ABs vs Samoa *Spoiler*

[Gagger]

G'Day all,

Just found TYS, looks like there's lots of great discussion here. Look forward to spraying a few words if you'll have me. Below were my thoughts on the game:

I don't want to overplay it, at the end of the day 15 tries is a decent effort. But this scratch Samoan team was a B team at best, with only 5 of them playing any rugby outside of Samoa. The A team being away with their clubs in Europe.

And it showed. Their scrum folded faster than - well, even ours at its worst - they had no backline defensive pattern and they gave away approximately a penalty a minute. Twenty-six of the points were run in when the Samoan 9 finally got binned just before half time.

Nevertheless, the All Blacks conspired to make hard work of this unopposed training drill. The line-out limped along, balls got passed into touch, the back of the scrum was a mess and balls got spilled all over the place. The culprits were the usuals - Nonu, Cowan, Lauaki (surprise!) and So'aiolo to name a few. The same types that went missing in Sydney.

Again Carter and Smith looked sharp, and of course half of the team - Richie McCaw - was being rested. But the key point I took away was this - those same flaws that the Wallabies blew up and exploited at ANZ stadium are still there, lurking just below the surface, ready to pop out even when the pressure is low. The question is, can we up it enough in Brisvegas?

 

[Pfitzy]

Hey Matt - welcome aboard.

I'm guessing the ARU has signed some sort of contract with whatever Homebush is called these days which means any test in Sydney has to be played there. Does anyone know if that is the case?

It is. I hate it.

Of course theres no island boys in the Wallabies squad...

:lmao: Yeah - Tim Tahu and Lawrence Tuqiri being two of them!

 

[Turban]

How did the Samoan Halfback get carded? So'oialo had his hand on the ball when the guy kicked it.

I thought the AB's looked a bit out of sorts at times, Nonu had his worst match of his carrear easily. And thats saying something. Had they been a bit more switched on they could have grounded a handful more tries. But then again 100 points is hardly something to be laughed at.


It's one of those situations where if a guy plays below par you turn up your nose and say "come on it's just Samoa C/D/E" and then when a guy plays well you turn up your nose and say "Come on, it's just Samoa C/D/E". Lose-lose situation.

 

[Virgil]

How did the Samoan Halfback get carded? So'oialo had his hand on the ball when the guy kicked it.

I thought the AB's looked a bit out of sorts at times, Nonu had his worst match of his carrear easily. And thats saying something. Had they been a bit more switched on they could have grounded a handful more tries. But then again 100 points is hardly something to be laughed at.


It's one of those situations where if a guy plays below par you turn up your nose and say "come on it's just Samoa C/D/E" and then when a guy plays well you turn up your nose and say "Come on, it's just Samoa C/D/E". Lose-lose situation.

Frustration from the ref i think. He had dished out dozens of penalties up to that point and warned the Samoans about trying to spoil the game.

yeah when you play a game like that your always on a hiding to nothing, play bad your given a hard time. Play well and its the same deal. It served its purpose though, after a big break between tests the team needed a blowout.

 

[Turban]

How did the Samoan Halfback get carded? So'oialo had his hand on the ball when the guy kicked it.

I thought the AB's looked a bit out of sorts at times, Nonu had his worst match of his carrear easily. And thats saying something. Had they been a bit more switched on they could have grounded a handful more tries. But then again 100 points is hardly something to be laughed at.


It's one of those situations where if a guy plays below par you turn up your nose and say "come on it's just Samoa C/D/E" and then when a guy plays well you turn up your nose and say "Come on, it's just Samoa C/D/E". Lose-lose situation.

Frustration from the ref i think. He had dished out dozens of penalties up to that point and warned the Samoans about trying to spoil the game.

yeah when you play a game like that your always on a hiding to nothing, play bad your given a hard time. Play well and its the same deal. It served its purpose though, after a big break between tests the team needed a blowout.

I thought kicking the ball out of the No.8's hand was perfectly legal?

 

[Virgil]

How did the Samoan Halfback get carded? So'oialo had his hand on the ball when the guy kicked it.

I thought the AB's looked a bit out of sorts at times, Nonu had his worst match of his carrear easily. And thats saying something. Had they been a bit more switched on they could have grounded a handful more tries. But then again 100 points is hardly something to be laughed at.


It's one of those situations where if a guy plays below par you turn up your nose and say "come on it's just Samoa C/D/E" and then when a guy plays well you turn up your nose and say "Come on, it's just Samoa C/D/E". Lose-lose situation.

Frustration from the ref i think. He had dished out dozens of penalties up to that point and warned the Samoans about trying to spoil the game.

yeah when you play a game like that your always on a hiding to nothing, play bad your given a hard time. Play well and its the same deal. It served its purpose though, after a big break between tests the team needed a blowout.

I thought kicking the ball out of the No.8's hand was perfectly legal?

Split second interpretation i guess.

 

[Pfitzy]

Depends on if the ref deems it foul play or not...

 

[Major Spliff Biggins]

Here's hoping Lauaki and Nonu start in THE DECIDER

So many brain farts just waiting to happen.

Good first up post from Gagger too. I agree, it did show there are a few problems that can be expoited. Though I suppose I may be clutching at straws a bit after last Saturday.

 

[Gagger]

Though I suppose I may be clutching at straws a bit after last Saturday.

We gotta clutch at something!

 

[Jury]

Great first up post, Gagger.

With the way this Tri-N has gone ... I think Aus/NZ have equal chance in taking the game and trophy. It's been a weird one to predict, alright.

 

[Pfitzy]

Absolutely - I mean, we got two thrashings out of this whole deal so far, but what we put on the ABs, even though it was only a 15 point margin, is akin to a thrashing for a side accustomed to winning two-thirds of the time against us.

She's been a weird old series ...

 

[Gagger]

I've got a theory brewing in the back of my noggin that the ELVs have got something to do with the big margins (hey, everything including the credit crunch has been blamed on the ELVs, why stop now)

In the past, with full arms for everything you'd either:
1) be able to slow the game down and slot your way back into contention
or
2) if ahead, slot your way to a decent but not greedy lead
(both of these rely on you not having Mortlock as your kicker by the way)

Either way you saw the age old 5-9 point margin games.

These days, once you're ahead you just pile on more tries, and if behind you've got to have a run to catch up, which if you're having a shit day (see Joburg & Auck for us, Syd for ABs) the other side piles on even more tries.

If in a golf computer game, think of the power bar fluctuating much faster up and down.

Make sense? :nta:

 

[Scorz]

I've got a theory brewing in the back of my noggin that the ELVs have got something to do with the big margins (hey, everything including the credit crunch has been blamed on the ELVs, why stop now)

In the past, with full arms for everything you'd either:
1) be able to slow the game down and slot your way back into contention
or
2) if ahead, slot your way to a decent but not greedy lead
(both of these rely on you not having Mortlock as your kicker by the way)

Either way you saw the age old 5-9 point margin games.

These days, once you're ahead you just pile on more tries, and if behind you've got to have a run to catch up, which if you're having a shit day (see Joburg & Auck for us, Syd for ABs) the other side piles on even more tries.

If in a golf computer game, think of the power bar fluctuating much faster up and down.

Make sense? :nta:

Nah mate, look at AB's vs Bokke in Dunedin. And again in Capetown where it only blew out at the end with Steyn's brainfart.

 

[Gagger]

Scorz,

Capetown proves my point. 5-0 till the 60th minute and then kablam. Scoreboard would have ticked over with penalties in the old days and the Boks wouldn't have had to tried to hard in the end, hence blowing it out.

Dunedin is fine. You can still occasionally hit the middle of the power bar in the golf game, just a lot less often, and with wildly varying outliers.

Theory holds.....I think

 

[PaarlBok]

Think Gagger have a valid point there. If I look at our schoolboy level. Always very close with the top lot but now with the ELVs you get much more tries and scores like 40-30 s like.

Now with the CC back to long arms it do slow down a lot more.

 

[Virgil]

Absolutely - I mean, we got two thrashings out of this whole deal so far, but what we put on the ABs, even though it was only a 15 point margin, is akin to a thrashing for a side accustomed to winning two-thirds of the time against us.

She's been a weird old series ...

Poor tactics has played its part too, we farked up badly in Sydney. Completely changed them for the return game in Auckland and in SA and look what happened.

Also i dont think you can compare our loss in Sydney to the other thrashings handed out, remember we actually took the lead back early in the 2nd half. Fair to say you guys were never in with a shot in Auckland or Jo'berg