• Welcome to the Green and Gold Rugby forums. As you can see we've upgraded the forums to new software. Your old logon details should work, just click the 'Login' button in the top right.

Bledisloe #1 - AUS v NZL, ANZ Stadium, Sydney, August 8th

Status
Not open for further replies.

fatprop

George Gregan (70)
Staff member
Just a thought, but if there was a game this year that being dropped for would not be the worst result - it probably would be the ABs @ Eden Park after a loss
 

Gnostic

Mark Ella (57)
The McCaw cloak of darkness is still working, at a scrum he was behind Pocock who still had the ball at his feet and wasn't penalised. At the maul immediately preceding Kepu's try he drove in from the side and attacked the ball carrier in front of Barnes with no penalty. He might be old but that cloak has done some work over the years.
 

cyclopath

George Smith (75)
Staff member
I don't think its been brought up too much, but I really hope we don't get Wayne Barnes again for a long time. Thought he controlled the match fairly poorly and he went to the pocket waaayyy too quickly on both Kepu and Smith

I disagree - professional foul just off your own line should be YC, there is no requirement for warnings. Same too with Smith's high tackle. And Phipps. All good calls, I think.
 

Highlander35

Andrew Slack (58)
Cards were good decisions. Kepu and Smith are cut and dry professional fouls, Phipps was because he went twice.

Other things you can argue stylistically, but at least he's consistent.
 

Gnostic

Mark Ella (57)
Disagree. That particular offence particularly annoys me.


I agree, but I would also like to see the "quick tap" policed properly. There is no such thing in Rugby, the ball must be kicked. Australian scrum halves are particularly bad at it. It is a pet hate of mine.
 

Hawko

Tony Shaw (54)
Cards were good decisions. Kepu and Smith are cut and dry professional fouls, Phipps was because he went twice.

Other things you can argue stylistically, but at least he's consistent.


I thought all three cards were good decisions. Referees who just penalise head high "for the sake of the game" do it a great disservice.

My gripes with Barnes are all around his naivety - he thinks that people buffeting Folau in the air are really competing for the ball and that NZ players appearing on our side of the ruck or lazy running that impedes our halfback is accidental. Its not, its deliberate.
 

Strewthcobber

Andrew Slack (58)
I don't think its been brought up too much, but I really hope we don't get Wayne Barnes again for a long time. Thought he controlled the match fairly poorly and he went to the pocket waaayyy too quickly on both Kepu and Smith
Kepu was bloody lucky he didn't give away a penalty try as well as getting that yellow card.
 

Strewthcobber

Andrew Slack (58)
I agree, but I would also like to see the "quick tap" policed properly. There is no such thing in Rugby, the ball must be kicked. Australian scrum halves are particularly bad at it. It is a pet hate of mine.
Just watching some highlights now, I think Smith did *just* enough to kick it. But he's way in front of Barnes's mark, and that's another thing that should be very heavily policed at a quick tap. Edit - corrected in response to a question below. Got to give the defence a fair crack at getting back (which none of the Wallabies did - and I think a penalty try would have been justified if Barnes accepted the penalty taken off the mark)

ZR0dhdk.jpg
 

Purce

Jim Clark (26)
Well this thread has gone off since the start of the game yesterday, I haven't been through all the pages but thought I'd add my thoughts.

Aus played quite well, New Zealand not so much. I'm still unsure if it was down to our pressure or if they just had an off night.

Australia Positives:
- Scrum
- Work at the breakdown
- Attitude
- Physicality
- Scramble defense
- Support play
- I think Gits and Drew add real experience to that back line. Mitchell didn't start well but finished very strongly.
- 1,3,4,5,6,7,8,11,12,14,15
- I thought all "finishers" came on a did well particularly To'omua & White, Beale the least effective

Australia Negatives:
- Lineouts
- Kick chase terrible
- Wide defense and at times up the guts was very poor, out wide has me particularly worried about next week.
- A number of good attacking chances were blown by the pass being behind the player or the supporting player being far too flat
- 1st half ball receivers far too deep and not running onto the ball, I understand this when trying to work around the defense however too often belted way behind ad line
- Most of the game players were receiving the ball flat footed and NZ were just picking them off behind the advantage line
- Not great games from 2, 13
- Very poor 9, 10

I think New Zealand will be a completely different side next week. The good thing about Aus performance is that there are still a number of areas in their game which can be significantly improved on. If they can they will be very hard to beat.

Moving into next week I'd be keeping the forward pack and slotting To'omua into 10. Happy to give Phipps another chance but I also thing White deserves a shot.

I wouldn't be surprised if Chieka plays AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) at 13 this week and rests/benchs Tevita to give another winger or 2 a shot. Dependant on AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper)'s neck.

Very excited about next week. I think we will see a cracking game or a cracking NZ.
 

Strewthcobber

Andrew Slack (58)
That may be deceptive, was the mark made where Barnes was standing, or was the infringement where the breakdown appears to be - in front of Smith?
Yep - you're right. (had another look!) the infringement was inside the 5m line at the previous ruck, so the mark is 5m back - right where Smith took it.
 

cyclopath

George Smith (75)
Staff member
That may be deceptive, was the mark made where Barnes was standing, or was the infringement where the breakdown appears to be - in front of Smith?

In real time, Barnes had not made a mark yet, so Smith was guessing where it would be, which was the breakdown. Nice Black wall between Smith and the Aus defence too, even if any of them actually got back, which they didn't! He's a smart player.
 

Groucho

Greg Davis (50)
Cards were good decisions. Kepu and Smith are cut and dry professional fouls, Phipps was because he went twice.

Other things you can argue stylistically, but at least he's consistent.

At the risk of being pedantic, Kepu was a professional foul (breaking the laws deliberately for advantage) and Smith was foul play.
 

Pfitzy

George Gregan (70)
*ahem*

ZR0dhdk.jpg


http://laws.worldrugby.org/?law=21&language=EN

21.4 Penalty and free kick options and requirements
(j) Kick taken quickly. If the penalty or free kick is taken so quickly that players of the kicker’s team are still in front of the ball, they are not penalised for being offside. However, they must retire immediately. They must not stop retiring until they are onside. They must not take part in the game until they are onside. This applies to all players of that team, whether they are inside or outside the playing area.
In the clip I've seen, none of the three ABs move backwards so maybe that played into Barnes' thinking?
 

Forcefield

Ken Catchpole (46)
I don't think its been brought up too much, but I really hope we don't get Wayne Barnes again for a long time. Thought he controlled the match fairly poorly and he went to the pocket waaayyy too quickly on both Kepu and Smith


Anyone who doubts Wayne Barnes as a referee for the Wallabies has to be smoking crack. I had noticed that we tend to win a lot when Wayne is the referee but I didn't realise that we haven't lost a game that he has refereed since 2007 (Springboks in Capetown). He is like the anti-Kaplan. I want him to referee every one of our games in the World Cup.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top