Wallabies vs Ireland - 3rd test - Saturday 23rd June 2018 - Sydney Football Stadium

[Braveheart81]

This series is definitely far more important to win for the Wallabies and Cheika than it is for Ireland.

Ireland could leave with 1 win and a bunch of more experienced players and claim it a success.

A loss in the third game will be a big failure for the Wallabies even if they decided to blood a bunch more new players (which they won't).

 

[K974]

I know K974 will say 'I told you so', but I still don't see how losing the series and winning one tight game against a team that didn't play very well 'proves a point'.

https://www.rugby.com.au/news/2018/06/19/wallabies-ireland-easterby-stander

There is a view our 1st XV beat your 1st XV at home , point proven . Our 2nd xv vs your 1st is a miss match we don't expect to win but if we meet in World Cup it'll be 1st vs 1st and that The balance of the time should be spent blooding players .


I've posted before that in rwc 15 in last pool game we lost paul o connell , Peter o Mahoney , sean o brien , Johnny sexton and Tommy bowe , all lions . Argentina the cleaned us out after lack of depth was exposed and the IRFU have publicly stated their is a policy to build depth

I've also posted about the length of European season and likes of murray sexton playing non stop since sept 16


Personally I'm torn and to be honest I think we should go after the series and field our best 23, I also think if we don't there is a bit of disrespect if we don't field our first team , by winning Throws down a statement winning away in Southern Hemisphere . England did it pre rwc

I'm not suggesting for a min ireland a rwc winning side but if they have ideas to be , they should ver winning a series in the SH

I think they'll try and balance it and go with a 1.5 team , if it works it'll give huge confidence to the great squad players

Despite some recent issues australia are a series side and will be there or there abouts in the rwc, they have rwc pedigree
We want to have that marker down if we meet in Japan

Another factor is the game time guys have racked up because of the lions tour , the European season is different way too much game time . Some of them are wrecked now .

 

[KOB1987]

OK then fair enough - kind of!

 

[Gnostic]

This series is definitely far more important to win for the Wallabies and Cheika than it is for Ireland.



Ireland could leave with 1 win and a bunch of more experienced players and claim it a success.



A loss in the third game will be a big failure for the Wallabies even if they decided to blood a bunch more new players (which they won't).

I would suggest a series loss for the Wallabies will be critical for Chieka, even though there is no successor on the horizon (no matter what they say about Larkham). He is rapidly losing the faith of the fan base and I would suspect some players as well. The manner of the loses to the Poms last year and the total failure of the EOYT makes a winning series IMO vital, though I suspected far worse performances than we have actually seen on the form of the Australian Super sides and last years form.

I have been very happily surprised by the performance of the Wallabies in most aspects, with the glaring exception of kicking from hand. So whilst a series loss is a huge mark against the coaching staff, it is tempered somewhat by the great improved performance.

 

[liquor box]

I would suggest a series loss for the Wallabies will be critical for Chieka, even though there is no successor on the horizon (no matter what they say about Larkham). He is rapidly losing the faith of the fan base and I would suspect some players as well. The manner of the loses to the Poms last year and the total failure of the EOYT makes a winning series IMO vital, though I suspected far worse performances than we have actually seen on the form of the Australian Super sides and last years form.

I have been very happily surprised by the performance of the Wallabies in most aspects, with the glaring exception of kicking from hand. So whilst a series loss is a huge mark against the coaching staff, it is tempered somewhat by the great improved performance.

I am happy with the piggies, with the exception of my normal gripe, 6 and 7 need to get their shoulder under the arse of the props and secure the scrum before becoming a meer cat. I dont know if Timu has had any training at 6 or 7 but his should was regularly on top of the prop and providing no assistance.

As for the backs we have a reliance on individual brilliance to create points. We only win IF Kurtley or Israel have blinders. Our game plan seems reliant on intercepts or capitalising on dropped ball being scooped up.

Dont get me wrong, this can win a world cup against the darkness but the issue is it wont win successive games against good opponents to get to the final.

We need more structure if we are to compete every week against good teams. If we want to win more than we lose we need to play smarter rugby, and not necessarily entertaining rugby, there is a time and place for everything and sometimes you just need to win a 9-7 and other weeks you may put 50 on the board.

We seem to try to play as if we are aiming for 50 points every game rather than securing the win.

I think in week one most wallabies supporters thought we were exceptional but forgot that Ireland were depleted.

In week two we saw a true contest between two even teams.

This week has the potential of being the best matched great deciding game seen in Australia for a long time. I am so excited for this week, shame I am at work until 2am.

 

[KOB1987]

I would suggest a series loss for the Wallabies will be critical for Chieka, even though there is no successor on the horizon (no matter what they say about Larkham). He is rapidly losing the faith of the fan base and I would suspect some players as well. The manner of the loses to the Poms last year and the total failure of the EOYT makes a winning series IMO vital, though I suspected far worse performances than we have actually seen on the form of the Australian Super sides and last years form.
.

That all being the case, why would Ireland not want to try to drive the proverbial nail in the coffin as far as possible?

And are you really that sure Cheika is ‘rapidly losing the faith of the fan base’? He’s not everyone’s favorite but that sounds like a fair bit of overreach.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[K974]

david nucifora has been a big reason for the turnaround in Irish rugby fortunes ,
Given week that's in it, this might be Interesting article here from an Australian perspective to some people on here

http://the42.ie/4078273

 

[Jerry West]

Timu actually played the entire first half of Test 2 with a busted ankle after his first linebreak carry in the game. Availabiltiy is questionable this week, it is touch and go. I’d expect Chieka to make some changes for this game;

1. Sio
2. Latu
3. Kepu
4. Rodda
5. Coleman
6. Tui
7. Hooper
8. Pocock
9. Phipps
10. Foley
11. Koroibete
12. Beale
13. Kerevi
14. DHP
15. Folau

16. Fainga'a
17. Robertson
18. Tupou
19. Simmons
20. Timu (Hanigan)
21. Samu
22. Powell
23. Hodge

 

[Joe Blow]

Timu missed the tackle on Furlong. That was his man and he didn't even make an attempt and the big man strolled right through inches from him. The ankle perhaps? He also missed one or two other crucial tackles.
Kerevi twice threw speculators off the ground in our half when we were under pressure. One was after the charge down and the other when he was tackled. Both times the pressure was transferred and increased.
It would be nice to have Hodge on the paddock for touch finders and long range penalties.
Once again, Rodda was good last week but I'm guessing Arnold is chomping at the bit.

 

[TSR]

Timu actually played the entire first half of Test 2 with a busted ankle after his first linebreak carry in the game. Availabiltiy is questionable this week, it is touch and go. I’d expect Chieka to make some changes for this game;

1. Sio
2. Latu
3. Kepu
4. Rodda
5. Coleman
6. Tui
7. Hooper
8. Pocock
9. Phipps
10. Foley
11. Koroibete
12. Beale
13. Kerevi
14. DHP
15. Folau

16. Fainga'a
17. Robertson
18. Tupou
19. Simmons
20. Timu (Hanigan)
21. Samu
22. Powell
23. Hodge

Do we know the extent of Coleman’s injury? I expected that he would be out for sure, but that doesn’t seem to be the consensus.

 

[KOB1987]

Do we know the extent of Coleman’s injury? I expected that he would be out for sure, but that doesn’t seem to be the consensus.

Cleared of a facial fracture and he's available. But there's still some doubt over him apparently.

 

[Brumby Runner]

Going through the HIA protocols to establish his fitness for the weekend. Coleman, himself, says it's just a bruise.

 

[wamberal]

No point playing him unless he is 110%. On the other hand, no point in telling the world what the team is until the deadline.


Personally, I hope he has a rest. It looked pretty awful to me.

 

[Tomikin]

It's a 'spontaneous on-the-fly' system that IMO is riddled with eccentricities arising from the fact that it is heavily weighted to the most recent attained Test results, can change significantly just on one latest global Test Round, does not routinely reward consistency of elite results over defined time periods (as many global team or player ranking systems do and are intended to do).

I get that you personally like it as a system, I believe it is seriously flawed in what it is supposed to do and just as importantly as to what most people would understand global elite team ranking systems are there for.

A mere example: just today, Wales has moved to #3 in the world ahead of Australia and whereby Australia has more or less thrashed Wales home and away for years now. Can we say that Wales has in recent periods been consistently beating better teams than Australia and when Australia beat the ABs last October and Ireland just this month? England has had a (relative to many) outstanding w-l% over post RWC period yet it today is ranked 6th in the world vs Wales at 3rd.

And depending upon how you want to weight this WR (World Rugby) rankings system's scales, there is a material difference between the teams below NZ, eg Scotland is on 81.83 points today, Wales is on 85.94; England is now on 84.35 and Ireland on 89.20.

Lets get back to the point, you called us Tier 2 .. we aren't we are in the top 1 to 8 teams in the world. Tier 1 all day, Fiji is tier 2 .. we aren't bad.

 

[RedsHappy]

RWC pools are already chosen, who gives a fuck about the IRB rankings?

Completely agree - I commented on the WR (World Rugby) rankings principally as they are routinely quoted here and in the media as though some sacrosanct reality to be continuously focussed upon and, as I've argued above, IMO they can be and often are highly misleading and further often change materially on on just one weekend/one game.

 

[Derpus]

Completely agree - I commented on the WR (World Rugby) rankings principally as they are routinely quoted here and in the media as though some sacrosanct reality to be continuously focussed upon and, as I've argued above, IMO they can be and often are highly misleading and further often change materially on on just one weekend/one game.

Bit of a straw man argument really. How many here think the rankings are sacrosanct? I think everyone just uses it as the rough guide that it's intended to be.

 

[formerflanker]

I am happy with the piggies, with the exception of my normal gripe, 6 and 7 need to get their shoulder under the arse of the props and secure the scrum before becoming a meer cat. I dont know if Timu has had any training at 6 or 7 but his should was regularly on top of the prop and providing no assistance.

This week has the potential of being the best matched great deciding game seen in Australia for a long time. I am so excited for this week, shame I am at work until 2am.

Additionally, Pocock seemed to be watching the ref during the "crouch-bind-set" call and thus was a fraction behind when the hit occurred.
I'm sure Hooper's early days of meercatting are over. He seems to be well bound for the hit and first shove these days.

Agree about the excitement building for a cracker of a match. Which we will win.

 

[Joe Blow]

Bit of a straw man argument really. How many here think the rankings are sacrosanct? I think everyone just uses it as the rough guide that it's intended to be.

Unless of course you find yourself at numero uno.

 

[Rebels3]

Rugby is a simple game so the equation this week for us is, we need to tackle 10% harder, run 10% harder, make better decisions and kick out of hand better and we win. Although easier said than done.

There is no point talking about the scrum, which by and large has been pretty good
The line out last week was pretty solid
Players have been making tackles and scrambling well.

Only difference from week 1 to 2 was the contact zone (getting over the ad line or stopping them getting over it) and decision making. Knock the guys back like they did in the first test and we can see what Pocock can do with the Irish players having to take a step back to clear out the players or Pocock not having to do the same for us. Get over the gain line and support players job is so much easier.

Its just all about doing it with more impact and minimsing opportunities for them through silly penalties, pushed passes in the wrong part of the field and taking the points when they are on offer

Last week we were about a 5/10 and Ireland were a 7/10, problem is Ireland are constantly 7-8/10, so if we can raise our level a little bit the home ground advantage should see us snatch it.

Id personally like to see Timu on the bench for some added impact, get some tired Irish players on the pitch so he can have a little bit more space to wind up some of those damaging runs.

If we can match their impact we will win by 8-11, if not Ireland by 5-8

 

[Derpus]

Rugby is a simple game so the equation this week for us is, we need to tackle 10% harder, run 10% harder, make better decisions and kick out of hand better and we win. Although easier said than done.

There is no point talking about the scrum, which by and large has been pretty good
The line out last week was pretty solid
Players have been making tackles and scrambling well.

Only difference from week 1 to 2 was the contact zone (getting over the ad line or stopping them getting over it) and decision making. Knock the guys back like they did in the first test and we can see what Pocock can do with the Irish players having to take a step back to clear out the players or Pocock not having to do the same for us. Get over the gain line and support players job is so much easier.

Its just all about doing it with more impact and minimsing opportunities for them through silly penalties, pushed passes in the wrong part of the field and taking the points when they are on offer

Last week we were about a 5/10 and Ireland were a 7/10, problem is Ireland are constantly 7-8/10, so if we can raise our level a little bit the home ground advantage should see us snatch it.

Id personally like to see Timu on the bench for some added impact, get some tired Irish players on the pitch so he can have a little bit more space to wind up some of those damaging runs.

If we can match their impact we will win by 8-11, if not Ireland by 5-8

Pretty much sums it up. I think we also need to be more disciplined, but again i think this flows from momentum at the breakdown.