The Wallabies were completely out played especially in the crucial areas of test rugby - set piece and the kicking game. Australia will not win a world cup with Foley at 10. His long kick is a pitching wedge at best and he continually kicks the ball down the opposition back 3s throats. Where was the short kicking game? Generally a good option against rushing defence to put them in two minds. I also have question marks over his ability to manage a game at test level when the pressure is on. After the Bledisloe in Brisbane every man and his dog attacked Nic White for his box kick. But if you watch the game closely over again he gets no direction from Foley and the Wallabies attack shutdown and tightened up which is asking for trouble against the ABs defence when they are chasing a game. In Brisbane when did the Wallabies have success? When they played with width to their big men in TK and Israel. All of a sudden the game was on the line and what does Foley do, he goes missing. IMO the Tahs gameplan will not work in test rugby and that is what Cheika is trying to do - play a tahs game in yellow jerseys. All we are doing is playing the game between the 15m lines (unless we go wide initially) which makes life very easy for the defence. In multi-phase the forwards at times look lost and this is leading to turnovers. Why are we not simply exhausting the opposition defence? Then play off a sideline with the option to then hit back a shortside??? We are also persisting with playing out the back to try and get on the outside of the opposition rushing defence. Go through the middle of them (as Horne did) with options off First Receivers hip both inside and outside. Who generally defends these channels? Tight forwards!! Can the English T5 scrimmage? Certainly. Do they move well laterally in defence? No. Can they be exposed when under fatigue? 100%.
The main issues with the scrum is that guys like Hooper simply do not want to scrummage which automatically means the Wallabies are under manned. You just cant do this at test level. McMahon and McCalman are also guilty of this. The main issue is at hooker though. Saia has been found out on this tour and simply cannot scrimmage at the same level of Moore and TPN. He struggles to pin his shoulders down which allows the opposition Hooker to create a 2 on 1 generally with the LH attacking the TH. You saw this last night with Kepu in all sorts.
With the Maul defence I cant believe we did not try the tactic of not committing anyone to the maul to force an obstruction penalty. Surely they knew England were going to maul all day. By using the not committing tactic it annoys the opposition and puts them in two minds. If used successfully it gets under the skin of opposition.
The LO is struggling (again missing the best throw in the world in Moore) and you would have to think the ARU are regretting losing LO technicians like Mowen and Kimlin. They lost 3 LOs last night throwing to the zone being defended by Courtney Laws who appears to be a world class athlete and lock. Again you would think through analysis they would have planned to throw away from Laws. Re selection you cannot play Hooper and McMahon in the same team. Going into a test with 3 jumpers limits the LO significantly. Why did the Smith & Waugh combination never work? Because it impacted the LO. This was clearly evident in the 2003 world cup final where Matt Cockbain was left on the bench and Wallabies LO struggled all night. When Poey is fit he needs to start (need an on baller to pressure the opposition ball) then you bring Hooper off the bench for impact. Fardy has to start at 6 again for his on ball pressure and his LO work.
Anyway these are my thoughts only. Plenty of positives. To'omua was outstanding at 12 and is a must have. QC (Quade Cooper) is starting to find his feet and will be better for the tour. Moore, TPN, Fardy, Pocock, Palu, Higginbotham, JOC (James O'Connor) and TK are all quality players and they will add strength and depth to the squad for 2015. My tip is for Adam Coleman to be at the world cup. He is an athlete with aggression. Another season of S15 will have him ready for the WC. Enjoy the off-season. Will not be long and S15 trials will be on.
The main issues with the scrum is that guys like Hooper simply do not want to scrummage which automatically means the Wallabies are under manned. You just cant do this at test level. McMahon and McCalman are also guilty of this. The main issue is at hooker though. Saia has been found out on this tour and simply cannot scrimmage at the same level of Moore and TPN. He struggles to pin his shoulders down which allows the opposition Hooker to create a 2 on 1 generally with the LH attacking the TH. You saw this last night with Kepu in all sorts.
With the Maul defence I cant believe we did not try the tactic of not committing anyone to the maul to force an obstruction penalty. Surely they knew England were going to maul all day. By using the not committing tactic it annoys the opposition and puts them in two minds. If used successfully it gets under the skin of opposition.
The LO is struggling (again missing the best throw in the world in Moore) and you would have to think the ARU are regretting losing LO technicians like Mowen and Kimlin. They lost 3 LOs last night throwing to the zone being defended by Courtney Laws who appears to be a world class athlete and lock. Again you would think through analysis they would have planned to throw away from Laws. Re selection you cannot play Hooper and McMahon in the same team. Going into a test with 3 jumpers limits the LO significantly. Why did the Smith & Waugh combination never work? Because it impacted the LO. This was clearly evident in the 2003 world cup final where Matt Cockbain was left on the bench and Wallabies LO struggled all night. When Poey is fit he needs to start (need an on baller to pressure the opposition ball) then you bring Hooper off the bench for impact. Fardy has to start at 6 again for his on ball pressure and his LO work.
Anyway these are my thoughts only. Plenty of positives. To'omua was outstanding at 12 and is a must have. QC (Quade Cooper) is starting to find his feet and will be better for the tour. Moore, TPN, Fardy, Pocock, Palu, Higginbotham, JOC (James O'Connor) and TK are all quality players and they will add strength and depth to the squad for 2015. My tip is for Adam Coleman to be at the world cup. He is an athlete with aggression. Another season of S15 will have him ready for the WC. Enjoy the off-season. Will not be long and S15 trials will be on.
