1. Benn (two n’s) Robinson 7 – Didn’t show any of the flashy stuff he produced in the Super 14 but you get the feeling this wasn’t part of his brief for the game. The scrum looked good which is his job, he did it well
2. Squeaky Moore 8 – Managing to combine the open field running of Jeremy Paul with the set-piece consistency of Michael Foley, the best Australian hooker since Tom Lawton
3. Al Baxter 7 – Can’t remember him doing much except the shit work at the scrum and line-outs, but like ‘Two N’ Benn, did the business
4. Kev Horwill 8 – Australian rugby’s ‘Serial Pest’, if he played for any other country, we’d hate him. Showed what he is capable of when he has some decent troops around him.
5. Nathan Sharpe 5 – Fairly anonymous, maybe that was the plan so Big Kev could do the grandstand stuff. In a game where most of the forwards had their bright moments, he didn’t seem to have any.
6. Matt Hodgson 6 – Robbed of seeing his best as he went off with what looks like being a reasonably long term injury – shame
7. George Smith 9 – Magic, able to do stuff that not even Richie the Cheat could dream of.
8. Richard Brown 6 – Didn’t have the impact of the others but maybe that’s because he was doing his work plus a fair percentage of Smith’s in the tight after Hodgson went off.
9. Burgo 7 – The highlight of his game came in the third minute when he spanked SBW. Solid passing game and a couple of little snipes.
10. Gits 9.99 – The Giteau equation: Time + Space = Perfection
11. Drew Mitchell 8 – Despite having his plumage ruffled during his solo-try effort, dusted himself off and bobbed up in all the right places for the rest of the game. Didn’t make any silly errors which is rare.
12. Berrick Barnes 6 – Took the back seat on the Gits express and enjoyed the ride, some great tactical kicking showed just what a complete player he is becoming
13. Morty 9 – The one Wallaby who had a bit of pressure on him going into the game marking SBW. Proved what a big time player his is and was the focal point of the Wallabies attack – Gits’ try in the first half is an example of this when Morty attracted 3 defenders on a dummy run.
14. Lachie Turner 5 – Doesn’t really seem to have the impact at Wallaby level that he does at Provincial level, opened the door for Lote’s comeback one suspects?
15. AAC 8 – Looked every-bit the fullback with some great positional play and some accurate kicking – confounded the G&GR critics with only one ‘Bobas #3’ for the entire game
16. TPN 7 – Came on for Moore and really stepped up the pace, provides a great balance with his attacking prowess in the final quarter of a match.
17. Ben (one n) Alexander 8 – Like TPN, played a more attacking role than Fat Cat, the try he scored showed his ability to position himself in attack but let himself down badly with a ‘mincey’ dive at the end
18. Mummy 6 – One of the many to cream SBW, nothing much else to report but a good man to have on the bench with his versatility
19. David Pocock 7 – Entered the fray as the musical chairs started due to injuries and replacements, ended up playing no. 6 it seemed? No matter, still got around the field and had plenty of touches.
20. Josh Valentine 6 – Had over half a game to prove he is any different to Burgo and didn’t seem to be able achieving that. Once again, solid and reliable passing game which is what you want from your reserve half-back I guess.
21. Quade Cooper – 5 Only came on toward the end of the game when all the work was done, so consequently, didn’t do much. Interestingly seemed to play no.12 rather than fly-half – will get his chance this weekend you’d think.
22. JO’C 8 – Made things happen, showed his range of skills in a short space of time and proved why Josh Lewsey is calling it quits– a better player than Gits was at his age?
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="3453 https://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/?p=3453">46 Comments
I liked what I saw of Brown in the game. While not as bulky as Palu, he’s a big guy, and showed some good muscle in the tight.
Look forward to seeing more from the back row this weekend, hopefully Pocock will get more time.
I think the ratings are a shade on the high side, the opposition wasn’t that flash so I would have given Gits a plain 9 (he could have kicked better for goal, for example) and let everyone else except Smith, Mortlock, Moore, TPN and JOC down half-a-notch I think.
I was expecting a better game from the Baa Baas after their fairly successful England sojourn but, as it turns out, there weren’t that many players that featured in both games. A disjointed affair from them – I suppose these sort of ‘ad hoc’ teams can be a little hit and miss, and on this occasion it was a miss….
I think you are getting a little carried away with your ratings Signor Cote. It’s probably the best start from a Wallaby side for years but as others have said, the opposition wasn’t that flash.
Your best assessment was of Sharpie, which effectively means he wasn’t seagulling around the park like usual, but had his head down and arse up where it should be – in the rucks and mauls. As a consequence, he wasn’t noticed…..
Rabbit is an excitement machine – looking forward to a full game from him against the Azzuri. Bad luck for Lote again; however, when its time for the big guns I’d be expecting to see him back.
how dare you only give Quade Cooper a 5!
I was only going to give him a 4 but didn’t want to alienate the QC fan(singular)club
Sergeant Schultz…………
You know nothing alright…that is for sure…
Did Cooper actually come on…..oh, I didn’t notice. i thought that was his IQ?
Gagger , whilst I acknowledge your editorial and legal responsibilities the poster that used the previous pseudonym should be outed for the coward that they are. You could always send me a direct message on twitter.
I do know it wasn’t Lance
Sorry Gagger I mistook this for a serious Rugby Forum.
K-Sulk,
It pretty much was until you blew your stack about Quade.
Feel free to try other more serious forums (fora?). We’ll try and soldier on without you.
Kassulke, more like kassook.
Everyone has had to get their own avatar to stop people posting as them.
Thats why John Coat now has his pic come up everytime.
Jeeze, someone pretended to say you thought he should get more than a 5, wow, so offensive, you probably did think that.
Maybe you can make your own rugby blog, and call it, “Team Quade Cooper”. Although no one in their right mind would take it ‘seriously’.
Gagger, do i detect some sick inuendo in your, “blew your stack about quade” quote?
sounds sticky…
Shut up, he’ll try and sue me about that as well
Gits was crap on debut, and he was older then than JOC is now.
I think that having Barnes at 12 helps Gits at 10, in that it takes a lot of pressure off him and also creates a lot of uncertainty in the hands of the defence: there is still a genuine playmaker to touch the ball outside Gits, so you cant assume that the ball will go to a 12 who will just truck it up all day (ie Tom Carter – who in his defence is probably the best Tom Carter he could be).
Barnes 6????? Some brilliant tactical kicking, passing crisp, always took the best option, the Gits-Barnes axis has never looked better. 2 playmakers really does offer so much. In Gits defence at the age he made his debut he didn’t have 2 seasons of super rugby playing outside, well, matt giteau under his belt.
My one concern about berrick barnes is injury, i just have a bad feeling that something is going to happen to that knee of his which puts him out for months.
Got agree with this. I’m a huge Barnes fan, but he ain’t the biggest player in the world and the throw himself around sometimes. Not that I would ever suggest that he should stop play hard, but we should keep JOC as a 12 standby for a while.
That’s the beauty of the bench at the moment – good cover through the midfield, for which I would also throw in QC(!) and KB as back ups to the bench.
There’s a good thread about this in forum here
Bloody hell Juan you were in a good mood when you did these. Must be the upcoming trip to Canberra and face off with Growden!
Will have to re-instate the grading system for the full internationals.
Overall the shape is right I reckon, although I would have liked G. Smith to put in a few more steals (although the BaaBaas didn’t exactly have a lot of pill)
Also thought TPN was on fire so might have notched him up one. How good is it to have him AND Squeaky in the squad?
The post in question was edited by Gagger and reworked. Perhaps it was Gagger himself. I expect a mature, thoughtful response. Not the Reg Regan response. Such a shame that some decent posters have to wade through the debris of uninformed, dribble. I invite a reasonable response. If not there are other options.
Response to what?
K-Sulk, if you have reasonable and mature point to make about rugby, preferably the topic, then feel free.
As the person responsible for what goes live on your website you know exactly what I am talking about. I want the details of the person responsible for the profanity. If you fail to provide it I will examine all options.
Interesting that you have accused me of losing my cool when it would appear that description more aptly describes your recent posts. Which suggests I am perhaps closer than you would like to exposing the culprit.
This is not an NRL Forum, its not the Footy Show. The homo erotic banter belongs there not here.
I enjoy a joke and have thick skin but even Gordon Ramsay has to have a look in the mirror occasionally. Man up, act swiftly and move on dear friend. Be consistent, have a policy,adhere to it.
The further you lower your standards the less credibility you have in maintaining “the brand”
Examine all options and disconnect your internet.
But I do agree with you on one point, Matt Kassulke, Gagger is a, “handjob”.
And homoerotic banter does belong here, haven’t you ever seen one of our caption competitions?
(Morty: “AAC i said you could play inside me, but this is rediculous….) that one was my fav.
‘The further you lower your standards the less credibility you have in maintaining “the brand”‘
As we now know this is coming from someone who would know, bwahaha not!
I’ve had enough of this bullshit.
K-Sulk: unless you’ve got something to say, rationally and positively about something to do with rugby then it’s sianara.
Guys – K-Sulk baiting gets deleted from now
PS – “other options”. Hehe :D
Gagger’s last blog post..Wallaby team vs Italy; first test
yeah, anyway, i like the rating cote.
Would have had TPN, Barnes and Valantine up a notch.
Think your ratings are good, but you need a scale as to what they mean.
Cos a 9.99 for me is a rugby changing performance.
Very harsh on Barnes and Turner. Too generous to Smith. Barnes’ tactical kicking was top notch, he made one or two clean breaks and put people into space with his passing. Did he make any errors?
Turner made several clean breaks as well and looked very dangerous every time he touched the ball. Despite not scoring any tries, I thought he looked better overall than Mitchell.
Smith did some good things but as someone else said, I want to see him stealing the ball. I don’t think he effected a single turnover, while Waugh got at least three.
You are on dangerous ground there…it is looking a lot like anti-Smith heresy.
BTW – I agree, on all points
Should I take that as a comprehensive unreserved aknowledgement and validation that my view as expressed is completely without a counter argument?
Fair enough Gagster we shall move on, back to rugby how come “Horwill and Barnes are given kudos with the phrase its amazing what they can do with good players around them. Its exactly what my persistent view was last week about QC.
Can we agree once and for all that we all look better going forward in winning teams.
We do all look better when in a winning team.
Barnes looked pretty good even on a losing team (QLD). Horwill did not. Cooper did not.
Juan Smith looked awesome on a losing team.
Maybe it is only the best players who look good despite their surroundings?
My God ! … You have issues boy.
If you can’t take a bit of a ribbing then you’d better move countries.. Coz if it doesn’t happen on this site – it’s gonna happen at work or at the whore house.. whatever it is you do.
Chill out,.. Suck it up, and let’s get back to the footy shall we?
Personally.. I agree with Bobas. You should.. ‘take it on the chin’..
I agree with bobas too, gagger is a handjob.
Care to explain Bobas?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OanRO9ptdY
wtf?
It does explain it with the info on the right of the vid.
It was just a uni assignment i put up three years ago. I got a HD for it.
Dont make me give everyone your redtube video GAGR matt. That vid explains how you got the nickname handjob from that tuchman guy.
By the way i am seeking legal advice to find out whose responsible for me being served. The internet police will be in your inbox soon GAGR Matt.
cool – bloody good effort for a uni assignment then, well done.
I can do without the redtube of a former prop getting any nicknames whatsoever if its all the same to you, though.
I’m suing you first.
What’s a “handjob” worth?
hehehe, i’d like to double your entendre.
“Should I take that as a comprehensive unreserved aknowledgement and validation that my view as expressed is completely without a counter argument?”
I think from now on we will.
I write on this blog because you get people agreeing, but more often disagreeing with you. If you don’t like to argue or hear others opinions than I suggest you spend a lot of time on your own and certainly away from mass media devices. No matter what, the cruel words of someone can’t really cut that deep. Honestly mate, get into the contest and stop complaining to the referee.
The ratings are a little high but when else will we get the chance to rate such a comprehensive victory?
I expected barnes to rate higher though, he was involved in most moves even though he didn’t finish anything.
He even went into fly half when qooper came on so he must have been doing something right.
What, ‘right’ as in better than Cooper? I thought G Smith was third choice 5/8th anyway…
I do agree that Barnes was pretty good though, certainly if we have a single clear edge over all our 3N opponents it is our 10-12-13 axis – maybe the best in the world?
Surely better than Ireland since Gits is better than O’Gara by enough to settle it, better than NZ unless, arguably, they get Carter McAlister/Kahui Nonu and then I would say Mortlock is far enough better than Nonu to score that for Australia, better than the Jarpies for sure.
I am still a bit woried about AAC at fullback. This is by far his best position but his kicking can go to shit easily, and that puts to much presure on those chasing. But he should be in the squad because he can cover so many positions. I would like to see him come off the bench.
you do realise you wrote this after he was named on the bench for the weekend?
Oops, No I did not,next time i will look before commenting. please dont be to harsh on me. But that still does not change the kicking problems he can produce.
Yeah good call, I like him more as a backup centre/wing. He’s good in FB but he only needs a couple of touches to make a mark on a game, so thanks to his efficiency/versatility and lack of kicking ability he’d always be on the bench or wing.