Africa and Italy v Georgia games won’t be covered. I am sure RAWF will pick that up on Tuesday.
So let’s review these games and pick apart our thoughts on them. Especially lots for the Australian and New Zealand fans to be happy about. Let’s not even pretend we’re working this morning, get into the G&GR mix, grab a big cup of the elixir of life ☕, and let’s get it into it.
New Zealand 23 defeated Ireland 13
If you haven’t already, have a read of KARL’s great write-up of the Paddies v NZ game here. I won’t re-cover the game but just look at the key points that saw New Zealand defeat the No. 1 team in the world.
This was a great game to watch with two teams wanting to play expansive rugby in conditions that were wet and slippery. It was really always going to be about which team managed their game plan to suit the conditions. Poor discipline killed Ireland, with penalties being conceded left right and centre resulting in a 13 to 5 penalty count. It’s usually the Nearlies who are on the wrong end of the penalty count.
The breakdown was really interesting to watch in this match. Primarily because Aussie referee Nic Berry just let it go, it was the ‘farkin Wild West’. Anything went. Rolling into the 9, lying on players and making no effort to roll away, and hands in the ruck. You name it, it was good to go. I am normally quite a fan of ‘Bez’, but not this game. It was poor refereeing, and I’ll have more to say about that later.
D-Mac had a good game and piloted his team well. Sititi had another pearler, and for such a young kid, this guy has so much potential to grow and that should scare all other international teams greatly. NZ managed to sort out their lineout, which has been terrible in the last couple of games. But NZ showed how to take control of a game and see it out. Ireland had some real difficulties there and I’m sure Farrell senior will be going through those game tapes very carefully on Monday morning to try and piece that one back together.
Australia 42 defeated England 37
If you haven’t already, have a read of RAWF’s excellent game review here. Won’t dissect the game play by play, but here are the key issues that stood out for me.
Team Cohesiveness – As opposed to our games in the TRC, the Wallabies demonstrated both in attack a defence a level of cohesiveness that we haven’t seen in a long while. They knew where to be and when, and were there in support of one another. What ever magic St. Joe and his coaching staff are weaving it’s starting to come together.
The Pack – They were immense. Hunting as a team and good with their clean outs. When the backs made breaks, they were there quickly in support to ensure we didnt turn over the ball. Bell is immense. 7As and Slipper, as well as Faessler and BPA were also good coming off the bench. Tupou had a hit and miss night. But as some of the other G&GRs on the craparatzi network reckon Tupou was unfairly drawing the ire of BOK at scrum time. But anyway, he needs to lift his game.
Attack – When the attack fired, it fired in spades. Especially when peeling the ball out wide. Our loosies were immense, and our new centres combo looks like it might be around for a long while. Icky and the new boy, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, were fantastic.
Defence – While there were still some patches when our defensive pattern became detached, it adapted and overcame. This was probably the most comprehensive defensive effort we have seen from the Wobs under the new regime.
The Players – Not one player had a shocker (except maybe Tupou), which is really unusual for the Wobs. Some players weren’t as good as others but no one had an out and out Barry. Pick of the game on debut has to be Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii. I know it’s a sample group of one game, but against England, at Twickenham, he had a great performance. Icky sticky was immense. Angus Bell had a great game. Tom Wright, who I am normally not the biggest fan of, had a great game. The loosies, Bobby V, Fraz, and Dirty Harry played really well, working off each other. Tate McD had a great game, with a wonderful cameo in the middle while Gordon was off getting his face repaired. Tate to start next week, he was that much better than the Commissioner. The Ginger Ninja also got his mojo back. Hopefully this is not just a flash in the pan, but the start of the build of the new era Wallabies.
Argentina 50 defeated Italy 15
Italy’s absolutely piss poor record against the FISMs has continued after they got thrashed 50-18 in their first game of the Northern Tour in Udine early this morning Aus time. This is the Pizza Eaters ninth consecutive loss to the Pumas, with terrible passing and handling errors that make the Wallabies look good on a bad day.
The Italians weren’t helped when fullback Ange Capuozzo departed early due to injury and Los Pumas were 17-0 up before oranges, but the Azzuri cut the lead to four points with a penalty try and a penalty either side of the break. However, a comeback for the Italians never came to be and Los Pumas dotted down another five meat pies in the second half, with Italy just falling to pieces in the second stanza.
The Argies will take a lot of stock out of this game as a good warm up for next week.
France 52 defeated Japan 12
The return of the Little Master to the Froggy 🐸 side from the Sevens sojourn was a winning one, as the 🧀 Eating Surrender 🐒🐒 absolutely belted Japan by 40 points at the Stade de France. Dupont had a great game, looking like he had never been away from the 15s game, as his team ran rampant over the Brave Blossoms. While I love to see Japan do well, while ever Dr. Evil is their coach I hope they get flogged every game. Boo hoo fritz to you, evil dwarf!
The 🐸 had an eight try victory over Japan, in a match to exorcise the demons of their World Cup quarter-final defeat, and they played like their lives depended on it. The Brave Blossoms just couldn’t come to terms with Bielle-Biarrey, who was dotting them down at will, ably assisted by Alexandre Roumat. The hosts were out of sight by oranges 31-0, and the look on Eddie Jones’s face was priceless to watch.
It looked like the decimation was going to continue for the whole game but alas Japan were resurrected by Harumichi Tatekawa who managed to save their pants and get their first score on the board. The French however, just kept winding up, bringing their replacements in with Paul Boudehent coming on to score a brace of tries.
But while it was a rampant victory to the French, there were some worrying signs in their defensive structure. They’ll want to get that sorted out before they face New Zealand. And what a cracker of a game that’s shaping up to be.
Old Man Shouting at Clouds
My ‘Shouting at Clouds’ is aimed at two people this week, Ben O’Keeffe and Nic Berry.
Generally these guys are two of my favourite referees. In Super Rugby in 2024 they were, along with Angus Gardner, the pick of the refs. But this weekend both of these two had Barry Crockers.
Bez – In the Ireland v NZ game let the break down turn into a free for all. It was the Whacky Wicky Wild Wild West! Hands in the ruck, players rolling deliberately at the 9, players lying around in the breakdown and not even attempting to roll away. It was a colossal ‘💩 fight’! What disappointed me was that this isn’t the way Bez normally rolls. In Super Rugby this year he was very strict at the breakdown. Which leads me to believe he may have been acting under direction. He also missed a number of key errors, but luckily this affected both teams equally. But like last week, was red hot on the obstructions, which again leads me back to the operating under orders thing. Mind you Ireland can’t blame the loss on Bez, their ill discipline was the root cause of this one.
BOK – Very similar to Bez, BOK let the breakdown in this game turn into a bit of a free for all. Which unlike Bez, BOK is generally looser at the breakdown in Super Rugby, but in this game he was talking the piss a bit. There were a number of key events missed for both sides in this game, which levelled things out, but there were some blatant errors missed and he was looking right at them.
For me, neither of the teams that lost can blame it on the whistle blowers. They’ll need to take a good hard look at themselves and work out where they dropped these ones. What worries me more about the officiating in these two games was the difference in week to week adjudicating we’re seeing from these southern hemisphere guys. Also the difference in how these guys normally whistle a game. The reality is, whichever team adjusts the quickest is going to get the better of it.
Anyway enough of me ranting. Over to you G&GRs. Have at it!
