Wallabies v All Blacks, Saturday 19th August, ANZ Stadium Sydney

[drewprint]

How's SBWs dickhead head rub on Foley after Barrett's charge down? Humble. So humble.

 

[Viking]

I think Bernie has improved since Mick Byrne joined the Aussie ranks.

I think Bernie has developed as a coach to a degree, at least from a Brumbies perspective, it's hard to judge from an international perspective given we don't know how much control or lack thereof he has.

Although ironcially, I think Bernie is a better head coach then an attack coach, the funny thing is I think attack is his greatest weakness - again this is going off the Brumbies performances since he has taken the reigns.

Also some of his comments in the media are baffling, like his recent comments saying the wallabies "didn't play poorly, just made some errors". Or his blaming the ref for a lose last season.

Also, given his position at the moment, he'll surely be picking up some bad habits. Would prefer for him to go over and assist Eddy Jones and then come back after more experience.

 

[Viking]

Not so much criticism as comment.

A Squire or a Kaino or a Scott Fardy he isn't.

A No 6 needs to make his presence felt around the rucks - with a lot more mongrel, be another option at the line out and be a line breaking ball carrier.

Hanigan had only 3 carries for zero gain.
A tackle count of 8 is nothing to shout about compared to the opposition.

I reckon Hanigan has the potential to be such a good Test level but he's been selected too early.

Rodd Haylett-Petty is recovering from some shoulder surgery so is not an option but has height (3cm) and weight (8kg) advantages over Hanigan.

Players such as McMahon offer the impact and a bit of mongrel but is >10cm shorter and only weighs 100kg.

Lol. McMahon didn't offer any mongrel or impact last week.

Hanigan is certainly one for the future but the fact he has been thrown into the deep end when you got players like Fardy/Higger available is ridiculous.

Do any development players in Aus, get game time from the bench these days? Or do we just like to destroy there careers early by breaking there confidence and watch them pick up bad habits and poor culture.

 

[wamberal]

How's SBWs dickhead head rub on Foley after Barrett's charge down? Humble. So humble.

Winners are grinners. The Wobbs should be using this sort of nonsense as a motivational tool. Show them a few minutes of highlights before they run out onto the field.

 

[TOCC]

“So, we just have to shut up, keep working and just change the situation.

“Anybody can say whatever they want and I think that he earned the right to talk about the Wallabies by what he did on the field, so we'll try to convince him otherwise.”

At least Mario Ledesma speaks some honesty

 

[KOB1987]

At least Mario Ledesma speaks some honesty

He's referring to Lynagh I assume?

 

[ACT Crusader]

How's SBWs dickhead head rub on Foley after Barrett's charge down? Humble. So humble.

I'm not a fan of any of that extra curricular stuff that is so common from many teams.

Sonny Bill isn't usually involved in it (it's usually Retallick and Kaino doing that stuff), but I think that had more to do with an earlier scuffle where SBW and Foley were exchanging plenty of words and both were getting stuck in.

 

[Sully]

I really wonder if the 'camp' model is now more or less defunct. We've now had two years where the Wallabies have had an extended period in camp, and both times have produced totally inept performances in their first game back.

If I were Cheika I'd seriously think about a return to trial matches, even with the injury risk that brings.
.

I think by far the biggest issue with 'the camp' is that it turns into a fitness camp and not a training camp. How much fitter can you make a player after a full super rugby season in a couple of weeks?
I'm sick of hearing 'they're not fit enough to play my brand of rugby' instead they should be designing the game plan for the players they choose.

Sent from my D5833 using Tapatalk

 

[Braveheart81]

I think by far the biggest issue with 'the camp' is that it turns into a fitness camp and not a training camp. How much fitter can you make a player after a full super rugby season in a couple of weeks?
I'm sick of hearing 'they're not fit enough to play my brand of rugby' instead they should be designing the game plan for the players they choose.

Is there any game plan that can challenge the All Blacks with players that are significantly less fit than their opposition?

The 2017 season would suggest that on the whole our players didn't have the fitness levels they needed and were wholly uncompetitive against New Zealand teams.

It is lamentable that we're trying to correct that in the Wallaby camps and hopefully the Super teams have a greater focus on fitness next season but I don't really see what the alternative option is.

One of the things that New Zealand consistently bests us at is overall workrate.

 

[MarkJ]

On the fitness side of things, if the Wallabies are so unfit shouldn't we be seeing the effects of that towards the end of the game moreso than at the start? Holes were opening up in defence right from the start of the game.

 

[KAOPointman]

On the topic of Folou and Foleys performances as egs....and whether or not their super rugby form this year warranted test selection......I looked up some very interesting stats on the fox archives and I think most will be very surprised at some of the stats when compared to players like the Barret bros, Quade, Janties, Havilli and other comparable notable players. As we've had to deal with Our 13yr old ridgeback passing this week.....i may post them in this weekends game thread.....maybe coinciding with another analysis of Bernard's Foleys

 

[Jimmy_Crouch]

On the fitness side of things, if the Wallabies are so unfit shouldn't we be seeing the effects of that towards the end of the game moreso than at the start? Holes were opening up in defence right from the start of the game.

Mate they aren't unfit now after running their balls off for the past 4 weeks.

 

[jimmydubs]

Is there any game plan that can challenge the All Blacks with players that are significantly less fit than their opposition?

The 2017 season would suggest that on the whole our players didn't have the fitness levels they needed and were wholly uncompetitive against New Zealand teams.

It is lamentable that we're trying to correct that in the Wallaby camps and hopefully the Super teams have a greater focus on fitness next season but I don't really see what the alternative option is.

One of the things that New Zealand consistently bests us at is overall workrate.

If that's true why were we the humpee in the first 40 and the humper in the last 40?
I don't buy it, 5 lots of coaches and S&C coaches all don't get it right on fitness? Or its an excuse to paper over a defensive and overall strategy that no Adonis marathon runners could win with??
Occam's razor

 

[barbarian]

It's all a bit irrelevant anyway, considering we're moving away from the split Super comp next year and into a more traditional international season with 2-4 games leading into the first Bled.

I hope that makes a positive difference.
.

 

[Braveheart81]

If that's true why were we the humpee in the first 40 and the humper in the last 40?
I don't buy it, 5 lots of coaches and S&C coaches all don't get it right on fitness? Or its an excuse to paper over a defensive and overall strategy that no Adonis marathon runners could win with??
Occam's razor

We defended atrociously in the first half. Certainly fitness wasn't the issue.

I don't think it's an invalid excuse. Did you really get the impression during this Super Rugby season that our teams were fit enough. A significant focus on it in June and in the first couple of weeks of the recent camps seems both reasonable and important.

On multiple occasions I thought the Waratahs looked massively unfit relative to their opposition this season. I also thought the same with the Reds and Rebels particularly. The Force were so-so in that regard. They certainly looked more physically up for the challenge late in the season.

 

[dru]

One of the things that New Zealand consistently bests us at is overall workrate.

That, and coaching IQ. Fitness, skills etc are right now irrelevant. The primary issue over all others in the game strategy, specifically adopting not just the barn dance, but an unnecessarily complicated barn dance at turnover. This on the basis of selections for attack, then let the D coach deal with it. With inexperienced combinations, some low cap numbers, and plenty of guys, especially in the back line, out of position.

Right now, that is the single biggest hurdle to improvement. Sort that, THEN issues like fitness etc come into play. Right now, it's all Cheika.

 

[drewprint]

I'm not a fan of any of that extra curricular stuff that is so common from many teams.

Sonny Bill isn't usually involved in it (it's usually Retallick and Kaino doing that stuff), but I think that had more to do with an earlier scuffle where SBW and Foley were exchanging plenty of words and both were getting stuck in.

Yeah it's a huge pet peeve of mine. Don't mind general aggro, but the whole mocking head pat bullshit really irks me. Deserves a punch.

 

[jimmydubs]

Love the spin. From Rugby.com.au:

""Foley and Williams played out a war of words for much of Saturday night, with the All Blacks centre rubbing Foley's hair after a desperate effort from the Australian playmaker stopped Beauden Barrett scoring off a charge down""

How about "after he was charged down costing Australia a try, that was luckily disallowed"

I don't think sbw was giving him grief over achieving simultaneous grounding but more over his utter fopar.

 

[Brumby Runner]

I think by far the biggest issue with 'the camp' is that it turns into a fitness camp and not a training camp. How much fitter can you make a player after a full super rugby season in a couple of weeks?
I'm sick of hearing 'they're not fit enough to play my brand of rugby' instead they should be designing the game plan for the players they choose.

Sent from my D5833 using Tapatalk

Sully, I have difficulty even believing they are not fit enough. I think it's all a smokescreen by Cheika to paper over his and Grey's shortcomings.

 

[Braveheart81]

Sully, I have difficulty even believing they are not fit enough. I think it's all a smokescreen by Cheika to paper over his and Grey's shortcomings.

Is it not reasonable that it was both and now that the fitness issue is resolved it's just Cheika and Grey's shortcomings?

The extra fitness work is done now. None of them are trying to argue that the players are still not fit enough or that they didn't have adequate preparation time.