Wallabies vs Barbarians

[liquor box]

I was at Twickenham, and just before restart at half time, JOC (James O'Connor) and Pocock went to have a word with the ref. Obvisously we could'nt hear anything, but from their mimicks, we could understand perfectly the argument made : while JOC (James O'Connor) raised his arm to show him it was only part of his pre-run routine, the ref started to do those little standing steps that JOC (James O'Connor) usually does while he raises his arm, implying that when a player does that, it's confusing everyone.

JOC (James O'Connor)'s technique has improved so much over the year that I hope it doesn't force him to consider yet another change. He was very accurate all day, although he still need to sort his distance if he wants to eventually contend for best kicker in the world.

Looking forward to the Welsh test.. Yesterday was basically a training run for the Wallabies. But i agree JOC (James O'Connor) was very exciting to watch, as always. Don't start the JOC (James O'Connor) vs Cooper thread just now though, the guy had just one "game" and Cooper is nursing an injury anyway. Pointless debate at this stage really..

Are there any rules about where the ref must stand and whether he has to stay still for a kick? I was watching the S15 final from last year and noticed that the referee ran next to Carter while he was taking the first penalty of the game, he was only about 1.5m away and the kick missed. I would understand if he thought he was baulked, luckily he plays for NZ so it was a great bit of refereeing!

 

[Ruggo]

U can only compare a few minutes of coopers world cup with JOC (James O'Connor) last night. When both players had barnes inside them. A calming 12 provides much more than the McCabe/finger show to a 10.

When Barnes went off it didn't alter JOC (James O'Connor)'s performance at all in this game. By all means Barnes is a fair player but he is also very over-rated. He recieves a lot of man love on this forum though his skill execution is not up to scratch. Realisticlally I would say his stock is falling and what we can take out of JOC (James O'Connor)'s performance is that he and Cooper will form a 10/12 Wallaby combination for several years to come.

Barnes really needs to work on breaking free from his conservative nature. I have no beef with Barnes but I see a player that is not fulfilling his potential.

 

[fatprop]

Pretty crap game and I wouldn't take too much notice of the form shown.

Lazy defending made scoring easy, lazy forwards allowed Aus to get a shed load of clean ball.

So what did we learn?

JOC (James O'Connor) is good at running through contact
Digby is a wonderful broken field runner
Alexander is a good mobile prop
Given space and time AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) is a solid 15
Pocock is a quality openside

So what didn't we know?

 

[wamberal]

So what did we learn?

I was impressed at the team's spirit, determination, not sure how exactly to describe it. They could have approached this like a picnic match, but they took it seriously.

 

[spectator]

Pretty crap game and I wouldn't take too much notice of the form shown.

Lazy defending made scoring easy, lazy forwards allowed Aus to get a shed load of clean ball.

So what did we learn?

JOC (James O'Connor) is good at running through contact
Digby is a wonderful broken field runner
Alexander is a good mobile prop
Given space and time AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) is a solid 15
Pocock is a quality openside

So what didn't we know?

Tend to agree with you FP, not too many serious takeaway's from the game that weren't already evident. O'Connor went well at 10 but I am looking forward to seeing how he goes there this weekend before passing comment.

 

[rsea]

Pretty crap game and I wouldn't take too much notice of the form shown.

Lazy defending made scoring easy, lazy forwards allowed Aus to get a shed load of clean ball.

So what did we learn?

JOC (James O'Connor) is good at running through contact
Digby is a wonderful broken field runner
Alexander is a good mobile prop
Given space and time AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) is a solid 15
Pocock is a quality openside

So what didn't we know?

Agree with all this except I think AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) is a good full back period and will get allot better if we stop bouncing him between positions
All eyes will be on O'Connor this weekend. Destroying the BaaBaas may have done him more harm than good

 

[RugbyReg]

what I liked about AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper)'s game is he didn't revert to up and unders which he has previously from fullback. His running game was there for all to see. Now, sure this was a baabaa game, but if Deans is true to his word and they approached that game as a test, then hopefully we will see plenty of AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) returning strongly v the Welsh.

 

[Lindommer]

Pretty crap game...

It might've been but did I see AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) and Digby pass the pill? That alone was worth my viewing time.

 

[GaffaCHinO]

One thing that I saw that was different between JOC (James O'Connor) game and QC (Quade Cooper) was that James wasn’t afraid to take the ball in to contact. To often QC (Quade Cooper) would get tackled but instead of going to ground and playing the ball he would try and push the off load.

I was very impress with what JOC (James O'Connor) did but I still think he is suited to 12. Just look at the way he attacked the line. He always seems to break the first tackle imagine if QC (Quade Cooper)/Barnes was inside him putting him in to holes now that’s something I want to see.

 

[Braveheart81]

When Barnes went off it didn't alter JOC (James O'Connor)'s performance at all in this game. By all means Barnes is a fair player but he is also very over-rated. He recieves a lot of man love on this forum though his skill execution is not up to scratch. Realisticlally I would say his stock is falling and what we can take out of JOC (James O'Connor)'s performance is that he and Cooper will form a 10/12 Wallaby combination for several years to come.

Barnes really needs to work on breaking free from his conservative nature. I have no beef with Barnes but I see a player that is not fulfilling his potential.

I disagree with all of this, particularly the skill execution. His ball skills have to be close to the best in the Wallabies. He has great hands, an excellent passing, kicking and tackling game. If anything, I would say his skill execution is excellent. He does all the important things well and makes good decisions in test match rugby. I thought he was very solid in the half before he got injured and came off.

In which ever order you put them, I thought JOC (James O'Connor), Barnes and Horne showed that they are very capable of forming a 10-12-13 combination for the Wallabies. Horne's tackling was superb.

 

[Ruggo]

what I liked about AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper)'s game is he didn't revert to up and unders which he has previously from fullback. His running game was there for all to see. Now, sure this was a baabaa game, but if Deans is true to his word and they approached that game as a test, then hopefully we will see plenty of AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) returning strongly v the Welsh.

What I noticed the most was the angles he was running the pill back were much better than in the past where he tended to take a diagonal line and starved supporting runners out of space. He is far more threatening taking that more direct line.

The other player who was also far more threatening in attack was Turner. I thought he had a reat game.

 

[fatprop]

When Barnes went off it didn't alter JOC (James O'Connor)'s performance at all in this game. By all means Barnes is a fair player but he is also very over-rated. He recieves a lot of man love on this forum though his skill execution is not up to scratch. Realisticlally I would say his stock is falling and what we can take out of JOC (James O'Connor)'s performance is that he and Cooper will form a 10/12 Wallaby combination for several years to come.

Barnes really needs to work on breaking free from his conservative nature. I have no beef with Barnes but I see a player that is not fulfilling his potential.

We can disagree here, I think we need Barnes' conservative nature & cool head in the test side (or someone of his ilk) tactically he is what we need when it gets hard.

Rugby is about balance and you need the players in the mix who will play the high percentage options as much as you need the flair units. But both will frustrate you, many will complain when Barnes takes the kick for field position that doesn't work as much as many will complain when Cooper tries the no look pass that doesn't come off.

 

[Lindommer]

I'm with you here, fp. How can we get Dingo to play Barnes at 10 and JOC (James O'Connor) at 12 this weekend? I'm drooling at the thought of JOC (James O'Connor) with a bit more time and space to put on his hard, jinking running. And a Barnes/JOC (James O'Connor)/Horne midfield would be bloody near impossible for the Welsh to get through.

 

[todd4]

I hope the coaching staff are able to bring the boys back to Earth after that one-sided event. Cofidence is good, but they'll need to get their head-space right for the game against Wales.

 

[Swat]

I still think that we shouldn't look too much into the result of this game. The barbarians defence was atrocious at times. If you look at the set up to Digby's first try Robbie Fruen makes the worst defensive read ever, if the ball went to Horne he would have gone through a gap Tyrone from Snatch could have parked in. In fact, it's the same gap Digby went though.

Exhibit A - go to 3 minutes and watch:

[video=youtube;qdE4pEXV-Og]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=qdE4pEXV-Og#t=177s[/video]

 

[minorbird]

Yeah I'm not sure why the commentator blamed Mortlock for that. He took Barnes (which was the right decision) and Fruean took...air.

 

[fatprop]

I really enjoyed the game analysis too, less marto & kearnsey banter, more solid analysis

 

[Schadenfreude]

Man Love:

I disagree with all of this, particularly the skill execution. His ball skills have to be close to the best in the Wallabies. He has great hands, an excellent passing, kicking and tackling game. If anything, I would say his skill execution is excellent. He does all the important things well and makes good decisions in test match rugby. I thought he was very solid in the half before he got injured and came off.

In which ever order you put them, I thought JOC (James O'Connor), Barnes and Horne showed that they are very capable of forming a 10-12-13 combination for the Wallabies. Horne's tackling was superb.

 

[Braveheart81]

Pfft. Not really. My rugby man love is always directed towards forwards.

Benn Robinson and Taf!

 

[Schadenfreude]

On the topic of man love for forwards - Samo's try was impressive I thought. His read of that play was excellent, and he looks fit again. He was starting to look tired in the WC.