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Player Ratings: Bledisloe Three

Jack Norton October 25, 2012 24

No GravatarIt’s a bit late but here they are — the player ratings from the third and final trans-Tasman clash of 2012.

What a game it was. If you’re one of those people who think you need tries to have entertainment, give yourself an uppercut.

The Wallabies were rank outsiders and no one expected them to get close, let alone draw the game. Even watching those last 10 minutes again a few days later was intense. At the time it was heart attack material. The intensity, the scoreline, the defence and the passion were what Test rugby is all about.

I could pretend that Saturday’s game has left us all at G&GR so breathless that we couldn’t possibly get around to watching it again without fear of aneurysm. The truth is I said I would do it and then promptly forgot. I guess you get what you pay for.

 

Player Rating  Comments
Benn Robinson 7 Really coming back to his best after a fairly quiet 2012. Scrum looked good with him on and while he’s not the most mobile, that’s not his job.
Tatafu Polota-Nau 6 Played almost another full game (72min), and played hard. Doesn’t get enough credit for the minutes he plays and the style he plays them. Lost the ball in contact too often and one lineout almost lost the game for the Wallabies.
James Slipper 6 Looks like a solid starting option rather than a second-stringer. Would not be surprised to see him retain his spot for the Spring tour.
Sitaleki Timani 6 Didn’t play a huge amount, going off with a hamstring (?) complaint. Has improved a lot this season but didn’t have a chance to show a whole lot in this one.
Nathan Sharpe (c) 7 Sharpie is a leader and has shown it time and time again this year – it’s no coincidence some of the Wallabies’ gutsiest wins have been with him at the helm. Still gets through a huge amount of work with the only blot being a couple of penalties and high carries.
Scott Higginbotham 6 Good again, and while he got cited twice he got under Richie’s skin – and putting McCaw off his game is key to rattling the ABs. The method wasn’t subtle but it worked.
Michael Hooper 6 Probably his worst game, but still not bad. His breakdown work was nullified but he made a lot of carries and is always strong in contact. Getting sent off for a late hit was pretty dumb but he’s young and won’t make the mistake again.
Wycliff Palu 6 Didn’t look like he hadn’t played in three months. Real solid hitout and got over the advantage line and even chucked in a sidestep for good measure. Now just please stay fit!
Nick Phipps 6 Gets widely panned but isn’t as bad as some think. His instinct is to play quick at the expense of accuracy. Not all bad but still lacking in polish and a big step down from Willy G.
Kurtley Beale 8 Growing into his role at 10 and looking like getting back to his best. Took the right option almost every time and came close to busting the AB line a number of times. A few more games and he could well be at 10 for good.
Adam Ashley-Cooper 7 Didn’t get much chance with the ball, but made good tackles, had great line speed and chased kicks hard. Could have scored after 20 seconds with a charge down. Only blot was dropping a sitter of a high ball.
Pat McCabe 4 Not his best game. Dropped a few balls and didn’t run as straight as he usually does, sliding just a bit too much. Something to be said for swapping him and Tapuai.
Ben Tapuai 6 Fairly quiet but for a couple of very good runs. Still has close to zero Test experience and has shown glimpses of what he’s capable of.
Nick Cummins 6 The Honey Badger was fired up! Had the crazy eye going through the haka and maintained the rage. Put solid hits on and, like Taps, showed enough to deserve another shot.
Mike Harrris 8 Probably his best game in gold. Slotted goals from everywhere and made some good runs. Getting points on the board is so, so crucial in these games and Mikeymike did everything that was asked of him. For that he gets G&GR Man of the Match.
James Hanson 5 Had a short but sweet debut, only had about 10 minutes but didn’t put a foot wrong.
Sekope Kepu 4 First game back for a while and didn’t look too bad except for giving away the penalty that snuffed out our chances of winning. A bit harsh, but hard to overlook.
Kane Douglas 7 Unsung hero in this Test, was key to getting the ABs on the back foot at the breakdown, shifting bodies like Dan Vickerman and showing the mongrel we often lack. More experience will mean more better.
Dave Dennis 5 Gets through a lot in tight, and ended up in the second row with Gill and Hooper on. Would’ve preferred to see him at no. 6 with Douglas and Sharpe at lock.
Liam Gill 5 Did well in his stint, but I’m still not sure about playing two opensides – do we play three when Poey gets back?
Brett Sheehan 7 Didn’t play too much but showed spark, secured a turnover from a held-up maul and rescued the ball a couple of times in the Wallabies’ 900 phase attack at the death.
Drew Mitchell 5 Got stuck in with the forwards in the final five minutes but had little chance to do much else. Great to see him back in gold again.

The patented G&GR ratings guide:

10 – A legendary performance to go down in the history books
9 – Outstanding performance: Man of the match shoo-in
8 – Excellent all-round game
7 – Good game with a few sparkles
6 – Solid performance
5 – Average – ho hum
4 – Below par
3 – Had a bad game
2 – Tell your story walking pal
1 – A complete joke

How did you see it?

 

 

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POSTED IN » All Blacks, Wallabies
About the author: Jack Norton View all posts by
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Discussion

  • James

    TPN = 6 = very generous

    • Hawko

      TPN was awesome running the ball and in the tight. It was a flawed performance, certainly, but a 6 was not overly generous. He made a huge contribution to putting NZ on the back foot and its a long time since we’ve seen that in a Bledisloe game.

      What was ridiculously generous was giving Phipps a 6. In one five minute patch he did everything in his power to lose the game. Box kicked straight out then gave away a ridiculous penalty for offside – like he had no clue about the rules. Was not overly wonderful at any other time in the game and should have been given 3 or 4.

    • Jnor

      Maybe a little, but I’d argue he was a 5 or 6 or nothing else. He’s another player who gets a constant panning from some – so I might have laid off a bit

  • Wales to dominate at Millenium

    Beale an 8 with all the mistakes that he came out with? 6, 7 at the very most.

    • Harden up

      I agree, Beale prob only 6 or 7. But isn’t it nice to have a 10 that attacks and defends as a 10, adds a whole lot more direction to the play.

      • Wales to dominate at Millenium

        Yeah definitely fair enough, would argue he isn’t a long term 10 though. Need someone a lot more solid, can anyone get Beale/Cooper genes mixed with a Mike Harris gene pool for the NH tour?

  • Jay-c

    I would be up with sheehans most vocal haters the last few years but despite the yellow a few weeks back he has looked better than phibs every chance he’s got. Time for him to start
    Harris was fantastic playing in a position he’s not used to
    Not sold on the 2 sevens idea- gill doesn’t bring anything more than fetching abilities and in the last 10 min u don’t want a bag snatcher u want a body mover/ brick wall in defence
    Can’t wait for mmm next year

    • Jay-c

      Phipps
      Oh and the honey badger is following on from van the man and Samo as the new crowd favourite!

  • Willus

    I had excellent seats at the game, but had to watch TPN’s continuous drop-ball. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of his defense and of the guy himself, but I lost count of how many times the guy lost possession.

    He was also clearly too exhausted to continue play at around the 50th minut, every kick restart there was, he had his hands on his knees with heavy perspiration. Something needs to be done, whether it be benching him or just have him concentrate on being close to the ball carrier for a quick cleanout/recycle.

    • Patrick

      Agree TPN can’t be more than a 5 with that many dropped balls.

  • PiratesRugby

    Thanks for your thoughtful analysis of the Wallabies in Bled3.

    I find myself agreeing with most of your comments but think they justify at least one point less for each player. TPN probably 2 points less. You probably got McCabe just about right.

    Phipps is still not world class much less a real replacement for Genia. He still double pumps too often. He takes those two steps from the back of the ruck and passes flat to a stationary player wearing 2 ABs as a coat. WTF? Not a great kicker.

  • justtacklehim

    Thought Douglas desired more than 7 and MOM in my mind.

    • Jnor

      I thought pretty hard about who to give MOTM as there were no real stand-outs – I almost definitely would’ve given it to Douglas if he’d been on for 80.

  • JJJ

    I dunno about Slipper. The scrum was rickety to put it mildly while he was on and improved immeasurably when he was replaced.

    He’s like the old Ben Alexander. Maybe he’ll improve there too.

  • Sledgey

    The test match against Australia was scheduled for this Saturday night so after training on Tuesday Richie was having a beer with the boys when he stood up and said “boys I’m going to play this game on my own this weekend”, the other guys looked at him and said “are you sure Richie?” he said “yep” you boys can take it easy for a change, I’ve got this one!”
    On the night of the game the boys had settled in at the club playing pool and drinking a few brews. One of them said “hey better turn on the TV and let’s see how Richie is doing? The score was 18-6 to the All Black, so they went back to what they were doing.
    At half time they checked the score again, Richie was up 28 and the Wallabies had scored another penalty (apparently Richie was off side).
    The boys decided to head over to the game and give him some support. The bus broke down so by the time they got there the game was over and Australia had won 38 points to 35. Richie was heartbroken so the boys tried to cheer him up and told him he had done a great job and not to worry.
    He told them “you don’t understand boys, I was sent off 20 mins into the second half.

    • boutbloodytime

      Yaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwnnnnnnn….sorry dude, I was too bored with this comment to read through to your punchline…what’s your point?

  • T

    I can only remember TPN dropping 2 balls, both after he made half-breaks, I think both times he shrugged McCaw off. Doesn’t happen often. I think he’s the type if player who can offload and there’s a bit if a trade-off there with a tendency to spill it.

    I’ve always really liked him, can’t see why he’s always getting bagged. Seems to me we don’t produce many players who can really intimidate the opposition, and when we do everyone shits on them. Was the same with Elsom, Palu, Timani until recently.

    I also quite like Harris, but didn’t think he did anything special. Was safe, but always seemed to just kick the ball back after he fielded kicks. If Barnes played the identical game (safe, kicking all his goals but kicking too much in general play) he’d be lynched!

    • Brumby Runner

      Heart in mouth stuff every time Harris kicks. He is so slow getting the ball away that every kick becomes a potential charge-down. This will cost us when other teams latch onto it.

  • RedAnt

    Think you’ve been a bit hard on the forwards and a bit easy on the backs. The forwards really stood up and stopped the Darkness constantly getting over the ad line. They even gave the backs some front-foot ball… which the backs mostly wasted. Two-Dads, as usual, played well and chased some kicks and put some pressure on, but the rest I think had a pretty average game, certainly from an attack point-of-view. Gilbert is always trying – good on him – and his kicking in general play is good but he made a lot of mistakes and didn’t put anyone through a hole. McCabe shouldn’t be 2nd 5… he has a lot of guts etc. but I don’t think our attack has EVER clicked with him at 2nd 5. Taps has to be a better option, maybe with McCabe outside him.

  • Conspiracy theorist

    Did you ever considered that the Darkness may have thrown this game? Almost meaningless records aside, they had nothing to lose. But they could save Robbie’s neck and make sure he sticks around to stifle the growth of Aussie rugby talent until the end of his contract. Robbie is Snape to Graham Henry’s Dumbledore.

    • Jay-c

      I swear the intellect of people on this site has nosedived the last few months

  • Sambobly

    TPN and Kurtley Beale rated much too highly. TPN was a 4 and KB a 5-6. I agree that Kane Douglas deserved 8 and MOTM awards. Also, I thought Ben Tapuai was pretty good at outside centre, more like a 7 but thats more nitpicky than the other three.

  • Gottsy

    I think that the timing of tpn’s errors are what stand out more than the errors themselves. To be on a surge near the line and cough up the pill or to completely stuff up a line out 5 out from the ab’s line are killer, there was plenty of other dropped ball (two dads, etc) but tpn’s were costly and negate his otherwise good performance. I thought you were a bit too harsh in hooper, the amount of work he was getting through in support was tireless, sick of seeing runners hitting the line and the back up just lingering behind

  • ST

    Kurtley could single handedly score 50 points and he’d still get bagged by some of the commenters here. He is a solid 10 option, and has tried really hard in the last few matches. The problem is that he is getting slow ball and has no one outside him running at gaps, so he’s left with few options and so trying to make something out of nothing himself. Most importantly it looks like his mind and body are both getting into a much better place.

    The backs are a worry though – plenty of opportunity but no cohesion. And a complete inability to catch – surely this is easy to fix?

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