[one_third last=”no”]
1. Scott Sio
Penalised four times in the scrum, replaced eight minutes into the second half. 3[/one_third]
[one_third last=”no”]
2. Stephen Moore (c)
Lineout throwing was quite good, but failed to hook the ball quickly to take pressure off our own feed at scrum time. 4[/one_third]
[one_third last=”yes”]
3. Allan Alaalatoa
Part of a dominated scrum, but avoided the penalties. Lead the front rowers yet again in attack and defence stats, made nine tackles with none missed. Was unlucky not to get his maiden test try. 5[/one_third]
[one_third last=”no”]
4. Rory Arnold
The first of a few mixed bags this game. Arnold looked great with crash ball and big hits on defence, but offset that with some uncharacteristic turnovers. He seemed destined for the full 80 minutes as the coach subbed Coleman off, but was then hooked for throwing the Italians a “glass Slipper” that saw them close to a point behind. 5[/one_third]
[one_third last=”no”]
5. Adam Coleman
Played like Nobody before being replaced for the first time this year, can only assume that’s to keep him fit as he has to be one of our most irreplaceable players at the moment. Again, a high work rate with no missed tackles, most of them being dominating hits. The best part of his performance was his lack of errors. 8 – GAGR MOTM[/one_third]
[one_third last=”yes”]
6. Ned Hanigan
He’s certainly got the engine to become a world class backrower and he’s developed in the last two test matches. But is still yet to put in the complete performance to give him that illusive 6 mark for mine. The Italians found it easy to clear him out in defensive rucks and get him to the ground in contact. His beautiful short pass to put Hooper down the left wing on counter attack was cancelled out by his slap on pass into touch. 5[/one_third]
[one_third last=”no”]
7. Michael Hooper
Hooper didn’t have the ruck impact that he probably should have had against Italy. However, he was solid elsewhere and the sparkle for mind was one play where the Italian’s turned the screws on their scrum to open up a simple overlap down the blindside, not only did Hooper break-away and reeled in the winger, but he also somehow managed to get his arse back up and 20m down the field to support the counter attack, got the ball and sprinted another 30m down the left wing and smartly took the ruck. Moments later Folau along with two others could have gone in untouched around the corner of the right edge of the stretched Italian line. 7[/one_third]
[one_third last=”no”]
8. Lopeti Timani
A smart return to the gold jersey, Timani brought exactly what we expected making metres and hitting hard in his tackles. A very clever linebreak assist to Genia gets him to the solid game, after all, this play was butchered twice inside the first half an hour against the Scots. 6[/one_third]
[one_third last=”yes”]
9. Will Genia
This game was a step back in terms of difficulty for Genia and he had an easy time of it seemingly having the ball on a string at times. He also seemed pretty good at kicking. Genia’s biggest error was a poor left to right pass to Foley, something he should execute 99/100. 5[/one_third]
[one_third last=”no”]
10. Bernard Foley
Another slow start to the game for Foley. A lot of dropped balls and a strange ratio of distribution, considering how easily our outside backs were shredding tackles. Foley only passed the ball five more times than he kicked it or ran it into contact himself. Took the same player as Hunt and left Genia to cover his player for the Italians first try. However, he must be commended for asserting himself in the right way with the game on the line, slamming down a try line like he wanted to rupture a watermelon. Great off the tee this game but I could pass to touch further than he kicks it sometimes. 4 [/one_third]
[one_third last=”no”]
11. Sefa Naivalu
He only made four runs! 70 run metres, four tackle busts, two line breaks and two meat pies. A pity he’s now out for 6-7 weeks with a high ankle injury. Three Rebels walk into a bar… three broken tibias. 7[/one_third]
[one_third last=”yes”]
12. Karmichael Hunt
Bone rattling defence early and becoming very clever in the rucks too. Needs to mix up his technique to bring players to the ground as the next team he faces will work out how to bump him faster than the Italians did. Some great passing execution, his left to right ball to Izzy reminded me of a certain fly half called Bernie. 7[/one_third]
[one_third last=”no”]
13. Rob Horne
A spilt ball to begin with was less than ideal, but pulled off an OK game barring one involvement after that. That being failure to track his player on a cross field kick, which meant when DHP spilt the ball nothing other than an Italian try was possible, not good enough. 4[/one_third]
[one_third last=”no”]
14. Dane Haylett-Petty
It was either a brilliant involvement or an error it seemed for DHP. Campo like, two try assists for us and one for them. A very, very busy game for a winger, but such a mixed bag. Made the most linebreaks with four. 5[/one_third]
[one_third last=”yes”]
15. Israel Folau
He runs it and seems to break the first tackle at least. Faultless in the air again too, but he’ll be regretting quick throwing it back in, resulting in a close range field scrum to the Italians. 2 Tries but far from an excellent game. 7[/one_third]
Finishers
[one_third last=”no”]
16. Tatafu Polota-Nau
Cleaned up our own ball in the scrum a bit, that’s about it in his 32 minutes. 5[/one_third]
[one_third last=”no”]
17. Toby Smith
Got Alexanderd, just like Sio, 4 penalties conceded in the scrum, but he got the card. 3[/one_third]
[one_third last=”yes”]
18. Sekope Kepu
Didn’t offer as much as the player he was brought on for and the scrum was still a mess. 4[/one_third]
[one_third last=”no”]
19. Sam Carter
Didn’t really do anything wrong and made a rare metre for quick ball in the lead up to Foley going over late in the game. 5[/one_third]
[one_third last=”no”]
20. Jack Dempsey
What a debut! One run for six metres and didn’t have to make a tackle. 5 [/one_third]
[one_third last=”yes”]
21. Joe Powell
Pretty much played the perfect game, a Wallaby try every minute he was on, imagine if he played for more than one minute. 5[/one_third]
[one_third last=”no”]
22. Quade Cooper
Quade took on Kuridrani’s crash ball role and he was surprisingly OK with it, not sure its his best use, but the pro-boxer could do with a bit of toughening up. 5[/one_third]
[one_third last=”no”]
23. Reece Hodge
Rugby is a funny game, you can be on the field for more than half an hour and the only time you get to touch the ball you get to run 52 metres for a final minute try in the corner. The determination in his running style reminded me of a certain Honey Badger. 6[/one_third]
[one_third last=”yes”]
THE PATENTED G&GR RATINGS GUIDE:
10 – A legendary performance to go down in the history books
9 – Outstanding performance: Man of the match shoo-in
8 – Excellent all-round game
7 – Good game with a few sparkles
6 – Solid performance
5 – Average – ho hum
4 – Below par
3 – Had a bad game
2 – Tell your story walking pal
1 – A complete joke
Player Ratings – Wallabies v Italy
