Who's to Blame?

he would only need one of his steps to work agains a big guy who is bogged in the mud and we win the game

I am yet to hear any really good reasons as to how Robbie can be blamed for this loss.

1. RD didn't schedule this game.
2. RD doesn't control the weather.
3. RD can't call any of the shots on the field.

His biggest failure in my mind was that he maybe could have used his bench a bit better.

The Wallabies went in with the right game plan and did a pretty good job executing it but let themselves down with some poor decisions at crucial times and one very poor kick from Harris.

I'm no RD fan but I can see the Wallabies getting up for the Welsh and putting in good performances. There are some good players to come back into the side yet and the weather was a huge equaliser last night.

Finally, who cares what Andy Robinson has to say. His side haven't won any games this year, they played an under-strength Wallabies team that has had minimal time to prepare and have another Test in 4 days to think about in a Cat 2 Cyclone (apparently) and just sneaked a win on the final hooter. You Wallaby fans keep forgetting that this is the No. 2 ranked side in the world - and things aren't quite clicking into place yet. If RD can get some of the small things right (I actually do think they are small things) then this side will be very very tough to beat.

I can't believe I just wrote that long of a post actually defending RD and pumping up the Wallabies - WTF?!?!?!

Perhaps Bullrush the year the Blues have endured is forcing you to reluctantly look for positives closer to home..any positives.

Heaven forbid we try and dissect and incredibly embarrassing defeat on a Wallabies rugby forum Penguin.

Why did you have to bring up the Blues?!?!?! LOL

You know you're in a sad place when a loss actually makes you feel pretty good and gives you some hope for next year. Like how I felt on Sat night.

The game plan is a pretty good reason. This comment from Andy Robinson sums it up pretty well:


Robinson said he was surprised how one-dimensional the Wallabies were attacking Scotland's line.
"Obviously the way they played helped us, you can't deny that," he said.
"Those conditions are tough and sometimes by moving the ball you get concerned about the turnover that can occur.
"(But) when you've got that pressure on your line it does need the ball to be moved and that's something for all players to understand, that by shifting the focus it would have put us under a bit more pressure."



How many time has the term "one dimensional" been used to describe the Wallabies under Robbie Deans?

Surely our players are beyond needing to be told that if they've tried a pick and go close to the line phase after phase multiple times then maybe they should consider attempting a drop goal.

We seem to have a rugby league mentality where the only time we even begin to think about a drop goal is in the last 10 minutes when the scores are tied.

I bloody didn't.

Bh, good point, as was IMO Robinson's re taking some calculated risks with fast width on the Scots' line in these circumstances.

These two points vividly reminded me of the 2012 Tahs in similar situations where I felt sure it was a lack of seasoned on-field bossy senior leadership to make the tactical calls that cost the Tahs points and maybe matches. And I sensed the very same thing last night. Pocock and Genia were not gelling and Pockock was not actively driving tactical ploys, or the right ones at precisely the right times certainly.

I know it's speculation, but I do think Horwill would have handled the crucial game-changing moments on the Scots line much, much better - see for example his and Genia's orchestration of that try on the 41m mark v Chiefs when the Reds declined the penalty points and went for the line.

Genia had a shocking game. He was clearly struggling in the conditions and should have been replaced early in the second half.

If our halfback plays like that, we will lose most tests.

Most of the ball Barnes got was poor which makes it no surprise that the outside backs were used very little. I thought Ioane, Barnes and Fainga'a (through his tackling) were the only two backs who were decent. No one else really did anything. As much as Barnes has been maligned on this forum (as he generally is), he played a decent game and was our only backline member who actually fielded kicks consistently. Genia fluffed one that almost cost us a try, Morahan and Tomane flapped arms at bombs that were blowing back in the breeze and knocked them on. Morahan (or was it Harris) booted the ball dead that put Scotland in a position to win the game.

The funny thing with Robinson's quote is that his game plan was exactly the same as Robbies.

I reckon Robbie would have liked to have seen it go a bit wider a couple of times but Genia's play was pretty poor and didn't help this at all.

I still think Andy Robinson has hardly got the record that would make me want to start changing much.

A great game of rugby, considering the diabolical conditions. Invercargill is about the only place that could have been worse, IMHO, and we know what happens when we play there -- annihilation.

Yes, it would have been nice to have won, and we nearly did, or even the draw, which we deserved. However, we should all move on.

Well done, Scotland, you played with a lot of ticker.

Here is an article about the game by Mark Reason.

Scotland won beautiful. I do not care that the rain was coming across the ground in waves or that Newcastle, New South Wales, was as cold as Gateshead in January. It matters not that the pitch was a slosh pit or that the ball was as slippy as Anthony Blair. Rugby is a game for all seasons and part of its fascination is how much meteorological conditions can change a game.

If Australia had had Kurtley Beale and James O’Connor and a match fit Quade Cooper available and if this match had been played in Gold Coast sunshine, then Scotland would have been jiggered. But it wasn’t. It was played in the wet and the wind and the game was changed.

Suddenly the forward pack becomes twice as important. The pick and drive becomes one of the main methods of progress. The player has to control his trajectory of kick like a golfer in the gale at Muirfield. The hooker’s throwing in skill is magnified (Stepehen Moore trounced Ross Ford is this area). Fly-half has to stand closer to his number nine. Passes need to be more sympathetic. And every point counts double.

Spare me the tired cliché that the weather turned the game into a lottery. It did nothing of the sort. It just meant that Scotland’s inferior outside backs were a lesser factor and their competitive forwards contested the game. Scotland’s second row outdid Australia’s smoky engine room and their triumph was summed up by the winning penalty from the game’s final scrum. The Scottish boys just kept shoving.

Australia were also dim. They had enough field position in the second half to knock over five drop goals but they kept smashing away at the line. There was a touch of arrogance in that, a touch of stupidity and a lack of respect for the conditions. I repeat. Points are worth double.

And when the game was there to be decided, the key moments were not determined by lucky dip, but by skill, power and brains. Mike Harris did not have the ability to change his goalkicking technique to take advantage of the gale at his back to kick the decisive goal.

Stuart Hogg then took a superb mark off a high ball and returned a piercing kick to the halfway line. Harris, oh dear, then kicked the ball dead from his own 10 metre line. And the Scotland scrum stuffed the wilting Aussie pack to earn the winning penalty. Nothing lucky about it.

Some of the Aussie papers whinged and said it was the sort of game that kills rugby as a spectacle. What a tiny world view. Tuesday night’s game was fascinating precisely because of all the different questions it asked of the players. The sooner the IRB brings in a regulation defining rugby as an outdoor sport, the better.

The roof of the Millennium Stadium is a rugby obscenity. When France’s coach asked for it to stay open in the Six Nations Warren Gatland said: “I do not think he cares too much about the type of rugby they play…We all have a responsibility to the broadcasters and the public and the game as a whole to make the game as attractive as possible. I hope that it is not closed on Friday night and then it breaks down and we can’t open it."

Sorry Warren, but attractive rugby is not always ten tries a match as defined in the Super 15. And you did once ask for the roof to be open against Australia. Soccer is the world’s most popular spectator sport precisely because its reduced scoring system makes for a lot of upsets. Sometimes the weather can do the same for rugby and reward heroic defence.

Australia coach Robbie Deans said after the match: ‘’We learnt that we weren’t all on one page. We lack a bit of clarity around our direction in terms of just banking games like that and I guess it’s not in our DNA. It’s an art we’ve got to develop. We had enough possession to put the game out beyond reach. But credit to Scotland. They got one opportunity in the second half and took it. We weren’t accurate enough in closing the game.”

The bit about DNA makes you smile. Deans is a New Zealander and so is Mike Harris, the man who had the chance to win the match. Let’s give Scotland some credit. The scores were tied at 6-6 shortly after half time and Scotland had nearly the entire half to survive against the wind. Their courage, organisation and grasp of the ball and the game were greater than Australia’s. They earned the win by putting Australia in a position to lose.

It was terrific wet weather rugby and a night that will be remembered for many more years than the Super 15’s 70 point try fests of recent weeks. At the victorious end two Scotland players clashed bloody heads like rutting stags. The mob once dubbed Shower of Scotland deserved the moment because they knew how to play in the rain. And it was beautiful to watch.

The ECL that caused the storm was predicted last week;
http://www.swellnet.com.au/news/2980-east-coast-low-on-target-for-new-south-wales
it's predicted trajectory was a little off but the conditions are always the same;
"These weather systems drive gale force onshore winds, heavy rain and large swells across broad areas of the coastal region.".

Useful article in The Roar by P Cully:

It pinpoints our blunders pretty comprehensively.

It was very noticable that the scrum got worse every time a replacement was made. Timani might not be that great but he must put some push on in the scrum. It was noticably weaker once he went off.

Just shocking

Summed up pretty well. And what WAS hooper doing?

Sorry, but that is a bit harsh. First time on the big stage with one day of full prep with his new squad and new coach and new game plan. Are we going to throw him to the lions because he took a few minutes of his short game time to try to adapt to a new experience?

He had to second guess what his team mates were going to do as well as what was going to happen, and his inexperience showed.

He probably ran on full of nerves and pride, but walked off wondering what the hell just happened. Christ, even Eales took a handful of games to get into the groove and understand he deserved to be in the team. We gave Hooper a handful of minutes and expect him to seamlessly transition?

Give the kid a break.