Wallabies v Poms, EOYT 2010, Twickenham

[cyclopath]

True enough, Tragic, we did score 2 tries, as did they. But they looked like scoring a couple more, such was their dominance.
We showed enough with ball in hand to be well in the match. Problem was, they kicked way too much ball away out of hand early, and wasted opportunities to apply pressure with low-percentage goal attempts.
Bigger problem though was the almost total lack of application to aggressive defence, and offence at the breakdown. AS others have noted, and was well spotted by all on the live call, too many ball-watchers. Nobody made a dominant tackle.
Joubert was reffing with the momentum a fair bit - they often had players in funny places at the breakdown which was let go because they were generally going forward, very much like the ABs do. Hence we got a few calls against us at crucial times - notably the turnover leading to the length of the field try by Ashton. But we were just not in it as a physical contest, and that is what dismays me most.
The lack of sensible leadership when we were well behind was a big worry too. Beale's second try was well constructed, but after that we started seeing stupid bloody inside flick passes to no-one instead of seeing guys lining up to smash it forward - and guys like Sharpe, Chisolm, Alexander were getting over the gain line. 10 minutes to go, we were on attack, and I thought at the time they could do this, if they kept their heads. They didn't. The ABs would have.
I think what the Wallabies tried to do in this match was not so bad at times, but they needed to be more aggressive early and use the penalties better, and mostly show some more steel.

 

[Reddy!]

One of the biggest differences tonight was: Toby Flood 9/9 kicks James O'Connor 3/7 kicks

Poor goal kicking has hurt us alot over the past 3-4 season and it's seriously got to stop. It continually loses us games and lets the opposition easily into the game. The Wallabies could have been up 12-3 if O'Connor wasn't so inept.

 

[louie]

so is it JOC (James O'Connor) fault we lost that like it was gits when he misses?

Why the hell was JOC (James O'Connor) kicking outside his range? they really should have taken the lineout early on. This team can score tries. 5 is more then 3. Always.

 

[Bowside]

So I just woke up after going to bed in disgust last night. Luckily for many my mood has improved ever so slightly since then.

My beloved wallabies once again shit me to tears. A few pointers on last nights match:

A) Game plan was wrong from the start. We beat the best teams in the world playing one style, then revert to another against arguably our greatest rival.

B) We were shit at the breakdown.

C) Will Genia is no longer first choice in my mind. He was brilliant for the reds this year, but since donning the green and gold he has been average and we have all been touting it as a niggling injury. Burgess has been clearly better when hes come on and even though he is nothing compared to a 100% fit and inform genia, he has earned his spot in the starting XV and should be rewarded with it.

D) We can simply not persist with Matt Giteau. Barnes clearly better. JOC (James O'Connor) clearly still not a winger. Make the change robbie.

E) I don't know who this new defensive coach is, and granted he's only been in the job a few weeks, but over the last few games the wallabies defense has been slowly degrading. I don't buy into the, "just cause he's a leaguie he knows how to defend" argument, because there is a difference between being able to tackle and being able to defend. Maybe there is only so much we can learn from rugby league in this area of the game, or maybe Muggleton was just that much better at coaching defense and there is more to being a successful defensive coach than simply having a RL background.

The defensive style that England played last night with the swooping half back playing behind the line and the viscous competition around the breakdown is the classic way to shut down a better team. I regularly see school 3rd and 4th XV's playing that style, yet Australia couldn't crack it. Not good enough.

F) Place kicking from JOC (James O'Connor) was not great but he's not missing by much and it may be a case of just needing to refine his style.

G) I thought Chis played well with some nice runs making the game line. Might have been sea gulling a bit around the park but I have to admit I didn't watch the game close enough really pick up on it if he was. I dont think the ball went to him once at the line out which is odd considering he has been dominating the line out in the last few games.

 

[cyclopath]

Yeah, Reddy!, but 2 of those were very low percentage attempts outside his range, and really shouldn't have been attempted.
Of the other 5, he narrowly missed 2, so an average night. Flood squeaked a couple in only just, but at least was not having to go from such long range.
Louie - JOC (James O'Connor) missing kicks was but part of the problem. But I agree with the second part of what you said.

 

[Gnostic]

Interesting to see al the doomsdayers come out calling for heads again after a loss.
England played very well, Australia very poorly. Despite this England only managed to score twice which against Australia would usually not be enough. One of these tries was a length of the field effort against 14men aided by a poor refereeing decision. Despite their apparent dominance in the end it was still two tries apiece.
Australia must find a solution to its goal kicking woes if it is to stay in these games when it is having a bad night. How many times have we seen the All Blacks have an off night but still come away with the win courtesy of the boot of Carter and then a 10min period of getting their act together.
The Australian scrum was better this week and the penalties were a lottery. If it wasn't for memories of last week it wouldn't even be rating a mention. We defended the maul well - none of Englands usual marching 20m. We turned over less ball at the breakdown than last week. We even had periods of dominance in the forwards - had genia not isolated himself and turned the ball over, the forwards were on their way over the line. Instead a 10 point turnaround. Moore, Sharpie, Chis, and BamBam all played well. Robinson can feel hardly done by with the criticism he has received.
Cooper was his usual human turnstile but this is no different to usual and we either need to accept that or find an alternative. It is unlikely he will improve.
Unfortunately England kept getting kickable penalties (some warranted, some dubious) keeping them out of reach and we resorted to catchup rugby which turned into sevens rugby courtesy of our young bloods. Once again drawing the inevitable comparison, the men in Black would have just grafted away, taken their kicks, and waited for the opportunity to assert dominance.
England were the better side on the night. One of those games like the AB tri-nations one, which got away from us early. I have no doubt we have the players - just need to sort out our kicking woes, improve our decision making, and play smarter. Our time will come, although unfortunately I think we are set to reach our peak a year too late in 2012.

These are the same arguments that have been used for nearly three years against us "doomsayers. There were some average ref decisions by the length of the field try wasn't one of them, Genia over committed and fell the wrong way and he should have passed in any event.

Yes England played well but they were allowed to by the continued woe-full defence and a total lack of a decent game plan.

Robinson deserves all the criticism he is getting, he was penalised in the scrum again and as Mr Timms posted in the Blog the penalty Oz got for the early wheel could have easily been reversed for an early engage by Oz. Aside from that he gave away one penalty that was and one that wasn't. So his biggest impact on the game was in penalties against.

As for your analysis of the maul I have posted all year and last year that it is a real strength of Sharpe and Mumm to counter maul so I would be surprised if there was any change there. There hasn't been a successful maul when those two are the lock pairing (excepting the one where Sharpie was more worried about finding his teeth and wasn't in the lineout).

 

[DPK]

Joubert penalised Robinson twice for not releasing the tackled player, but on both occasions Robinson had begun stripping the ball away while the tackle was being made and he stayed on his feet as the ball carrier went to ground. Grinds my gears because they should've been penalties to Aus for England not releasing.

Scrum.com's headline is right. We really were swept aside by England today.

 

[Reddy!]

But that's not the point that it is outside his range. That's not the point. The point is we should have a kicker with the range to kick them. His job is goal kicker - if he can only kick them from right in front he is in the wrong job.

It's like saying to a doctor, "this person is a bit too sick for you to care for". What's he doing being a doctor then.

 

[louie]

The defensive play was down the our lack of commitment at the breakdown. Robbie Deans should to do this all the time at the Crusaders. It works when you push the players wide and turn it over, not when you let me just crush it through the middle. over and over again.

 

[Bowside]

So I'm wondering what other counter measures could be taken? The ABs didn't have an answer either. They used the short kick (again with no success) - what's the answer?

I was thinking exactly the same thing and I've decided the best way to counter is to just hit the line wide and hard, recycle quickly and go again. Your attack is only effective if the passing is really quick because the D-line defends in 3's and therefore can be a little bunched on one side on the second or third phase. The wingers also drop out of the line if the ball is not on their side of the field so if you are fast enough you can exploit that.

England's defensive style can frustrate the shit out of you and I think this really showed last night with the way our guys handled the game.

 

[Reddy!]

Also, I don't think all the dooms-dayers have just come out for this loss - I'm pretty sure even after our lucky wins this year there was a lot of criticism. This loss just validates that criticism.

 

[cyclopath]

But that's not the point that it is outside his range. That's not the point. The point is we should have a kicker with the range to kick them. His job is goal kicker - if he can only kick them from right in front he is in the wrong job.

It's like saying to a doctor - this person is a bit too sick for you to care for.

Umm, it is the point actually. How many teams have guys who kick a lot of goals from 45m or so out on an angle? The problem was that those kicks shouldn't have been attempted. Your fourth sentence is inane - who claimed such a thing? I won't even touch the last.

 

[BackStalls]

I was thinking exactly the same thing and I've decided the best way to counter is to just hit the line wide and hard, recycle quickly and go again.

England's defensive style can frustrate the shit out of you and I think this really showed last night with the way our guys handled the game.

But can you be secure getting the ball wide with the 10 -12 under so much pressure?

 

[louie]

But that's not the point that it is outside his range. That's not the point. The point is we should have a kicker with the range to kick them. His job is goal kicker - if he can only kick them from right in front he is in the wrong job.

It's like saying to a doctor, "this person is a bit too sick for you to care for". What's he doing being a doctor then.

Reddy don't be thick, why kick when you know you can't make it. We don't have a kicker that can kick that far so don't. Australia would have been better off going to for the line out.

 

[Gnostic]

Joubert penalised Robinson twice for not releasing the tackled player, but on both occasions Robinson had begun stripping the ball away while the tackle was being made and he stayed on his feet as the ball carrier went to ground. Grinds my gears because they should've been penalties to Aus for England not releasing.

Scrum.com's headline is right. We really were swept aside by England today.

Konze if it was a collapse maul it would be a Oz feed, once the tackle is completed, ie the player goes to ground he must be allowed to play the ball, which means Fatcat had to release, he didn't the first time and did the second though Joubert missed it. Both fair penalties really under circumstances (Fatcat's second try with the release was split second).

 

[Gnostic]

Reddy don't be thick, why kick when you know you can't make it. We don't have a kicker that can kick that far so don't. Australia would have been better off going to for the line out.

Beale can and so can Barnes, a good captain would take that into consideration and give the kick to Beale if that is the option decided. But given it was outside his range it was silly then to go for the kick with him. Also note that the Wallaby chase of the kicks was poor and the Poms were under no real pressure from the rebound off the post and the one that fell short.

What I cannot understand is that if Deans decided on a conservative game plan why did he start with Genia and Giteau? Surely Burgess and Barnes are better options for a conservative game (and Barnes better in any event).

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Replay on fox now.
Not looking forward to watching the car crash, particularly on the back of some of the other overnight games I've just seen which were great games.

The end of the marathon is near. F'ken fell asleep and missed it all live. Too many Jansz's earlier in the pm.

Been glued to the couch since 4:30 am with Darkness vs the Scots.

 

[Gnostic]

Just watching it again, myself.

Beale's first kick chase was brilliant, made three tackles one after the other before the first Wallaby arrived. That set the tone really. Where was the urgency?

 

[Reddy!]

Umm, it is the point actually. How many teams have guys who kick a lot of goals from 45m or so out on an angle?

Okay here we go:

South Africa - Steyn x 2
New Zealand - Carter, Weepu
England - Flood, Wilkinson
Wales - Stephen Jones, James Hook
Ireland - O'Gara
Scotland - Parks
France - le Kicker

This is test match rugby and you are saying we don't need somebody who can kick goals?

 

[louie]

i'm not saying that at all, i'm saying when/if we don't have one, don't try. If we'd gone for the lineout and scored a try of it (or gotten a pen at closer range) we would have been much better off. Could have put the poms under a lot more pressure and could have won the game.