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Live Wang: Bledisloe Cup – Australia v. New Zealand

Steve Timms August 18, 2012 65

No GravatarJoin us for a good old-fashioned wang-on during the first Bledisloe Cup Test.


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POSTED IN » All Blacks, Rugby, Wallabies
About the author: Steve Timms View all posts by
Steve Timms, He likes watching the odd game of Rugby, occasionally writes about it.. Proud member of the original Mudchooks.

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Discussion »

  • canuck

    Genia’s slow ball kills me.

  • The Rant

    Fittingly beale guilty of the turning it over to kill the last chance. Geez he had a shocker tonight. Pity he wasn’t lining up against 15 doormen.

    • Dave

      Nice!

  • Trace

    Sack the coach and bring on Cooper. It is simple:)

    • uptheguts

      You cant be putting the blame on the coach for those sort of basic errors.Totally agree QC needs to play though.

      • The Rant

        cooper would have had a shocker trying to make something happen behind a disgraceful pack.

  • cheese

    Well done blacks, definately the superior team and the score flattered the wobblies. Great to see Pocheat get pinged at the breakdown too, about time.

    • Jeavesey

      Procheat this comes from a side that have the biggest cheat in the world. In Bitchie McCaw

  • stillatragic

    Average performance from the ABs. Shocking performance from the Wallabies. Hardly anyone shone, most below par. Some worse. No X factor. Plenty of Y. Like why were they picked. And where too from here?

  • Knackers

    SHITHOUSE

  • D.

    Gilbert, AB’s man of the match.

  • Dave

    KB did have a shocker. Scrum inferior. Genia’s passing, slow and loopy. Ball clearance slow and workload not shared amongst the backs. Can’t rely on Diggers so much. We’ll burn him out. Only one to get over the gain line it seemed.

    But on the whole we were our own worst enemy as the ABs didn’t play that well either. Doesn’t bode well for Eden Park next week.

  • boutbloodytime

    Beale has an absolute shocker, then just as Pocock, (looking like his Nan just died) is on his way up to give his autopsy to Rod Kafer , the camera pans to Beale & SBW having a good old laugh about something…says it all for me really…for some of these guys, it doesn’t hurt enough when they lose…whereas most of us here would give our left nut to be good enough to pull on a Wallabies jersey…

    Win first boys, THEN laugh it up with the opposition.

    • D.

      I saw Beale laughing it up with SBW. Pissed me off too.

  • Andy

    Can we please pick some centres who can play decent rugby? Neither of them can pass, neither have any vision, neither are good ball carriers so why were both picked. They are the main reason our attack is so placid. Not one set piece move where we deceived their defensive line or even spread the ball. Fukn woeful.

    Really need to pick Cooper at 10, Barnes at 12 and AAC at 13. That combo has worked in the past

    • Jeavesey

      Totally agree Fainga is not an international 12, if you can’t play Barnes & AAC there pick an up & coming youngster with international promise, should be building for the Lions tour now not sitting on our arses playing tried & tested failures

  • JimmyC

    Didn’t know this was the NFL? FFS bring back Rucking. Sir Richie should have been binned for that negative shit too.

  • gooddog

    For starters, slow, lazy, too deep, on the back foot, embarrassed at the breakdown, kicked too much, no anger, no fire, no go forward, no plan, no patterns.

  • Lui

    Yeah KB had a shocker, but looks like robbie hasn’t learnt a thing about over playing players…
    most times KB got smashed was when he was trying to play first reciever as well as full back.

  • Lui

    Genia was prob best on the park for Wallabies. He can only do what he can with what hes got in front of him. Fast ball is pointless if its going to be turned over.

    • Red Kev

      While I actually think TPN was probably the Wallabies’ best I do agree that too much grief comes Genia’s way for slow breakdown ball.
      There is no point clearing that ball if no-one is ready for it. Anytime Genia has to pause and leave the ball at the base of the ruck it is the fault of the flyhalf – because he should either be screaming for the ball, or screaming at whatever forwards aren’t in the ruck to take the hit up quickly. You can see Quade Cooper doing exactly that for the Reds in every game. Simple.
      The Wallabies played too slow yes, but the problem was on field organisation and leadership in my opinion.

      • The Other Dave

        That is Bob Dwyer 101 right there: no bloody realignment of the backline, no structure. It’s bullshit.

  • Chriscullen

    Underwhelmed at everything. Both sides seem to lack passion and it was a going through the motions kind of game for me.
    Never thought I’d say it but I miss Quade.

  • spectator

    Impressions after the game.

    The All blacks can’t be much better than what they were tonight, the Wallablies can be with an attacking configuration as a back line.

    For both AB tries, firstly, caused by AAC & then the second one, by Beale driffting in-side, they were soft tries but Wallabies still nearly good enough to win anyhow.

    Wallaby back line played well but lacked cohesion for attack, Barnes played well, Fainga’a also as second was prominent, as did rest of backline, & although made no mistakes, the one missing was the center it seemed to me although made no mistakes.

    Would have put Beale into first five when became apparent they needed something else, sure, he made mistakes but he’s an X factor player and if paired with Barnes who is not X factor but has rugby intelligence with flair, Beale would have been fine in that situation.

    The All Blacks never under pressure for game, Wallabies most of game were yet still nearly good enough to win…..

    Wallabies get right attacking configuration for backline next game (although i would put Cooper first five and leave Beale as full back), & can be good enough for comfortable win.

    • Skyblue

      Wake up mate..the abs will be better for it next week.thats our problem talk ourselves up before we do it embarassing

    • gooddog

      How can you say the ABs can’t get much better then that? The bros were cruising, away from home, on our turf, just too easy. Wallabies have to harden up. They need to get fitter and faster. When are they going to get sick of losing? There’s a cancer in this team – beale, cooper, quade – on the piss, yucking it up with their fancy farkin hair and their fancy farkin girlfriends. These guys are losers, they love second prize.

      As for Sharpie – what a trooper – he’s 34 and still putting it about.

    • Jay

      All Blacks can’t be much better? Ooookayyyy. AB’s dropped almost as much ball as the Wallabies tonight.

    • Blinky Bill of Bellingen

      The Fox commentators reckon the All Blacks never got out of 3rd gear. To me the Wallabies looked as if their gear box was rooted. I’d seriously like to know what our blokes were doing at camp all this time & how they thought THAT game plan was ever going to bring us a win? Simply put we need to score tries to beat the All Blacks and our current 12 & 13 – while defensively solid – are just impotent in attack.

    • JK

      ABs can’t get any better? You must be kidding me at most they were operating at 40% tonight and got the job done very comfortably. Throw in time required to gain some combinations and cohesion to make the last passes stick in the 3 or 4 opportunities they bombed and Wallabies will get a real wake up call as to how close they really are….which is miles away from where the ABs are at. Imagine what throwing in Conrad Smith will add to the midfield. Scary prospect. One of the most baffling post match comments I have read so far. I’m not sure you were watching the same game everyone else was just quietly. Just odd.

      • gerard flanagan

        Australia WILL come good, my only concern is the bias towards the ABs. Ritchie McCaw has been offside all Tesr career. Its so obvious its become viral. As to the rest, the ABs as a rule always dive in off their feet.

        Reality is just about every Ref cuts them a break. They are in that great position of being able to cheat and get away with it.

        Absolute travesty that France lost World Cup. It was a complete joke. I’ve no doubt that the Safter was intimidated into helping them win.

        Reality is we’d win 50 – 0 against them if we could pull in Leagueys: Cooper Cronk, Billy Slater. G I and obvious others(watch us smash Kiwis in Oct as proof). It shits me that RU is a pissant sport in Aust. No one reallty gives a XXXX. If they did, the ABs would be belted into submission with the guys that Aust could actually pick. FRUSTRATING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Skyblue

    The abs controled that game.we never really looked like scoring so we’re lucky the abs were rusty..kb had a shocker got to say dagg is worlds best fullback nw.jus needed the reassurance..eden parks goin to be a mountain too high I think.

  • Skyblue

    The abs controled that game.we never really looked like scoring so we’re lucky the abs were rusty..kb had a shocker got to say dagg is worlds best fullback nw.jus needed the reassurance..eden parks goin to be a mountain too high I think .

  • Skyblue

    sad but true

  • Cringe

    I am actually embarrassed.This was the worst lost we have had in years.Not for the dropped balls and odd mistake but for something much deeper and that is WE DONT HAVE A FUCKING CLUE…twe were outplayed in every area…f..k this was really bad..the players looked deeply dispressed..u could see it on their faces…they just dont know what to do..they know they are just not good enough and they dont know where to look.This is just not recoverable…even if we win odd game here or there…Deans has tried to totally new zelandise the Wallabys..and I am sorry for saying this but we look so dumb on the field…even though Geniatrys hard and does the odd great thing…how he can justify standing there absolutely frozen at base of ruck and expect to what SUPRISE them…I am absolutely lost for words.

  • Knackers

    SHIIIIITHOUSE

  • Dougie

    Out coached. Blecks constant sprinting at us in defense sometimes offside meant we were never able to hurt them in attack. Repeat of tactics that worked in world cup. We got closer this time because our five eight didn’t crack but we are still powerless against tactic. Ref got many scrum calls wrong. We can beat their scrum but it wasn’t the critical factor. We still can’t match their forwards intensity and obstruction at breakdown. Our phase set up is predictable and easy to defend. Both Beale and Higginbotham dropped critical balls becausebthey were scared of being hit. This is a bad sign. And it is sad that we are not fit enough to play a quick ball game. We will never beat the blecks with a slow ball game.

  • Cringe

    I cant believe ppl still say, if we just put AAC at 13 and KB at first five and Barnes at 12 and if we just put so and so on the wing and if we just had Occonner back and slot him in at first reciver… and get rid of horne and ..its all crap..I have heard every possible backline possiblity on this forum for 5 years…it wont make an ounze of difference.Our forwards are an absolute joke.Compare Owen Franks to Kepu or Robinson, case closed RIGHT THERE…but Ill indulge myself.Compare meamalu to TPN…TPN is sooo slow…he doesnt play as team member but as an individual who looks angry but not intelligent.Compare Keiren Reid to Dave Dennis or Higgers….The ABs just understand what working as one is ..we just dont understand it.And to those above saying the ABs were at 100 percent…sorry ur judgement is out teh window…these guys were totally cruising…that back line is the best I ahve ever seen from The ABs…with this dagg at the back as well..we are in for a long and painful season..If this JON doesnt give Deans the nudge in two months he is a complete arse

  • cheese

    Dont beat yourself up wobblies, you lost to the world champions, no shame in that. How good was Mccaw tonight?

  • Cringe

    Did I just read from @dougie that ” we can beat their scrum if we want to” u must be fucking jokingggg….They just man handled us at scrum all game and at will when it counted..what game were u watching ? Benn Robinson is not a shade of what he was 2 years and even if he held is own he is tiny..I have stoof next to him at pub in enmore…the bloke is tiny..if that is what a wallaby front row looks like ..I give up

  • Hooper for 12

    Well…..the scoreboard flattered us. It really was men against boys (but must add the ABs as usual gamed it – they were offside the whole night in defence, closed the lineout every time, and never threw down the centre).

    The ABs just seemed to be so much more professional and organised.

  • Hooper for 12

    Which players would push their opponent for his spot in the ABs? Genia, Digby, maybe AAC, Pocock, Sharpe, I thought Timani, Kepu and maybe Robinson.

    It is completely clear who was the better coach. For the first time, Ive got to say Robbie has to go. We looked uncoached.

    • ryano

      Timani?? That guys lucky to have a spot in the wallabies team, how does he keep getting picked?

    • JK

      AAC? Would push Jane, Gear for a spot on the wing in the ABs? Mate he’d be our 5th choice at best. I’m not going to waste my time diverging how the hell you came up with Timani, Kepu and Robinson, they’d be playing in the ITM cup that’s how close they’d be pushing if they were Kiwis. Pocock would push for a spot on the bench BEHIND McCaw and Digby the same behind Jane and Gear who are better all round than diggers. The only player I could see starting is Genia. Mate whatever your choofing, give me some.

      • Hooper for 12

        I think you mean “divining” JK. What grade did you finish?

        • JK

          Lol you know your clutching at straws when you start picking up auto spell errors to back up an idiotic statement. Good comeback I’m glad you know how to spell better than you understand footy cause you my friend are about as good a coach as Eddie Jones when he was coaching the reds…. Tool

  • sph45

    The Waratahs were beaten by the All Blacks tonight

  • Blinky Bill of Bellingen

    I tell you what, Samsung sure know what they’re doing. Their Smart TV looks like a genious TV compared to what the Wallabies produce. We were absolutely shizen houzen!!!

  • Handles

    Imagine the pasting Quade would get if he turned in a game as bad as Beale’s!

    Barnes did nothing, except throw bad passes. Rob Horne and Dave Dennis were totally anonymous. Robinson is there on the strength of a good season in 2009! And Kurtley, for heaven’s sake. Was awful for most of the super 15, worse in his cameo against Wales, and simply diabolical tonight. If Quade doesn’t start next week, it won’t be worth watching.

  • J-Rugby

    The Wallabies and ARU are making it hard to support Australian rugby… The code needs a grass roots shake up in Australia. Put on any rugby league or AFL game and you see players who play with some heart and some fire in their belly, they are often literally willing to fight for the win. Then you watch the Rugby and you see Beale sharing a laugh with the All Blacks … What a joke! Then of course our coach is an ex-All Black. They have no mongrel, no desire to win, and above all no heart. About times axes were swung or the code will continue to die slowly in Australia!!!

    • Blinky Bill of Bellingen

      I’ve said it until I’m blue in the face. Australia can not expect to become number 1 using inferior systems, players, trainers to that which NZ use. We must be proactive in finding Australian solutions to our problems. If last night’s 12 & 13 is our best available, we are in deep shite. And picking players like Beale on potential and not form is just desperation stuff.

  • USA kiwi

    Same old same old, getting worse over time. Talking a big game, without any depth of players with heart and real passion to back it up. Australia have always had a few rugby smart players and a few with some guts, it’s the other 10 that let them down. Couldn’t agree more about drinking with the enemy etc after, shows they know thay aren’t getting fired Monday morning, no matter how embarrassing their performance was. Schoolboy rugby is at the heart of australias decline! Hard pushed to field a capable team, and no bench.

  • Mickeyb

    I went out to support our guys tonight and must confess I went through three phases during one of the worst Walaby games in 10 years.

    Applying no periods of sustained pressure on ABs
    1. Long episodes of head shaking when we didnt move the ball through hands but kicked away possession mostly in broken play which resulted in placing ourselves under increased pressure and not giving ourselves the chance to place sustained pressure on the ABs.

    Poor decision making, leadership and skills/ execution
    2. Hands over my eyes, when
    - Beale dropped a throw in ball from Genia. Fancy a scrum half wanting to play quick ball;
    - Higgerb knocked the ball on cold in his run to the try line
    - When Barnes opted to kick for the last penalty when we had a rare moment of field position in the ABs half to launch an attack with less than 6mins on the clock?!?

    3. Head in hands
    - When the ABs defensive patterns shut us down because of slow play the ball
    - we played with no set patterns and didn’t change up our game when it was clear, after 30mins our plan wasn’t working.
    - our attack was shallow and flat or, at times, deep and flat, but always flat.
    - secondary runners, angled lines of running or support pay was slow and predictable.

    Robbie, you’re a good coach to help us this far but it’s clear you’re not able to lead us to number 1. It’s time we bring in Link to reinvent our play with ‘thinking rugby’ that allows players the ability to adapt to the tactical changes of a game, rather than play cookie cutter rugby which squeezers the life out of innovative and problem solving play.

    Link in 2013 and drop Beale and fatcat and put others on notice.

    The Wallabies lacked real heart and tonight and we’d all like it back!

  • boutbloodytime

    Grrrrrrrrr…we have a rule in my house that I have to do 10 pushups every time I swear….I stopped counting at 300, and that was only at half time!!

    FFS!!!! Piss Deans off now! As well as being clueless in selection & strategy, if after 4+ years in the job he can’t instill a culture in a side that basically says: If you wanna have a laugh with the opposition, then you can piss off & go & play for them…your team is in Gold boys, your mates are over here…win together, lose together, but you’re a team & you’re in it together.

    And remind the NZ contingent in the Wallabies that the reason they’re wearing gold is because their mates in the black pyjamas didn’t want them.

    Get someone like Steve Waugh or Ian Chappell in the dressing room to teach them some pride in the jersey…except for Sharpie, he seemed like the only Aussie who was willing to stand up & be counted out there tonight…man I wish we could clone 14 more of him.

    • The Other Dave

      Hahaha, could you imagine Chappelli addressing some of the kids in the dressing shed?

      What a crying shame that the player who stood up most tonight – possibly from either team – is retiring. Could he maybe do a Foley to Cannon and say he wants to retire, but there needs to be a suitable replacement?

  • Hooper for 12

    What I cant understand is how current Wallabies, who are full time professionals, cant spiral pass (eg that awful pass from Horne to AAC behind the goalline). Shit I can spiral pass here in my backyard without problem (admittedly only to the right). Yet you get these guys like Matt Rogers saying Lynagh and Co knew nothing about real football!

    • The Other Dave

      Mat Rogers – you mean the guy who kicked the ball back to England in the last minute of the 2003 RWC?

  • Knackers

    argh…

  • ryano

    This is from another site, had to have a little chuckle at it.

    Our national rugby team is a lot like our prime minister. Born overseas, insufferably dull, utterly uninspiring and they have no balls. At least Gillard has an excuse for that last one. The only difference I can think of is that we can’t vote the Wallabies out next August.

  • The Other Dave

    That was insipid. It’s all well and good to select Beale at fullback, but if he’s misfielding kicks and not making the last tackles, why bother? We played like a bunch of second-rate leaguies tonight – it was all one-out rubbish, Brisbane Broncos circa 1997. We’re emulating the wrong end of Brad Thorn’s career.

    Our pigs weren’t a cohesive unit, our backs seemed to have no idea. As I already mentioned, Genia can’t give fast service if there’s either nothing on outside of him, he needs to know where his options are, and with the current (dis)order of things, he has to look up to make the pass. Having three black bodies lying around the ball doesn’t help his cause – we’re not clearing the tackle out effectively (forwards working as a unit!), sadly we can’t leave some friendly reminders in our opponents’ backs if they’re lying on our side of the breakdown anymore.

    I’m sick of this ‘play what’s in front of us’ bullshit. No doubt the likes of M. Burke will set me straight on the matter, but it looks as if the coaching staff just went for beers while the players did three weeks of passing skills? I’m joking about the passing skills, of course – we did not demonstrate ANY sustained ball security tonight!

    New Zealand were also disappointing, Nonu was lucky not to be pinged for obstruction during the ?second try – though with respect, we didn’t look like taking advantage, and the attempted covering tackle in that backline move was woeful.

    Close scoreline, sure, but if we’d played as a team that had three weeks to prepare together, we should have done the job tonight, notwithstanding my whinging about the selections.

  • JK

    Just putting it out there but, why on earth do Australian selectors constantly choose teams that are totally reactive to who the ABs have in their squad? (Choosing defensive centres to counter SBW and Nonu) As soon as you start doing that other aspects of what makes Wallaby rugby what it is (or was) start to suffer. (tactically astute, patient, imaginative, but most importantly a style of rugby that thrived on every single player working together to counteract teams who probably have better individual players in a team.) tonight was another case of the same thing we have been witnessing for the last 9 years. Australian rugby is in dissarray. It’s a shame because when Australia did pick teams based on their points of difference they did get results. (see Hong Kong/ Brisbane prior to World Cup) Deans is not the best man for the job simply because he doesn’t understand the style required to get the best out of the players he has at his disposal. Crusaders style does not match the skill sets or philosophies of Wallaby rugby.

  • AJ

    I agree that KB had a shocker, but surely that’s enough justification for why Quade shouldn’t be rushed back. The same people that are calling for QC to be recalled for his “x-factor” are the same ones slating KB for being out of form. He was rushed back from injury without having enough game time under his belt. QC will be the same. While I agree that we appeared to lack creativity, I don’t think rushing back two creative players who aren’t necessarily at full fitness is the way to go.
    AAC to fullback, QC at 10 and Barnes at 12 is an option, with KB on the bench…

    • Blinky Bill of Bellingen

      AJ – Berrick at 10 just failed to ignite much at all with those shocking passes. And our guys stood so deep that we seldom crossed the gain line. IMHO we have to gamble on QC at 10, shifting BB to 12. Most other positions apart from Digby don’t matter as we are just so bloody slow off the mark. QC with his flat passes and maybe a point to prove gives us a slight chance.

  • John

    Great comments below…

    ” New Zealand had it easy – despite the scoreline and the late blast from the Wallabies. New Zealand owned the gainline. They owned the Australians at the collisions. Hit them hard in front of the line and buried them – not letting them have one easy inch.

    Rugby these days is a game of momentum and the All Blacks denied Australia on that front all night. Strangely, they didn’t need to wind up their scrummaging and get the annihilation done there – they were so dominant everywhere else that it had the same effect: the Wallabies were forced to run laterally, to kick badly and to spend much of the game scrambling backwards.

    David Pocock might have been playing – it was hard to tell. Will Genia was, but he could only make it known in flashes and with those two shut down, the Wallabies had nowhere to go: nothing to offer.

    They actually hung in for a surprisingly long time, but that was more to do with sloppy All Black finishing. The lack of game time enjoyed by some players was obvious at times: there were plenty of points squandered – poor handling and occasional poor decision-making the causes.

    That’s the big worry for the Wallabies: the All Blacks can fix that easily enough. The mistakes will drop out next week in Auckland with a game in the system now. But what of the Wallabies? Can they fix their chronic lack of physicality? Can they somehow find the aggression, linespeed and brutality that were never on show last night?”

    The AB’s, after a week in camp, a game under there belt, will be far more efficient and ruthless next week…take that to the bank…

    Also, while Deans is being plastered as the main cause of a lackluster team, where are the warriors in the Wallabies? Where is the aggression? Where is the mongrel? …untill they start going forward, they are doomed to lose.

    John

  • Lewis

    Great to see that everyone on this site suddenly reckons Beale shouldn’t have been picked, and yet the other day on a “pick your team” thread, over 100 comments and not one person picked anyone else at fullback besides Beale, except for one bloke who picked James Horwill in every position. Two faced.

    • boutbloodytime

      Lewis, I’m not sure everybody is necessarily suggesting Beale shouldn’t have been picked. I can only speak for myself here and I still think that picking him in the starting 15 was the way to go.

      The problem I have is the lack of a plan B when it’s obvious that his selection on the night was the wrong decision. He drops a sitter cold, gets stepped with ease, was woefully out of position on numerous occasions…on form, the guy is a class act, but blind freddy could see that he was having a shocker and that was obvious within the first 30 minutes.

      The problem I have & have had for a long time now, is the inflexibility of the coaching staff to be able to yank a plan or player that’s not working & have an option B or C on the table…and one the players or at least the captain is aware of ie: intelligent coaching & clear communication to the players.

      If a leadership group has been established in the side, one of the senior players should be able to say to Kurtley (in this instance): you’re having a shocker mate, you have 5 minutes to fix it or you’re off!

      After all, my understanding is that international rugby is a 22 a side game & the starting 15 is exactly that…the bench is there for later in the game changes, in the event of injury, or to account for situations where a player is shockingly underdone like K Beale was in game 1.

      The intelligent?/forward thinking decision (or at least that looks like our coaching staff can adapt to changing circumstances on the park) would have been to yank Kurtley after 30 minutes (oops, our plan A misfired, move to plan B), AAC to 15, Mitchell to wing…but to have 22 players and not use them when the situation calls for it is either stubborn or just plain stupid.

      Drew couldn’t have done any worse last night & he would receive some match time & get some match fitness coming into next week…or next week we’ll be reading something like: ‘Mitchell had a shocker, woefully underdone & short on match fitness etc etc’ because of the lack of forward thinking from our coaching staff.

      It’s the disgusting lack of forward thinking & man management that Deans is incapable of dealing with…I know I’ve been giving Deans a kicking on here, but with a change in support staff & the same pigheaded/lacking aforethought decision making (or lack of decision making) that persists, surely this must rest wholly & solely at Dean’s feet.

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