Italy vs Wallabies, EOYT 2010

[Jethro Tah]

France next week. Let's hope that Skrela is playing again and misses all those penalties as he did last time.

Was it 1 from 6 or 7, or something like that? I was at that game two years ago and, I kid you not, the home fans were booing their own kicker for his last fews attempts.

 

[vidiot]

I thought it was a vague performance from referee Berdos: 2 of the 3 tries were suss.

He reminded me of that line from Dryden:

He trudg’d along unknowing what he sought,
And whistled as he went, for want of thought.

Superb, and perfectly encapsulates a sublime piece of dithering by Berdos.

I felt like I was watching Inspector Clouseau, which was nostalgic and heartwarming in the face of Wobbly bumbling. Or maybe the wallaby bumbling is the thing that is becoming familiar and comfortable?

 

[RugbyReg]

of some early stats:

Pocock topped Aussie tackle count with 14 followed by Simmo with 10 then Rocky (9) and Slipper (8)

It looks like, and let's not get too excited yet, Quade made 3 tackles WITHOUT MISSING ONE!

Pocock still hasn't missed a tackle on tour.

Supposedly Berrick missed two tackles, as did AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper).

McCalman was a lot more involved. 14 runs for 90m!!! (???). Sharpe on 11 and Rocky on 10 were next.

McCalman also hit 13 rucks/mauls followed by Sharpe by 9 and some guy called "Turner"???? with 8.

Alexander's stats are pretty disappointing.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

.....snip....

He trudg’d along unknowing what he sought,
And whistled as he went, for want of thought.

I am not as well read on Dryden as Lee, and suspect that the source of the extract was not rugby related, however this has gotta go in the Memorable Quotes thread.

An absolute ripper of a quote, that is appropriate to far too many Referees (in many codes !!!).

 

[Hugh Jarse]

From the Quade Cooper Thread

ALL he has to do is tackle, tackle and tackle - then pressure goes off those around him

TT, are you expecting him to make those three tackles in a season - or all in one game?

of some early stats:

....snip....

It looks like, and let's not get too excited yet, Quade made 3 tackles WITHOUT MISSING ONE!

...snip....

I guess that QC (Quade Cooper) can now relax having achieved the required KPI of three tackles.:yay:lmao:

 

[Scarfman]

Mission Accomplished?

 

[S120]

Gee, Castrogiovanni did a number on the ref. Was boring in on Stephen Moore (not coming in to the scrum square) all bloody game and got away with it and won penalties.

Was pretty impressed by the Italians defence and their will to get really stuck in to the Wallabies but our class was just a bit too much for them to handle.

Not a great performance from the Wallabies really but winning through penalties isn't a bad thing really. At least Barnes looks like he is the kicker and defender we need in the midfield. Let's hope Giteau stays on the bench.

 

[barbarian]

My expectations for that game were very low. We always struggle with the Italians, and considering our bad week was happy to come away with a win under any circumstances.

So that said, I was pretty happy with that performance. It wasn't great, but as Langthorne said we really had nothing to gain anyway. We never looked like losing, and to say the Italian try was a joke is the understatement of the century. I was happy when Rocky scored because it rectified the scoreline, was a far more fitting result.

There were certainly upsides. I liked the way we closed out the game in the second half- it won't bring fans to the game but it was the right way to play it. The Italians were defending well close to the line and our handling was failing us at crucial times. Barnes has probably secured a spot, his ball in hand work was OK but his kicking was almost flawless.

I have decided that I just can't have Burgess in a big game. He is just too erratic. He is good with the ball in hand, and his service wasn't bad. But then he throws some ludicrous flick pass, or some other monumental brain fade. Saying that, no-one had a really bad game.

I hope for an unchanged lineup (except JOC (James O'Connor), maybe Genia back in) next week. They played pretty well.

 

[Rothschild]

Slipper and Moore: Rubbish

Referee: Rubbish. Worst I've ever seen at International Level.

I'll edit this post later.

While I agree on the ref comment your comment regading Slips and Morre is a little harsh.
i think Slipper held his own very well against a cheating Itai front row and a ref that didn't have a clue at what was going on.
Slippers work rate in the scrum this year has been way ahead of fat cat and his work around the field is surpassing many of the other forwards.

 

[S120]

Agreed. Wasn't Slipper's fault that Castrogiovanni bored in all game and the ref was not able to officiate a scrum properly. Slipper and Elsom should have been in the ref's ear all night. Finally we saw the ref getting it right in the 2nd half.

 

[fatprop]

Agreed. Wasn't Slipper's fault that Castrogiovanni bored in all game and the ref was not able to officiate a scrum properly. Slipper and Elsom should have been in the ref's ear all night about it but it seemed they never really spoke to him at all.

it is slipper's job to counter it

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Dingo had spoken to the referee before the game in his native French.

Hidden cameras have captured the event. Not surprising that Rocky didn't speak to M. Berdos

[video=youtube;IN9mP2_1A-c]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN9mP2_1A-c[/video]

 

[cyclopath]

Posted this elsewhere, but seems appropriate to double it up and edit it a bit.
The Italian pack is good, with a front row boasting over 200 caps I believe. They were too good. They were also too crafty. They beat us on the hit early, then when they didn't and we held better, they had a secondary shove - this actually worried me more, as it showed the engine behind the Wallaby front row was in idle. They pulled the sucker play a couple of times with a hit and pull back, getting penalties. Their THP did a fair bit of boring too, and got done once or twice. Not complaining - this is all scrummaging 101 stuff, and they did it well. All teams know the Wallaby scrum is pants in the eyes of many refs, so will get the benefit of the doubt against us with any skullduggery. Young Slipper accounted OK, and will get better.
To compete effectively next years we need Robinson and Alexander in form, TPN and Moore to stay fit, and Slipper and some others to step up. And Horwill could really help the lock situation.

 

[S120]

At fatprop: It's very hard to counter a prop of Castrogiovanni's quality and strength when he is engaging and then pushing on a 45 degree angle rather than square on. It's the ref's job to stop the props from boring in and to ensure they are engaging square.

 

[Joe Mac]

Anyone know where i can watch a replay online?

 

[Slim 293]

Posted this elsewhere, but seems appropriate to double it up and edit it a bit.
The Italian pack is good, with a front row boasting over 200 caps I believe. They were too good. They were also too crafty. They beat us on the hit early, then when they didn't and we held better, they had a secondary shove - this actually worried me more, as it showed the engine behind the Wallaby front row was in idle. They pulled the sucker play a couple of times with a hit and pull back, getting penalties. Their THP did a fair bit of boring too, and got done once or twice. Not complaining - this is all scrummaging 101 stuff, and they did it well. All teams know the Wallaby scrum is pants in the eyes of many refs, so will get the benefit of the doubt against us with any skullduggery. Young Slipper accounted OK, and will get better.
To compete effectively next years we need Robinson and Alexander in form, TPN and Moore to stay fit, and Slipper and some others to step up. And Horwill could really help the lock situation.

Exactly!

Last year the Wallaby scrum had a good drive coming from the back 5 when we had Horwill/Chisholm at locks and Palu at no. 8...

 

[fatprop]

At fatprop: It's very hard to counter a prop of Castrogiovanni's quality and strength when he is engaging and then pushing on a 45 degree angle rather than square on.

I agree, but just because it is hard it doesn't stop it being the props job to work it out.

Slipper will be better for the lesson.

As Link is known to say "props learn by getting their heads shoved up their arse"

I just bemoan the fact that we have another kid learning his job on the world stage

 

[S120]

I agree, but just because it is hard it doesn't stop it being the props job to work it out.

Slipper will be better for the lesson.

As Link is known to say "props learn by getting their heads shoved up their arse"

I just bemoan the fact that we have another kid learning his job on the world stage

I agree in essence, but when it is a prop as good and strong as Castrogiovanni I think the only way Slipper was going to get some relief from his boring was by alerting the ref (which they seemed to do) or the refs/touchies seeing it happen. It is nigh on impossible to counter a really strong prop when they bore in like that (going on your name I assume you know that as well).

But yeh as you say, it will be tremendously beneficial for him to have played against a prop of that quality. His work around the ground is wonderful and his scrummaging for a 21yo is pretty exceptional. Thought Alexander did quite well against Lo Cicero who is a good prop in his own right. Had him bending and folding quite a bit at times.

Simmons played really well and I hope he gets the start against France next week.

 

[MrMouse]

Surprised at the lack of praise for Simmons - thought he was quite an improvement on Jizz, or Mumm. He seemed harder than in his mid-year appearances.

The ref was atrocious.

Otherwise I agree with the general sentiment - Italian scrum were devious and ref clueless to stop it, Slipper held up well considering, Alexander much better than the previous week. Less meerkatting, more driving helped. Also a ludicrous amount of time wasted in leadup to every scrum to allow Italians to get enough breath for the type of secondary drives that squished us a bit.

The ref was atrocious.

We pushed passes a fair bit, just a bit frantic at times looking for the immediate kill. I think Burgo's game was exemplified in a period where I was growling 'focus, focus' at the tv and he tried to force a pop pass from the wrong side of a strong tackle and turned it over. If QC (Quade Cooper), BB or Rock can dilute his red cordial he could be so good... The wingers did more work in the rucks than on the wings - not a criticism but an observation. Apparently Reg's stats agree with me.

The ref was atrocious. But if you cancel out the two non-tries he only gifted them half a dozen penalties...

Also haven't seen any comment on the AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) tackle - they had him head down and if not for Pocock(?) coming in were going to drive him down. Should there have been on field action, and will there be off field action taken?

The ref was pretty atrocious, you know?

All in all, I'm happy to get the win, I thought forward intensity particularly in the first 20min was way better, and it's a performance you could build on. Wouldn't be surprised if the team were unchanged for next week, actually, as Slipper, Simmons, Barnes were all good and Burgo ok (at least he had intensity and fitness). Turner will depend on JOC (James O'Connor) of course. Hodgo was great in his cameo too.

Did I mention how atrocious the ref was?

 

[Richo]

So what did you think of the ref, MM?