France v Wallabies (RWC Warm-up), 28/8 1.45AM AEST

[Oracle83]

That's my thoughts too. I was not too impressed with Rob Valetini in this test not up to his normal standard and whoever was on the openside needed to step up to take the tackle count off Gordon.
To expect Gordon to be a dominant tackler of Jante is a big ask as he ran through several of our bigger guys.
On the plus: Vunivulu - unbelievable, I had him nailed as a 'why the hell is he there'. MCRight played well, and FOketi had a great game. Bell, Tupoa, Poreki and Arnold played well. Sketon seemed a bit quiet. I have been a big supporter of Petaia but he was hopeless in that game, out of position missing tackles etc etc.
The big change that is coming (to my mind) is the young halfback from WA name? I thought his pass was better, faster and smarter than Tate. I am expecting him, assuming he can play at that level for 60 mins to start in some games and may be the find of the games.

Lineout throws, jumps and attacking rolling mauls are horrendous.

 

[liquor box]

Apparently Kerevi has been practising his goal kicking? He is still not an accomplished kicker at this level.

Test rugby. First pick is your starting TH. Second is a toss up between another TH and a goal kicker.
The game has not changed that much.

Has Kerevi ever missed a goal at Test Level?

 

[Namerican]

This game didn't look good. Both Mark Nawaqanitiwase and Vunivalu looked horrible on defense, as did Petaia. The offense looked disjointed, the lineout was horrible. Tate looked like a 9 that can't pass and Gordon a 10 that can't kick.

These aren't minor problems for a rugby team. Sadly they were all entirely predictable, but you were hoping somehow that there was a plan to figure it out. There appears to be no plan.

Even the giant forward pack did not look great defensively in the loose, which is about what you'd expect.

If this game is an indicator, the indications are not good.

Even if you are picking Vunivalu for his aerial game, you are simultaneously picking a 10 that isn't a great kicker from hand. Certainly not on the level of Biggar, Farrell, Ford, Quade, Russell, Dupont (9), Mounga etc.

The entire team as constructed makes no sense.

 

[qwerty51]

I don't have too many complaints about Gordon's kicking from hand, it's not perfect but Foley's was quite poor despite being a gun goal kicker.

 

[Namerican]

Foley was accurate kicking from hand and was good at restarts, he just had little distance on his kicks.

He'd be a better option at cross field kicks and shorter kicks, less so for long clearance kicks, where Gordon, by comparison, has a cannon.

 

[Dan54]

While it good to pick apart what we think teams did wrong, I do think also need to take into consideration of how teams will be training etc.
I sure the Wallabies will be almost in preseason with just the just this game as lead in, and would be very surprised if French who have already had a couple of games weren't in match training mode. Looked a little like that to me, French were fairly smooth in a fair bit of stuff, while I can understand wanting Wallabies to be better etc, I think if the 2 teams played next week there would be a lot more cohesion from Wallabies?

 

[Viking]

I don't have too many complaints about Gordon's kicking from hand, it's not perfect but Foley's was quite poor despite being a gun goal kicker.

it’s actually refreshing watching a clearance kick go more then 40meters.

Foley and to a lesser extent Lolesio both had poor distance. Carter has solid distance and I think in general play a solid enough boot, just needs to work on his bombs and goal kicking.

 

[RugbyReg]

Foley was accurate kicking from hand and was good at restarts, he just had little distance on his kicks.

He'd be a better option at cross field kicks and shorter kicks, less so for long clearance kicks, where Gordon, by comparison, has a cannon.

and sometimes took way too long to kick them.

 

[Brumby Runner]

That's my thoughts too. I was not too impressed with Rob Valetini in this test not up to his normal standard and whoever was on the openside needed to step up to take the tackle count off Gordon.
To expect Gordon to be a dominant tackler of Jante is a big ask as he ran through several of our bigger guys.
On the plus: Vunivulu - unbelievable, I had him nailed as a 'why the hell is he there'. MCRight played well, and FOketi had a great game. Bell, Tupoa, Poreki and Arnold played well. Sketon seemed a bit quiet. I have been a big supporter of Petaia but he was hopeless in that game, out of position missing tackles etc etc.
The big change that is coming (to my mind) is the young halfback from WA name? I thought his pass was better, faster and smarter than Tate. I am expecting him, assuming he can play at that level for 60 mins to start in some games and may be the find of the games.

Valetini might not have been up to his usual standard in your eyes smi, but his usual standard is world class and he wasn't far off that again on the weekend. He is the main hitup runner just off the ruck and again he consistently got over the gain line with the ball, often taking two or more tacklers with him. Unusually, I think he didn't have a single turnover where he lost the ball in contact, but as usual was hitting hard in defence and the only blemish on his game I saw was the penalty for accidental head clash with the No 12 who absolutely milked that penalty.

One of the brighter spots in the game was the ability of Valetini, Bell, Tupou and Skelton to get over the gain line when carrying and committing multiple defenders at the same time.

McReight had a very quiet first half and didn't seem to come into the game until the last 20 minutes. Certainly, the French No 7 had much more impact on the game than Fraser. And if anyone was failing to help Gordon out on defence, then that was Fraser as he was the openside flanker. I believe we should still be looking to change the way we play our No 7s. The pilferer isn't the force he used to be.

 

[stillmissit]

I’m not contradicting anything. We had a 0% chance of winning the World Cup with Quade and a 0% chance of winning with Carter Gordon

All Eddie has done is rip the band aid off 6 months earlier than expected

Agree with you and agree with the idea. We need a complete overhaul and to my utmost surprise, Eddie has decided to do it.

 

[stillmissit]

Valetini might not have been up to his usual standard in your eyes smi, but his usual standard is world class and he wasn't far off that again on the weekend. He is the main hitup runner just off the ruck and again he consistently got over the gain line with the ball, often taking two or more tacklers with him. Unusually, I think he didn't have a single turnover where he lost the ball in contact, but as usual was hitting hard in defence and the only blemish on his game I saw was the penalty for accidental head clash with the No 12 who absolutely milked that penalty.

One of the brighter spots in the game was the ability of Valetini, Bell, Tupou and Skelton to get over the gain line when carrying and committing multiple defenders at the same time.

McReight had a very quiet first half and didn't seem to come into the game until the last 20 minutes. Certainly, the French No 7 had much more impact on the game than Fraser. And if anyone was failing to help Gordon out on defence, then that was Fraser as he was the openside flanker. I believe we should still be looking to change the way we play our No 7s. The pilferer isn't the force he used to be.

BR, Haven't looked at Valentini's stats but may do so later today. I thought he was trucking it up as you said but not running onto the ball at speed that he is generally noted for, nor was he getting more than a metre or two over the gain line which requires a minor shuffle by the opposition.

Regarding the breakdown, I am getting tired of this. All players must commit to the breakdown if they are closest to the runner. The only player who did this consistently was Carter Gordon, arguably the last person you want to do this work. I saw several breakdowns where forwards were caught between cleaning out or staying in the D. They have no fucking idea which ones to hit and which to stay out of, whoever is supposedly teaching these guys needs his arse kicked as we have been lousy at this whilst the rest of the world has evolved.
We are breakdown dinosaurs and that is why Gordon or McRight (or anyone running with the ball) are often exposed. LOSE THE BREAKDOWN - LOSE THE GAME..
Another minor annoyance is our slow reaction to a loose ball on the ground, but that has been around for a long time.

 

[stillmissit]

This game didn't look good. Both Mark Nawaqanitiwase and Vunivalu looked horrible on defense, as did Petaia. The offense looked disjointed, the lineout was horrible. Tate looked like a 9 that can't pass and Gordon a 10 that can't kick.

These aren't minor problems for a rugby team. Sadly they were all entirely predictable, but you were hoping somehow that there was a plan to figure it out. There appears to be no plan.

Even the giant forward pack did not look great defensively in the loose, which is about what you'd expect.

If this game is an indicator, the indications are not good.

Even if you are picking Vunivalu for his aerial game, you are simultaneously picking a 10 that isn't a great kicker from hand. Certainly not on the level of Biggar, Farrell, Ford, Quade, Russell, Dupont (9), Mounga etc.

The entire team as constructed makes no sense.

For Christ's sake NA! he is in his first year, most of those guys have been a 10 for years. Ask yourself 'Who has more talent' as I cannot see anyone outside of QC (Quade Cooper) and his swan song was with Rennie.

 

[fatprop]

Everything in rugby is about compromise unless you have a team of GOATS in every position, we have no GOATS in any position so every player in the Wobs squad is a compromise

 

[Derpus]

Everything in rugby is about compromise unless you have a team of GOATS in every position, we have no GOATS in any position so every player in the Wobs squad is a compromise

I don't think Bell or Kellaway constitute a compromise. Nic White of last years form wasn't either. I wish Valetini would jump more, because then he wouldn't be a compromise either.

 

[Joe Blow]

Valetini might not have been up to his usual standard in your eyes smi, but his usual standard is world class and he wasn't far off that again on the weekend. He is the main hitup runner just off the ruck and again he consistently got over the gain line with the ball, often taking two or more tacklers with him. Unusually, I think he didn't have a single turnover where he lost the ball in contact, but as usual was hitting hard in defence and the only blemish on his game I saw was the penalty for accidental head clash with the No 12 who absolutely milked that penalty.

One of the brighter spots in the game was the ability of Valetini, Bell, Tupou and Skelton to get over the gain line when carrying and committing multiple defenders at the same time.

McReight had a very quiet first half and didn't seem to come into the game until the last 20 minutes. Certainly, the French No 7 had much more impact on the game than Fraser. And if anyone was failing to help Gordon out on defence, then that was Fraser as he was the openside flanker. I believe we should still be looking to change the way we play our No 7s. The pilferer isn't the force he used to be.

We were so predictable. Valetini trucked it up over and over so after the first 10 minutes the French knew what to expect. Ditto with the lineout. We kept going to Hooper until they started picking him off, and after that as well.
I felt like we played very narrow and kept Petaia out of the game. When we did go wide good things happened.

 

[Brumby Runner]

BR, Haven't looked at Valentini's stats but may do so later today. I thought he was trucking it up as you said but not running onto the ball at speed that he is generally noted for, nor was he getting more than a metre or two over the gain line which requires a minor shuffle by the opposition.

Regarding the breakdown, I am getting tired of this. All players must commit to the breakdown if they are closest to the runner. The only player who did this consistently was Carter Gordon, arguably the last person you want to do this work. I saw several breakdowns where forwards were caught between cleaning out or staying in the D. They have no fucking idea which ones to hit and which to stay out of, whoever is supposedly teaching these guys needs his arse kicked as we have been lousy at this whilst the rest of the world has evolved.
We are breakdown dinosaurs and that is why Gordon or McRight (or anyone running with the ball) are often exposed. LOSE THE BREAKDOWN - LOSE THE GAME..
Another minor annoyance is our slow reaction to a loose ball on the ground, but that has been around for a long time.

Slow to the ball on the ground is certainly a long standing issue for our teams, but I was heartened by Tom Hooper's efforts on the weekend to win that tussle on a couple or more occasions.

Talking of kicks in the arse, it is becoming more and more obvious that out defensive system out wide has major deficiencies. None of Petaia, Vunivalu or Nawaqanitawase covered themselves in any glory against France, often out of position and when making contact falling off the tackle or being run over. The players bear some responsibility for their poor techniques, but the system also seemed to have them out of position on far too many occasions.

Brett Hodgeson was a favourite League player, but a rugby defensive coach I fear he's not.

 

[stillmissit]

Everything in rugby is about compromise unless you have a team of GOATS in every position, we have no GOATS in any position so every player in the Wobs squad is a compromise

true fattie but if Eddie can mold them into a tight well drilled team then a team of compromises will beat a group of GOATS everyday.

 

[stillmissit]

Slow to the ball on the ground is certainly a long standing issue for our teams, but I was heartened by Tom Hooper's efforts on the weekend to win that tussle on a couple or more occasions.

Talking of kicks in the arse, it is becoming more and more obvious that out defensive system out wide has major deficiencies. None of Petaia, Vunivalu or Nawaqanitawase covered themselves in any glory against France, often out of position and when making contact falling off the tackle or being run over. The players bear some responsibility for their poor techniques, but the system also seemed to have them out of position on far too many occasions.

Brett Hodgeson was a favourite League player, but a rugby defensive coach I fear he's not.

Very true BR. I was expecting a very solid D against the French but we looked like the old cliche Brown's Cows.

 

[stillmissit]

I'd like to say, putting my own comments to one side, the posts on this page are of a very high quality and I'm hard-pressed not to agree with all of them...
Still looking forward to this RWC regardless, as I am fascinated to see what comes out the other side of these games. No great expectations but great hope for the future.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

I'd like to say, putting my own comments to one side, the posts on this page are of a very high quality and I'm hard-pressed not to agree with all of them...
Still looking forward to this RWC regardless, as I am fascinated to see what comes out the other side of these games. No great expectations but great hope for the future.

Exactly how I'm feeling. Should be an awesome tournament regardless of how we do and we've got some great youngsters.