Australia vs British and Irish Lions 2nd Test (Melbourne)

[Pete King]

And his 'real' attacking 10 (Beale) defends at fullback (and not very well I might add).

It is not only ironic it is hypocritical.

And less then safe under the high ball as well.

 

[Scotty]

Go your hardest

If Alexander had been shit I am pretty sure we would be hearing from you about it.

 

[Scooter]

We all know why Deans has JOC (James O'Connor) at 10 and it isn't because JOC (James O'Connor) is the best 10 in the country. Despite his weaknesses, QC (Quade Cooper) is probably the best 10 in the country. And after his "toxic" comments against Deans and the Wallabies culture we know Deans has crossed a line through his name.

Great composure with the boot from Lealiafano last night. Well done Christian.

 

[Pete King]

It's funny how the narrative of people predicting 'what Deans will do' has shifted.

All through the Super season people were convinced Deans would ignore form players like Lealiifano, Mowen, Tomane, Mogg, Gill etc. and pick his old favourites like McCabe, Dennis etc.

But then, by and large, Deans doesn't do that at all. And these blokes are now wearing gold.

So it shifts to focus solely on the 10 jumper. Deans is inadequate as a coach because he keeps picking JOC (James O'Connor) at 10. Even though we just beat the Lions with our centres and outside backs having a far greater impact on the game than the Lions outside men. Not saying JOC (James O'Connor) was outstanding, but I think he was certainly better than most seem to think.

And now we have this- 'Robbie won't change it up, he will stick blindly to the blokes who did the job in Melbourne'.

I am not necessarily saying he won't do that. But my point here is a lot of RD predictions have been wrong this year, and it wouldn't surprise me if this was another one.
.

You can't tell me that deans doesn't get stuck on ideas he picked a injured bench warmer from the brumbies for the first test 23 (mcabe) and Barnes at fullback despite limited game time and also questionable fitness. Tomane and mogg were only brought in on the back of injuries and gill was retained on the bench from the end of season tour.

 

[Braveheart81]

I agree. I don't see how so many points can be given to Palu and Hooper who were part of a backrow that was dominated at the breakdown. Mowen you would consider for points because of his impact in the line out.

The breakdown only evened up when Warburton went off and Gill came on.

I'm keen to get home and watch a replay but at the ground Hooper and Palu really stood out for their work rate.

Mowen was immense in the lineout but his involvement elsewhere looked limited.

The Lions were stronger at the breakdown last night but I feel like our forwards would have been a lot worse without Hooper and Palu.

Gill was great when he came on but I feel like the game was much more open by that point.

Our accuracy in the clean out needed to be better than it was throughout the game.

I thought our tight five weren't as good last night compared to the first test.

Sent from my HTC One XL using Tapatalk 2

 

[barbarian]

You can't tell me that deans doesn't get stuck on ideas he picked a injured bench warmer from the brumbies for the first test 23 (mcabe) and Barnes at fullback despite limited game time and also questionable fitness. Tomane and mogg were only brought in on the back of injuries and gill was retained on the bench from the end of season tour.

So? He still picked them, didn't he?

Given the high number of debutants and inexperienced combos, it is entirely justifiable to have picked guys like Barnes, Ioane and McCabe.
.

 

[Penguin]

I think you will find that a lot of us were excited and screaming our lungs out with the best of them but you are on a rugby forum you fool would be pretty boring if everyone came on here to slap everyone on the back. Its about sharing opinion and analysis.

Sharing opinion & analysis is fine. But the constant bleating & the lemming effect here is obvious at times. So is the constant whine. Embrace that if you like...... I just like a bit more positivity in my life.

On Hooper. He was in everything & very busy, often got over the gain line & created opportunities. Sure, he could do with a bit more size to move bodies at the breakdown, but that's what other big cat's are for. He stepped up a notch from last week & deserves the plaudits coming his way.

 

[barbarian]

OK guys let's keep it about the game please, no more personal stuff.

 

[gel]

JOC (James O'Connor) and KB (Kurtley Beale) need to start playing regularly for their franchises again. They are waaay better than a lot of other player talent wise, and in these big matches they probably don't lose their shit like some debutants *might* do (who can tell for certain), but these two have almost no game sense these days and that is simply down to lack of game time and nothing more.

Have to commend both teams defensive systems as well. That was pretty oppressive stuff from both teams and its unlikely many teams would cope.

Glad to see the team that scored more tries (1!) win.

 

[terry j]

man, as a game (you know the pure definition of a game-two competing teams and either can win) this has gotta be WAY up there!

A budding hollywood script writer would be laughed out of the office if he wrote this. And to have it hinge on the last kick of the game exactly as it did last week, my god. "oh you dumbarse wannabe script writer you, what you write has to be somewhere in the region of believeabilty, get your punk arse outta here!'

That game, esp when viewed mirror like against last weeks game, was completely unbeleivable. I'm still coming down, what an emotional roller coaster.

I mean I GET it, there are some things people want changed, I completely understand. But to be whining and moaning immediately after one of the most intense gripping spectacles you will most likely never have the privilege of seeing again??

I mean think about it for just a second or two, sure *we* should not have dropped the ball but it is exactly BECAUSE we dropped the ball that the game was so gripping. (drop the ball of course being nothing more than an example)

THAT is what sport is! The lost chances, the should have beens, the complete unpredictability of it all.

I simply could not have beared (how do you write or use that word here?) losing last night! I mean I can live with losing the series 2-1, but only this way, not if we lost last night.

By all means, settle down soon and plan and make changes for next week, do what is needed to win the important game, but surely just for now bask in the pleasant warm glow of an amazing emotional experience of that fantastic game.

It's like meeting a woman, having the most amazing sex of your life and even before lighting your cigarette complaining about the mole on her buttock.

 

[Dave Beat]

It's funny how the narrative of people predicting 'what Deans will do' has shifted.

All through the Super season people were convinced Deans would ignore form players like Lealiifano, Mowen, Tomane, Mogg, Gill etc. and pick his old favourites like McCabe, Dennis etc.

But then, by and large, Deans doesn't do that at all. And these blokes are now wearing gold.
.

Most of the chat was about 10,
McCabe I don't think has a start (maybe 1) and still gets picked,
Dennis, was never really in the chatter,

And still most of the chat is about 10, our outside back were never given space, there was no creativity, the game plan was much the same as last year. I don't see phases created with a purpose, very rarely is a phase created 3 phases off the ruck.
I enjoy watching JOC (James O'Connor) play, but he doesn't get to show all his skills at 10, these skills can be showcased a lot wider.

 

[Scoey]

Two elements that I think need the biggest improvement from this test was:

1. Our kick chase. It was almost non-existent at times. Sometimes the Lions players would take one of our kicks near their 22 and there wouldn't even be a chaser in their half of the field! Whereas nearly every one of the Lions high balls were contest able and they chased and applied pressure on their long kicks; and

2. Our accuracy at the breakdown. We need to be quicker to the breakdown an we need to be more accurate in hitting and removing their jackal.

 

[Slim 293]

Three games in and the peanut gallery has decided JOC (James O'Connor) is not a 10.

It's one large peanut gallery..........

From the train station to the stands, the bar lines and the urinals........ Wallaby and Lions fans all united on the opinion that James O'Connor is an ineffectual flyhalf..........

I've never heard so many people at a game all share the same opinion on one player........

And after the games? He's looked poor at the position all year in Super Rugby..........

I don't expect any change for the next test, but the experiment is a failure, and we won't beat the AIG's with the crabster mk II.........

 

[Pauly]

It's like meeting a woman, having the most amazing sex of your life and even before lighting your cigarette complaining about the mole on her buttock.

Hey bloke, how did you know about the mole on my wife's buttock?

 

[fatprop]

If Alexander had been shit I am pretty sure we would be hearing from you about it.

Maybe, but he didn't, and even if he did, he would still be starting again this week. The other options are no better

I am more interested in looking at what the Wobs were trying to do and how they were working to uncrack a bloody good defence than improbable hypotheticals.

I do know another player in the mix isn't going to make the other 14 stop dropping balls in contact or failing to cleanout accurately

Some of the Wobs stuff was very interesting, if we held the ball a bit better, and were able to build some pressure, hypothetically that is.

 

[Braveheart81]

Were we watching the same game, where the lions dominated us at the breakdown all night and hooper was ineffective. Carried well late in the game but surely there to contest the breakdown.

3 Genia
2 Mowen
1 Lealiifano

Sorry just to bait BH there has been a lot of points for hooper, Is this down to his ball running in the last 30? I was thinking what a difference G Smith would have made out there at the breakdown

As I said in a post a few posts up, I am keen to watch a replay shortly but my impression at the ground was that Hooper and Palu were our best two forwards.

The scrum went both ways. Our early dominance then led to a couple of Lions penalties and whilst we won the scrum battle over the course of the match it wasn't as dominant as it looked it may have been early in the match. In general play I don't think our tight five were as good as they were in the first test.

Around the park, I thought Hooper and Palu had a huge amount of involvement and were our hardest working forwards. I thought our biggest problem at the breakdown was when we had the ball and we lost it because the first player or two to the ruck didn't clean out effectively. Certainly the Lions clean out was more effective than ours on their ball.

Outside of the lineout, I thought Mowen's involvement was far less than the first test. A couple of his stretching lineout takes were just superb though.

In the backs, if anything I thought there were too many set moves when simplicity was probably more desirable. There were several run around/cut out pass/inside ball moves that all resulted in a player getting smashed. I don't think these sort of moves work overly well against a disciplined defensive line that continues to move up quickly.

 

[en_force_er]

The moment of the game by JOC (James O'Connor) that made me want to pull my hair out was when the Wallabies were executing their exit strategy and he decided to run it.

Basically, the Wallabies were 10m out from their line. They'd run 1 or 2 phases to get a centre field ruck for JOC (James O'Connor) to boot it into touch. He looks up, has time to kick, and RUNS IT. WTF!!! There had been 3 phases of work to get a good kick opportunity and he runs it. From there we barely retain the ball 10m from out tryline because we were set for a chase, not ball retention. Then Genia had no choice but to box kick it (a type of kick that will never be a good touch finder) with no good chase line.

WTF O'Connor. Why did you do that?

 

[en_force_er]

Any 3-2-1 has to include Moore. The lineouts were excellent, his carries were solid and plentiful, the scrums were good (though maybe inconsistent).

If there was 1 Wallaby you absolutely could NOT lose (outside of maybe Genia and AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper)) that would be Moore. Our next available hooker is simply not of international ilk and Moore would have to be in the top 3 or 4 in his position in the world.

 

[Richo]

In the backs, if anything I thought there were too many set moves when simplicity was probably more desirable. There were several run around/cut out pass/inside ball moves that all resulted in a player getting smashed. I don't think these sort of moves work overly well against a disciplined defensive line that continues to move up quickly.

Especially when they move starts so far back from the line that the Lions have time to discuss the finer points of its choreography. One move in the second half so Izzy get smashed in exactly that way. You could see the hit coming two passes before he got the ball.

 

[Richo]

Any 3-2-1 has to include Moore. The lineouts were excellent, his carries were solid and plentiful, the scrums were good (though maybe inconsistent).

If there was 1 Wallaby you absolutely could NOT lose (outside of maybe Genia and AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper)) that would be Moore. Our next available hooker is simply not of international ilk and Moore would have to be in the top 3 or 4 in his position in the world.

Absolutely. We won the set piece battle overall and Moore was also really strong around the park. Our best forward, IMO.