Australie – FFR. Samdi 27 Juin à Stade d’olympique.

[Newb]

just watched the post-match locker room interview on the ARU site. interesting stuff.

mummy broke his nose it looks like. 4th time by his count. shmoo's hair was indeed perfect. gits and sharpie ragged on each other. pretty funny.

most of the boys mentioned the physical nature of the game, lack of execution, and said happy to get the win. and aren't they some soft-spoken blokes after a game...

 

[Lindommer]

In the circumstances this was a very good win by the Wobblies. Deans was very concerned about the physical commitment by the Frogs at the breakdown and was looking for our backrow to match them. It did. This will stand us in good stead when we face the Boks with their bully-boy tactics at ruck and maul. The other thing Deans was looking for improvement in was our defence which he is subtly rejigging from Muggleton's day. It was superb.

The French team looked tired and void of any ideas how to break Australia's defence. For me two aspects of their game stood out: they were clinically efficient at the tackle and they cleared their ball from the breakdown with lightning speed. A refreshed and rested France wil be a serious threat at RWC2011.

 

[mark_s]

I have missed the first 3 wallaby tests this year as they are hard to watch in the US, but I was pretty impressed with our performance on the weekend. We strangled the french out of the game with very good defence (attacking defence!) whilst also regularly picking up points when given the opportunity. Also, there wasn't much drop in intensity when the reserves started coming on.

The best sign for me is that our backline seemed to regularly have structure and options, even though they didn't always pay off. In other words, I didn't think we looked as clueless in attack as we have for many years.

Smith was magnificent, but credit must also go to Sharpe. Burgess was also the best I have seen him this year. I noticed that TPN's throwing doesn't appear to have improved since the S14.

 

[cheezel]

I thought it was solid without being too flash. It's been a while since I've actually looked forward to NZ in NZ.

I'm not sure if I'm on my own here, but Valentine has to be the most annoying player in world rugby. His niggling of opposite teams (Higginbottom you goose) makes me want deck him.

 

[fatprop]

I thought Deans philosophy on defence was quite interesting, basically numbering up and working hard. I also thought the attack was was interesting we weren't making breaks but the probing and ball work showed great promise as we worked the fringes. We seemed to be practising working the blindside etc

Deans defence: seeing is believing is winning

Greg Growden | June 29, 2009

BERRICK BARNES admits that when Wallabies coach Robbie Deans decided to revamp the team's defensive structure last season, there was scepticism in the ranks.

But they are now all true believers of the "open your eyes" philosophy.

After the Wallabies kept France tryless on Saturday night, the Test inside-centre explained that when defending, they now focused on reacting to whatever is happening in front of them, rather than following a determined strategy. For many years, the Wallabies were renowned for their strict defensive routine.

"Our process is coming from Robbie, and his philosophies, which we are starting to grasp more and more each week," Barnes said. "It's more basically about playing what's in front of you, even in defence. You don't have to actually have a set routine; you just have to match them. There's no great science to it.

"It's using your eyes, and looking at what's in front of you. We had become so programmed in our rugby the last 10 years or so, and now we are untraining that sort of thing under Robbie.

"Obviously, the boys at the start questioned it a bit. But now everyone is starting to trust it.

"It is also showing in our performances. But that has got to continue if we are to go where we want to go in this Tri Nations. I think we are in a good spot at the moment, because we are all very confident, but there's a long way to go."

Deans added there was no great secrets about his defensive requirements.

"It's just a matter of keeping yourself alive, aware and active," he said. "You also have to tie in with your mates. I'm not privy with what was happening before [with the Wallabies]. But the critical thing is that there is a collective understanding, and ability to work together."

The Wallabies defence has certainly improved this year, with just one try scored against them in the first three Tests. Last year, the Wallabies fluctuated, blowing out against the Springboks in Johannesburg when the home team scored eight tries.

The All Blacks also succeeded in scoring four against the Wallabies in both the Auckland and Brisbane Tests last year.

The Wallabies will have several weeks' rest before their next Test and many of the players will be allowed to return to the club ranks. While Deans would prefer the starting XV to have a break, he will leave it up to each player if they want to play club football.

 

[Groucho]

There's a general rumbling out in the forumosphere that this win was 'no better' than the New Zealand win the week before. I agree with the posters here: it was actually a very good execution of a pressure-oriented gameplan against a very dangerous opponent, with no fireworks and no unnecessary risk required at this early stage of the season. It does bode well for the Tri-Nations to have been able to subdue the French so efficiently.

 

[Gagger]

Good call Groucho and others.

Having re-trawled the game for the highlights below, it was interesting to see that while we set the backline as deep as we had the previous tests, we didn't use any fancy options, just the odd wide ball to Morty. I could be reading too much into it, but I reckon they held off a bit in this regard, not having to do more than they did.

Also re-watching it you could see
a) how we never let them breathe with our defence
b) how they gave away a dumb penalty whenever we got within their half
Hence the ticking scoreline but lack of fireworks. A solid base for the 3Ns.

Still a few passengers out there though. Horwill and Mumm need to fire up.

Bigger and better version of this on the front page:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JuZbLV7QJk

 

[Spook]

Gagger, great stuff as per usual.

Favourite plays were Smith wrestling with 3 French man and winning...and Robinson under the middle of a mass of players with his hands on the ball..somehow still standing.

 

[RugbyReg]

the videos on the Wallaby web site are pretty damn ace. I love the changeroom stuff.

Have a look at the latest, which features the 1999 RWC Champions visiting after the game. AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) looks star struck. As did Brown (who got Kefu to sign his jersey!!).

And then you see Kefu, walk passed with Glenn Panaho - and its kind of hard to tell the difference.

Little has greyed!

And there is one guy (speaking to Morty at one stage) who I can't place for the life of me? Maybe an assistant coach?

 

[Blue]

Only watched the game in full yesterday. Massive defensive effort from the Wallabies but my question is whether the French really tested the Wallabies the way they did the AB's in the first test?

I don't want to take anything away from the win, but the game didn't live up to the hype after I had expected the French to come out firing. They seemed to attack in slow motion and their back row was nowhere to be seen. The 8 and 7 were great in the first AB test but I hardly noticed them at all. Just an observation.

I do think Australia badly need Palu and Elsom back against NZ and SA. Brown and Mumm are adequate but not much more than that. Both are perfect bench players though.

 

[Lee Grant]

Great work Gagger.

 

[Scarfman]

It's amazing how much you see when you're sober.

 

[Newb]

the videos on the Wallaby web site are pretty damn ace. I love the changeroom stuff.

Have a look at the latest, which features the 1999 RWC Champions visiting after the game. AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) looks star struck. As did Brown (who got Kefu to sign his jersey!!).

And then you see Kefu, walk passed with Glenn Panaho - and its kind of hard to tell the difference.

Little has greyed!

And there is one guy (speaking to Morty at one stage) who I can't place for the life of me? Maybe an assistant coach?

yeah i hope they keep those segments up. very cool to see the boys in a more casual setting -- much more at ease than in the news conferences and whatnot.

ashamed to say though that i'm too young/new to the game to put any names to faces of the blokes from 99. still great to see the current players' reactions.

 

[Gagger]

Baxter got hammered again like the bad old days.

Actually he didn't.

The French pack was backing off as Aus was getting set to muck up the Aus hit and the French LHP wasn't driving forward, he was just pivoting at the hips and allowing Baxter to collapse.

The were doing the same against the ABs.

They try to negate the hit of the bigger pack and then while they are off balance start to drive. (Wales did the same to us last November)

When there was a hit, the Aus scrum was quite good.

A bit like this.....?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_B0t3ajla8&

 

[fatprop]

Fantastic job! :baxter:

 

[Scotty]

Have a look at the latest, which features the 1999 RWC Champions visiting after the game. AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) looks star struck. As did Brown (who got Kefu to sign his jersey!!).

And then you see Kefu, walk passed with Glenn Panaho - and its kind of hard to tell the difference.

Little has greyed!

And there is one guy (speaking to Morty at one stage) who I can't place for the life of me? Maybe an assistant coach?

Timmy Horan looks like he could still make an impact on the field, while Little almost looks like a grandad! Dave Wilson looks pretty fit as well.

 

[cyclopath]

Have a look at the latest, which features the 1999 RWC Champions visiting after the game. AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) looks star struck. As did Brown (who got Kefu to sign his jersey!!).

And then you see Kefu, walk passed with Glenn Panaho - and its kind of hard to tell the difference.

Little has greyed!

And there is one guy (speaking to Morty at one stage) who I can't place for the life of me? Maybe an assistant coach?

Timmy Horan looks like he could still make an impact on the field, while Little almost looks like a grandad! Dave Wilson looks pretty fit as well.

I saw both these guys (Horan and Little) play in a charity rugby game last year (the Silver Foxes) and they both still can play, grey or not! So too Dave Wilson. Maybe a few yards slower, but the brain for constructing beautiful back line play was something to see. Nice blokes too, especially Horan.

 

[Spook]

Fantastic job! :baxter:

I'd just prefer to be a bit more steady on our ball. The French loosehead was definitely not taking the hit. First one was shocker.

 

[fatprop]

Fantastic job! :baxter:

I'd just prefer to be a bit more steady on our ball. The French loosehead was definitely not taking the hit. First one was shocker.

Don't we all, but I will take unstable ball over last time at 1.00 with Alexander being locked by MMM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfRj90zEiqU

 

[Scotty]

I suppose we will see Smith go bananas for 60 minutes and replaced by Waugh, with maybe Pocock coming on for Mumm or Brown in the second half. If he replaces Mumm, then we are stuffed if one of the locks is injured, if he replaces Brown, then who goes to 8 if Smith has been taken off?

Wow.

PS Why have Sydney got 3 wallaby games this year and Brisbane only 1?

Nah, Deans doesn't use his reserves much.

fp, just wanted to remind you of this!

(Although I agree, he probably won't use them much in the 3N).