Scotland v Australia - Sunday 26 November 1:30am AEDT

[Scrubber2050]

Jeez - notice that a few of Cheika's supporters on here have disappeared. Maybe coming to accept the reality of the situation.

Scots deserved to win. Can't blame the Ref - he was pretty good overall. Both big moments (Kepu and Beale) he absolutely made the correct call.

Nearly laughed at the player rankings that were given. My take on the players after being flogged by a Scottish team is:

Sio 4 - went OK but just
Moore 3 - should never of been there and played accordingly
Kepu 3 - just dumb shit - expect better
Simmons 5 - just same old Rob
Enever 3 - was he out there at all
McCalman 6 - thought he tried very hard
Hooper 4 - for a bloke with a roving commission he didn't have any impact on the game
McMahon 5 - ok but not up to usual standard

Genia 4 - another forgetful performance
Foley 4 -some good moments but some crap as well
Kerevi 4 some good attacking moments but a typical defensive flaw let one in.
TK 6.5 - played pretty well overall
Koro -5
Hodge 4
Beale 3

This year was a shit year. Finishing it off with TWO record losses is poor.

Chek and his staff have a lot to answer for with some dumb and dumber selections, cultural and captaincy issues and very average man management.

Unbelievable really.

 

[Derpus]

Comprehensively outlplayed in all aspects of the game. This result accurately reflects the state of the game in Australia and our place in the world.

No excuses whatsoever, although I'm waiting for the usual excusemeisters to come up with a few.

Not sure if that's really going to happen this time.

 

[Lost]

Jeez - notice that a few of Cheika's supporters on here have disappeared. Maybe coming to accept the reality of the situation.

Scots deserved to win. Can't blame the Ref - he was pretty good overall. Both big moments (Kepu and Beale) he absolutely made the correct call.

Nearly laughed at the player rankings that were given. My take on the players after being flogged by a Scottish team is:

Sio 4 - went OK but just
Moore 3 - should never of been there and played accordingly
Kepu 3 - just dumb shit - expect better
Simmons 5 - just same old Rob
Enever 3 - was he out there at all
McCalman 6 - thought he tried very hard
Hooper 4 - for a bloke with a roving commission he didn't have any impact on the game
McMahon 5 - ok but not up to usual standard

Genia 4 - another forgetful performance
Foley 4 -some good moments but some crap as well
Kerevi 4 some good attacking moments but a typical defensive flaw let one in.
TK 6.5 - played pretty well overall
Koro -5
Hodge 4
Beale 3

This year was a shit year. Finishing it off with TWO record losses is poor.

Chek and his staff have a lot to answer for with some dumb and dumber selections, cultural and captaincy issues and very average man management.

Unbelievable really.

Harsh but fair. Simmons is done. Hooper looked tired. Genia under pressure all game. We aren’t strong enough to not have all of our best on the field and win. Not against good sides. Kerevi is not good enough in defence to play tests.


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[Brumby Runner]

Comprehensively outlplayed in all aspects of the game. This result accurately reflects the state of the game in Australia and our place in the world.

No excuses whatsoever, although I'm waiting for the usual excusemeisters to come up with a few.

QH, you are a revelation. A pretty flower in the top right hand corner of your posts shows that it is not imperative for Tahs' supporters to excuse and rationalise for the failings of the team which in large part are down to coaching and selections.

 

[Derpus]

I'd certainly suggest that we don't have the depth to seriously compete in 14 test matches a year after a full season of super rugby. Our best team is as good as anyone, but how many times a year can we put our best team forward? 4-5 times? Cheika has been shit but the player drain and the long season combine poorly.

 

[Brumby Runner]

Not sure if that's really going to happen this time.

Well, the long and tiring season has already been rolled out. Way off the mark - the fitness regime in June was designed to keep them fresh and in top form for the end of the year.

 

[cyclopath]

QH, you are a revelation. A pretty flower in the top right hand corner of your posts shows that it is not imperative for Tahs' supporters to excuse and rationalise for the failings of the team which in large part are down to coaching and selections.

God, you are tedious.

 

[Scrubber2050]

I'd certainly suggest that we don't have the depth to seriously compete in 14 test matches a year after a full season of super rugby. Our best team is as good as anyone, but how many times a year can we put our best team forward? 4-5 times? Cheika has been shit but the player drain and the long season combine poorly.

Our best team is good enough. The problem that Chek has is his in selecting the best players in the right positions without playing favourites. That detracts from the team culture. IMO Hooper is not a good captain - he is one of the few guys (and there are a few) who plays for himself and accolades. It's all about the 1%ers and the culmination of all of them. Needless to say, it was a disgraceful performance all round (except for the pesky Picts and the Ref) What a year...

 

[Scrubber2050]

God, you are tedious.

Pot Kettle Black

 

[cyclopath]

Pot Kettle Black

Indeed you are.

 

[Derpus]

Our best team is good enough. The problem that Chek has is his in selecting the best players in the right positions without playing favourites. That detracts from the team culture. IMO Hooper is not a good captain - he is one of the few guys (and there are a few) who plays for himself and accolades. It's all about the 1%ers and the culmination of all of them. Needless to say, it was a disgraceful performance all round (except for the pesky Picts and the Ref) What a year.

I have to disagree entirely on your Hooper assertion. He goes 110% for just about every game he plays and is generally the only Wallaby capable of any degree of consistency. How do you know he's in it for himself? surely if he was he would have taken a lucrative overseas contract by now.
I'll grant you selections have been suspect.

 

[Viking]

Commentators also making the point that playing such a fast-paced game with 14 men is the last thing you want to do - you want to slow the ball down and get re-set, not play open unstructured rugby.

Once again Cheika's Wallabies are exposed for having no Plan B - no flexibility to change the game plan to react to conditions. It's my biggest frustration with this current team. When things go right they are capable of beating anybody in the world, but if they don't go right they've got no answer.

Also highlights our poor defensive. Not even counting the structural issue that have been highly talked about on this forum. What about players like Foley, Kerevi, Beale in the backline who struggle to tackle 1 v 1. They are good enough to slow their opposition down so a second man can come in, which 15 v 15 can tolerate, but when you are down a player this is greatly exposed. We simply can't carry this many players who aren't up to it in defence. It's Test rugby not Super xv.

 

[Brumby Runner]

One of the main reasons the Scots put us to the sword was their inclination to go wide and fast against our poorly constructed defensive line. If anyone thinks that Nathan Grey has been anything but disastrous for the Wallabies, then they are sadly mistaken. I count Cheika in that group.

The same old problems with the makeup of the Wallabies came to light again in this game. Players shuffling about in defense in order to hide certain individuals with defensive failings, a No 15 in the last line who would rather run away than make a tackle, a lightweight backrow who get dominated at ruck time, an extremely poorly performing lock who is apparently the only player who can call a code at lineout time, extremely poor management of the bench, and the old discipline issues.

Far too many times the defensive line was caught about two or three short against the Scots' attack. Huge territory gains were made by the Scots going wide.

Beale must have missed as many one on one tackles as he made, or attempted to make. His tackling technique is very poor, even less sting than Cooper.

How many turnovers were won by the Wallabies? I remember one in the second half, but it was by a back and was immediately turned over back to the Scots. The Scots' backrow outplayed ours as a unit even though both Hooper and McMahon had strong games themselves. It is the sum of the parts that counts, and we don't have it at test match level.

Rob Simmons must be replaced permanently. The chase by both the locks when Maitand scored his try was very telling. Enever tried with the last ounce of strength he could muster. Simmons looked like his usual lumbering self and was left in their wake. No good claiming he was injured, because he stayed on when Enever was replaced by Tui. Regardless of any injury, it is another nail in Cheika's coffin as a coach that he doesn't have the smarts to replace the player who is obviously under-performing, whether through injury or lack of talent. I also noticed one scrum in particular where the Wallabies were pushed about 2 or 3 metres backwards (resulting in a penalty to the Scots) in which Simmons had absolutely no impact at all in the second row. I would not be surprised if his so called scrummaging expertise is all a myth.

As I posted before the game, the Wallabies squad for the 2019 RWC is still a long way off being settled. There are just too many fringe players getting game after game, while any semblance of a well thought out game plan seems to elude us continually. Players who should not be there include Simmons, Hanigan, Phipps, maybe Robertson and now Moore of course. Hodge also has deficiencies at wing, and should be moved to a more appropriate spot if he is to be retained essentially for his big boot. Combinations that aren't working are the two Ks in the centres, the Foley/Beale partnership at 10/15, and the combination of McMahon and Hooper in the 7 and 8 spots.

I think the whole mess could be straightened out a bit with a change in the head and dfense coaching spots, but I hold out no hope of that happening before the RWC.

 

[Viking]

Let's just forget about that one.

And the England match and Bled 1. Thats 3 of probably the worst wallabies performances I can think of in just one season... Never have we been this inconsistent.
Even if the loss % has been similar to previous years the losses were never this poor, and to Northern Hemisphere opposition. Terrible season.

 

[cyclopath]

Also highlights our poor defensive. Not even counting the structural issue that have been highly talked about on this forum. What about players like Foley, Kerevi, Beale in the backline who struggle to tackle 1 v 1. They are good enough to slow their opposition down so a second man can come in, which 15 v 15 can tolerate, but when you are down a player this is greatly exposed. We simply can't carry this many players who aren't up to it in defence. It's Test rugby not Super xv.

It's really the biggest failing, but not the only one! In many (obviously not all) Tests we are scoring enough points that would have won or been really, really close in years past. We ship far too many points these days, and coupled with ill discipline, the problem you highlight here is never far away with such a highly "geared" defence structure.

 

[Brumby Runner]

God, you are tedious.

I hope to be as tedious as the plethora of Waratahs' supporters who constantly rationalise the poor performances of our head coach both on and off the field. Maybe, one day, some of it might sink into their pre-conditioned brains.

 

[Tex]

Pleased I didn't stay up to watch that one. How did Tupou go?

I hate losing, but if I had to choose my 'least awful' team to lose to, Scotland would be close to number one.

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[Derpus]

It's really the biggest failing, but not the only one! In many (obviously not all) Tests we are scoring enough points that would have won or been really, really close in years past. We ship far too many points these days, and coupled with ill discipline, the problem you highlight here is never far away with such a highly "geared" defence structure.

What happened to our discipline anyway. Didn't we make it through the entire Rugby Champs without conceding a yellow. Now a red and three yellows in our last two? Different officiating maybe? The only yellows that really irk me are the off-sides. The northern hemispheres 'rush' defensive line may as well just be 'if we are all off none of us are off'.

 

[Brumby Runner]

Tupou tried hard but really couldn't get into the game. The replacement props for the Scots had it over our bench props well and truly.

 

[Viking]

It's really the biggest failing, but not the only one! In many (obviously not all) Tests we are scoring enough points that would have won or been really, really close in years past. We ship far too many points these days, and coupled with ill discipline, the problem you highlight here is never far away with such a highly "geared" defence structure.

Absolutely. Our whole game plan is highly inflexible.

We go a man down our game plan can't adapt because players can't handle 1 v 1 tackles, and scoring points is harder

weather is wet, our game plan can't adapt because we need to score tries but handling is poor in those conditions.

A key player or two is absent, our game plan can't adapt, because that that requires 10 structural changes.

it's like we have one "running rugby" game plan that only suits perfect weather , a certain starting xv, and a certain opposition. Test rugby needs 2 things we absoluely lack. All 15 players who can tackle, and a good kicking game (both general and goalkicking).