2nd half:
Takes 24 seconds for White to put in a great little grubber and gain 15m. Bearing in mind we're running into a howling gale, grubbers are the way to go here.
Excellent take of a high ball from Beiber, sliding along his back.
42:mins, Simmons gets penalised for tackling the jumper in the air, the fucking idiot. Next lineout the Argies maul forward and is eventually sacked by Alexander who intelligently gets onto the ball and doesn't roll away when it goes down, as it's a maul.
The scrums begin: 45mins.
Slipper gets done, and Argies go for the corner. Sio on for Slipper.
Argie maul is sacked by Mowen, through the middle, who latches onto the ball and takes it down. New scrum. Wallabies go early in the engagement.
Next scrum, Argie loosehead drive straight through Alexander and Moore. Reset collapses. Next one, we make a solid hit and stay tight, Hold the pressure and then wheel like, like NZ do to us. Hooper makes his tackle and Beiber hits the ruck.
Forwards start to flood the breakdown and smash every pick and drive, and eventually we win the penalty.
That was EXCELLENTLY handled, IMO. We conceded no points, defended really aggressively, and the scrum held together reasonably well, bar one.
White takes the kick and shoves it 35m upfield into the gale.
50:00 - Douglas off, Timani. Thought Douglas had a good game, actually. Simmons is the one who's been shit, Douglas I thought has tackled well, carried well and had a pretty good workrate.
White wins another kicking battle against Hernandez.
Timani takes a hit up. A little bit of a lumbering tank style hit up, but has similar momentum and makes a few metres. Ball spits out the back and White rushes a kick over the top which goes sideways.
Cummins takes a great take, hits Folau in midfield who charges forward and makes about 15m. White with a bullt from the deck, 2m in front of Timani to get the sasquatch moving, and he takes the pass at full speed and crunches some poor bastard. Hooper and Cooper clean out, Cooper not very accurately and goes off his feet leaving the ball exposed, which the Pumas get their hands on before White does. (@52:30)
Simmons attempts to take a high ball and butchers it, then flails about like a newborn deer trying to recover it and knocks it on. He's been the standout worst player on the park.
53:20 the scrum is just monstered backwards. We hold together, but it's just driven backwards about 10m and Alexander eventually pops out the top of it, penalty to Pumas.
55:15 - Timani makes a big hit centre field. Comes out of the oien and smashes the ball receiver. We need THIS v NZ and the Boks, not passive defense where we just let them come to us.
And (like i've been saying for 4 years), the big hit inspires the other players as Cummins then does the same thing and hammers the Puma winger. We win a turnover from the hit, White's box kick is charged down but he reacts instantly and recovers posession, then stays on his feet in the tackle for long enough and allows support to get back and secure the ball, in the form of Cummins, Moore and Folau. Fardy gets done off the pick and drive for supporting his weight with his hands, not legs.
58:32 - Scrum, very solid from Wallabies. Couple of phases later, Timani makes another great hit in tight that stops, then drives backwards, the Puma picking and driving. Few more phases, Lealiifano and Mowen team up for a great hit and force a knock on.
59:39, Kepu waddles onto the field to replace Alexander. White gets penalised for a crooked feed, but first scrum up and Kepu gets bent in half. Sanchez takes points @ 60:45.
62:45 - 22 drop out from Cooper. Puma's work thir way upfield until a halfbreak and overlap put them 5m out. Kepu's technique is still shit, he grabs his man, swings around the otherside and then tries to pull them over. USE YOUR FUCKING SHOULDERS YOU LAZY fluffybunny, HIT THEM!!!!
Contepomi uses a nice little play to take Lealiifano out of the defensive line and create the try.
14-13.
To'omua, Fainga'a on, 65:00.
First throw is dead straight but read by the Puma pack and turned over. To'omua's 2nd touch is to make 35m with a low angle half grubber into the corner. Berrick Barnes, take note!
Folau kicks into teh corner, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) charges down and we flood the breakdown. Puma's retain posession. Timani's workrate isn't fantastic, but what he's doing is making every input count. Each tackle is a big hit, each run he's making metres, and his cleanouts are good.
Fainga'a makes a grass cutter, Fardy takes advantage of it an wins a penalty. Sharpie pipes up and highlights exactly that point, and one i've been making for 4 years on here. Lealiifano's kick is blown wide of the posts.
Argies start doing their best to pin Australia in their half, but up against it with White, To'omua out there. Folau takes the mark and puts it ou just inside Puma territory.
71:30 Kepu and Mowen make a tackle and drive their man back, Fainga'a flies into the ruck and we win a penalty. White kicks in 35m into the gale, and Fardy is replaced by McCalman. We work our way across field with some good pick and drives, and backline hit ups, until Kepu has a go and loses it. Manages to fling it backwards for White to clean up. Gives it to Lealiifano who steps the first defender, takes it forward and passes in the tackle to Mowen, who drives forward a few metres and goes down, and the first man into the ruck is Lealiifano, having been tackled less than3 seconds before. That is the hunger and desperation I want to see from our players.
To'omua makes the worlds worst drop goal attempt, and the Puma's take the 22 drop out. To'omua fields it, puts it up for Beiber to chase, and we're back into Puma territory with 5 to go.
Puma knock on.
In atrocious conditions, the handling has been remarkably good, only 8/7 Aus/Arg.
Scrum: Kepu gets his head shoved up his arse again, preventing Fainga'a from striking. We finally have a rock solid scrum, and we win a penalty off a breakdown and Lealiifano has a shot. Misses.
Puma's bottle it at the death and throw it crookedly.
Game ends.
I thought we played really well in the 2nd half. Our kicking was good, our defence really solid as well.
Like the first half, some more accuracy at the cleanout and cohesion in our forward play and we'll suddenly have the platform to launch the backs from. I can see big improvements in this game from the last two.
Fardy, White and Lealiifano were all fantastic, Simmons was about the only player who I thought wasn't worth the jersey. Even Kepu didn't stink the place up too much.
Good captaincy from Mowen too, I thought we took the right options at all the right times.
Edit: His interview at the end of the game as well was really eloquent and intelligent, he really pointed out what was going on and didn't just waffle on al la Genia.
