Bledisloe 2 - Wallabies vs All Blacks, Wellington, 27 August 2016

[tragic]

Wasps expect him to run on this year. He is elligible under the Gittau law.

Few recent reports his debut has been deferred.
No set date yet.

 

[Joe Blow]

He's still in rehab from a serious knee injury and has signed for the wasps in England.
Won't be seeing him again any time soon

He is the key alongside Folau for Cheika. He will be straight back in under the Giteau law. We really missed Kurtley this year more than any other player. I am sure he will be back well in time for Japan 2019 as well. Still has his best footy ahead of him.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

IS is everything ok?

I don't think I've seen you post anything with a positive tone, or remnance of a positive message in it, since I joined this forum 4ish years ago.

We call that selective memory or ignorance. If you look you will find them its just that most of the time the people at the top in the game in Oz are living high on the hog based on the hard work of those at the bottom and in the middle.

I think in the process of making observations and comments on the higher-ups in the code, we often forget that it is us, not the Wallabies, that are rugby union in this country. Times are certainly tough, but a collective bad attitude by the fans in this country won't help.

This is absolutely typical: Don't call it for what it is because that only makes it worse.
These guys deserve a bad attitude. They make non-sensical selections and send out their underlings to suggest that the defensive lapses can be fixed in a week: Grey had 3 weeks and couldn't get that right. The arrogance of that statement is astounding.

Hypocrisy is what the game in this country is being built on - no wonder you support the status quo: perhaps you can explain the positivity in this post of yours:
"Thats a lot more than you can say about Quade "Around the shoulders, one yellow card please, Ref" Cooper, although his physicality has certainly improved over the years as well.

 

[Tip]

We are down to our 4th choice 12. Gittua, Beale, To'omua. After that the choice is playmaker or big bopper. One of those choices brings Quade in, but what is the best Foley-Quade combination? I think they got it right.

Chieka's merely playing our best 12 at 13.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

I don't really think that the selections will greatly change things either way. The best thing that's happened for the Wallabies is that it's rained for the past 3 days in Wellington, with more rain forecast for tomorrow. Might slow the ABs down a bit.

Probably slow us down more and judging by the canes performance in the wet a few weeks ago they wont even notice it.
And for Michael's benefit i am very positive about all things NZ and All Blacks - I just don't have the jingoism necessary to tell myself everything will be fine if we just have another bottle of red.

 

[galumay]

Folau and Pocock might make the starting 15- I would take Pocock over Cane all day

Ok, so 2 at best, swap Cane for Savea and I dont think Pocock makes it either!

Clyde Rathbone makes many of the same points as I have been, expectations are far too high. We are not in the same league as the AB's.

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/a...ll-blacks-clive-rathbone-20160825-gr1jlw.html

 

[Braveheart81]

McCalman's dropping from the 23 this week indicates to me that the coaching staff realise their mistake but only after the event.

McCalman is injured. It was reported that he had a flare up of his scapula injury (although won't be out for long).

McMahon was also unavailable again.

 

[emuarse]

How to dress like an accountant/ Mad Men extra. Good to see rugby players busting the comical stereotypes they've built over the years

Maybe we should change the name of this forum from ' G & G Rugby' to
' G & G Clothing' , judging by the posts.

 

[Joe Blow]

McCalman is injured. It was reported that he had a flare up of his scapula injury (although won't be out for long).

McMahon was also unavailable again.

Cheika did say that he would not have been selected anyway

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/spo...s/news-story/443b3efe79c5c950f4c4055ce6d969be

 

[emuarse]

Agreed. I hope to see that sometime this year. But surely if you made that decision you'd take the opportunity to pick a player at 15 who could kick. Like DHP, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper), or hodge.
Foley doesn't have to be in the side if he's not picked at 10.

Possibly they might change Folua & DHP around when defending, with DHP receiving kicks and return kicking accurately for Folua to follow up from the wing position, wha.. who turned on the light?

 

[fatprop]

Rathbone expressed frustration that, heading into Wellington, nobody within the Wallabies' ranks had come out and spoken plainly about their chances.
"What I would give for the coach or player who when addressing the media let rip with this kind of unprecedented truth bomb: 'Look, we're almost certainly not going to win on Saturday. The last time we won in New Zealand was back in 2001 and our home record against the All Blacks isn't great either. They are one of the greatest sporting teams in history so we've got to play at our best and hope they have an off night if we're going to steal a win. That's the reality but we're up for the challenge.' "

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/a...ll-blacks-clive-rathbone-20160825-gr1jlw.html

 

[BarneySF]

I'm backing both Cooper and Foley especially to have good games.

A phrase I've heard countless times by both journalists and punters alike over the last few days on less reasonable sites than this one is that Cooper has never played well against NZ. Also that he can't handle the pressure of playing in NZ.

As a QC (Quade Cooper) fan, I totally hope you're right SoJ, but without wanting to sounds like Quade's mum, and knowing full well: Foley's form; no one else to play; QC (Quade Cooper) is a professional sports person; current state of Aus rugby etc, but I think QC (Quade Cooper) is kind of getting set up to fail. First game back for ages and it's this one. I mean, if he has a shocker, we still need to give him some room and can't then knee-jerk drop him from one bad performance, right? Personally, would have liked to have seen a Quade-Kerevi-Kuridrani 10-12-13 or even Quade-Kerevi-Folau, but that's all been discussed to death. Would Quade be better off with some heavy (ball carrying) artillery by his side or a second play-maker? I guess Cheiks is assuming Quade is like for like swap for Beale - although it's Foley playing 12, but he maintains the 2 play-maker thing.

(OK, Quade-Hooper-Kerevi - leaves room for Timani and drop Skelton!)

 

[Viking]

We are down to our 4th choice 12. Gittua, Beale, To'omua. After that the choice is playmaker or big bopper. One of those choices brings Quade in, but what is the best Foley-Quade combination? I think they got it right.
.

5th choice. Lilo would have been in there too.

 

[KOB1987]

Articles like that (Rathbones's) are usually symbolic of a low/turning point. Let's hope so anyway!

 

[Viking]

Rathbone expressed frustration that, heading into Wellington, nobody within the Wallabies' ranks had come out and spoken plainly about their chances.
"What I would give for the coach or player who when addressing the media let rip with this kind of unprecedented truth bomb: 'Look, we're almost certainly not going to win on Saturday. The last time we won in New Zealand was back in 2001 and our home record against the All Blacks isn't great either. They are one of the greatest sporting teams in history so we've got to play at our best and hope they have an off night if we're going to steal a win. That's the reality but we're up for the challenge.' "

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/a...ll-blacks-clive-rathbone-20160825-gr1jlw.html

Pococks comments in the media were pretty sensible. All he did was priase the All Blacks and say the wallabies have a lot of work to do.

There's your Captain.

 

[fatprop]

Articles like that (Rathbones's) are usually symbolic of a low/turning point. Let's hope so anyway!

It is quite realistic "we've got to play at our best and hope they have an off night if we're going to steal a win. " is our only hope.

 

[KOB1987]

Cheika did say that he would not have been selected anyway

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/spo...s/news-story/443b3efe79c5c950f4c4055ce6d969be

You could probably successfully argue that he would have been retained on the bench ahead of Skelton though. With McMahon out too it means the last bench spot came down to Skelton or Timani.

 

[KOB1987]

It is quite realistic "we've got to play at our best and hope they have an off night if we're going to steal a win. " is our only hope.

Yeah it wasn't so much the content, it was the headline..'delusional Wallabies'.

 

[fatprop]

Yeah it wasn't so much the content, it was the headline..'delusional Wallabies'.

That is the sub editor looking for clicks

 

[wamberal]

I am glad to see Quade in the team. The only proviso I would have is that I hope he has been told to underplay his game, not to try to win on his own.


With solid performances in front and on either side of him he can win games.


On the other hand, if the piggies are going backwards no changes in the backline will help avoid catastrophe.


The only Timani I would pick is Sitaleki.