10 September 2024 #010
Good morning G&GRs and welcome to Tuesday. It was a tough weekend for Australian and New Zealand rugby fans, you can read about in the Wallabies match review here, the All Blacks match review here, and a round up from Bris in the Monday news here.
There was plenty of discussion in the comments section on Monday, lots about the Wallabies test, but also about the structure of Australian rugby, the good and bad aspects of Super Rugby, the merits of a domestic competition, should we be using overseas players, whether our players are as good as other teams, and does Rugby Australia read the comments that we post here.
It would be great if RA did read the comments as there’s a lot of positivity among the G&GR family despite the outcome on the weekend together with some intelligent suggestions in the comments.
Maybe a shorter article today, I’ll go through the rankings from the Wallabies game, as scored by the G&GR readers, a brief summary of WA club rugby, mention the Wallaroos tour and games in the WXV2 tournament, and provide some of my thoughts on Super Rugby.
Wallabies Player Ratings
It was a very different game between the two teams in Santa Fe on the weekend, very open, fast, still physically though.
Australia player ratings
The player ratings are in from the match review poll on Sunday, these are the average scores from the voting, and the commentary is mine if you like it and agree, and Yowie’s if you don’t.
- Angus Bell – 6 – A very good good hit out from Bell, in the scrum and around the park. His break for the first try was top class. Went off just after half time and that was the start of the end for the Wallabies.
- Matt Faessler – 6 – Another good game by Faessler and it’s easy to forget he’s played only a dozen test matches. He has good footwork when he carries and he does the tough work.
- Taniela Tupou – 5 – The scrum was good and he has good skills around the park, hopefully he was replaced late in the first half to manage injury rather than because of it. We pray he getsback to full fitness over the coming weeks for the Bledisloe.
- Nick Frost – 5 – Another good game by Frost, and he’s really looking the part in the second row, physicality and carries throughout his time on the field. Was part of a defensive lineout that had Argentina on the ropes.
- Jeremy Williams – 5 – Some good play when he was on the field, his kick off receipts were good in the first half and carried vigorously. Was part of a defensive lineout that had Argentina worried.
- Rob Valetini – 5 – Another solid game by Bobby V but was replaced earlier than expected and the game went to poo afterwards.
- Carlo Tizzano – 5 – Worked hard, don’t remember any turnovers, but he did get a try for his efforts.
- Harry Wilson – 5 – A solid game from Harry with plenty of effort, carries, and tackles. It might be that his lack of experience (and most of the team as well) just couldn’t find a way to arrest the momentum of Los Pumas, from 30 minutes into the game.
- Jake Gordon – 4 – Again the average rating, and as another of the senior players, couldn’t find a way to get his team back into the game. As one of the primary kickers in the team, he needs to be more effective there.
- Ben Donaldson – 5 – Got his chance to steer the team around on a dry track, and looked decent to good in attack, particularly in the first 30 minutes. Seems to be able to see opportunities and react positively to them, but also needs to improve the quality of general play kicking, particularly the ones that are meant to be contestable.
- Markia Koroibete – 3 – Looked like a lot of effort, but was caught from behind to be denied a try, some poor missed tackles, and a basic knock on that put the team under loads of pressure.
- Hamish Stewart – 4 – A tougher outing in his second test, still made space and time for the outside backs, but not many highlights, and the defensive line was struggling all game.
- Len Ikitau – 5 – A quieter game for Fergie and similar to Stewart, the backline defence looked like it was struggling to contain Argentina all game. Seemed to be injured early in the second half, and I don’t remember a positive interaction after that.
- Max Jorgensen – 4 – Was part of a very good movement that put Kellaway over for a try, but doesn’t understand when the kick is coming so that he can chase it.
- Andrew Kellaway – 5 – One of his best games in years from the Ninja, good positioning, good play for an early try.
- Josh Nasser – 5 – Was on early and a great turnover on his try line. Lineout still functioned, scrum struggled though.
- James Slipper – 3 – A game to forget in his 139th test. Was part of the replacements that couldn’t keep up with Argentina as the game went on. Seemed to struggle at scrum time.
- Allan Alaalatoa – 3– On late in the first half, and was part of a scrum that struggled. Also part of the bench that couldn’t make enough impact.
- Josh Canham – 4 – Made his debut in a game that I’m sure a lot of people would like to forget. A knock on in traffic and as with the other bench players, couldn’t add enough energy to keep up with the Argies.
- Langi Gleeson – 4 – Maybe made a lineout steal, but otherwise not much positive impact. Still early in his test career but needs to find a way to live up to the billing that the commentary team give him. Same as the other bench players, couldn’t keep up with Argentina.
- Tate McDermott – 5 – As always, looked to increase the pace of play, a good quick tap for a try to give the smallest amount of hope with 10 to go, but also kicked one out on the full to invite Los Pumas back into our 22.
- Tom Lynagh – 4 – Got a decent amount of game time, but the Argies were in full flow at that stage and not a lot of opportunity to turn it around.
- Josh Flook – 4 – Maybe should have been on earlier if Ikitau was injured early in the second half. Usually a good defender and organiser, but couldn’t help to turn the ship around.
Let us know what you think in the comments.
Western Australian Club Rugby
There were plenty of Western Force players, and academy players on show in the men’s premier grade final in Perth on the weekend. Associates came from behind to claim the win 21-19 over Palmyra.
Wanneroo took out the women’s Premier Grade final 20-8 over Palmyra. Kudos to Palmyra for making the final in both men’s and women’s. Wanneroo scored early and skipped out to a 15-3 lead and were never headed. Congrats.
Wallaroos
The Wallaroos have flown to the Northern Hemisphere to play Ireland and Wales at home, and then return to South Africa for the WXV2 campaign over the coming weeks. The tour schedule is below and hopefully the Wallaroos can turn around their recent form and record some victories to round out 2024 and carry some momentum into next year and the World Cup.
With five games in five weeks, the uncapped players look likely to make their debuts as coach Joe Yapp has ambitions to win WXV2. Good luck to the Wallaroos.
Super Rugby?
Lots of chat about Super Rugby in Monday’s forum, whether it has passed its use by date, and whether Australia should put all of its eggs into a domestic competition basket.
My view about the domestic competition is that we need more Australian players playing more games at the highest level to make the Wallabies more competitive. My simple view is that our players don’t get enough experience, and that goes back to schools, clubs and Super Rugby.
New Zealand and South Africa have won the last four World Cups between them, and are setting the standard in world rugby. Giving our players more chances to play against them has to be part of the plan to improve.
For mine, the biggest mistake made with Super Rugby was introducing only two expansion teams with the Sunwolves and the Jaguares. That and the conference system meant that teams lost the benefit of the two or three game tours to South Africa and they often had to fly from South Africa to South America, or the other way, before returning home making three games in three countries and time zones in three weeks. Super Rugby had been very good before that, and I didn’t mind the Reds playing in South Africa for a couple of weeks at a time.
Unless they add more teams, I think that a full home and away season would bring back greater interest with more games and maybe a more balanced competition.
I also love the idea of more games being played domestically, not sure of the format or how much they might be able to leverage the resources of the Super Rugby teams and organisations to coach, manage and bring together some representative teams from the club competitions to have a challenge series that followed the club finals. It could be a bit like the NRC I guess, so funding it might be difficult.
That’s a wrap for this week
If you made it this far, thanks for taking the time, that’s it for me this week, over to you G&GRs.
