Spotlight: The Playmakers
The discussion on the forums right now seems to be swirling around the topic of James O’Connor at No. 10 and rightfully so. He looked out of his depth and like he was trying to play as an outside back in the flyhalf channel – it would not be the first time this season that this has happened. One of his highlights of the evening would have been running an angle off of Beale and nearly breaking the line.
The most startling figure to me was that going into the second half JOC had only touched the ball three to four times. That is a damning figure for someone who is supposed to be directing the attack in the wide channels. Over 80 minutes JOC passed 15 times, ran four times and kicked once. Sexton passed 16 times, ran three times and kicked 11 times. The numbers show one of the flyhalves inserting himself into the match and provided considerable direction and territory to his team. I reckon the match footage does as well.
Genia was excellent in sparking the attack in the tight as well as in the wider channels. It was a colossal performance from our little general.
The most important statistic of the evening has to be the fact that the Wallabies missed 57.14 per cent of their kicks at goal. This is simply unacceptable at this level.
[tps_footer]Photos by Shane Sullivan[/tps_footer]
