Argentina v Australia, Mendoza 4/10/14

[Iñaki Zubizarreta]

Right...

They have played in the championship 15 times and took the wooden spoon 10 times.

Argentina will get there, indeed they have been unlucky not to defeat SA twice this year, and the Wallabies once. But for the bounce of the ball and some rub of the green they could have finished second. To use my example when has Italy ever looked likely to to finish above 5th in the 6N, and they DO belong in that competition.

Just a funny info for those who talked about Italy. Their captain, Parisse, is Argie like Castrogiovanni, Canale, Orquera, Canavosio, Gonzalo García, Dellapé and Fernández Rouyet (the last guy just played a few caps). And the italian historical top scorer, Diego Domínguez, argentine too.

Just saying.. Italy and Argentina have different situations, despite being the tournament cinderella. We're playing against Aus, SA and NZ (2 world cups each one, just England for the old continent). We have rugby tradition and we want to improve the game with the best teams, of course.

 

[barbarian]

Depressing game after last night's sublime rugby. We are a very distant third, realistically 4th after England.

I'm not sure how we are a 'distant' 3rd after beating SA at home and being in the game for 78 minutes away.
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[PiXeL_Ninja]

Whilst that is true, not winning a game for 3 years in the competition does put some doubt about whether they belong.

This is Gold. I think it is sig-worthy,! Time to append the gold!

 

[KOB1987]

I think AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) was our most bolted-down back in 2008, personally.

and has been almost ever since..saying he didn't disgrace himself at 15 was underselling him by a pretty big fraction I admit..'extremely reliable' would have been a better descriptor..

 

[qwerty51]

This is Gold. I think it is sig-worthy, same Oz poster as my current sig too! Time to append the gold!

Why? I think people misinterpreted me or something.

 

[barbarian]

The more I think about this game the more I am willing to put it down to a combination of our fatigue and the Argies being up for it....... aka 'one of those days'. The Bok game flattened us, then a long flight with luggage and personnel drama made it worse.

I demand a good performance in Brisbane though. If they can't produce that then I think the knives will really come out.
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[Train Without a Station]

Anthilaur you are absolutely off you're head if you think Pocock is our best possible captain. It's a matter of opinion which is a better 7 but Pocock has had a crack at being test captain and was arguably worse than Hooper. In that game he was supported by Genia and Moore.

 

[Viking]

Gee I see a lot of criticism toward To'omua and his lack of effect in attack and play making. Most of it justified.

BUT what about Foley?

He hasn't done much better and he is the chief play-maker after all. Not sure why the 12 is being crucified but the 10 who should be doing most of the play-making is okay. If our back-line isn't flowing I would say the first person to look at is the 10.

I'm not saying it's totally Foley's fault To'omua isn't firing, but he is partly to blame. I think the combination of Foley and To'omua just isn't working. Both are to blame.

Solution? No idea. Wait for Cooper to come back, if you call that a solution.

 

[Athilnaur]

I'm not sure how we are a 'distant' 3rd after beating SA at home and being in the game for 78 minutes away.
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Today's performance, like the Eden Park one, was execrable. And 78 mins is brinksmanship on your part, and pretty shamelessly so at that Barbar.


Our best game, I agree, was the one where we held the Boks out for 70 but lost.

If you spend 70 minutes desperately trying to stem the tide because you don't have the game in you to turn the tables, yes you are going to get run over by the team who has dictated terms.


Nevertheless if you think we are close to the Boks, more power you. It isn't a view I share. I think we could be, every bit as good, but we have a boatload of soulsearching to achieve it I believe.

 

[barbarian]

You forget SA nearly got done by the Argies twice!

The Boks always get up for the home test against the Kiwis. And if they played like that against us then they would win. But they very often don't, and so we are always in the game.

If it came down to a RWC semi in the UK I would feel like we would have a real shot. We wouldn't be favourites, sure, but I'd be semi-confident of victory.
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[Athilnaur]

Anthilaur you are absolutely off you're head if you think Pocock is our best possible captain. It's a matter of opinion which is a better 7 but Pocock has had a crack at being test captain and was arguably worse than Hooper. In that game he was supported by Genia and Moore.

You could be right, he certainly made the same mistakes. But its my belief his character and patience give him the edge.

That said I rate Horwill and would love to see him continue his improvement back to the levels of 10-11. I am hoping he has mastered some of the emotion that clearly got to him in 13. Has it in him to be one of our best.

 

[I like to watch]

Anthilaur you are absolutely off you're head if you think Pocock is our best possible captain. It's a matter of opinion which is a better 7 but Pocock has had a crack at being test captain and was arguably worse than Hooper. In that game he was supported by Genia and Moore.

Remember the critiques of Pococks captaincy after the Scotland Test?

 

[Hell West & Crooked]

Here we go again. "It's all the ref's fault that we lost". Frogs droppings.

Getting sick of this default blaming the Ref for poor wobs performances. Making you (us) all sound like worse than the bloody Soap Dodging Poms, and it is not a good look.

i agree - its very English.

Australia's problems with referees - particularly against ABs result from the fact that the referees do not give our blokes the benefit of the doubt - the reason for THAT is we have not payed 'smart' in the past 10 years - and refuse to learn.

 

[Train Without a Station]

Remember the critiques of Pococks captaincy after the Scotland Test?

The longer he is out for, the greater the legend becomes.

 

[Aussie D]

I thought To'omua was better today than he has been, didn't see any crappy kicks down the fullback's throat. Defence was good and he distributed reasonably well when it was on. What more was he expected to do? On the other hand I have seen plenty of love for Higgers who I thought was rather average in the 8 role. He spent all his time playing peek-a-boo at scrum-time (which isn't advisable when everyone knows the Argies love to employ an 8-man shove at every opportunity) and anonymous, apart from the try, around the field. Maybe I need to re-watch the game. though he wasn't alone in that regard.

The good news I felt coming out of the RC for the Wallabies is that our defence seems to have come good, the bad news is it needs to be as we can't seem to retain possession in order to build pressure. I doubt we can win a world cup with 45% possession (or less).

 

[Train Without a Station]

For what it's worth, I thought To'omua was great. Straightened, engaged the line, committed defenders before passing, defended well.

 

[barbarian]

To'omua only played about 20 minutes, though, so it's hard to judge his game.

 

[qwerty51]

The longer he is out for, the greater the legend becomes.

Hasn't played for 2 and half years and people still think he's the best openside in Australia.

 

[Highlander35]

Higgers was ok. Didn't miss any tackles, rescued the ball at a couple of scrums, took the ball into contact when required. Not poor by any means, but yes a bit anonymous.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

The longer he is out for, the greater the legend becomes.

John McEnroe: "the older I get the better I was"