4th Bledisloe in Tokyo

[Ash]

Thought I might start a separate thread to discuss the game and predictions. Mods feel free to merge with the other ones if you want.

I'm tipping the All Blacks by 17, say around 32 - 15. Wallabies beaten in the rucks, and lack of adventurous back play due to AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) being moved to 12.

Any other predictions?

edit: PS No Bledisloe icon. All Blacks or Wallabies icons appropriate?

 

[louie]

blacks by 20

 

[rugbywhisperer]

Blacks by 20+++

 

[cyclopath]

TPN now out - swollen legs or somesuch???
Can see it now, Cowan on early as Moore gets his nose smeared yet again, Aus fail to win a single lineout.
Starting to really look like some stellar selecting!
How's Scarfy's blood pressure?
ABs by a comfortable margin I feel. At least 15

Late Edit - TPN now on the bench with the mystery swollen legs. Still think we'll struggle with a) match fitness, b) 10/12 combo, c) JOC (James O'Connor) but be more competitive up front.

 

[GC]

ABs by 16+

Achilles injury fro TPN did I just hear on Fox?

 

[Gagger]

Live score and wanging on http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/live-score-wallabies-vs-all-blacks-tokyo/

 

[RugbyReg]

I don't know why JOC (James O'Connor) wasn't pulled after the Smith try.

JOC (James O'Connor) now to play midweekers only.

Cooper to 10 and Gits to 12.

Horwill needs to firecracker up him.

Farken hell!

 

[The Chosen]

I don't know why JOC (James O'Connor) wasn't pulled after the Smith try.

JOC (James O'Connor) now to play midweekers only.

Cooper to 10 and Gits to 12.

Horwill needs to firecracker up him.

Farken hell!

Yes- I agree. He's been given oodles of chances- think he needs a season or 2 of Club Rugby!
Lineouts were absolutely shocking -o for a Dan Vickermann!

Backline didn't have much penetration- thought Cross had a shocker. Again we really miss Stirling Mortlock!

 

[PhucNgo]

I don't know why JOC (James O'Connor) wasn't pulled after the Smith try.

JOC (James O'Connor) now to play midweekers only.

Cooper to 10 and Gits to 12.

Horwill needs to firecracker up him.

Farken hell!

Yeah, I agree, Horwill needs to aim up but i'm not sure he's capable of it. Looks to me like he's the big kid in the pool who's mastered the art of belly flops. Absolutely no intensity in his breakdown play. Just lopes in an goes for the flop.

BUT, I am sick to death of the leniency that the Allbalcks have been shown this year!!! I'm steamin'. Can anyone tell me why their blatant tactics to fall into, or force their way into the back of the opposition maul/ruck, hasn't been pulled up more often by refs and assrefs? I am sick to death of watching Rodney So'alo et al run past the tackle and fall into the back of the opposition. Truly sick.

While I'm on the box, why, why, why was Jimmy (candidate for worlds most obnoxious player) Cowan not yellow carded for the sickening high shot on Peter Hynes as Hynes was scoring a try, or why Conrad Smith similarly was not pinged big time for the high (swinging arm) on Giteau late in the game.

I take my hat off to Dan Carter, who is a really class act, but I am just tired of the Allbalcks winning thru cheating. They're better than that and don't need to do it.

 

[Spook]

Lineout. Blame has to be shared by Horwill (calling), Moore and TPN. It killed us.

All Blacks not rolling away again. Backline was disorganised. Ioane showed he is up for it and will get better. AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) was great again. Not sure where he was playing in the second half though. I thought Palu was impressive despite some drop ball - why was he taking off? Wallaby scrum continues to get better. Thought NZ should have been penalised for collapsing on numerous occasions.

Elsom was fucking anonymous. Pocock excellent. Locks...very average. I would have subbed Horwill for Mumm not Chisolm. I think Deans missed an opportunity to develop someone like Timani on this tour. He has the physicality for test rugby - the rest can hopefully be added.

 

[naza]

Odd game, took forever to get going. And I was surprised it took the ABs an entire half to realise our backline defence was disheveled.

Not sure what Cross has to do to get dropped.
Cliffy Palu is the King of Irony with that performance - high in workrate, poor in ball running.
4/5/6 badly need to step up. Where is the leg drive ?
Our attack is predictable which makes our ruck ball easier to slow down. Which makes our attack more predictable...ad infinitum.
Matt Giteau is Daniel Halangahu sans dummy.

The Kiwis are solid, pretty clinical, but geez..they aren't that good.

 

[Reddy!]

Agree with Naza. I think poor selections has alot to do with the Wallabies poor performances. Some decent locks would be handy too. Next game this backline has to happen:

9. Genia
10. Cooper
11. Mitchell
12. Giteau
13. Ioane
14. Hynes
15. Cooper

And get the fuck into the game and score some tries.

 

[Spook]

Agree with Naza. I think poor selections has alot to do with the Wallabies poor performances. Some decent locks would be handy too. Next game this backline has to happen:

9. Genia
10. Cooper
11. Mitchell
12. Giteau
13. Ioane
14. Hynes
15. Cooper

And get the fuck into the game and score some tries.

I would select definitely select that backline in the current circumstances. Other thing we need it is blokes playing in the same position so we can develop some combinations.

 

[naza]

And get the fuck into the game and score some tries.

When its a dead rubber, you've lost 3-0, surely you do something different, give it a crack ? Nope. Same shit served up again. We've seen this movie, and the sequels get worse and worse. Or it could just be Australia and New Zealand play each other far too often these days and the Bledisloe has completely lost its specialness.

 

[Groucho]

I concur that Ioane needs to run at 13 and Cooper at 10. We have no penetration at all and we need Giteau's fizz wider out, not at 10. Cooper has a great long pass and has not put a foot wrong in the Wallaby jersey.

 

[RugbyReg]

yep, happy with that backline.

Now work your magic on the pack!

 

[Groucho]

yep, happy with that backline.

Now work your magic on the pack!

Alexander
Nau
Robinson
Vickerman
Eales
Elsom
Smith
Palu

 

[Scarfman]

ABs were offside at the breakdown all night. As fucking usual. Our boys stepped up and pushed them back some of the time, but it's making a joke of the sport. We need to call the International Court of Arbitration for Sport.

 

[Spook]

We've absolutely no clue about getting over the advantage line. No sleight of hand from our halves to a marauding forward. Tonight some of our forwards ran with plenty of gusto...but it was all one out and painfully obvious. Palu should be charging in the wider channel.

What also irks me is that the two backs that did the most damage were Aussie - Ioane and AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper). However, their breaks were purely as a result of individual brilliance - we didn't construct a thing.

 

[Ishmael]

Didn't think they played that badly to be honest. There were three major problems:

1. The lineout. Neither Horwill or Chisholm is entrusted with the calls at provincial level and neither are up to it in tests. Horwill had a very good game in tight though and I think he should start with Mumm next week. Mumm has done very well with the Tahs lineout.

2. 10/12. Gits needs another distributor alongside him. My preference would be Britney at 12, with AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) shifting to fullback and Morty at 13, or Diggers if the evil wizard isn't fit.

3. Cross. An absolute fucking passenger, who has embarrassing defensive lapses. I said it before the game and I'm saying it again now, he's a fucking liability.

Otherwise I thought it was a surprisingly good performance. Palu was immense, Pocock played very well, Smith was electric when he came on, Genia was everywhere (hand-off by Cory not withstanding) and AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) had a blinder. The forwards fronted up well, except in the lineout, and it was really just the fluency int he backs that let us down, which was understandable considering we lost Berrick Buns and had The Passenger in instead.