Australian Schoolboys & National Championships 2015

[Cash]

Some interesting decisions by the selectors.

Dropping Nathan Gittoes - fair enough given how strongly Leota played against New Zealand. Smith promoted into the Barbarians starting squad is well deserved, and Strang really should've been in the Schoolboy side to begin with.

England's still in the team which I'm not over the moon about; he'll really be tested by the wonderkid Wiseguy Faiane and the Umaga Jensen brothers. Was hoping for Jooste to be bumped to 12. Also a little upset to see Hoopert in the Barbarians again, he's a real talent and should be in the schoolboys in my humble opinion.

 

[OldColt]

Some interesting decisions by the selectors.

Dropping Nathan Gittoes - fair enough given how strongly Leota played against New Zealand. Smith promoted into the Barbarians starting squad is well deserved, and Strang really should've been in the Schoolboy side to begin with.

England's still in the team which I'm not over the moon about; he'll really be tested by the wonderkid Wiseguy Faiane and the Umaga Jensen brothers. Was hoping for Jooste to be bumped to 12. Also a little upset to see Hoopert in the Barbarians again, he's a real talent and should be in the schoolboys in my humble opinion.

I thoroughly agree with you about Hoopert - I heard good things about him from someone who packed against him in a trial at the start of the season, and then from what I saw of him in the National Championships, I expected him to be the starting loose-head for the top team. He was outstanding in the NZ game earlier in the week, and would rightly be disappointed not to at least be on the bench for the main game this afternoon.

Also agree with you regarding Leota & Strang. Gittoes looked a bit lost at times the other day, and his lack of impact was emphasised by Girdler's efforts when he came on, whereas Leota made an impact with everything he did for the Barbarians. Am I alone, though, in wondering why Girdler isn't starting, with Leota on the bench?

And while that may have been an uncharacteristically poor performance from Lenac on Monday, when he replaced Goddard, it's clear that Strang and Goddard are the two best halves at this level.

England does some pretty good things in both attack & defence, and seems to have a reasonable understanding with McGregor and Kennewell - but I haven't seen enough of Jooste to judge whether he'd be more effective, other than his brief appearance on the wing the other day.

 

[HJ Nelson]

HT Barbarians 42 Samoa 5

 

[TheKing]

FT: 66-12 Barbarians over Samoa.

Captain Peter Umaga-Jensen has been ruled out for New Zealand, Caleb Clark starts in his place at 13. Good news for Australia

 

[Cash]

HT: Australia 3-17 New Zealand

Disastrous first half. Our forwards are getting absolutely dominated: Allan, Aumua, Fidow, Papalli and Mikaele-Tu'u have turned them to mincemeat. Hockings has been poor, and our line-out is in shambles. In the backs, Fiane is doing a fantastic job exploiting Jooste who doesn't look confident at all on the wing, and Kennewell has been surprisingly poor going into contact.

 

[prost8]

Wow what a turn about far too many Queenslanders in the team !!


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[Blue & white]

I see there are some new definitions in Websters dictionary:
"tightarses" - the QRU for only turning half the flood lights on;
"suffocation" -the kicking game of NZ 10 Wiseguy Fiane .
" out coached" - the tactics of NZ kicking to corners and 11 for aussie and wait for mistakes.
"correct" - it is correct that at an opposed session on Sunday the Baa Baas did beat Aussie schools by some way .

Hard to find a good player for Aussie . 6 tried hard. 10 over played his hand and 11 had a night to forget.4 and 5 made a lot of mistakes.
10 for NZ is a class act - take note of his game - that is how you control a match,

 

[Oldschool]

Number 3 for NZ was devastating. Their forwards where direct with very good ball skill.

When the Aussies had the ball they made in roads they just didn't have it enough and coughed it up at crucial times especially in the centres. Thought the half back had a good game behind a pack that wasn't dominating. Good to see the boys finish off with a try in the corner.

I thought teachers where the ones that were balding and had beards, but apparently school kids do as well.... Go figure?

 

[Gungenia]

I see there are some new definitions in Websters dictionary:
"tightarses" - the QRU for only turning half the flood lights on;
"suffocation" -the kicking game of NZ 10 Wiseguy Fiane .
" out coached" - the tactics of NZ kicking to corners and 11 for aussie and wait for mistakes.
"correct" - it is correct that at an opposed session on Sunday the Baa Baas did beat Aussie schools by some way .

Hard to find a good player for Aussie . 6 tried hard. 10 over played his hand and 11 had a night to forget.4 and 5 made a lot of mistakes.
10 for NZ is a class act - take note of his game - that is how you control a match,

agree with what you say . 10 for NZ will follow his brother to higher rep honours.
did he play on Monday against Baa Baas?
the NZ side tonight looked so much better than the team that played monday.
And Baa Baas looke better than schools team on Monday and tonight. some strange selections - especially in forwards who were poor tonight.Baa Baa forwards looked much more dynamic

 

[Cash]

In case anyone hasn't seen this yet - the NZL 10.

 

[Informed]

It would have been nice if the commentator had of actually undertaken a little home work. It became extremely frustrating at the amount of mistakes he made and the extent he went too in trying to describe how good the players were instead of just commenting on the game. He really did become annoying. We need to be mindful that these boys have been selected as the best of those players available this year to play in a game that is, at best, equivalent to an under 20's game at a representative level. Todays game was obviously a step up from the Samoan game and it was clear some of the Australian players didn't take that step. However, they will be better players for the experience. Despite the ramblings of the commentator not many of these boys (from either side) will play at the senior international level as history clearly shows. But thats not the point of these games. Being a winner does not always mean you end up on the right side of score board. They were beaten by a better organised and physical team on the night. Thats rugby!

 

[Ph.D in footy]

Is anyone aware of who received the Golden Boot Award? I'm not entirely sure how it works. Is it best on ground or best from both sides? Either way I think Wiseguy (what a name btw) Fiane had a phenomenal game, the way he controlled the game with his boot was pure class.

 

[TheKing]

It's not like they went out there against New Zealand and didn't give a stuff - they tried, and were founding wanting against a side that had done their homework, identified a weakness and executed a gameplan exploiting that to perfection. New Zealand played a perfect game of footy.

Sad result for the players and supporters, but rating players 3/10 is a bit much. The other team were better, sure, but our guys weren't terrible and tried their best in the face of adversity


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[Juan Cote]

What the match proved to me was the chasm that exists between NZ rugby and Aust rugby. This match was like watching re-runs from Eden Park. The Aust team was second best at everything and shown up physically and skill wise.
What is going on with our youth development?
If that's the best of our next generation we're in bigger trouble than I'd imagined. For posters to be trying to excuse or diminish the extent of the defeat only serves to perpetuate the sub-standard nature of our rugby system.
Without doubt the boys tried, without doubt they'd be disappointed, but without doub they were never in the hunt.

 

[CatchnPass]

FT score anyone?

 

[Taipan]

NZ 32 d Aus 8

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[Informed]

What the match proved to me was the chasm that exists between NZ rugby and Aust rugby. This match was like watching re-runs from Eden Park. The Aust team was second best at everything and shown up physically and skill wise.
What is going on with our youth development?
If that's the best of our next generation we're in bigger trouble than I'd imagined. For posters to be trying to excuse or diminish the extent of the defeat only serves to perpetuate the sub-standard nature of our rugby system.
Without doubt the boys tried, without doubt they'd be disappointed, but without doubt they were never in the hunt.

Really mate? It took that game to convince you there is a chasm! The point I suspect you are missing that I tried to make is that this is one years worth of players that will eventually move into senior rugby where the age of players are anywhere from 18 to 35. I'm not sure what you are comparing the results too, but in actual fact the Aussie Schools side has been competitive at various times and in in recent years (excluding tonights result) there hasn't been much in the results. Considering the number of alternative sports available and popular in Australia, the reality is the rugby development programs are producing, in proportion to playing numbers. Rugby will never be held in the same light as it is in NZ or SA. The 'Chasm' has and will always exist between Australia and those two country's. Just wait for the Americans over the next ten years to get more serious at all levels of the game! Then you will see a chasm.

 

[Bismarck]

Bronze boot went to NZ No 3 and Schoolboys No1 - Harry Johnson-Holmes.

One thing the NZ manager said is that the team/team management had been together for 25-30 days. Not sure if this was the missing secret ingredient as the Schoolboys/Barbarians only came together mid tHursday afternoon.

Preparation prevents piss poor performance.....

 

[Bismarck]

And seriously what is wrong with the coaching staff not putting on fresh legs in 17,18 and 19? When a game is not close, this is poor management.

 

[Happy to Chat]

I think here was no plan B as clearly plan A through the middle didn't work. The ball never got to the wings down the line. The only time the wings saw the ball was on the NZ kicks. I was expecting a hell of a lot more from 11, 13.


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