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Have a rank: Wallabies v. Wales Cardiff 2012

Matt Rowley December 2, 2012 52

No GravatarSo how did you think each of the Wallabies fared in beating the Taffs yet again to send off Sharpie? Give em a rank!

 

Wallabies vs Wales in Cardiff 2012


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POSTED IN » Wales, Wallabies
About the author: Matt Rowley View all posts by
Matt started G&GR just before the 2007 Rugby World Cup and has been enslaved ever since. Follow him on twitter: @MattRowley

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Discussion »

  • bill

    Wayne Barnes gets the Bryce “I’m Intimidated by an aggressive looking hamster, look, it’s eyes are following me around the room” Lawrence award.

  • Doug

    I don’t think a single Wallaby played well except perhaps Sharpe & Benn Robinson. Our forwards a marshmallows & Kurtley Beale’s pathetic lateral running & pointless kicking sums up the backline.

    • Piggy

      But Beale was the messiah, I remember the days when he was the reason we didn’t need Quade anymore…

      • Doug

        Yes I recall & that was based on nothing. Our media is so used to mediocrity that doing the basics on occasion can make you a super star in this country.

      • first time long time

        Isn’t it funny how the commentators and press including Mark Ella (if you can believe that) are now singing the praises of Cooper.

        The same people who have been happy to bag the shit out of him for the last year have now realised that the so called other options at 10 this year have been woeful.
        Before anyone howls that KB is a great player, I agree that when fit and in form he could still be one of the best fullbacks going around but he is not an international flyhalf.

        It was terrible to see us kick the ball away almost everytime we made a half break but our support play was so shallow that the only other option a lot of time was hold the ball or throw a risky or possibly forward pass eg AAC to Mitchel.

        Was there any good reason to play Pocock last night, not saying he had a bad game, but he has been injured for over 3 months. Wouldn’t it have made more sense to rest him fully for next year and give Gill a start.

      • Pclifto

        You’re right Piggy, we need Quade… he’s got a such a great track record of taking the right option when the chips are down… ummm…

  • bill

    I didn’t see Phipps make a bad pass,good quick service as well.

    • http://www.facebook.com/will.johnson.75098 Will Johnson

      Is that you Phipps? Seriously he was terrible…. passes going all over the place, poor option taking on turnover ball. You are right his service is quick which is something Genia needs to learn, but accuracy is way more important.

      • bill

        no I’m serious, I haven’t dissected a replay, but I was watching him because of his previous, and didn’t see anything to remark on faultwise.

        • bill

          Doesn’t Serious play for the waratahs, or is that Glum.

          You might be right about option taking, I didn’t look for it, just thought he was improved in his passing and didn’t see why people were ranking him down.

        • vidiot

          Better watch it again.

        • bill

          I did watch it again.

          First, liked the little bit of push and shove before the last scrum(and Kepu’s : this isn’t a discussion you want to have) and the resulting effort at the scrum, why don’t we have more of this, after all this was dave dennis in the 2nd row, thus not our optimal scrum outfit..

          2nd, still did not see a pass go wrong from Phipps. And apart from one poor clearance kick…and clearance kicks are meant first and foremost to go the fuck out, did not see anything wrong with his play. So he didn’t part the red sea, what of it? He helped us and didn’t hamstring us.

        • vidiot

          Look at 37:00 – Phipps passes back to a spot above Cummins head when Beale was standing waiting to kick long. Cummins kicks out on the full, back we come.

          Or 40:10 as in 10s into the second half, Barnes knocks on a pass that is rifled to a spot on the ground about a foot away from his right boot.

          The backchat penalty is something he needs to eradicate from his game.

        • bill

          It is an 80 min game Vid. 2 bad spots only make me a fan of any half, given how much they touch the ball.

          Backchat, whatever, if you play half, 5/8 or fullback I don’t care how retiring an individual you are you learn to talk, it’s a part of the brief for those positions, maybe some of the refs should stop being so precious.

          That welsh guy was so out of order in the french game it was a bad joke. I haven’t seen a ref lose it like that since Elsom got under Joubert’s? skin.

          Here’s a tip for the ref’s, if it’s all about your sense of authority…I guess it’s all about you, just a little too much emo for me I’m afraid.

          As Iain Banks would say a serious lack of gravitas.

  • Chunderstruck

    Barnes was good in defence with an awesome tackle on Cuthbert, and was very solid under the high ball

    Great try saving effort by Palu and his hit on Rees was awesome, no penalty

    Beale tried hard and was there at the end when it mattered, and he did score all of our points. But he must share blame for our farcical attack.

    Two of the best line breaks for Wales came off defensive errors by Tapuai. Cummins nowhere in sight except getting penalised or kicking a shocker.

    Thank you Sharpie for all you’ve given to Australian rugby, pretty sure we would have lost some of these close once without your leadership!

    • Brumby Runner

      Tapuai’s defence fell down when he lined up at 13. Why the centres changed for defence is beyond me. Maybe the intention was to have AAC take Roberts, but to my mind the change didn’t work. Another Deans’ brainwave I suspect.

      • tj

        yes it’s not tapuai’s fault for at least 3 blatantly poor defensive reads. Deans ran out and quickly put his jersey on and made the bogon decisions himself

    • Parker

      We did lose a number during the time Robbie discarded Sharpie from the squad.

  • Doug

    To those giving Barnes a thumbs up- give yourself an upper cut. I don’t care if he plays that useless kick-a-thon at the Waratahs but not at the Wallabies please.

    Because he caught a few balls he is a thumbs up?! I’m just struggling to see where he played well. He is such a sook & doesn’t have a running rugby bone in his body. And on his body- was there ever a softer back in our lineup? Cramps constantly although he never runs the ball into contact so why he is constantly about to cry is a mystery…

    • le roo

      Try saving tackle down the line in the first half, created space for Mitchell’s break, which should have resulted in more, and heavily involved in the creation / exploiting of opportunities in the last two minutes that ultimately resulted in the match winning try. was probably the most productive of the Wallaby backs (not that that is a huge claim these days).

      I thought he did ok.

  • spectator

    Berrick Barnes was instrumental in creating that try moment, with his flair/inclination for timing & space, which being in an inside channel, was going to the opportunity that was there & able to connect for the outsides in the situation…..a well executed classic style 2nd five type skill set in action – he did not create the opportunity itself though.

    • Doug

      Flair & Barnes in the same sentence? You have to be kidding. He was also instrumental in innumerable pointless kicks that threw away possession & gave territory & ultimately points to Wales. That try was sparked by Mike Harris not Barnes too.

      In the press conference he said he didn’t understand why the attack was so poor all he had to do was point at his boots to answer the question.

      • Brumby Runner

        Harris ran into a gap off a well-executed wide pass from Barnes. Barnes definitely contributed to that try. He did some other good things and some bloody awful things, but was not Robinson Crusoe. Hard to find an overall good performance from any of the Wallabies today. Pocock tried hard in his first game back. I was much more impressed with Harris when he came on. Added some thrust in the backline, and ran to the line committing defenders before unloading to support. Pity a few others don’t do the same.

        • bill

          He looked worth the jersey didn’t he.

          Harris that is, not that Barnes didn’t, he got through some pretty good defensive work over the game.

          Overall over the last couple of games I’m almost getting a woody over the Wallabies backline performance. Not stellar by any means but now we’ve got that buttplug out of the way(tremendously unfair to McCabe I know) we might actually get somewhere. ….Robbie should still fuck off on general principles. He’s the Alan fucking Bond of aus rugby.

        • bill

          I would literally, not be surprised if be turned up to a postmatch press conference and declared..”.I can’t remember.”

          Where did australian running rugby go Robbie?….”i can’t remember”

          See, it works.

        • Parker

          Hang on. At least Bondy won the highest trophy in his sport, whereas Robbie’s biggest achievement is keeping his contract. Unbelievable!

        • idiot savant

          Agree absolutely Brumby, it was Barnes’ wide pass to Harris that was critical in creating the try. Wales like most sides since the World Cup have worked out the best way to stifle Australia is to sprint off the line, up and in, forcing inside running or kicking under pressure. I’m not sure why, but the call should have gone out earlier in the game to go wide quickly to combat this tactic. Wales conceded the try because all their defensive energy was dedicated to the fast up and in. When Barnes cleared it with the long cut out pass they were under pressure. Harris, Dennis, and Beale then all played their part very well.

          Barnes had his worst kicking game for a long time I thought, but I counted 4 try saving efforts so I dont think we would have won the match without him. His fearless dive on the ball stopped Halfpenny from scoring and allowed Palu the time to get there first.

          I dont know why we stopped the little chip kicks after England. They worked so well against England and then we stopped against Italy and Wales. Wales used the chip kick all the time and had us under constant pressure as a result. Is it the coaching that is weird? Is Deans coaching “whats in front of him”? It is perplexing.

          Still think that our backline made better inroads with Barnes as first receiver then it did with Beale.

          The Australian sides that bedazzled the French 56-19 in 2010 and the Barbarians 60-11 in 2011 seem well gone. Those sides offloaded all the time, had ball distributors at inside centre and ran from depth. I watched Dan Carter during the last international season and he stands much deeper than Cooper and Beale. Do we have a coaching problem with the backs?

        • Parker

          We have a friggin coaching problem period!

      • Pclifto

        I actually disagree Doug, I think Berrick was solid and dependable and (for the most part) took the right option.

        I think more worryingly is that often the backline does not set well enough to give Berrick a good enough second option, hence the kicking.

        PS Tapuai was pretty anonymous tonight I thought…

        • Timbo

          And the reason the option was mainly kicking was that when he was in open space he never had support with him until Digby came on. That is what makes the ABs so devastating in broken play, mutual support. Had we had Barnes receiving the pill, then running at the line with a Digby on one shoulder and a Mitchell on the other, serious questions would have been asked of the defence however as he never had support, his only option was to do the FB thing and kick the leather off it.

        • Pclifto

          Spot on Timbo. The Wallabies’ support play has withered away almost completely. The ABs excel at it and the French did it beautifully against the WBs – one of the key reasons we looked so shabby against Les Bleus…

    • http://twitter.com/LeftArmSpinner LeftArmSpinner

      And if he is so brilliant and visionary, why is he at 15 and why is his first brainwave to kick, Spectator, sadly, on this occasion, you have been looking thro rose coloured glasses!!!

  • wilful

    I must clearly be an idiot becuase I’m really not seeing what Phipps did that was so awful. You people are thinking in a mob mentality like a pack of sheep. Not saying he had a fantastic game, but didn’t see a lot of howlers.

    • first time long time

      1 or 2 filthy worm burners, catching the ball in his 22 then running out of it only to kick it out on the full and back chatting the ref, turning a knock on into a penalty when we were hard on attack in the Welsh 22 are a few of his boo boos.

      But if bad kicking, passing and poor option taking were his flaws, he had plenty of company out there.

      • Blinky Bill of Bellingen NSW

        What’s a ‘worm burner’ code for?

        • bill

          grubber kicks, not last night’s curry, although watching the previous may may make you feel like the latter if poorly executed.

        • Dogman

          For most, a “worm burner” is a grubber KICK. For Phipps they were grubber passes!!

        • Blinky Bill of Bellingen NSW

          The things you learn.

        • Tom

          At least the Phipps penalty wasn’t under the posts like sharpie, and he was right, Wales halfback was offside and slapped the ball out of his hands. He shot out 1 shit pass and 1 shit kick. I thought he was pretty damn good.

  • Ruggamad

    Another depressing performance but a win is a win!

  • Blinky Bill of Bellingen NSW

    Blimey Charlie! Watching Sharpey made me wonder how in the hell we are going to ever manage without him.

    I thought he played like a man possessed, probably one of his better tests. Simply fantastic at lineout time, gave really good go forward and super aggressive in defense. It’s been so long since I’ve seen him lose the pill in contact that I’m starting to believe I had the wrong guy. He’s also managing the Refs so much better.

    What a way for him to go out. Super player and super bloke. Go out on top and enjoy your well earned retirement.

    Hopefully not completely lost to Rugby.

    • bill

      potentially, and i stress potentially, we have a lot better than Sharpie.

  • bill

    best moment of the match, winning at the death, closely followed by the welsh commentator saying australia are very competent but pretty simple! Everyone knows it but you Robbie, yes, I’m aware this is by design, but it doesn’t fucking work unless you have a massive physical advantage and we don’t. Get it sorted.

    Unless you’re Lance fucking Armstrong you’re not going to get a significant physical advantage.

  • ChumbaWumba

    If only they could play 80 like the last minute. I thought the WBs were reasonable (the odd mistake aside) apart from the horrible horrible chip kicks and terrible kick-away-possession-to-the-opposition-back-three-cos-I-have-no-idea-what-to-do-next. Who is responsible for this awful approach if not Mr Deans? Surely even he could take a message from this game.

    • ‘Boutbloodytime

      The scary part is that Deans will probably take 3 wins as a vindication for more of the same

      • http://twitter.com/LeftArmSpinner LeftArmSpinner

        I saw his face after the game, No celebration from any of the coaches.

    • http://twitter.com/LeftArmSpinner LeftArmSpinner

      they played 90 seconds of rugby, but only in desperation and as a last thought. I should be the first thought after a few minutes to get into the game!!!!

  • http://www.facebook.com/huw.hillman Huw Hillman

    Green and gold forum member ratings -

    Good – Waratahs
    Ok – Anybody who played well and isnt a waratah
    BAD – Phipps + higgers

    no point in doing this every week

    • http://twitter.com/LeftArmSpinner LeftArmSpinner

      Huw, good waratahs??? are you serious????

  • http://twitter.com/LeftArmSpinner LeftArmSpinner

    oh dear. what a dull, boring game. some expectations, none of them met!!!!! A win is a win, but only just in this case, particularly if nothing changes in 2013.

  • Misplaced Canuck

    Mitchell has never been lighting fast, powerful but not equipped with
    blistering pace like other wingers from around the world. I have
    noticed that in these past two games he seems to have either lost
    confidence (which I would think is common after a significant injury),
    or has lost some pace (which he didn’t have alot to spare in the first place) because of the injury. In the Wales match he had
    two or three potential breaks where he pulled up, had he hit the gas he
    would have put on at least another 15m before going into contact.
    Instead he pulled up and waited for contact. Been a fan of Mitchell for
    a long time but I’m not sure he should wear gold again. Big call but
    there it is….

    • Blinky Bill of Bellingen NSW

      I’m also a Mitch fan. I was interested to see if he did more in this test as the last time.

      My take (remembering I’m a supporter of his) is that he pulled up to avoid being isolated and give us a chance to recycle & go again. I thought all in all he wasn’t all that bad but as you rightly say his confidence may be down. As the game went on he seemed to be going into contact, wrestling & defending with the best of them.

      I’m hoping like hell that soon enough we will see him return to the top of his game and do what wingers are paid to do …..make breaks that lead to tries.

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