Wallabies versus Wales- SFS

[Alex]

Oh and one more thing- I thought Joubert was fine.

I tend to agree. I have some sympathy with the view that he has pre-conceived notions about the result of a game and the 50/50 calls seem to go one way (I'm sure Al Baxter and most of the French team would agree). Australia seemed to get the benefit of the doubt at the breakdown and Wales seemed to get the benefit of the doubt in the scrums - in particular the scrum and reset prior to the Welsh try both of which could very easily have resulted in penalties.

That said, like Barnes, Poite and a number of other fomer international refs that have been pushed aside like Mark Lawrence and Stu Dickenson, I think he at least views the laws as laws - unlike Bryce and Nigel seem to view them more as guidelines. The Welsh were consistently penalised for being offside at the breakdown - was that his fault or the Welsh blitz defence (or possibly the fault of last week's ref for letting the Welsh get away with it?). Provided he is consistent within a game (and preferably between games) then it is an even playing field and if the game turns into a constant stream of penalties, the players need to look at themselves as well.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

No problems with the referee.

Often found the referee is used as an excuse by the losing team. Just play better to take the referee out of the equation.

 

[Scotty]

Speaking of ball hogs, I think it was AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) who made a line break, then had 2 inside him in the open, but chose to take the ball into contact. Absolute horrible.

Yep. I mentioned that in another thread with the comment 'the abs would turn that opportunity into a try, but we get tackled 45m out from the line'.

Very poor.

 

[Paradox]

I'm sure Timani missed tackles and his defensive alignment was caught out at least once. If he's a test lock, they our stocks are bloody low.

 

[barbarian]

I'm sure Timani missed tackles and his defensive alignment was caught out at least once. If he's a test lock, they our stocks are bloody low.

Well according to ESPN scrum he didn't miss one. SMH will publish their tackle stats tomorrow, but it seems likely that at most he would have missed one or two, which is fairly standard for a tight five forward.

My point is the stats don't match your opinion of Timani. They say he had a good game and I tend to agree.
.

 

[Jiggles]

So I just rewatched the game. In short I can't understand all the negativity on here..

Really? All I see is Robbie Deans and his Wallabies haven't really learnt a thing from the World Cup.

The acceptance of mediocrity is alive and well in Australian Rugby!

 

[Paradox]

Thanks for the lecture on being one-eyed, Paradox. Your grasp of irony is superb, although the "Internet hero tough-guy" persona is pretty puerile.

As is the mod "I'm so impartial, reasonable, tolerant and all-knowing" persona. Internet tough guy , have I threatened you or something? Furthermore there can be no irony; there are no Brumbies bar McCabe in the starting XV and he nearly bled to death after 20 mins (the self-serving Brumby cvnt!) .

 

[barbarian]

Really? All I see is Robbie Deans and his Wallabies haven't really learnt a thing from the World Cup.

The acceptance of mediocrity is alive and well in Australian Rugby!

Mediocrity? We just beat the 6N champions 3-0!

They have actually learnt quite a bit from the RWC to my eye. Picking props in their correct position, lineout has improved, we are using the ball much better in the backs (especially considering we are without a few key playmakers), we look to have a bit more confidence to play with the ball in our own half.
.

 

[Paradox]

Well according to ESPN scrum he didn't miss one. SMH will publish their tackle stats tomorrow, but it seems likely that at most he would have missed one or two, which is fairly standard for a tight five forward.

My point is the stats don't match your opinion of Timani. They say he had a good game and I tend to agree.
.

Rugby stats has Timani down for 2 misses, 9 made, and 3 ruck/mauls. Furthermore, if we relied on stats, Timani and Horne wouldn't be Wallabies.

 

[Schadenfreude]

Rugby stats has Timani down for 2 misses, 9 made, and 3 ruck/mauls. Furthermore, if we relied on stats, Timani and Horne wouldn't be Wallabies.

I wouldn't have a problem with that...

 

[barbarian]

Rugby stats has Timani down for 2 misses, 9 made, and 3 ruck/mauls. Furthermore, if we relied on stats, Timani and Horne wouldn't be Wallabies.

True enough. But they are a good indicator of some things- defensive prowess is certainly one.

I am always skeptical of other stats like 'rucks and mauls' because the definitions of that are sketchy. Although I would love to see Scott Allen's 'involvement rate' become mainstream, because that was brilliant.

I thought Timani's work rate was fine, and I was watching him fairly closely on both occasions.
.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Be careful with reducing the wonderful art of Rugby to a simple stream of numbers. While useful they do not always tell the full story.

 

[Alex]

When the Championship rolls around the Australian centres will be lining up opposite the likes of Steyn/De Villiers and SBW/Nonu. We will need a centre pairing that cannot only stop them, but also stop the momentum that they create for their team. Look what happened to Ireland on the weekend when you don't make dominant tackles on the AB midfield. McCabe/Horne/Ant Finger mightn't be creating pretty tries but they will stop the hard runners on the advantage line and sometimes behind it. If we are to have a shot this year, holding the midfield is not negotiable. AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) or Barnes might pair with one of those three but don't expect anything else unless it is forced.

 

[Jiggles]

Titles are pretty irrelevant, to be honest. I think the Welsh team that came out was no where near as good as the team that won the 6N. I don't know why they were off their game, or really care, but I do care about how the Wallabies didn't ruthlessly put away an under performing side that did have a claim to be one of the better teams in World Rugby.

Picking props in the correct position shouldn't have to be something you 'learn,' and Deans still flirted with playing players out of position by having no specialist 2nd rowers in 2 tests. Dennis is a back row player, and a bloody good one at that.

I thought the back-line was woeful, to be honest. Basic skills, which I mentioned above, were non-existant. Horne, for example floored a very simple inside ball to Barnes looping around with an overlap on the outside. Simple passes like that, should go to hand. Those are the things the Wallabies should get right 100% of the time. Additionally Barnes still isn't getting his backline and forward runners aligned fast enough, you could throw a blanket over them at times as they meandered from ruck to ruck.

That Wales team should've been beaten by a lot more than what we beat them.

 

[barbarian]

Look it wasn't a performance for the ages, but I thought the basics were all pretty good. Our forwards had yet another good game and we secured our own ball well. Defence was pretty solid. Our issue was converting half-breaks into breaks and breaks into tries. But there is always something to work on.

But I'm tired of having to give a long list of reasons why I am happy after a Wallaby win quite frankly.
.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Barbar
Like your work. We won. They didn't.

We have professionals in charge of making sure that the relevant lessons are learned.

Will they learn them?

Not sure but the "professionals" are or should be, accountable to ensure that the lessons are learned.

 

[Jiggles]

Yeah fair enough. I don't see the same things being done that well, and I dont think we have enough to win the 4N, but I am happy to agree to disagree so I'll leave it at that.

 

[Athilnaur]

You have to laugh. The biggest criticism of the wallabies in recent years has been their inconsistency.

They shutdown Wales 3-0 and people are still bellyaching.

We won, the Welsh pushed us every which way, and we eked it out. The confidence our boys will take from that is precious metal.

Ath.

 

[Ignoto]

Titles are pretty irrelevant, to be honest. I think the Welsh team that came out was no where near as good as the team that won the 6N. I don't know why they were off their game, or really care, but I do care about how the Wallabies didn't ruthlessly put away an under performing side that did have a claim to be one of the better teams in World Rugby.

I thought the back-line was woeful, to be honest. Basic skills, which I mentioned above, were non-existant.

That back line we ran is vastly different to a fully fit backline that I would imagine will run out come TRC. The likes of JOC (James O'Connor), a game fit Kurtley, hopefully a fully fit Drew Mitchell, possibly Taps and maybe Cooper depending on what happens in the last month or so in the Super competition. Having those player back would add a completely new dimension to our game, especially width.

I can't tell where all this negativity is coming from, we played and beat a bloody good Welsh team that turned up on all three occasions! Compared to the Kiwis who only faced an Irish team that turned up to play one game. We finally closed out two games where in the past we would have lost them! Furthermore, we won three games in a row. Our execution didn't fluctuate too much, we played at a consistent level of about 80-85%. We made errors which the Welsh capitalized on and let them back in the game, but looking at them, most occurred through players not having too much game time with each other.

I'd much prefer to win the way we did than smashing the Irish twice like the All Blacks did. It's piss poor to watch a game where only one team is playing![/quote]

 

[Jiggles]

I'd much prefer to win the way we did than smashing the Irish twice like the All Blacks did. It's piss poor to watch a game where only one team is playing!

[/quote]

In 2 of those of those games, the All Blacks were near perfect, and thats where we need to be to win the 4Ns this year. Its not that the Irish didn't play, it's that the Irish couldn't play because the All Blacks completely dominated them in every facet of the game. They were ruthless. I am sure the games were very thrilling for All Blacks fans. I know I was very impressed and enjoyed watching the excellent execution of basic skills by the All Blacks, which was absent in the Wallabies v Wales series, despite cheering for the Irish.