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England v Australia - Twickenham, 14 Nov, 4:30am AEDT

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Arch Winning (36)
For me, there was one thing more disappointing than the loss - that was Beale laughing his head off with an England player immediately after the whistle blew.
Where was the pride in wearing the Wallabies jersey? To laugh as though you were having a session out with the boys... no team culture there.
I'm devastated.
I commented on this last week end was criticised.... I agree.... Beale had an absolute shocker... so much for all his experience... and is laughing at the end... run off and hide... Think that will be his last starting test...
 

dru

Tim Horan (67)
There were a lot of contributors to the lop-sided penalty count. One that is missed a lot is that we are playing a territory (kicking) game, but losing that battle. This increases time in D. Our D is actually mostly quite managed, but the modern referee watches D more than attack and the penalty count will skew if we keep handing the ball over.

Add to this this the re-arranged front row. We started with a completely disrupted pack, LHP to THP, reserve LHP starting. Arnold has not gelled with the required cohesion. Bell stood up I thought but lost it once carded. There was focus from the front row to the scrum and their around the field impact declined. To be expected. The locks did nothing to take up the slack - Rodda with 1 run for no m and Arnold with 2 runs for 3. Maybe the locks made up for it in D? Nope, White actually took more tackles than both of them combined. Way to go boys in looking after your half. And of course the boost from Skelton was equivalent to putting a pot plant on the field.

Pack attack input was basically from Valetini with some support (not much) from Leota.

On the whole White was superb in D but I'm not convinced he always is top notch in attack. I think there is unbalanced thinking on Beale - he was adequate under high ball, mostly avoided getting caught high, and had some superb D. In the last 10-15min yes he pushed it, just like we knew he would when we were chasing the game. No surprises.

Ikitau and Paisami have the stat numbers to support their go forward, and Paisami's D was fabulous. I don't see a point in breaking them up, though the error rate doesn't show in the stats. Were Ikitau's errors Beale-esque and focused on the last 20? If not I might swap him and Perese to see what happens, but I do note Ikitau is doing more than his detractors are seeing.

The Gitau contingent has been doubtful. Necessary with the injury count but the only one I would consider as we go forward is Arnold, though he may only be there to hold tackle bags (Skelton "not here to hold the tackle bags" does not deserve that right - back to France for you).

A very predictable performance with a very predictable result with a WB 3rd XV. No less unsatisfactory for that.

Have to say congrats to Hoskins, an unlikely WB called in under duress. Not likely to get another jersey but served the country when we were in need. Well done, bloke.
 
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TSR

Mark Ella (57)
I kinda get the negativity. Always disappointing to lose. A lot of the criticism is valid. But most/all on here thought we’d get belted before the game and now seem surprised we did. Unless they thought we were going to play really well, but still get pumped. I thought the defence was better than last week, but it’s definitely fallen back a notch and the mistakes they did make were costly.

5 members of the squad weren’t part of it 3 weeks ago. None of them have played under Rennie before. 1 was only introduced this week. It showed.

Having said that, congrats to Ollie Hoskins for his test debute. In very hard conditions he went out and had a decent crack. Got to applaud that.
 

Derpus

George Gregan (70)
I commented on this last week end was criticised.... I agree.... Beale had an absolute shocker... so much for all his experience... and is laughing at the end... run off and hide... Think that will be his last starting test...
Was a stupid comment then and remains so.

Agree Beale is obviously past it though.
 

TSR

Mark Ella (57)
That’s why we need a go forward flyhalf and fullback.
I think a lot of the criticism of JOC (James O'Connor) is warranted. Which is strange because his best attribute is running the ball at the line and feeding close runners. But at the moment he isn’t doing that. Even when Paisami made his big break yesterday JOC (James O'Connor) sat deep for the next pass instead of taking it flat and at speed.

But, to be a bit fair to him he’s missed several months rugby, White’s form has been patchy, our forwards have lost cohesion and provided no go forward, Beale gave him nothing, and he doesn’t have the luxury of Koroibete & Kerevi operating in tandem inside and out.

I still think he needs to be better, but he’s not really operating in ideal conditions.
 

Dctarget

John Eales (66)
So we tested out the European contingent. Good thing we did it now and not in a WC. Bin em.
I disagree completely. Beale maybe, but the other three just need time.

we’d be so foolish to ignore Skelton, Arnold & Latu if they’re available. They’re on a hiding to nothing currently. I wager if available they’ll play a large and significant part of our RWC campaign.
 

Adam84

Nick Farr-Jones (63)
I disagree completely. Beale maybe, but the other three just need time.

we’d be so foolish to ignore Skelton, Arnold & Latu if they’re available. They’re on a hiding to nothing currently. I wager if available they’ll play a large and significant part of our RWC campaign.
I don’t get the Latu love, he had one good season bookended by some pretty stupid on and off-field behaviour
 
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