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New Zealand v Australia - Auckland - 23 August 2014

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T

Train Without a Station

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barbarian said:
Agree with all that, except dropping Palu.

There needs to be a bit of perspective here, and we can't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Palu has been great all year, and had one off night (where he still comfortably topped the tackle count).

While Higgers looked good off the bench it's the first time he has done that all year. Will want to see it again before I put him in the starting line-up.
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Palu was anonymous last night. We needed him to make a big steam rolling run or hit to pump up the boys and he did sweet fuck all with impact.

But the fact remains he's been the strongest performing super rugby 8 and got the job done a week ago. One decent cameo after a year of mediocrity is no reason to think Higginbotham would be any better. He would have had more impact on the super rugby season if that was the case.
 
KOB1987

KOB1987

Rod McCall (65)
it's funny that in part due to underperformance and in part due to McCabe's injury we are likely to see the backline everyone was touting for Bledisloe 1 run out v the Boks in a fortnight:

9. Phipps
10. Foley
11. Horne
12. To'omua
13. Kuridrani
14. AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper)
15. Folau

they say that everything turns out the way it's meant to eventually..

small chance that Beale gets the nod over To'omua and no idea what the fuck will happen in the pack..
 
tragic

tragic

John Solomon (38)
KOB1987 said:
it's funny that in part due to underperformance and in part due to McCabe's injury we are likely to see the backline everyone was touting for Bledisloe 1 run out v the Boks in a fortnight:

9. Phipps
10. Foley
11. Horne
12. To'omua
13. Kuridrani
14. AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper)
15. Folau

they say that everything turns out the way it's meant to eventually..

small chance that Beale gets the nod over To'omua and no idea what the fuck will happen in the pack..
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Not sure the pack will change. We probably have our best cattle already on the paddock and they manned up pretty well last week before their collective nap last night. They just need to harden the fuck up and play more like Bled 1.
 
KOB1987

KOB1987

Rod McCall (65)
tragic said:
Not sure the pack will change. We probably have our best cattle already on the paddock and they manned up pretty well last week before their collective nap last night. They just need to harden the fuck up and play more like Bled 1.
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I think Horwill will come in, not sure who for though, both Skelton and Carter need time..that said, the class of the opposition is less so it's a good time to blood them..and we are obviously going to see either Hanson or Fainga'a in the 2..and Fardy needs benching even if it's just to fire him up..
 
Woodenspoon

Woodenspoon

Herbert Moran (7)
Folau has proved himself unstoppable at fullback. After each game he's by far the Wallaby with the most meters run, defenders beaten, lines broken and so on. Maybe we can say he can improve in defence, but that's not a major concern in the Wallabies' world.
Why would anyone change this? Besides, at 13 the Wallabies have two good options, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) and Kuridrani.
Imho, 9 Phipps (waiting for Genia) 10 Foley 11 Tomane (I'd give Coleman a chance though) 12 To'omua 13 AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) 14 Beale (waiting for Speight) 15 Folau
Imho the backline above is the best the Wallabies have right now, then they have a problem in the forward pack. Simmons, Palu, Carter - just to mention the ones that first come to my mind - don't always perform well, indeed, sometimes they're awful :D
Is there anyone who can replace them well? It's hard to think they replace Moore/TPN, Horwill, Higginbotham...
 
KOB1987

KOB1987

Rod McCall (65)
waiopehu oldboy said:
Folau at the back makes people think twice about when & how deep to kick, he's arguably the best kick receiver/ returner in the game right now so moving him into the midfield makes zero sense, even if KB (Kurtley Beale) weren't shite under the high ball as evidenced yet again last night. But, hey, if you wanna do it then go for it, clearly you'll be needing to move AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) out to the wing while you're at it & why not Hooper to hooker since you're a bit short there?
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I had friends over and had lots to drink, and as yet haven't seen a replay..but can someone enlighten me as to when Beale was shite under the high ball last night? I recall him taking a couple cleanly but as mentioned may have missed something..
 
TahDan

TahDan

Cyril Towers (30)
Woodenspoon said:
Folau has proved himself unstoppable at fullback. After each game he's by far the Wallaby with the most meters run, defenders beaten, lines broken and so on. Maybe we can say he can improve in defence, but that's not a major concern in the Wallabies' world.
Why would anyone change this? Besides, at 13 the Wallabies have two good options, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) and Kuridrani.
Imho, 9 Phipps (waiting for Genia) 10 Foley 11 Tomane (I'd give Coleman a chance though) 12 To'omua 13 AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) 14 Beale (waiting for Speight) 15 Folau
Imho the backline above is the best the Wallabies have right now, then they have a problem in the forward pack. Simmons, Palu, Carter - just to mention the ones that first come to my mind - don't always perform well, indeed, sometimes they're awful :D
Is there anyone who can replace them well? It's hard to think they replace Moore/TPN, Horwill, Higginbotham.
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Whilst I love AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper), I have to say, I thought we looked when Kurindrani ran out... Just seemed to inject some much needed power and looked to make metres pretty quickly.

What's the story with Cooper and Genia's injuries? The team really looked underdone last night and I have to say it made me think that the perhaps the Wallabies do need to consider selecting overseas players.
 
KOB1987

KOB1987

Rod McCall (65)
TahDan said:
Whilst I love AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper), I have to say, I thought we looked when Kurindrani ran out. Just seemed to inject some much needed power and looked to make metres pretty quickly.

What's the story with Cooper and Genia's injuries? The team really looked underdone last night and I have to say it made me think that the perhaps the Wallabies do need to consider selecting overseas players.
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I think they are both playing NRC soon and hopefully ready for Bledisloe 3..Cooper anyway..and we do need a sabbatical allowance such as the All Blacks have for established players..but try telling fucking Pulver that..
 
Gnostic

Gnostic

Mark Ella (57)
tragic said:
Did anyone else notice how many of those 14 clean breaks were through the inside backs? No sure if it was a defensive back line issue or a loose forward issue but almost every time they turned the ball back inside they made a clean break. It looked to me like Hansen had done some analysis of last weeks game and exploited a major weakness.
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The ABs hunted for Beale every time he was in the line and targeted him specifically. They also kicked the ball to him.
 
Inside Shoulder

Inside Shoulder

Nathan Sharpe (72)
Gnostic said:
The ABs hunted for Beale every time he was in the line and targeted him specifically. They also kicked the ball to him.
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Sound plan, IMO.
They know a thing or two those AB's - mind you, I reckon our selector(s) could do worse than listen to Sunday talk back radio in NZ the day after a Bledisloe and find out what the accurate view of some of our stars is.
 
tragic

tragic

John Solomon (38)
Gnostic said:
The ABs hunted for Beale every time he was in the line and targeted him specifically. They also kicked the ball to him.
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That was my initial reaction, however in fairness many of the inside breaks were not Beale missed tackles. The Abs seemed to have more close in runners than we had defenders, or we got out of alignment and they put someone through the gap. Need to watch the game again with a closer eye on our loosies as usually they have those inside channels well covered..
 
T

Train Without a Station

Guest
KOB1987 said:
our biggest liabilities the last 2 games have been Simmons and White, put the slipper into them..
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For whom?

Yes Phipps to start and maybe Horwill into the squad but they are still 2 of the best options in there position.

And that's just blatantly false on Simmons. He gave away a bad yellow card and didn't perform great. Still outperformed his opposites last week.

Beale they just needed to run at to make a break or big metres.
 
Fireworks

Fireworks

Jimmy Flynn (14)
I'm more inclined to start Fainga'a over Hanson to be honest. While Hanson has been fairly consistent and reliable I haven't really seen a standout performance from him or that next level of aggression/physicality we want to see esp from the tight 5. Fainga'a on the other hand, we've seen what he's capable of bringing to the table, 2010 being indicative of that. When he's goes god mode he's on another level, his low chopping tackles akin to TPN's trademark tackles is what we need.
 
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