Australia v England: Match II @ Suncorp 7.55pm AEST, 09/07

[Happy]

I think Eddie Jones game plan was to take advantage of our lack of an experienced full back by putting kicks in behind then defend as hard as possible to win the territory battle. As long as they were down our end kickable penalties would come. It worked for most of the first half.

For next week’s game we will have a glaring weakness in maul defence without Neville and Swain. I expect to see a lot of the same tactics they used once Neville was injured, with mauls employed as soon as they are in our half.

 

[Viking]

McDermott should have been on the bench. He is very good at directing our play late in the game.

I thought Gordon looked good and helped speed up play.

 

[todd4]

The guy who really looks small is Paisami. Especially for the kind of player that he is. I mean, he's a ball carrier and with that size he can't break tackles like Kerevi does. He's not a playmaker, so to be a battering ram, he can't make a difference at this level

Was that Paisami? I thought it was Peter Dinklage.

 

[Viking]

So is there any good news out of last night?

Thought T. Wright was pretty good. Porecki solid and making the 2 spot his own.

 

[Viking]

But it was not enough. TT was loose early and when he was getting in to the game he was replaced. He is better suited to coming off the bench until match fit. Hunter was good but I think Ikitau really compliments Kerevis game and marshals our midfield defence. Lenny is the bloke that does the little things very well that give us continuity and pulls the back line together.
Hopefully AAA is back and we have a decent second rower available to partner Philip.
I agree that both Valentini and Leota were close to our best.
Hodge is the logical starting 15 with all these injuries and maybe Vunivalu comes onto the bench.

Agree with TT and Ikiatau. I wouldn't mind even if TT played 60-70mins. He does it for the Reds regularly, otherwise come off the bench at halftime.

Actually, I'd go with Wright at 15 after last night. Love the idea of Vunivalu on the wing. Hodge as bench cover.

 

[Froggy]

A couple of thoughts.
Firstly, TT and Wright are both real rocks and diamonds players. Love TT hitting the line, but in game we lost due to penalties, he gives away too many of them. Wright has moments of genius and others of absolute WTF. He really lacks a calm head.
The intentional knock-down law is now a joke. No-one with half a brain would suggest Perese was doing anything other than attempting an intercept. The law is now that any failed attempt at an intercept is a yellow card.
Some of the reffing of the scrum is a complete lottery. Early in the match Bell was (correctly) penalised for hinging. The ref then decides that's easy, I know which way to penalise, so that when the English THP quite clearly gets his feet too far back and 'pancakes', Bell is penalised for hinging again.
Having said all that, the Wallaby forwards were blown away in the first 20 minutes and the discipline was rubbish, and the game was lost then and there.

 

[Viking]

Gotta say it was a poor call from Rennie to even select JOC (James O'Connor) for the bench. He was open about JOC (James O'Connor) lacking sharpness and he was not wrong. So why pick him?

Hodge, Wright, and probably even Campbell all less risky options.

On a positive, JOC (James O'Connor)'s running game looked dangerous, he has regained his footwork, sorry about the rest of his game.

 

[stillmissit]

Even the referee appeared surprised at that

Agree and if he saw it differently he should have overridden the decision. Assuming that a ref can override a TMO but I think they can.

 

[John S]

Agree and if he saw it differently he should have overridden the decision. Assuming that a ref can override a TMO but I think they can.

Surely the ref on the ground is responsible for running the game not the TMO?

 

[Brumby Runner]

His kicking saved us multiple times last night, the man has a cannon

True enough DC, but the ball rarely if ever reaches the 13 and wings in standard backline play. That is down to Kerevi and needs to be fixed. Wingers only seem to get their hands on the ball from opposition kicks in play. 13 doesn't seem to get it at all.

 

[KiwiM]

Really enjoyed this game as a neutral.

Wallabies hung tough despite all the injuries but the real issue is how they got steamrolled in the first half. England were very impressive were able to win the collisions and dictate play. England's new 9 was brilliant. Thought Farrell had a blinder too.

Because the English dominated up front Hooper was neutralised and had no impact on the game.

JOC (James O'Connor) looks like he needs to be put out to pasture - I think Aus would be better off looking to develop Donaldson or someone.

 

[mst]

I don't know the answer to this, but, so as you say he placed the ball back over the half way, initially it was just a tackle not a ruck. When did the ruck form, before or after he placed it back?

From my understanding, a ruck is formed over the ball to let player's compete. So I believe, technically, its where the ball is placed.

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[Brumby Runner]

I don’t think Hooper is the best ever Wallabies captain but I wouldn’t classify him as poor either. He is definitely a good leader. If you are going to suggest someone else be captain then it needs to be an at least 70 minute player. In the current setup that’s one of the locks, Valetini, Lolesio, Kerevi, whoever the fullback is, and Koroibete. The only one of those who I would say is capable of the job is Kerevi, and we are far better off having him have nothing else to worry about except playing.

I'm with you on Hooper's captaincy, KOB, but where we are losing to these Poms is in the physicality in the first half hour. The forwards are almost to a man bigger and stronger, more aggressive than our reps. And Michael Hooper is one of the smallest, and it has to be said of the least effective Wallaby forwards in our pack. If we want to compete early on we need bigger bodies where they are available. In the case of the 7 jersey, imo that should be Pete Samu to complement Leota and Valetini. I'd then have Harry Wilson on the bench so to my mind MH misses out altogether in the third test.

The front row needs mixing up too. Bell and Porecki are no match for their opposites in terms of physicality or experience. I'd start with Slipper at LHP and FF (Folau Fainga'a) at hooker with the others coming on after half time. That's the only way I can see we might hold the Poms early in the game.

 

[Brumby Runner]

Vunapula or whatever didn't feed the ball back so it's fine

Don't agree. Too many others binding on to him before contact with the defence. That is a penalty.

 

[LeCheese]

Maybe but I don’t think calls like that should even go to the TMO, call it as they see it. TMO should be reserved for cardworthy offences and uncertainty around tries (no more than 2 phases back) only.

I’d agree - however if the wallabies were on the receiving end of a borderline 50-22 that led to a try, no doubt the discussion would be why it wasn’t checked.

 

[LeCheese]

I don't know the answer to this, but, so as you say he placed the ball back over the half way, initially it was just a tackle not a ruck. When did the ruck form, before or after he placed it back?

For a 50-22 I don’t think it matters where the ruck was technically formed, but that in that phase the ball had travelled over the 50 at some point, and was therefore at some point taken back

 

[John S]

Don't agree. Too many others binding on to him before contact with the defence. That is a penalty.

Around the 25 second mark is the try, slow-mo replay around 30 seconds. Looks like they had that pod set up before contact

 

[tragic]

Vunapula or whatever didn't feed the ball back so it's fine

No it’s not. Itoje passed the ball to vunipola so it’s lineout over. The two players were pre-bound to vunipola prior to any defenders so it’s not a maul - it’s still a tackle. A third then joined and they drove him across the line. World rugby banned this in the last 12 months. Only one player is allowed to latch.

 

[KOB1987]

I didn’t scrutinise it during the game, that’s definitely illegal. Will be interesting to see if World Rugby say anything about it - doubt it though given a home nation was the beneficiary

 

[qwerty51]

I just checked it. The players bind simultaneously as Leota makes contact.

It's fine.

Your photo even proves this, the players haven't binded/latched yet. The next frame would be both of them making contact with Vunipola. You're talking about Lawes and Genge arriving milliseconds before Leota at best. It's simultaneous real-time.