Australia Vs. England, Twickenham, 2nd November 2013

[refugee]

Watched a replay of the game even after reading the comments.
My mistake.

Need a bucket load of aggression in the forwards if we are to win anything.
Look at the england team at the breakdown- arms and legs everywhere.
Look at the AB or the Boks - same. Even the Japanese had a dig.

A big hit once in a while does not a forward make.

 

[No4918]

The backrow lacks balance with neither Hooper or Mowen effective at the breakdown. Neither are ever going to make metres close or hurt people in defence. Mowen doesn't seem to want to carry the ball at all.

At the very least ensuting the tight 5 can manage a set piece should be priority one. Moore has been the only one to be consistently good so Robbo at least has to come into the starting side. None of the locks on tour are doing well. Timani is just a massive waste, give him Hoopers attitude and he is a world beater. Apart from Sam Carter though I don't see too mamy locks at home with the Fardy instinct so don't see any improvement soon.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

The Darkness will be fancying their chances for a BIG score against the Soap Dodgers if they play like they did last night.

The pressure is off for a Grand Slam, so hopefully we can see some decent footy after all forwards drink 5 kg of wet concrete to HTFU.

 

[Braveheart81]

My player ratings (using the G&GR scale):

Slipper: 3 - did very little and what he did do was average
Moore: 6 - our scrum struggled and he didn't do a lot in the loose but our lineout was good and he was easily the best player in our tight 5.
Alexander: 2 - he's not getting any better. Keeps getting destroyed in the scrum and did nothing around the field to make up for it. Shouldn't play next week.
Horwill: 4 - Wasn't awful but was certainly below par. Made a couple of errors and failed to impose himself physically.
Timani: 2 - Poor game. Was he wearing roller skates? The number of times he fell over trying to change directions was a joke.
Fardy: 6 - was our best forward until he got injured. Continues to compete despite the lack of support from the other piggies.
Hooper: 5 - made a lot of tackles and was effective around the field but gets a big cross for his lack of push in the scrums and breaking early when our scrum was getting shunted.
Mowen: 4 - was alright but not overly effective. Loses a point for failing to stop the team turning into headless chickens in the last half an hour. Needs to push more in the scrums.
Genia: 1 - worst performance by a Wallaby this season. Terrible skill errors and even worse decision making. Shouldn't be in the 23 next week.
Cooper: 6 - he was pretty good in attack but his defence was poor this week. Closer to a 5 than a 7. Threw a couple of great passes though.
Cummins: 4 - failed to do a huge amount. Could have been passed the ball a couple of times by Folau but he also made a few errors and should have got involved more.
To'omua: 5 - was solid with ball in hand but cost the team by failing to make touch with a couple of kicks from penalties (even if one came from a bad refereeing decision).
Kuridrani: 6 - was decent. Keeps making it over the gain line. Defends well.
AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper): 7 - my Wallaby MOTM. Some great desperation tackles and was solid in attack. Never stopped trying.
Folau: 5 - made some good attacking plays but failed to pass the ball too often and gave away a couple of penalties from being isolated. His kicking in general play was better than the rest of the backline.

Reserves:
Robinson: 4 - dropped a crucial ball (albeit from a poor pass) when we were deep on attack. Our scrum didn't improve when he came on this week. Won a penalty at the breakdown.
Kepu: 5 - actually made some impact around the park and was the best prop we had last night.
Douglas: 5 - made a couple of strong hits and gave us some impact off the bench. Was the best of our locks last night.
Fainga'a: 5 - didn't get a lot of opportunity but didn't do a lot wrong. Should start against Italy.
White: 3 - plenty of errors when he came on. Didn't do a lot to improve on Genia's shocker.
McCalman: 4 - didn't do a lot wrong but also failed to have much impact.
Foley: N/A - played a few minutes when AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) went off to get patched up. Didn't really get an opportunity.
Leali'ifano: N/A

 

[Braveheart81]

The backrow lacks balance with neither Hooper or Mowen effective at the breakdown. Neither are ever going to make metres close or hurt people in defence. Mowen doesn't seem to want to carry the ball at all.

In any game where half or more of our tight five is that bad, our backrow are going to be ineffective. They spent most of the night making cover tackles rather than being able to compete at the breakdown.

 

[drewprint]

Looking past the fluffed lineout, defensive slips and general anonymity, the thing that really irked me about Timani is that when he did have a run he got absolutely folded. It's been acknowledged that his workrate and lineout skills are his weakpoint, but that's meant to be tempered by his brute force and impact in the collisions. Apart from one moment where he blindsided an exposed, stationary Joe Launchbury in a ruck, every collision he was involved in was as if he were 40kg lighter. It was fucking laughable. He's by no means the only subject of my wrath - favourites of mine like Genia were equally appalling.

 

[Viking]

What is with our players being held up in the tackle? This happens multiple times every game.

Also i never thought id say this, but we actually missed Simmons this game.

Ben A - cant believe how many caps he has to his name
Moore - A good player but a big rusty - probably overworked
Slipper - Works hard but hardly effective, Cant scrum
Horwill - ineffective
Timani - Big unit that goes missing in action - lazy
Hooper - runs around a lot but lacks effectiveness
Fardy - A solid player
Mowen - A good leader but also quite ineffective
Genia - When he 's good he's very good, when he's bad he very bad. He has been more bad then good lately.
Cooper - maturing nicely
Cummins - consistently average or slightly above average - you get what you see
To'omua - Solid player
Kuridrana - progressing nicely - still error prone but getting better
AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) - solid performer - deserves his spot - I prefer him on the wing cos he cant/wont pass
Falou - always threatening

Rating the performances as a whole this season:
Backs - average to slightly above average
Forwards - very poor to average.

 

[Scotty]

In any game where half or more of our tight five is that bad, our backrow are going to be ineffective. They spent most of the night making cover tackles rather than being able to compete at the breakdown.

But Fardy still makes an impact physically so you can't use that excuse for the other two - Mowen in particular.

 

[Braveheart81]

But Fardy still makes an impact physically so you can't use that excuse for the other two - Mowen in particular.

Fardy was our best forward no doubt.

Like the rest of the backrow though, he did very little at the breakdown. He had a couple of good runs and tackled well but aside from that he didn't get a lot of opportunity to do much else.

Hooper and Fardy spent most of the night tackling and were our two best ball runners amongst the forwards. They're really the only forwards who didn't get smashed backwards each time.

Their ruck involvement was far lower than usual though because they were covering for tackles missed by the tight five.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

One of your best.

I may be using it in due course, if I may?

Of course

 

[Hugh Jarse]

We usually have at least one poor performance on the EOYT. Usually it is against bloody Scotland. Hopefully we get the game we have to lose out of our system so we can break the drought against the Single Malts.

 

[cyclopath]

Look at the interchange for the Halai try last night. Ben Smith knows what he's doing, Frank.

Attacking-wise, Ben Smith is great. His positional defence, as a 13, is a work in progress with some way to go to be near Conrad Smith. Plenty of time for that to happen.

 

[I like to watch]

Pretty big shoes to fill there.

 

[KevinO]

Falou needs to pass the ball, every time he takes it himself.

 

[Quick Hands]

We usually have at least one poor performance on the EOYT. Usually it is against bloody Scotland. Hopefully we get the game we have to lose out of our system so we can break the drought against the Single Malts.

Trouble is, this was just more of the same from the Wallabies - same guys making the same mistakes or having the same shortcomings exposed. From what I can see the highlights of 2013 have been a strong win against Argentina and a non-embarrassing loss to the ABs in game 3.

Last night's game was simply woeful - match officials bordering on incompetent (and Clancy is rated by Paddy O'Brien as one of the best 9 referees in international rugby) and 2 teams playing a brand of rugby in which the least worst team won (aided by said incompetent officials).

I almost threw something at the screen at the return of the aimless mid-field bombs, but I'd have to pay for the repairs. I'd have to watch a replay to decide who made the most errors, refs, Poms or us, but I couldn't go through that torture again.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Falou needs to pass the ball, every time he takes it himself.

You can take the lad out of Loig, but can you take the Loig out of the lad?

 

[Quick Hands]

You can take the lad out of Loig, but can you take the Loig out of the lad?

Although in fairness, on at least some occasions, he didn't have a player in a better position to pass the ball to.

Our support play at the breakdown isn't up to international standard IMO.

 

[gel]

Falou was roundly criticized on these very forums a short while ago for throwing the ball wildly once he made contact.

I'd say he is most concerned with not losing the ball and it is the inability of any of his team mates to follow him and secure possession that is the real problem.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

There were at least two if not three occasions when a pass was on with a well positioned support player, and Folau went into contact with the ball instead. There was ample prior opportunity to shift the ball on to a player with space in front of them.

 

[I like to watch]

If we are are to comment on poor option taking,I wouldn't limit discussions on merely one player.
I would include coaching staff in said discussions as well as the players.