Despite the ardent endeavours of referee Chris Pollock, we were actually treated to a pretty entertaining and quality game of international rugby.
For mine, the Wallabies looked quite good. Our forwards finally fronted up across the board, and seem to have learned how to pass and run. Our backs largely continued their purple patch.
Ewen didn’t crack a grin, but I did a few times. Here’s how I saw it:
[one_third last=”no”]
James Slipper
Our scrum looked the goods, and Slipper was perhaps even busier around the park than usual. Very good game. 7
[/one_third] [one_third last=”no”]
Stephen Moore
Squeak was excellent. The set piece was rock solid, and his run and offload to Cummins for the first try was textbook. If the scrum is front rowers’ meat alone, Moore had the whole buffet. 9 & GAGR MOTR (Man of the Ratings) [/one_third] [one_third last=”yes”]
Sekope Kepu
Kepu went better than his form off the bench suggested would be the case, but was still hot and cold. Nice scrummaging, and a more balanced use of his frame, but a few missed tackles blighted his record. Also gained zero metres with ball in hand. 5 [/one_third]
[one_third last=”no”]
Rob Simmons
Simmo did a heap of the quiet stuff, and was great at lineout time. Not his form of weeks past but still quite good. 6 [/one_third] [one_third last=”no”]
James Horwill
Average running game, and got through an unremarkable amount of work. Still could be offering more. Nice subtle run and weighted pass back to a looping Cooper for the first try. 5 [/one_third][one_third last=”yes”]
Scott Fardy
Made up for lost time with the barnstorming game we’ve come to expect. Looked great and had the stats to back it up. 7 [/one_third]
[one_third last=”no”]
Michael Hooper
Another Michael Hooper performance. Was, a bit surprisingly, the official MOTM. He was certainly busy, and his carding was pretty pedantic, but still a good display on the whole. 7 [/one_third] [one_third last=”no”]
Ben Mowen
Made the most tackles of any forward, with a couple of runs to boot. A certain step up on last week. 6 [/one_third] [one_third last=”yes”]
Will Genia
Genia’s GAGR Player Ratings have ranged from two to nine in recent weeks, and the see-saw continues after last week’s three. I thought his service was good (a bit slow for the first ten minutes of the second half, but otherwise it was speedy), he showed his usual good vision, and he even put in a well-timed, well directed box kick. Much better. 6 [/one_third]
[one_third last=”no”]
Quade Cooper
Quade had another pearler. His game management has been superb of late, and not at the cost of his own flashes of individual brilliance. Ghosted through a non-existent gap à la Bernie Larkham for his own try, and didn’t miss a tackle. Brilliant game. 9 [/one_third] [one_third last=”no”]
Nick Cummins
Worked hard all night, ran well both in tight and in space and continued his knack for finding the line. Ran a ridiculous 95 metres with the ball, and his other numbers were good too. 8 [/one_third] [one_third last=”yes”]
Matt Toomua
Our defensive clean sheet owes a lot to this man. Was a rock in midfield, allthewhile running, kicking, and passing well in attack. 8 [/one_third]
[one_third last=”no”]
Tevita Kuridrani
A mixed bag. A couple of positional defensive lapses were average, but didn’t miss a tackle that he got close enough to attempt. Ran nicely, but his red card was fair, and luckily (for the team) occurred late in the game. Any suspension received shouldn’t be too severe (given mitigating circumstances), but it’s still not nice on the rap sheet. 4 [/one_third] [one_third last=”no”]
Adam Ashley-Cooper
Again a little quiet, but the work that he did was done very well. 6 [/one_third] [one_third last=”yes”]
Israel Folau
Superb in the air, and still proving to be a difficult man to tackle once he gets into his (ridiculously long) stride. He attacks the outside shoulder well and deservedly receives close defensive attention. More game time will improve his decision-making at the tackle area. 7 [/one_third]
[one_third last=”no”]
Tatafu Polota-Nau
One lineout throw went awry, but his work at scrum time looked great. Made only one tackle, with zero attacking contributions in 12 minutes (of admittedly disjointed play). Could do more, but not bad by any stretch. 6 [/one_third] [one_third last=”no”]
Benn Robinson
Very little work done but great work at scrum time; our seven-man tighthead scrum win was a thing of beauty. 6[/one_third] [one_third last=”yes”]
Paddy Ryan
Same as Big Benn, but made a couple of tackles. Was also pretty energetic around the field. Nice to see him getting game time. 6[/one_third]
[one_third last=”no”]
Sitaleki Timani
He was busier but still didn’t really seem to capitalise on his physique. Frustrating to watch. 5 [/one_third] [one_third last=”no”]
Liam Gill
The man is a pest. Was on the field for seven set piece-interrupted minutes, and still got three tackles at 100 per cent, and disrupted seemingly every Irish ruck. Unlucky to still be coming off the pine. 6[/one_third] [one_third last=”yes”]
Nic White
Very good service again. Underplayed his hand, and appropriately so given the talent on show around him. A nice subtle display. 6[/one_third]
[one_third last=”no”]
Christian Leali’ifano
Didn’t do all that much. Fell off one tackle, had one run that I saw. Play didn’t really come his way. Meh. No Rating [/one_third] [one_third last=”no”]
Joe Tomane
Dropped the ball cold on his first touch, but defended pretty well and snuffed out an Irish half-break at one point. 5[/one_third] [one_third last=”yes”]
[/one_third]
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
How’d I go?
