Sleep is for the weak.
What a game!! What a win!! Here are some things I noticed in that epic semi-final:
FINALS TIME BABAY!!
How good!!??! We are in a World Cup Final!! We’ve conquered the pool of death, weathered Scotland, outlasted Argentina and now we’re in the big show. This week is going to be AWESOME!!!
Happy Monday, Australia. We are one game away from reclaiming the Cup.
Vamos, Argentina
What a great fightback, what a great side. They played with depth, width and speed and tested us at every phase. If one or two last passes go to hand then it’s a very different result. Remember they lost their captain midway through the first half, as well as their gun winger Imhoff. These guys are a force to be reckoned with, and have mounted a stellar World Cup campaign.
Built on defence
Despite having a dominant scrum and lineout, the Argies were not allowed near our line in the second half. Where Ireland stood back and watched Argentina spread the ball, we shot up out wide and cut off the Argentinian attack before it had a chance to gain momentum. Where Ireland stood off the breakdown and allowed the Argentinians quick, clean ball, we had David Pocock, Scott Fardy and Michael Hooper into everything.
That’s how we play. Physicality and accuracy. We’ve conceded only one try in 240 minutes against England, Wales and Argentina. If we can keep that form up against the All Blacks then we are in with a shot.
The Rooster crows
Cometh the hour, cometh Drew Mitchell. We were out on our feet, and the Argies were coming home hard. We needed someone to step up and make a big play. Nick Phipps threw a lovely flat ball, and Mitchell was away. He smashed through the Argentinian line, and in beating five tackles and finding AAC he won us the game.
That’s the Bernie drop goal moment of this cup. Take a bow Drewster.
The back row bandits
I was going to devote one of these observations to David Pocock, as he was immense. But as I was writing it I thought ‘what about Scott Fardy? He was also immense’. And then it occurred to me that Hooper was immense too. How fucking good are our back row?
I dare say that was one of the finest performances by a Wallaby back row. It was like a Mozart concerto- they all played their part perfectly.
Pocock was making big carries and pestering the Argies at every ruck. Fardy was leading our defensive line, making a number of crucial hits when the Argies had space and numbers. And Hooper was back to his dynamic self, running hard and belting blokes. This was what James Blunt was singing about in ‘Beautiful’. That was beautiful. It’s true.
The set piece
The Argentinians were dominant here, and it kept them in the game. Our lineouts were sloppy, and even when we did win we didn’t get clean ball on many occasions.
Our scrum had a hard time, and James Slipper was pretty well dished up by Ramiro Herrera. We steadied it late, but it just shows how much we miss Scott Sio. Someone needs to volunteer to fly to Fiji and pick up some of Waisake Naholo’s palm fronds to take over, because we need him fit!!
Fullback
Israel Folau looked underdone, and had probably his worst game in a Wallaby jersey. Kurtley Beale should start next week unless he radically turns it around. I’m surprised the Argies didn’t test him with the high ball on more occasions.
The Referee
Tomas Lavanini was a bit unlucky, but it wasn’t a clanger in the Sean Maitland style. I thought it was just a penalty, but if you tackle without the arms you bring the yellow card into play.
I thought generally Barnes was OK, and I don’t think either side could feel too aggrieved. While the Lavanini call certainly went our way, virtually every 50/50 penalty call went to Argentina, especially at the ruck. What did David Pocock have to do to win a holding penalty? The Argies resorted to cleaning him out from the side, or killing the ball off their feet, but still nothing.
But for such a big occasion, Barnes did OK and gave no side reason to feel particularly aggrieved. Which is all you can ask for.
The tries
We scored four tries today. In the quarter we scored five. Against England we scored three. And we needed every single score. It completely debunks the myth that you need to grind out a World Cup, as Robbie Deans mistakenly believed in 2011.
Each of our tries was a thing of beauty. And Rob Simmons!! Those go-go gadget arms! The funny thing is the way the refs have been playing it, if he drops that ball he may have ended up in the bin!!
FINALS TIME
I end on this refrain:
We’re going to the final. WE’RE GOING TO THE FINAL. CARN YOU WALLABIES.
CARN YOU WALLABIES!!!!!
