Time to Complain to the ARU

[Set piece magic]

This is embarassing, depressing and above all, very frustrating.

The think-tanks from the ARU decide to schedule a test match against an edgy scottish team mid week between super rugby and big tests against Wales.

Their logic at the moment seems to be, "Money earned from the crowd (20800) will outweigh the national embarassment toward our jearsey".

Well here's a little heads up to the windowless, sound proof, thought proof board meetings that the ARU have. It doesn't.

Regardless of what you think of RD, the fact is he had to play a semi B-grade team tonight. He was tearing up in the press conference. He isn't to blame for tonight, there was not much he could do.

The ARU need to not schedule matches like this in the future. Does anyone have an email or something we could 'politely' send a formal complaint to. Because I think I speak for the country in saying it's embarassing, depressing, and makes you feel sorry for the poor blokes who were left to deal with that mess.

 

[Bowside]

The test match was fine. The ref was fine. The team selections were mostly alright.

The mental frailty and tactics of the wallabies are not fine, and they will not achieve anything until they address it, regardless of the opposition.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

I agree with you Spikhaza. This is one of the worst calls the ARU has ever made for mine. I questioned it months ago and I question it now. Surely you give your flagship team the best possible opportunity to be successful, but no, the ARU tied one hand behind their collective backs.

I cannot believe they were so stupid.

 

[waratahjesus]

This is a one off, they said so in the lead up and it won't happen again. There is no reason to get to upset about it, it was a scheduling issue that arouse as the game was agreed to before super 15 came into being. They just had to deal with it and move on.

That said. They knew about it for over a year and there is no excuse for not being better prepared for it.

 

[Set piece magic]

Yes, overall personally I wouldn't mind, on the condition that no one in the world knew it happened. It's not like we've lost the bledisloe. It's just that everyone see's us as a laughing stock.

The posts on facebook rifling through, embarassment etc.

 

[grievous]

Yes we are not hard enough for more than two games in a week

 

[waratahjesus]

I agree it's embarrassing, but I don't think that scheduling will ever happen again, the AaRu have already said they made the best of a bad situation

 

[Viking]

How much prep time did the Scot's have compared to us?

 

[RedsHappy]

I agree it's embarrassing, but I don't think that scheduling will ever happen again, the AaRu have already said they made the best of a bad situation

Rubbish, stop permitting weak excuses and implicitly forgiving appalling, arrogant, reckless mismanagement that has again insulted and degraded Wallaby fans and the national jersey. See it for what it is FFS; you forgive the Tahs bosses everything and excuse all failure, but don't carry it over to something that's on a higher plane, the national game and Australian national sporting pride.

The ARU did NOT say it was 'making the best of a bad situation', they said something totally different, namely that 'we are doing the Scots a favour'. What an idiotic call, why should we risk additional injuries and the potential humiliation of a sequential loss to Scotland and poor preparation v Wales, just to do Scotland 'a favour'.

Undiluted negligence and a pointer to the poor culture inside our game's governing body.

 

[Bowside]

These are all just excuses that cover up deeper issues.

The wallabies lost because they lack anything of substance between the ears. And when I refer to the wallabies I am referring to the coaches, players, leadership and administrators.

The talent is still there, but the nous, attitude and execution of the successful periods are gone. And those three things are what I enjoy most about rugby, they are what made the reds winning last year so enjoyable and memorable, and I imagine kiwi's feel the same way about the all blacks win. They are what makes rugby a great game; If I just wanted to see good athletes run around I would watch league.

If a team can get to within 5 metres of the opposition line consistently they have the talent, but if they can do that and then score consistently than they have that bit extra that makes them a champion team. If not they are just pretenders, and we have proven over the past few years to be pretenders.

 

[redstragic]

they said something totally different, namely that 'we are doing the Scots a favour'.

And thanks to our arrogance we are Scotlands bunnies.

 

[waratahjesus]

Rubbish, stop permitting weak excuses and implicitly forgiving appalling, arrogant, reckless mismanagement that has again insulted and degraded Wallaby fans and the national jersey. See it for what it is FFS; you forgive the Tahs bosses everything and excuse all failure, but don't carry it over to something that's on a higher plane, the national game and Australian national sporting pride.

The ARU did NOT say it was 'making the best of a bad situation', they said something totally different, namely that 'we are doing the Scots a favour'. What an idiotic call, why should we risk additional injuries and the potential humiliation of a sequential loss to Scotland and poor preparation v Wales, just to do Scotland 'a favour'.

Undiluted negligence and a pointer to the poor culture inside our game's governing body.

I never forgive, or make excuses, we had this scheduled a year ago,if we won the scheduling wouldn't be an issue. We lost and now I believe that you may be using it as an excuse for the performance of the players on the field and there coaching.

It goes both ways, please don't put intentions to my words again. We lost because we weren't up to it and Scotland were. Scotland are the reason we lost because tonight, they were a better team than us.

Yes, JON has said "favor", he has also said "promised", "unfortunate" and "won't happen next year" sometimes accepting a loss for its true reasons is harder than making excuses for it.

 

[RedsHappy]

I never forgive, or make excuses, we had this scheduled a year ago,if we won the scheduling wouldn't be an issue. We lost and now I believe that you may be using it as an excuse for the performance of the players on the field and there coaching.

It goes both ways, please don't put intentions to my words again. We lost because we weren't up to it and Scotland were. Scotland are the reason we lost because tonight, they were a better team than us.

Yes, JON has said "favor", he has also said "promised", "unfortunate" and "won't happen next year" sometimes accepting a loss for its true reasons is harder than making excuses for it.

(WJ, to say you 'never forgive or make excuses'....please. You treat your favourite team as though like a mother's unquestioning love for her talented but wayward child. Fair enough, entirely your right, but reality must occasionally intrude at exam time when the marks are sent home.)

I made no excuses for the Wallaby loss. Rather, I commented upon the calibre of the ARU's judgement in agreeing to this Test in a manner that would absolutely ensure a very high-risk proposition for the Wallaby cause in 2012.

My point was and is clear, and is valid, and I made it well before yesterday. To schedule a Test:

- 2-3 days after an S15 w/end thus permitting only limited and fragmented 'new' Wallaby team training and induction time;

- days before an important Test series with a top EU rugby nation;

- in a manner involving 4 full Tests in June that clearly neither NZ nor RSA chose to emulate;

- in a manner obviously statistically increasing injury risk (above that of NZ and RSA as per prior point) to our key S15 players and where competing into the S15 finals is a highly important goal for Australian rugby;

- risking a potential sequential humiliation by Scotland if Wallaby low preparedness plus 'compromise team' construction contributed to a Wallaby loss...

....is, in aggregate, foolhardy, high risk and reckless, even if one assumes a win in this mid-week game.

The grave concern is the reflection this decision conveys upon the ARU's/Deans' ability to plan thoughtfully for Wallaby interests and development. All of the above risks were fully comprehensible in advance.

 

[Braveheart81]

The wallabies lost because they lack anything of substance between the ears. And when I refer to the wallabies I am referring to the coaches, players, leadership and administrators.

I think this is an important point, but mostly in terms of the players.

Robbie Deans is so unpopular that everyone loves blaming him for everything. Our players need to take more responsibility and make smart decisions for themselves.

The best players out think their opposition, particularly in circumstances where they have many phases camped outside the try line. The onus must come back on all our players to make better decisions and pick a way through the opposition defence. Our players need to be smarter than they currently are. We can't continue to blame the coach for our players failing to make smart decisions on the field.

 

[RedsHappy]

I think this is an important point, but mostly in terms of the players.

Robbie Deans is so unpopular that everyone loves blaming him for everything. Our players need to take more responsibility and make smart decisions for themselves.

The best players out think their opposition, particularly in circumstances where they have many phases camped outside the try line. The onus must come back on all our players to make better decisions and pick a way through the opposition defence. Our players need to be smarter than they currently are. We can't continue to blame the coach for our players failing to make smart decisions on the field.

bh, what is the cure in your opinion for this malady of our many 'non-smart' Test players? How do you see this generic problem (as you describe it) being fixed? How do we get the players to take 'more responsibility'?

 

[SealClubber77]

I think this is an important point, but mostly in terms of the players.

Robbie Deans is so unpopular that everyone loves blaming him for everything. Our players need to take more responsibility and make smart decisions for themselves.

The best players out think their opposition, particularly in circumstances where they have many phases camped outside the try line. The onus must come back on all our players to make better decisions and pick a way through the opposition defence. Our players need to be smarter than they currently are. We can't continue to blame the coach for our players failing to make smart decisions on the field.

I agree with this partially, i think the players and the coaching staff are to blame. The wallabies were attempting to kick rather than run in the first 10 mins and it worked out horribly, obviously the tactics are to blame however neither Genia or Barnes took initiative to change game plans so they are to blame as well. It was a scrappy and incredibly painful game to watch and i hope i don't have to go through something like that again.

 

[Braveheart81]

I'm not entirely sure, but I think a lot of it comes with experience. The best players like Dan Carter seem to figure out their opposition and eventually find a way to unlock the defence. We don't seem to have players nearly as good at that. I would say Quade Cooper is great at it in dry weather football, but I think he would have been awful if he played last night.

Our rolling maul worked well at various points but we didn't seem to try it very much. That could have potentially been used more.

With so much time in Scotland's 22 in the second half and being unable to score, we should maybe have taken more than one terrible attempt at a drop goal.

Maybe rather than the endless pick and gos we should have tried to get the ball one pass wide of the ruck and had Higgers or someone running off Barnes' shoulder.

There are plenty of things we could have tried but didn't.

 

[Antony]

I would say Quade Cooper is great at it in dry weather football, but I think he would have been awful if he played last night.

I actually think Cooper would have been good last night.

I read an article by Spiro today that said a lot of Australian players hold the misconception that wet weather rugby requires extremely tight attacking lines, when really it doesn't (he didn't expand on what he thinks it does require, but in my experience it just needs slightly more depth to account for the half-second delay in handling, and calmer/deliberate support from the forwards).

Say what you like about Cooper, but he also has the minerals to throw it around a bit regardless of conditions. That probably would have been quite good for the Wallabies last night.

 

[waratahjesus]

(WJ, to say you 'never forgive or make excuses'..please. You treat your favourite team as though like a mother's unquestioning love for her talented but wayward child. Fair enough, entirely your right, but reality must occasionally intrude at exam time when the marks are sent home.)

I made no excuses for the Wallaby loss. Rather, I commented upon the calibre of the ARU's judgement in agreeing to this Test in a manner that would absolutely ensure a very high-risk proposition for the Wallaby cause in 2012.

My point was and is clear, and is valid, and I made it well before yesterday. To schedule a Test:

- 2-3 days after an S15 w/end thus permitting only limited and fragmented 'new' Wallaby team training and induction time;

- days before an important Test series with a top EU rugby nation;

- in a manner involving 4 full Tests in June that clearly neither NZ nor RSA chose to emulate;

- in a manner obviously statistically increasing injury risk (above that of NZ and RSA as per prior point) to our key S15 players and where competing into the S15 finals is a highly important goal for Australian rugby;

- risking a potential sequential humiliation by Scotland if Wallaby low preparedness plus 'compromise team' construction contributed to a Wallaby loss.

..is, in aggregate, foolhardy, high risk and reckless, even if one assumes a win in this mid-week game.

The grave concern is the reflection this decision conveys upon the ARU's/Deans' ability to plan thoughtfully for Wallaby interests and development. All of the above risks were fully comprehensible in advance.

With all due respect your lack of comprehension to my side of thee debate makes your accusations of excuses quite fanciful.

We lost the game because Scotland outplayed us. They took there opportunities. They are nit a top EU side,they are the bottom EU side. lack of leadership and composure were the reasons we lost, the same as many Tahs games these years.

Scotland showed up with Ireland's game plan from RWC, deans had no answer to it. In his entire tenure I have yet to see the wallabies adapt during a game, you blame this on time for preparation, collectively we have failed at it for years.

As I said if you had bothered to read my posts and not attack me for imaginary things, the schedule was wrong, but they have already said it was a one off and won't happen again. I don't agree with it, but we had morethan a day to prepare and it was the 22 and the coaches who should take the brunt of the blame for what happened on the field.

 

[Ruggo]

Congratulations to the ARU for branching the game out into new territory. The timming was not ideal but I don't see an alternative. Just imagine the pissing and moaning if a test was taken away from a traditional centre to accomodate such an initiative?