Bledisloe 2 at Eden Park 18/10/20

[KOB1987]

The 2nd maul penalty against Hanigan was absolute bullshit.

Yep. 100%

 

[Up the Guts]

I didn't have much of an issue with the starting backrow BR. I certainly don't see how dropping Hooper for Wright is going to fix anything.

I don't think broad personnel changes are going to fix up much. This was the same old story for the Wallabies, squander the opportunities we had, concede points on counter to NZ. If we are better aligned in defence and force them to make their own play, I think they are turgid again as they were last week.

The changes I would make given the current squad are Samu into the 23 and Petaia starting. If MT is injured happy to either start Noah and shift JOC (James O'Connor) to 12 or play Simone at 12. Although, some of JOC (James O'Connor)'s defensive efforts worried me a bit today, he's usually committed but didn't get his shoulder on at crucial times. Perhaps Simone at 12 would be better in defence. The only real roll of the dice selection I'd have would be brining in Hosea.

Looking outside the current squad, if Naisarani was dropped purely on fitness and he's been running hills for weeks then I am happy to bring him straight into the side. 6. Wilson 7. Hooper 8. Isi. We can have Hanigan on the bench then as lineout coverage for 6/lock and have Hosea as backup lock.

 

[ACT Crusader]

For me it is more of a case that Eden Park gets a semi-regular spot i.e. every couple of years as the second fixture in the calendar as Rugby Australia wanted the first Bledisloe to be in Australia under an extended deal.

So no matter what happens in the first Test, the ABs have a week under their belts to revise and fine tune, knock off the rust etc.

Yes its home soil so they lift, but Wellington showed that even at home, their first game performance can look a little meh.

Wellington is a death pit for us. For some reason we haven’t been able to play well there. Our record sucks there. Burn the stadium I reckon.

 

[Dan54]

Wellington is a death pit for us. For some reason we haven’t been able to play well there. Our record sucks there. Burn the stadium I reckon.

Bring back Athletic Park?

 

[tragic]

Also why the fuck did we turn down 2 kickable penalties when the margin was no bigger than 8.

This is Test rugby ffs

Hooper does that a lot.
One big criticism of his captaincy.
The first one was a howler - we lost the line out and they scored in the next phases. 10 point turnaround and it was all downhill from there.

 

[Joe Blow]

Hanigan was fine. ISI not needed. Ill have to watch it again but its just the mindset that was missing this week. Too many missed tackles and coughed up pill. To'omua was a big loss. The defensive line went to crap when he left.

For attack
10. Lolesio 12. JOC (James O'Connor). 13.Petaia.

But what about defence?

 

[Derpus]

Simone

 

[Dctarget]

The thing that buoys me after the first two games is the new boys aren't the reason we're losing. We've got definite talent coming through that's improving our team. Fullback and IC remain the biggest question marks. But Wilson looks ready to go, as does Petaia. Philip is decent and Daugunu looks assured.

Give Rennie time, for a two match tour of NZ it's not awful.

 

[Pfitzy]

The 2nd maul penalty against Hanigan was absolute bullshit.

Agreed - I thought he was through the middle as the ABs got a bit loose, but it was AFG so expect that.

 

[Pfitzy]

Haha mate I should change my avatar to Rex Hunt - I don’t think I’ve had anyone hook on that hard ever on these forums.

Woo up.

Well played.

I guess I'm just so accustomed to Queensland fans being humourless fluffybunnys that I didn't pick up on it.

 

[Pfitzy]

If you guys did not slip to many tackles this was a different game. You cant drop that many tackles and build pressure at the same time. You are playing catch up.

ABs missed 20 while we missed just over 40. Certainly not easy to play from there tho we were tight in it at halftime - 40 minute game from us, really.

Was expecting us to get within 10 points but Koroibete having a mare and BPA's brain farting out pure methane a metre from the line put paid to that.

I thought you were found out on the last pass outside time and time again and drifted too much in defense. Seemed like in the first the line was up aa lot quicker. It was confusing. Different shape to last week.

ABs reverted to their standard defensive pattern: fan out, attack the ruck only when identified as isolated (could hear it thru the ref's mike) and then converge. We simply didn't compress their defensive line enough to attack out the back like we did last week.

The quandary: why didn't we pick n go in the closer channels? Was it that White wasn't sniping in close because it wasn't on? Or was it deliberate to go to the second channel and edges and see how the AB defence would react?

Rennie strikes me as a smart bloke, and while he won't be happy to lose like that (fail to execute), he will have learned a lot about Foster's team for Sydney, as well as the guys in his own care.

I'm not saying its five-dimensional chess, but have we seen Rennie lose a battle to win the war?

 

[TSR]

I thought the conditions helped us in the first and worked against us in the second.

We got great pay off Nic White’s kicks in the first game with the wind making them a nightmare for the ABs back three.

But on a fast, dry track and with the inclusion of Barrett & Clark the ABs were able to up the tempo by several notches and we couldn’t go with them. We were constantly trying to tackle out of position or on the back foot. Still would’ve been interesting if a couple of extra passes stuck, BPA didn’t blow that chance and Koriobete hadn’t had an absolute mare, but ABs stretched us until we broke. It’s hard not to be disappointed- but I don’t think the game provides any conclusive evidence of the future potential of either individual players or strategy. I want us to play upbeat and offload - but it is a fine line and we were wasteful today.

 

[Derpus]

What i wanna know is was the decision to try and run it from the 22 right after half time DRs idea, or a regular brain snap.

 

[Silverado]

Woah easy there chief! A good run and a turnover, bookending two stupid penalties back to back inside our territory at maul. Yeesh.

I honestly was expecting us to put pressure on their lineout with four genuine options, but we never really did.


Was a very Cheikaball performance in the back end of the game for mine - just chuck it wide and hope. Loss of To'omua may not have helped that, but we didn't look near as fit as last week and the decision making was slightly worse

And made 17 tackles

 

[Pfitzy]

And made 17 tackles

I thought his positives outweighed his negatives, but those 2 negatives (despite one being questionable) were in the red zone and gave the ABs easy options for points.

Where oh where are the forwards with a couple of brain cells?

I was surprised Angus never pinged LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto) for wrapping the receiver in the air tho. That was pretty bloody obvious.

 

[formerflanker]

Banks was sound under the high ball.
JOC (James O'Connor) doesn't seem to have enough speed off the mark to stay 5/8 in the long term. Solid in all other aspects of his play except for the invitation to Clarke to run 50 meters. (Nice to see Clarke's dad having the time of his life in the stands)
Tackling was our Achilles heel. Lots of shoulder contact in the missed tackles though. That may mean an increased intensity by AB ball carriers which we didn't respond to early in the game, or a new dropped body height technique.
Up to the coaches now - I think the players are going OK.

 

[Up the Guts]

Banks was sound under the high ball.
JOC (James O'Connor) doesn't seem to have enough speed off the mark to stay 5/8 in the long term. Solid in all other aspects of his play except for the invitation to Clarke to run 50 meters. (Nice to see Clarke's dad having the time of his life in the stands)
Tackling was our Achilles heel. Lots of shoulder contact in the missed tackles though. That may mean an increased intensity by AB ball carriers which we didn't respond to early in the game, or a new dropped body height technique.
Up to the coaches now - I think the players are going OK.

The tackling is an aggression vs technique breakdown. Lot of desire to put a big shot on but failure to wrap the arms and complete the tackle. Harry Wilson showed perfectly how to put a shot when he ate Beauden Barrett twice after he had just kicked the ball.

The desire was there but lacking in execution.

 

[formerflanker]

The desire was there but lacking in execution.

That tells me our defensive systems work pretty well in making sure there are people in position to make the hit.
Certainly a better scenario than Grey's 4-D chess manoeuvring.

 

[Viking]

OK. The first error was Rennie making four changes to a side that had exceeded expectations instead of retaining a consistent side with a bit of reward for their efforts last week. I said before the game, it would prove Rennie to be a genius if the Wallabies won, or a visionary if they were close again, or having a Cheika moment if they lost large. I think he had his Cheika moment.

There will be changes next game, because we can't go again with a team that lost so decisively.

The questions that need to be answered for next game, are:

(i) the best use of the front row which is arguably better than the AB counterparts. BPA, Uelese and FF (Folau Fainga'a) are all pretty much on equal footing, and all have problems. For harmony sake, FF (Folau Fainga'a) should have been persisted with after the first test draw. Throwing is a coaching issue and it is the lineout coach failing if he can't get the hookers and jumpers working in tandom. I also reiterate my belief that Tupou and Ala'alatoa need to swap their time on the ground. AAA on for the first half, and TT on at half time.

(ii) the balance of the backrow. We still cannot get a proper balance of lineout capability and hard work at the breakdown while Michael Hooper plays 7. It has been a real problem for about 6 years now, and the time is right to make a change. Wilson had one of the stronger games in test 2 and has to be retained. I would keep him at 8 with Samu coming into 6 and Wright in 7. I would probably prefer McReight at 7 but we need Wright for his lineout work. Hanigan was better than previously but still had a couple too many poor involvements; needs to be on the bench as lock/6 cover.

(iii) lack of penetration in the halves/midfield. JOC (James O'Connor) was found out at 10 today. Could argue that he needs someone like To'omua next to him, but there has been a distinct lack of penetration through the 10/12 area in both tests and that is not just because MT left the field today. I am hesitant to suggest throwing Lolesio in against the ABs in his first test, but the other alternative might be to bring Simone into 12, especially if MT doesn't recover. Either one of Lolesio or Simone would add some attacking flair to our backline plays.

(iv) poor skills and lack of variety on the wings. Koroibete had a nightmare game with his poor handling today, and others have suggested he might not really be a rugby player rather than a League winger. Daugunu missed so many tackles and was out of position in defense so often that I'm sure the stats man won't have been able to count as high as would be necessary. At this time, I would persist with Daugunu but switch him to 11 and bring Tom Wright into 14. Much better variety and much better support for the No 15, whoever that might be.

(v) the makeup of the bench. The bench should be players capable of taking the game by the scruff of the neck, and be able to threaten the opposition. This is not Rob Simmons and maybe not either of Jake Gordon or Reece Hodge.

There is now 13 days to the next Bledisloe. I assume the team, and the ABs for that matter, are able to fly back to Sydney without any need for further quarantining. Similarly, I assume some extra domestic players would be available to join the squad without the need to quarantine. If that is the case, Rennie needs to look seriously at bringing in a few of his questionable omissions. Neville would be an excellent swap for Rob Simmons as he runs a lineout just as effectively and provides a whole lot more around the ground. Rodda would be another good option if he's in the country, or perhaps Blyth who I think missed the squad originally. And in any case, RS is off overseas at the end of the year. Better to get the next group of potential Wallabies up and running now than to persist with a player in his twilight who is shooting through imminently anyway. Others who could add positively to the squad include Isi Naisarani and Jack Dempsey.

You lost me at Wright for Hooper. Especially after this match. Despite a turnover Wright looked out of place at Test level.

 

[Viking]

Next match:

Samu for Wright - easy decision
Tate for Gordon - Gordon hasn't done much, least Tate has the ability to score a try or add some spark if needed.
Hanigan - I think his positives outweighed his penalties. I'd stick with him.
Petaia - needs to start

Banks - Swap for DHP if fit. Easy choice there. Banks has nothing in attack but solid everywhere else despite a game with a few dropped balls. Hodge boot is the only thing he has and doesn't offer anything extra around the park IMO (and his boot is still only a 50/50 at best). Maddocks I feel would have got destroyed this game. JOC (James O'Connor) at 15 is a risk under the high ball and needed at 10.