Australia v Scotland, 3:00pm 17 June Sydney Football Stadium

[cyclopath]

My halves would be Gordon and Lucas.
My first five would be QC (Quade Cooper) and Foley
My second five would be Hodge and Foley

You're drunk.

 

[cyclopath]

You know what I meant.

Sent from my SM-G928I using Tapatalk

No, nobody really knows what you mean. It's your superpower.

 

[cyclopath]

It has become trite to claim too many Tahs, but it is obvious that it is also true.

Robertson was practically invisible around the ground and probably only serviceable in the scrums. Now that Sio is coming back to fitness, LHP spots should go to him and Smith.

Hanigan has a huge amount of potential and one day will shine at this level, but right now we desperately need more grunt and aggression that can be provided by Timani at 6.

There are other spots currently filled by players from the other franchises who should get a rest as well, but very few options exist unfortunately. Hooker is one spot that needs urgent attention - might just see another Tah come in.

Rubbish. But you are, indeed, trite. The scrum was fine with the starting front row and Roberston was busy enough. Hanigan is busy, good work rate but too light, I'll agree, and will get better but I think his best is 1-2 years off. I like his attitude and mongrel though.
Timani has been mediocre this year - nowhere near his EOYT form 2016 so to say he will automatically be better is a guess. I'd try him, but it's an unknown unknown. Obviously, you seem to know better.
Biggest problem we had today was the lack of clarity in the top couple of inches of most players. The poor option taking in attack at times was breathtakingly bad. The set pieces were mostly good and the defence somehow mostly was also good. But geez, we squandered some good field position and opportunities today. Genia had a shocker, no two ways about it, but the options beyond him are sparse.

 

[Joe Blow]

Timani has not been great this year for the Rebels but neither have Hodge or any other of their players.
I think we really lacked grunt in our back row again and therefore the balance was off. Pocock provides a huge amount of muscle despite being a little shorter. Ditto for McMahon.
I think based on his form today that QC (Quade Cooper) should get a start next week along with Timani and some other fringe players.
Nabulis debut was underwhelming and I would have thought that Naivalu should also get an opportunity next week. He has always performed well for the Wallabies.

 

[Joe Blow]

On the Folau cross kick try. It was exciting and no question a masterful show of his ability in the air. However, if they had just spread the ball through the hands quickly there would have been the same result.
Once again there was too much aimless kicking throughout that just gave the ball back to the Scots.
We lacked patience and direction. The early penalty points should have been taken and the waving of them for the chance to score 7 points kept in the back pocket until if and when it was necessary in the last quarter.

The top two inches was missing as was the commitment for some Wallabies today as Cheika alluded to after the test.
I thought the Scottish were very good and played about as well as they can. Hats off to them.

 

[BarneySF]

So this has us heading down to sixth place in the rankings yes?

 

[Teh Other Dave]

Biggest problem we had today was the lack of clarity in the top couple of inches of most players.

BAM.

And it goes beyond today's game; Scotland played quite well.

We lack footballing brains. Our teams have 'playing styles' and 'game plans', but the last Australian team I saw that actually seemed able to read a football game was the Reds under McKenzie (and that's not just my Qld bias).

Look at how NZ beat us: chaos. They score so often after turnovers and kicks. Even when their passes go to ground I get nervous, because we don't know whether to attack the ball/cleaning player, or to sit back and let the player run at us and not risk a missed tackle. And guys like Barrett thrive against Australian teams because he keeps us constantly in two minds.

And our kicking. You nailed it there Cyclo. I can guarantee you that Genia, Foley, and Cooper kick immaculately at training. They wouldn't be receiving a salary let alone be in a match day 22 if they didn't. The problem is lack of direction. They see a well aligned defense ahead of them. They see the guys outside them flat footed or just asking to get turned over at the next tackle. The only option left is to chuck it on the boot and hope for the best, much like an AFL inside midfielder.

And it comes as no surprise after the super rugby season (where these guys do most of their training and playing). And it goes past this, all the way to juniors. It's not just about generic skills like catching, passing, and tackling, but game awareness. Understanding the role of the game plan, and being able to adapt and cope when a game plan is not working.

More worrying: all I keep reading and seeing tonight is 'sack Cheika' and similar. Good plan; with whom?

 

[tragic]

3 tries should have been enough to beat a Scottish team that offered very little in attack.
I'd take a decent kicker over another 2 inches every day of the week.
2 more kicks between the sticks and a few less chargedowns and that was a comfortable win, albeit with some fine tuning still required.
10 remains our biggest problem.

 

[Joe Blow]

I would say 9 is more of an issue. 14 points directly from a charged down kick and a very poor clearance from a lineout.
The two penalties in the Scottish quarter should have been shots at goal despite the fact that we came away with 7 points. It was early in a test and we should have taken the points to build our score.

Its is terribly disheartening and points towards the Wallabies having regressed further after a very disappointing 2016.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Scots Allan Dell & Finn Russell (plus another four (!) Welshmen) called up to join the Lions tour:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby/news/article.cfm?c_id=80&objectid=11878155

Didn't see the game but based on the highlights I think you (& the Reds) need to move on from Genia at 9, he just doesn't seem to have the quickness of thought-to-action he once did.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Geez, what happened to Powell?

Doesn't play for the marlins.
We have to learn a lesson from losing to a hard working but average Scottish team.
Looking for positives is a recipe for mediocrity, although mediocrity might be an improvement.
Next week's game would be a good game for Powell to start. Latu too.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Scots Allan Dell & Finn Russell (plus another four (!) Welshmen) called up to join the Lions tour:
[/media]

Is anyone left in Wales? F'in ridiculous.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

IMO, best forward was a close tie between Coleman and Hooper, and best back was Hunt(best of a bad bunch).

I like Coleman a lot.
I don't like the way Hooper plays 7 but he is colossal and as for my misgivings about the way he plays thats a price you pay for a bloke who can be relied on.

Losing to a pretty good Scotland side aint so bad really.

They're missing their 5 best players including a 10.
Their pack seems Lilliputian.
All they did was persist. Which is what we need to do.
They are average.
We had 56% of possession, 63% of territory but conceded 18 turnovers to their 11.
Leaving out the turnovers that shows a side with no real idea in attack - hence the long pass try to Folau, the AFL cross kick and a dart from the base of a ruck.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Some Rankings chat on here earlier so I've done some calcs & the new order from 3-6 appears to be:

3. Ireland (were 4) 85.09
4. Australia (3) 84.63
5. Scotland (6) 83.90
6. South Africa (5) 83.63


http://www.lassen.co.nz/pagmisc.php#hrh

 

[Dave Beat]

You're drunk.

That game would have resulted in a lot of alcohol being consumed

 

[KOB1987]

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[KOB1987]

After reading all the comments there is one aspect I have to disagree with. There's a lot of posts at the start of the thread rubbishing the poor crowd. I was at the stadium and whilst it wasn't a sell out, it never was going to be, it was pretty bloody full. There was one area of empty seats on the eastern lower for some reason, but apart from that it was only the edges that were empty. Admittedly it didn't fill up until right on kick off so maybe there were some earlier shots the comments were based on.

IS what do you mean Scotland didn't have their best 10 available? Who is their best 10?

Edit: just read the crowd was 30,721. So not bad.

 

[Dan54]

Serious gripe: referee in that match awarded a short arm after clearly looking away to check the defensive line, how could he possibly know what happened?

Um I haven't seen match as yet, was at club rugby, but I would assume you realise that ref and Assistants are in radio contact Twoilms, so perhaps he got call from one of them??

 

[KOB1987]

Every team has their bogey team, Scotland is ours. NZ has France. South Africa has Japan ;-)

 

[Quick Hands]

None of what have become the traditional Wallaby excuses can be applied to yesterday's game.

Dew on the ground - no
Ref picked on our scrum - no
We always play the ABs - no
We scored more tries - no
Ref let them stand offside - no
Refereeing mistakes - no
TMO errors or involvment - no
Wind or rain - no

Nice to see some new ones (which are as invalid as the traditional ones)

Two Scottish tries came from mistakes
Sccotland are our bogey team
Scotland only scored the winning try because our defence was confused