2012 Rugby Championship Round 3 Game 1 Australia vs South Africa - 8 Sep

[ChargerWA]

I think the Wobs definately won the collision last night. Was great to see them hold their own. Whatever our criticism of them has been lately, the forwards are defending as a pack and running themselves to a standstill doing it. With 10mins to go, I was really confident we could hold them out. It was a nice feeling.

I think Dave Dennis is a really valuable member of the team and it worries me that some can't see the value of him because he isn't a flashy player. Everytime he took a kick receipt last night and trucked it up into traffic his skill and ball control was excellent. I think the wobs need more of these type of players. Partly why I advocate Kane Douglas ahead of Timani. But to Timani's credit he appears to be finding his feet at this level. I don't think his performance was MOM, but good none the less.

 

[Lindommer]

After watching last night's match I've come to the conclusion Cooper's a crap kicker, he employs a round leg action which results in kicks which are neither long nor accurate. If Paul Roos is helping Deans with showing the boys how to catch the pill, how 'bout helping Quade with some remedial action kicking the bloody thing.

Last weekend I was in Wagga watching the Southern Inland finals, and wandered over to check on third grade where Wagga Ag were getting done by Wagga Waratahs. Late in the match one of the Ag forwards (the hooker, no less!) caught the ball just inside his 22 and performed a perfect drop punt, short straight run before placing the ball vertically on his right foot, lovely follow-through, leg well up with cocked knee and extended foot. The ball shot up the paddock, straight as an arrow and landed well into the other team's 22. I happen to know a bit about this young fella and it's no surprise to tell he played Aussie Rules as a little tacker. My point here is if well-coached hookers in third grade teams in Wagga can kick the ball well WTF can't our test players?

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

I think the Wobs definately won the collision last night. Was great to see them hold their own. Whatever our criticism of them has been lately, the forwards are defending as a pack and running themselves to a standstill doing it. With 10mins to go, I was really confident we could hold them out. It was a nice feeling.

Agreed. The pack is seeing the value of a tighter formation, committing numbers in the collision and driving through the hips. There has been no lack of ticker in that area and it's probably not coincidental that Timani has been more prominent. Him stepping up physically has made the pack harder in the loose. Liking that at the moment.

 

[GaffaCHinO]

I thought it was shit house. I took a work mate who is a dyed in the wool AFL guy to his first rugby game, and was extolling the virtues of how great a rugby crowd atmosphere is.

As the Boks went down the race and everyone booed them he looked at me and said "at least in AFL the crowd doesn't boo the loosing team".

Thats bullshit all fans do at subi when watching afl games is boo the other team for 120 mins!

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[Bowside]

I can understand why people baulk at the thought of:

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

But it's not like JOC (James O'Connor) is really any smaller than barnes. He might be a bit shorter, but he is more solidly built. I think he will be just as good in defence as barnes is, but he is a better attacking player, and is also thought to be our best goal kicker (apart from harris).

 

[Inside Shoulder]

I thought Owens was pretty good in the first half but then had his pedantic northern hemi hat on in the second. Tpn might have been a little from the side but Digby had already picked up the ball so it had no impact in play.

The penalty on slipper was also over the top and if he was consistent with that there should be another 5 or so for the same thing every game!

Also a couple of penalties that went against the boks at scrum time that seemed very random (or at least not obvious who was at fault).

Contrast a couple of obvious forward passes and illegal clean outs that we're ignored in the second half and we saw he turned into the stereotyped nh ref pedantic random penalty generator. A shame after his good first 40.

technically if that's right the ruck had ended so he couldn't enter from the side cos there was no ruck to enter... I think


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[Sully]

I thought it was fantastic to see Alexander leave the field looking absolutely exhausted. He cops a lot of flack, some from me, but last night he gave everything he had.

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[Penguin]

Cooper missed plenty of tackles last night. I think his goalkicking will keep Barnes in the starting side. He'll just be lectured on general play kicking.

6/6 under pressure was immense.

I'd like to see the stats on this. I didn't see him miss any & the Fox commentators were of the same opinion.
The fact is that Coopers defense has improved out of sight since his injury layoff. Public perception can be a hard thing to shake.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

....snip... Public perception can be a hard thing to shake.

On the money. Ask any recent Australian Front Row.

 

[vidiot]

I'd like to see the stats on this. I didn't see him miss any & the Fox commentators were of the same opinion.
The fact is that Coopers defense has improved out of sight since his injury layoff. Public perception can be a hard thing to shake.

I think he'll have pretty ordinary stats again. He has improved to the point that he makes contact, slows and for the most part stops a ball carrier, but he doesn't actually complete a tackle often. He goes the strip or backpedals as someone else puts them down and goes to ground with them.

Half a tackle is better than none.

 

[FrankLind]

The best news of all from the improved performance is Deans might keep his job until the next World Cup or at least for another year if you beat Argentina.

 

[Blue]

It was nice to give the Saffas the send off they so richly deserved at Subi last night. Nothing offensive but they go the gist..hahahahhahahhahaa

Why did they deserve it?

Genuinely curious.

 

[Mank]

I think the Wobs definately won the collision last night. Was great to see them hold their own. Whatever our criticism of them has been lately, the forwards are defending as a pack and running themselves to a standstill doing it. With 10mins to go, I was really confident we could hold them out. It was a nice feeling.

They won the collisions, this part is true, but I would be careful of giving the Wallabies too much credit for that. All your players had to do was look up and see the SA forward telegraphed to receive the ball, and smash him backward with several Australian defenders. You did not have to commit too many players wide, because SA never went wide. It was all so easy for Australia to do. SA cannot expect to win very often against decent sides with our current play style, we will have to adapt. Does Meyer have the brains to do so?

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Why did they deserve it?

Genuinely curious.

Me too. I didn't notice any animosity in the crowd at all, apart from the home team kicking the air out of the ball in the first half.

 

[Blue]

They won the collisions, this part is true, but I would be careful of giving the Wallabies too much credit for that. All your players had to do was look up and see the SA forward telegraphed to receive the ball, and smash him backward with several Australian defenders. You did not have to commit too many players wide, because SA never went wide. It was all so easy for Australia to do. SA cannot expect to win very often against decent sides with our current play style, we will have to adapt. Does Meyer have the brains to do so?

Apparently the SA newspapers are this morning questioning Meyer's ability as a coach citing lack of game plan and persisting with Steyn and a bash it up game plan.

The pressure is on him, that's for sure. If people could see that there is a plan they would accept losses, but an outdated game plan with players like Steyn is not going to endear Meyer to the critics.

I also seriously question JdV as captain. He thinks we lost because of lack of experience. Well he and Steyn had poor game and they are experienced wo what the fuck is he on about?

Like I said, I would take a loss if guys like Goosen, Jantjes, De Jongh, Lambie are given a chance to PLAY.

How we need Brussow to get fit. Badly.

I am sure Meyer will blame inexperience and injuries this week.

 

[Hairy Test Eagle]

They won the collisions, this part is true, but I would be careful of giving the Wallabies too much credit for that. All your players had to do was look up and see the SA forward telegraphed to receive the ball, and smash him backward with several Australian defenders. You did not have to commit too many players wide, because SA never went wide. It was all so easy for Australia to do. SA cannot expect to win very often against decent sides with our current play style, we will have to adapt. Does Meyer have the brains to do so?

I think Meyer has the brains mate, just not the players. Burger, Du Plessis, Bekker, Brussow and Spies are all out in the forwards so Meyer is forced to pick large forwards who are not so mobile. He has no choice but to play with that game plan.

 

[qwerty51]

I see Taute is back. Get him in asap. 13 or 15 it doesn't matter.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

I see Taute is back. Get him in asap. 13 or 15 it doesn't matter.

BJ will be happy.

 

[Mank]

I think Meyer has the brains mate, just not the players. Burger, Du Plessis, Bekker, Brussow and Spies are all out in the forwards so Meyer is forced to pick large forwards who are not so mobile. He has no choice but to play with that game plan.

Burger is frenetic around the park, but was never really a a top notch ball carrier, despite common view. After some pretty rubbish games Bekker has been dropped hasn't he? Brussow might make a difference, but the new style (of the breakdown) doesn't exactly suit him. Spies is not a ball player. Du Plessis is the only one from the above list I think makes a big difference.

I agree with you about the players, I will always look first at the talent we have before making a judgement on the coach. However, kicking everything, and only ever hitting up with a single predictable ball carrier is a specific game plan. It's very easy to defend against now that everyone knows what's coming. I'm not saying the Boks should be beating everyone, but we definitely have the players available to beat Argentina even in their back yard, and it would be easy to tweak the above game plan to be a bit less predictable. For that I blame the coach.

 

[ChargerWA]

Piss off Mank, if anyone gets to bone their coach......we're first. Join the cue.