Thursday’s rugby news has Wallabies taking lessons from Scotland game, Genia calling for defence to improve, South Africa name side and Christian Cullen talking up the All Blacks.
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Wallabies learn from Scotland
Wallabies assistant coach Stephen Larkham has said that the team has learnt from the mistakes they made against Scotland. James Slipper was left devastated after throwing an intercept pass in the 73rd minute which put Scotland in the lead.
“He thought he’d lost it for us. That’s what happens in games, you make mistakes,” Larkham said.
“We had the review this morning but I didn’t bring the clip up. I brought it up in the backs but not in the forwards.
“But then he came into the huddle and apologised to the boys and they were all around him, and they quickly moved on to the next job which is all you can ask them to do. And then we haven’t really talked about it.
“Like most games, we’ve moved on pretty quick.”
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Defence Must Improve: Genia
Wallabies halfback Will Genia says the Wallabies will need to improve their defence before taking on Argentina this weekend. The Pumas ran rampant against Ireland scoring 43 points whilst the let in 34 points against Scotland.
“First up tackles we were pretty poor,” Genia said.
“We were probably falling off tackles at times, allowing them to get a lot of metres at the gainline. Any team can play well on front-foot ball, so we just need to make sure we’re better in that area. We did some work on it today and I think some of the boys are doing more work on it now.”
Genia also said that good defence will give good opportunities for turnovers.
“That’s what gives guys like Dave the opportunity to get those turnovers, is if the defensive line is set and guys are making their tackles and they’re behind the gainline,” he said.
“It allows him to come forward and through and take the ball. Obviously he’s a freak and he can do it anywhere but it gives guys like him more of an opportunity. It’s a team effort and a team thing as opposed to just having Dave on the field getting turnovers.”
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South Africa Name Side
South Africa have named an unchanged starting side to take on the All Blacks this weekend in the World Cup semi final.
The Springboks only made one change to the bench with Victor Matfield coming in for Steph Du Toit.
The team contains 701 caps, making it the 2nd most experienced side New Zealand have faced at a Rugby World Cup, just behind France’s 702 in the 2011 final.
Team: Mtawarira, Du Plessis, Malherbe, Etzebeth, De Jager, Louw, Burger, Vermeulen, Du Preez, Pollard, De Allende, Kriel, Habana, Pietersen, Le Roux, Strauss, Nyakane, Du Plessis, Matfield, Alberts, Pienaar, Lambie, Serfontein.
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‘Complete’ All Blacks
Former All Black Christian Cullen has said that the the World are chasing the “complete” All Blacks after their demolition of France over the weekend.
“The skillset of the ABs, the intensity, the tempo, they kept the foot on the throttle pretty much the whole game,” Cullen said.
“I watched it again and 20 minutes into that game France were still in it but it just seemed like we had a lot of ball and did a lot of attack without much reward.
“But the rewards came at the back end of the first half and coming into the second half, France just ran out of steam.
“If they perform the way they did, it will be very, very hard for anyone to beat them”.
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