2012 Rugby Championship Game 2 New Zealand vs Australia - 25 August

[SaderCheif]

Cool, bit of a funny bugger old Jed.

I might start listening to jedi for all games now, at least its funny. Kearns is a disgrace, making rugby look bad.

Anyway boys chin up. You can still keep the N02 rating, once Link is in things will turn around.

Something to cheer you up a bit....

 

[ACR]

I might start listening to jedi for all games now, at least its funny. Kearns is a disgrace, making rugby look bad.

Anyway boys chin up. You can still keep the N02 rating, once Link is in things will turn around.

Something to cheer you up a bit..

Well the #2 spot is up for the taking, if South Africa wins by more than 15 points in Argentina tomorrow morning it's theirs. I think they will win but it will be less than 15.

Just saw a tweet, I know how much you Aussies love the player tweets Shouldn't have been picked but best of luck to him, he deserves it.


Drew Mitchell ‏@drew_mitchell
Shattered about the loss.. Fingers are crossed for my ankle even though one of my fingers is dislocated haha.. #wewillbounceback#staywithus

 

[Dam0]

There's obviously a bit of wailing and gnashing of teeth going on here and most of it is fair enough. Having said that and despite the scoreline, I thought the Wallabies were slightly better this week than last week. I thought there was more fire and aggression showed, especially in the first half. That the All Blacks only scored 1 try is a testament to intense, disciplined and committed defence - we could very easily have put another 25 points on if the commitment had not been 100%. I also thought it was shameful to see our scrum destroyed by the Wallabies, so that is a positive for you guys.


Slightly off topic, but I thought Genia's post match interview was very gracious and impressive. It was a bit weird that he didn't get to say a few words at the post match presentation (but then I doubt anyone from here was still watching at that point!)

 

[Bowside]

We need to scrap all pre selections and current game plan and build for next year and beyond. Starting line up for 2 weeks:

1 slipper
2 Moore
3 kepu
4 neville
5 sharpe
6 Timani
7 hooper
8 samo
9 genia
10 cooper
11 ioane
12 tapuai
13 AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper)
14 shipperley
15 JOC (James O'Connor)

This side couldn't do any worse.

I still dont think JOC (James O'Connor) is a fullback.

Instead I would go with:

1. Slipper/Robinson
2. Moore
3. Kepu/Palmer
4. Timani
5. Sharpe
6. Higgers
7. Hooper
8. Mowen?
9. Genia
10. Cooper
11. Ioane
12. JOC (James O'Connor)
13. McCabe/AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper)
14. Shipperly
15. AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper)/Beale

Samo to play off the bench for a good 30 mins. TPN to get 30 mins as well.

Tapuai to play reserve centre if he keeps his club form up. Beale to round off the bench.

We need to find backrowers who can make the step up. I still have faith in higgers, he can be a devastating runner when he doesn't get bogged down trying to play tight. Mowen is the next best prospect at the moment, I think schatz is too unproven to warrant a start yet.

 

[Agent]

Some thoughts.

I don't agree with the All Blacks bombing two or three tries. I thought the Wallabies showed heart in fighting to defend their line when a score could have been run up on them.
If it had been the All Blacks stripping ball over their line when defending people would say how awesome their defence is. When it's the Wallabies it how the All Blacks bombed it. So I don't agree, I'm paying the Wobs for defending to the death and only letting in 1 try at Eden Park. That's a positive.

Scrum was a positive. Hooper was good.

Kicking the ball away from Australia was unacceptable and I think everyone here feels that for sure. At one part I also saw Genia put up a kick to chase and no one, including him, chased it. If you're going to do that then kick it as far as you can. He basically gifted the ball back to them maybe 20 metres down field.

I was and still am a Deans supporter. But, his time has come. For whatever reason his methods don't work either in International Rugby or just with the Australian's. Whichever it is, it's time for him to go. Australia has regressed, we aren't moving forward at all. I was happy we beat Wales but I thought at the time it was more home ground and a bit of guts that got us home, not our play or skills.

Agree Snout apart from the scrum being positive - thought it was only ordinary again. Thought forwards all tried hard esp Timani, Hooper and Gill when he came on, but there were a few soft turnovers at scrum and lineout.

The backs is where it all fell apart - too much useless useless useless kicking. Too many chip kicks / midfield bombs and too much ball handed back to the AB's in great field position for them. Not enough Wallaby attack in centre field. Beale, Cooper and Barnes are way to inclined kick instead of run. Something needs to change - the current gameplan is not and will not work. If current players don't want to change tactics pick someone who will. Ashley-Cooper is wasted on the wing.

Very frustrated.

 

[Paradox]

Timani very good and improved on last week. Hooper, Moore and Alexander all worked damn hard. Then it gets bad, Dennis and Higgers just not up to it. Dennis just didn't seem to do anything again and Higgers misses too many tackles. Barnes, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) and Horne were terrible. Cooper, Ioane, and Genia all did nothing. Beale was absolute poo when he came on and is too unfit and overweight for this level. The outside backs in the Wallabies (except Ioane) are so incredibly average to bad. No pace, can't beat man, no power, can't pass, no nothing.

Scrum was solidish. SBW smoked us and our kicking was just inept.

 

[Paradox]

10. Cooper
12. JOC (James O'Connor)

SBW would absolutely carve that up more than he did today..as would Nonu.

 

[Epi]

Sony Bill proved tonight he is not up to Test-Rugby standard! Enjoy the sushi SB, then on to The Roosters NRL team... doesn't know the meaning of 'loyalty'! Has any other player ever "walked out on the All Blacks to accept a better offer"?!
My other whipping boy KB (Kurtley Beale) didn't get alot of opportunities, so there's no unwarranted criticism fom me tonight.
Owens needs to go back to TAFE and complete his "how to be an above-average rugby ref course"!

You are a troll by the way. Normally don't feed em but made an exception.

 

[Paradox]

I don't think Moore had a good game.

You're wrong. His work rate was massive. Sharpe buggered up at least one lineout.

 

[p.Tah]

Couldn't watch this live and caved in and looked up the score before watching the replay. It was quite a relaxing way to watch it. I wasn't going to have a coronary and I didn't yell at the TV (much).

I think when others watch this game again, without the emotion that a live game brings, they may not be as harsh on the Wallabies.

Now time for my rant: I'm sure Phil Kearns is a nice guy, but if Fox don't pull him out of the commentary box I'm going to have to watch without sound. His entire commentary is a complaint. If he is not complaining about the referees, he is whinging about the opposition 'cheating' or the poor decision making of the Wallabies. Kafe and Clarkie can point out errors in the game without it sounding like a whinge. he is actually bad for the game. People not that familiar with rugby will listen to him. What do they leave the game with? The thought that basically everything is crap.

If one more person says he is there for colour I'm going to reach down the Internet cable and slap you in the face with a wet fish. What color does he provide? Dog shit brown and rancid bile green?

Kafe is the backs expert and Kearns is the the forwards 'expert'. I'm afraid he is like sitting next to your mate at the pub whose comments during the game are influenced by passion. There are no objective comments. He doesn't even provide insights at scrum time, his area of expertise. He just blames the ref. Please Fox, for the good of the game bring in a knowledgable commentator who will add to the enjoyment of watching the game.

 

[Bruce Ross]

Dean has bought discarse to the wallabies,i much rsther see Eddie johns coach the team.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh I'm Turning to the bundy.

"Dean has bought discarse to the wallabies" I am not familiar with "discarse" but I'll go along with you on the grounds that he has brought - and probably bought - all sorts of arse to the Wallabies.

"i much rsther see Eddie johns coach the team." I have no idea who "Eddie johns" is or whether he has ever coached rugby but I doubt he could do much worse than Deans.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh I'm Turning to the bundy." I suspect you have already started.
.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

The scrum went OK and I thought the cover defence and general scrambling ability was pretty good, but we missed a *lot* of first up tackles. We got murdered by their ability to offload in contact. Several of the boys really put their bodies on the line, but again there was no discernable plan out there. I cannot believe how much we kicked tonight. I almost threw my beer glass through the TV at one point while watching in the pub in frustration.

 

[AngrySeahorse]

Was playing a semi final myself while the game was on. Been reading through the comments...........not real sure I want to see the replay, but here goes.

 

[Athilnaur]

Positives - scrums (!), contact in the first 20, Timani, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper), Hooper(!), our scrambling defense.

Negatives. Barnes, sorry mate that was woeful. Every player who opted to kick the ball against an opposition playing in depth. The guy who decided to play those two penalties instead of taking the 3 (6) points in the first half... Do we have a Wallaby captain of recent times who hasn't made that dumbass mistake? All players who looked like they had given the game up for lost at 55mins. But most of all the turkeys laughing with AB players after the game. Need a hard slap. Happy to provide it. Booby prize to Deans post match commentary failing to identify any of the negatives above.

 

[Sir Arthur Higgins]

SBW has done very little against top Test teams (SA, AUS).

He threw at least 3 poor passes - once in the opening minutes in his own 22 that went forward and was plain stupid. The second was an intercept (which is when AF kicked it away) and then the one where they would have scored for sure.

He was a non-entity. Its incredible the hypocrisy if you can imagine the vitriol that would be directed at QC (Quade Cooper), for example, if he made the same mistakes in a match. He did bugger all and has basically played great footy at S15 level and off the back of Cruden a lot of the time. He has the potential to be a very good Test player but he isnt that yet, by any stretch IMO.

The cheer leaders on Fox carry on if he does up his shoe lace. I think Horan mentioned him 4 times after Daggs try for just running an inside line. Stiff shit, I could have done that.

I dont think he was dangerous and needs to develop his own game outside of Cruden.

i thought he was dangerous all night....you??

 

[Sir Arthur Higgins]

front row positives all around
moore played with some tenacity. yes that lost ball in the first half was "shit" to quote alexander but overall, they held their own
second row- sharpe a few questionable penalities.
timani was excellent and should/must hold his place. he played with vigour and passion. rare qualities in a wallaby these days. sharpe was excellent in the line outs. again a few penalities by him that were ho hum.

Back Row
Higginbotham - terrible. maybe a 6. maybe. woeful 8. in the first 15 mins he actually hit a few rucks and played like a foward...then he reverted to himself and thank god for substitutes as Samo was better.
Hooper - who is pocock? no not that good, but he is a quality quality player and if poey was the same height as richie, poey would play 8 and hoops 7. damn these midget opensides.
dennis - didn't get much from him. good enough, was best in the first half.

9 - that was a yellow card everyday. f*ck off phil kearns you w hinging loser. unsportsmanlike. cynical. its a yellow card. phil kearns is THE WORST commentator on fox sports.

10 - I thought quade was 10? first 20 he was good. barnes then stepped in and he was absolutely horrible. crabbing, kicking and standing too deep. quade shifted to full back and did nothing.

ioane was as always, strong.
horne actually did ok (hard for me to say)
AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) was solid, tough for him i think given the pressure he was under. a few great tackles. poorly supported a few times.
mitchell - attacked well but the injury obviously had an effect.
.......Beale - he should be dropped. he is horrible on form. find yourself. find some confidence. stop hanging out with JOC (James O'Connor) and Buddy if that's what it takes. he's shit.

overall - wallabies not up to it. outclassed at 6, 8, possibly 9, 10, 12, 13, , 14 and 15. no australian answers for carter (let alone cruden), dagg, sonny bill, nonu, messam/vito/thompson, reid or Jane at the moment.

wallabies will be lucky to beat SA.

 

[Sir Arthur Higgins]

for clarification - quade was sufficient at best, but was prevented from getting into his groove at 10 for whatever reason due to barnes.

i thought beale was useless. i would be happy to see him remain on the bench or be dropped all up. put JOC (James O'Connor) on the wing and coops at FB in Beales' stead.
harsh? maybe. but he has had two bad games in a row. this is test rugby.

 

[Charlemagne]

Three comments about tonight, first of all Australia did not have a plan, when they got the ball it seemed to be " look what I found in my hands " also Richie McCaw who is an awesome player is brilliant at not getting done for penalties, he never releases the man in the tackle, enters from the side constantly and the ref does not even put him on a warning. Why do we have to have northern hemisphere refs in our competition?

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

KB (Kurtley Beale) looks overweight for mine and sluggish to go with it. He's nowhere near the player we saw last year. I hope he gets it sorted out because he's a special talent.

 

[Sir Arthur Higgins]

I still dont think JOC (James O'Connor) is a fullback.

Instead I would go with:

1. Slipper/Robinson
2. Moore
3. Kepu/Palmer
4. Timani
5. Sharpe
6. Higgers
7. Hooper
8. Mowen?
9. Genia
10. Cooper
11. Ioane
12. JOC (James O'Connor)
13. McCabe/AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper)
14. Shipperly
15. AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper)/Beale

Samo to play off the bench for a good 30 mins. TPN to get 30 mins as well.

Tapuai to play reserve centre if he keeps his club form up. Beale to round off the bench.

We need to find backrowers who can make the step up. I still have faith in higgers, he can be a devastating runner when he doesn't get bogged down trying to play tight. Mowen is the next best prospect at the moment, I think schatz is too unproven to warrant a start yet.

if you were a rebels fan and watched all the rebels games with JOC (James O'Connor) at 12 this year, you wouldn't say that. he's not a super 15 IC let alone a Test IC. he's a wing or a full back and maybe...maybe one day a fly half. not a 12 at all.