Wallabies vs Wales - Docklands Stadium June 16

Okay, maybe that wasn't 'closing out a game' but great teams also snatch victory from the jaws of defeat (think Eale's & Mortlock's kicks & Kefu's try) and that game sure ended a lot better for us than the Scotland game.

Two weeks ago I questioned why we seemed to lose tight games too often so I for one am happy they were composed enough to finish the game in that fashion.

Brothers in arms indeed, Gagger. Noblesse oblige. It was a wonderful man-of-the people gesture for someone of his stature and refinement to join in a group hug with the sweaty troops and to mime the national anthem with them. What the video doesn't show is that he was even prepared to have a celebratory drink with them; for which purpose he personally carried a flute of 1928 Krug down from his private suite.
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Good article from Wayne Smith...

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/spo...an-of-bash-rugby/story-e6frg7v6-1226398038019

He's not even the best Welsh 7 on this tour. Tipuric is by far the form player, how the Welsh management expect Warburton to just hit the ground running after hardly playing in months defies logic to me.
In an online poll in Wales today, Tipuric polled 60 % of the public vote to replace the skipper.

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Saint Sam of Warburton is simply not match fit but then neither is Lydiate who should be recuperating from the operation he desperately needs. Don't get me wrong, Wales will pay for this next year but I was hoping that Gatland would pick a largely Welsh squad for next summers injury tour with the Lions and leave the Irish lads at home but I can see the Welsh lads being dead on their feet by next summer and it will down to Ireland to pick up all the slack and all the fucking ruined careers

FFS JON has a bigger entourage than Elvis did at his peak, there are plenty of hangers on in the joint.Hope they were all sent home with some Krug as a memento in their limo's.

Anyone thinking. WTF is JON wearing in that video???

I don't know what the rest of you think, but I've always thought that singing the anthem/team song after a win should be the domain of the players and perhaps the coaching staff only. I've never been a big fan of admin types joining in.

Besides, their suits would have been creased and you can't treat high quality fabric like that. Poor form, JON and co. Focus, people!

I could not agree more, Daz. Grand Final and Test wins belong to the players.
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Whatever your views on the Wales 2 win, that article by Smith is not 'doomsaying' at all. Most of the article highlights how positively important the win was, and credits the Wallabies closing skill in getting it.

Smith's argument - right or wrong take your pick - is that (a) this game showed no evidence of Wallaby innovation or adventure in attacking play and thus they put themselves in a lower scoring position than was justified by their possession and position stats and (b) in his view if that single 'grey' dimensionality of limited attacking play continued, it would likely not build the Wallaby fan base, etc.

IMO, there is some truth in what he's saying, but consistent winning by the Wallabies against top sides here at home is overwhelmingly the important variable in building, or rebuilding, fan support for national rugby. Most critical of all is a BC win very soon v the ABs, just as JO'N has recently stated as a 'must have'.

Finally, calling Smith a 'perennial doomsayer' is quite misleading. He's just about the only Aus rugby journo that's got the intellectual skills and guts to critique the Aus rugby 'system' and attempt to ascertain why it's not producing code growth and more aggregate success. The inference of this negative badging of Smith is that writers like Growden and others are providers of the better optimism for the code. Surely no one could sensibly believe that. IMO, we need the Smiths to support legitimate public debate and critique re Australia rugby, he's clearly the last of a rapidly dying breed, sadly, and such a trend does not serve the code's cause at all well.

Couldn't agree more. Firstly, Wayne Smith's article was rubbish. Test rugby is about winning. Watch super rugby if you want a try a minute game. The tone of his article downplays the significance of the Wallabies victory and gives no credit to the quality of the opposition. It was a series win against the highly rated Champions of Europe in circumstances where a lot of top line players, many of them 'match winners', are on the sidelines. Also I didn't see the game play out like he suggests. After a shaky start (going down 7 points in the first 5 minutes) the Wallabies controlled the match well. The had the bulk of possession and territory. Despite staunch defence from the Welsh, the Wallabies slowly chipped away for metres, and regularly made their way into the Welsh half, and took the points. By half time they were comfortably controlling the match. The 2nd Welsh try was unlucky for the Wallabies, but again they toiled hard and regained control of the game. When Vuna was sent off around the 60th minute I thought the Welsh would be able to take advantage, but the wallabies just waited it out. Quite frankly if we'd lost I would have still thought we looked like the better team for the majority of the match. There is no doubt Our team could use some extra attacking firepower in the backline but that will come when players become available.

Compare that game to the NZ/IRL game where Ireland appeared to be in control in for much of the second half. A game that many would argue Ireland deserved to win.

Harsh that Mike Harris has been left off the bench following his match winning kick.

At least we have a lock on the bench.

Personally, I would have left out Hooper.

Sorry guys, switched the team announcement to the right thread..

It would seem that many rugby journalists and fans have an expectation that as the number two ranked side in the world, every win against a team ranked below us is a given and the only victory worth celebrating is against New Zealand.

If we lose to a team below us there are calls for heads to roll and claims that Australian rugby is dying. If we beat a team ranked below us (particularly in a close game), we should have beaten them better.

It seems that many think that the situation is completely black and white in terms of the success of Australian rugby. The only way to move forward is to beat the All Blacks (except in the Tri Nations in 2011. That didn't count), win the Bledisloe Cup and win the Rugby Championship.

I personally think that Australian rugby has moved forward in the last few years. We have a huge amount more depth than we did previously. Three of four years ago, if you'd taken out key players such as Beale, Cooper, O'Connor and Horwill, we would have been an absolute basket case. Now we can put together a team that is still capable of playing good rugby and beating the 6N champions.

I still think we have a long way to go, but trying to judge our success based solely on whether or not we beat the All Blacks is taking a bit too narrow approach.

I'm also thinking WTF is JON actually in the video. "Why" not "What" in this instance.

Last week people were complaining he wasn't involved enough in Australian rugby. Now it's that he's too involved.