Tuesday 12 November 2024 #019
Good morning team, and welcome to Tuesday’s news. It’s a great week to be a Wallabies fan after a nail-biting win against England at Twickenham on Sunday morning. There’re a brief summaries of Scotland v South Africa and Wales v Fiji and then Wallabies player ratings.
Wallabies squad updates
News out of the Wallabies camp is that Harry Wilson was concussed against England which triggers return to play protocols so he’ll miss the game against Wales.
Dylan Pietsch is reported as having a cork, hopefully he’ll be available against Wales. If not we could expect to see Max Jorgensen step into the starting side.
Scotland v South Africa
South Africa got the win against Scotland at Murrayfield, with the final score 32-15. South Africa rolled out a 7-1 bench split and all the talk before the game was about how they were going to beat up the Scots. It wasn’t all one way traffic though and Scotland really got stuck in. As with other games on the weekend, the breakdowns looked like a free for all with bodies all over the ground and players scrapping for everything. The Scots took it too far though, and lock Cummings saw yellow for a croc roll that was upgraded to a 20 minute red card 10 minutes into the game.
Mapimpi scored two tries in the first half, the first from a cross field kick by Pollard and the second from a shorter kick pass from Leroux. He had plenty to do on the first run to the line, but the second one was untouched. du Toit scored an opportunistic try after picking up a loose ball and running 15 metres to the line. Scotland stayed close in the first half through penalties and looked to have scored a good try just before half time, but the TMO found a knock on in the lead up so the Springboks had a 19-9 lead at oranges.
Scotland were in the game well into the second half through two more penalties to Russell to make it 19-15 to South Africa at 60 minutes. That’s as close as Scotland got though as two penalties to South Africa at 64 minutes and 73 minutes put them in the driving seat and the bomb squad went to work with a push over try on 79 minutes to stretch the lead to 32-15.
Scotland created opportunities and their midfield got through the line at times but the South African cover was well, South African, and hence no tries for Scotland. It did show though that Scotland deserve their spot in the rankings and will be tough for Australia in two weeks time. Australia have to focus on Wales first, who hosted Fiji at Cardiff.
Wales v Fiji
Both teams would have been desperate to put in good performances and get the win, with Wales on a 9 game losing streak, and Fiji looking to put last week’s loss to Scotland behind them. We know that Fiji were missing most of their European stars last week, but they still needed to step up.
The roof was closed and Wales started fast in perfect conditions with great hands from the backline to put the left winger Murray over in the corner, it was really good hands and use of space to score and it looked like they had found their mojo.
The referee and TMO featured in the first half with a yellow card to Reffell from Wales for a dangerous cleanout that could’ve been upgraded to red but wasn’t. Fiji number 8 Canakaivata saw yellow and conceded a penalty try for illegally collapsing a maul on the line, and then superstar Radradra had a yellow upgraded to red for a high tackle on the Welsh fullback while chasing a high ball.
There was some rugby played among all that card play, Munztz scored a long range try to make it 14-10 to Wales at half time. Some rugby was played in the second half, with Fiji getting the better of it through three penalties to Muntz, and a try to Tuisova, while Wales could only manage a try to Bevan.
Both team left points on the field with loose passes, first Wales, and then Fiji. Mick Byrne looked nervous as Muntz kicked the last goal, and had good reason. A high tackle by Fiji in the 80th minute saw Wales with a lineout 15 out from Fiji’s line, but Fiji defence caused a knock on and Fiji had the ball after the hooter. In almost unbelievable scenes they ran the ball from their own line when all they had to do was kick it out. Eventually they were bundled into touch and secure their first win against Wales in Cardiff, and thereby hand Wales there 10th successive loss and a winless year in 2024, which is their worst ever losing streak. Waratahs fans can commiserate. With the next two games against Australia and South Africa, I’m sure that Wales will be aiming up and Australia will need to be on their game.
Australia player ratings
It wouldn’t be a Tuesday after a Wallabies test without player ratings, so here goes. We didn’t have the player poll in the match review, these are my thoughts using the trusted G&GR rating system. If you like them and agree I’dwould love to hear about it, if you don’t then feel free to tell Karl or Yowie about it in Wednesday’s news. I’ve applied the G&GR rating system for this.
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
0 – Didn’t make it on, or no meaningful involvement
Wallabies Player ratings
- Angus Bell – Absolutely massive performance by Bell against England. Played 70 minutes, his running game was on full display, and along with Valetini, Ikitau, and Marcus Smith, was among the most influential individual performers. Score: 9
- Matt Faessler – Hard to believe that Faessler has only played a dozen test matches, he looks very settled, gets through his work, holds the scrum together, carries well, and defends well. A couple of lost lineouts but England are very good in that department. Score: 6
- Taniela Tupou – Some learned scrum people (Nutta) thought Tupou got a bit of a raw deal in the penalties from BOK, but his handling let him down with a couple of loose carries. Overall not his most dominant performance. Score: 4
- Nick Frost – Becoming a mainstay of the team and provides a great combo with Williams. Didn’t see any of the free running from the big man, but plenty of tough work in tight with the ball, and defending. Score: 7
- Jeremy Williams – Great work on securing our restarts and is forming a formidable pairing with Frost. His try in the corner was well taken. Score: 7
- Rob Valetini – Fantastic game from Bobby V, absolutely brutal when carrying the ball, and makes his tackles. He is providing a genuine point of difference. Score: 9
- Fraser McReight – Another top class performance from Fraser, his support play is brilliant, including his awareness, and speed to chase Tom Wright’s kick downfield and secure possession. The subtle touch on to Ikitau in the lead up to the final try was perfect and was one of the best on ground. Score: 8
- Harry Wilson – A very good performance by Wilson, including a try after supporting Tate’s break for the line. Left the field early with a concussion and will be out this coming week against Wales. Strong with the ball and in defence. Score 7
- Jake Gordon – Set the tone for how Australia were going to play, with good kicking that allowed the Aussies to contest. Typically good passing from Gordon, and had to leave the field for a blood bin for a head cut obtained while securing possession in a ruck. Score: 6
- Noah Lolesio – One of Noah’s better games in gold, seemed to make good choices when to run, kick, and pass. His kicking was excellent, both from the tee and out of hand. Score: 7
- Dylan Pietsch – Left the field with a cork, was good during his 50 minutes, on the field, with some good touches and linking with Tom Wright. Score: 6
- Len Ikitau – The change of number was a surprise to us fans, but Len had a great game that was capped by throwing the last pass to Jorgensen to score the winning try. Was one of the best on ground with solid carries all afternoon, and generally good defence. Score: 9
- Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii – There has been an awful lot written and said about Suaalii since the game finished. A great debut, including great attacking skills, and his restart threat is potentially a game changer for Australia. Missed a few tackles but overall a better performance than most of us had dared to hope for. Score: 8
- Andrew Kellaway – Scored a deciding try and was good around the ground all afternoon. Another very good performance. Score: 7
- Tom Wright – Probably his best all around performance for the Wallabies. Very good option taking and his choices to run ball and attack from our half were well taken. Bagged a try to finish some great play. The only downside was a lack of urgency in coming forward to the chip kick from Smith that led to the first English try. Score: 8
Reserves
16. Brandon Paenga-Amosa – BPA was solid in his time on the field, including a key hand in the final play for Jorgensen to score. Solid in the scrum and lineout, though England did pinch one or two. Score: 5
17. James Slipper – 10 minutes at the end of the game, but made hay in the scrum, tackled, and hit the ball up as required. A reliable guy to have on the bench. Score: 5
18. Allan Alaalatoa – played most of the second half and was good. Made 10 tackles and held up his side of the scrum. I wonder if the coach might give him a start against Wales. Score: 6
19. Lukhan Salakaia-Loto – Generally a good strong performance from the big man, though gave away a dumb penalty for obstructing the chaser on a box kick. Depending on which way you see it, was lucky to escape further sanction when the chasing players head made contact with the back of LSL’s shoulder. Score: 5
20. Langi Gleeson – Subbed on for Wilson and was good. He seems more secure with the ball in hand than his earlier tests. Score: 5
21. Tate McDermott – Tate picked up the pace when he came on, and two runs led to a try to Wilson to get the Wallabies right back into it. His kicking didn’t seem as effective as Gordon, but then again the chase seemed to have fallen away a bit by then. Score: 7
22. Ben Donaldson – had some solid touches in the lead up to the winning try. Score: 5
23. Max Jorgensen – The speedster showed some genuine gas to race away for the game winning try and was solid in defence earlier in the half. Score: 7
I’m sure you’ll let me know what you think.
World Rankings
A fair bit of movement in the world rankings, with South Africa and New Zealand moving ahead of Ireland at the top of the ladder. with a clear gap to France in fourth place. Argentina and Scotland move past England who fall from 5th to 7th place. Wales are in 11th place.
That’s a wrap
That’s it for this week. As always, thanks for reading today’s ramblings, and I look forward to the comments section.
