Bledisloe 1 - Wallabies vs All Blacks, ANZ Stadium, Sydney, 8:05pm

[Inside Shoulder]

Yeah - for the first b50 minutes he made ground over the gain line with every touch. Along with Folau, they were our only go forward players. Then he reverted to his early days poor hands. In line for a rest I think.

I was never much chop at geometry but for all of Folau's ground covered in a game a hell of a lot of it is not distance made good to the goal line.
I think Kuridrani's first 50 mins were his best because he didn't touch the ball, did he?

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Positives: no yellow cards - there's a message in that possibly

 

[The torpedo]

Positives: no yellow cards - there's a message in that possibly

Positive number 2: we scored points

 

[Quick Hands]

Yes and he is not that bad - he needs to learn to put touch on his kicks.
We really need a full-time good kicking coach - Jonny Wilkinson maybe?

He kicks to the man. His kicks carry quite a good distance, but rarely bounce or find touch - they're almost always caught on the full by an opponent.

The best kicker of a rugby ball in Australian professional rugby at the moment is Reece Hodge. (By a long way I might add)

 

[KOB1987]

Positive number 2: we scored points

Positive #3: Maybe Eddie is thinking he's not as good as he thinks he is anymore.

 

[KOB1987]

Giteau and Horne out for the rest of the RC. Many would say that's a good thing, personally I think Horne is a big loss because of his versatility. To'omua is rated as unlikely for next week.

This is what I'd do:

1. Slipper
2. TPN
3. Kepu
4. Douglas
5. Mumm
6. Fardy
7. Pocock - C
8. McCalman
9. Genia
10. Foley
11. Mitchell
12. Folau
13. Kerevi
14. AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper)
15. DHP

16. Moore
17. Sio
18. AA
19. Coleman
20. Hooper
21. Phipps
22. Cooper
23. Hodge

My rationale for 12: one of Folau or Kerevi has to play out of position there, I'd rather it be Folau because he is more experienced.

 

[KOB1987]

"It means the Wallabies will be scrambling to get their backline in order with Samu Kerevi, Israel Folau, Quade Cooper and Reece Hodge the frontrunners to take the No.12 jersey. "

 

[Moono75]

The ARU need to update their social media campaign from #StrongerAsOne to #StrangersToWins

Just an absolute dire performance last night.

 

[I like to watch]

He kicks to the man. His kicks carry quite a good distance, but rarely bounce or find touch - they're almost always caught on the full by an opponent.

The best kicker of a rugby ball in Australian professional rugby at the moment is Reece Hodge. (By a long way I might add)

That's the most frustrating part, his kicks rarely touch grass.
It's a simple concept, if the opposition catch a kick in the full,if it wasn't contested,then you have fucked up.
Clearly that's not the thought process or he is totally inept, which is a worry,either way.

 

[Slim 293]

My rationale for 12: one of Folau or Kerevi has to play out of position there, I'd rather it be Folau because he is more experienced.

But Kerevi has played two tests there?

 

[disco]

That was awful and just a disgusting effort from the players and an awful game plan from the coaches.
Stephen Moore isn't our best hooker and Rob Simmons has got to go.
Kudriani other than a good game against Scotland hasn't done anything since 2014 and should be dropped for Kerevi.

 

[Beefcake]

What r u talking about. I'm Not blaming anyone. I'm saying we need to play the game differently. Not skills wise. Smarts wise

Sent from my SM-G928I using Tapatalk

Point taken.

I was suggesting that the wobs cant rely on riding the coattails of either refs' favour or passively letting others do the grafting, as an attitude or approach to winning.

Im not saying the wobs have the measure of the darkness man for man, but collectively they just dont clique, the reasons above perhaps typify this attitude.

When the wobs are poor, they really are their own worst enemy.

Need new leaders in the team.

 

[Dave Beat]

10. Foley or QC (Quade Cooper)
11. Mitchell
12. Hodge
13. Folau
14. AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper)
15. DHP



My rationale for 12: one of Folau or Kerevi has to play out of position there, I'd rather it be Folau because he is more experienced.

Kerevi / Kurindrani havnt done much
Folau has played 13 most of the year.
Hodge has excelled this year plays 2nd five, and needs to be blooded sooner or later.

 

[Beefcake]

Giteau and Horne out for the rest of the RC. Many would say that's a good thing, personally I think Horne is a big loss because of his versatility. To'omua is rated as unlikely for next week.

This is what I'd do:

1. Slipper
2. TPN
3. Kepu
4. Douglas
5. Mumm
6. Fardy
7. Pocock - C
8. McCalman
9. Genia
10. Foley
11. Mitchell
12. Folau
13. Kerevi
14. AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper)
15. DHP

16. Moore
17. Sio
18. AA
19. Coleman
20. Hooper
21. Phipps
22. Cooper
23. Hodge

My rationale for 12: one of Folau or Kerevi has to play out of position there, I'd rather it be Folau because he is more experienced.

Why would you consider DHP for FB on the back of last nites defensive effort, when he does not offer anything on par or better.

If you move Folau out of FB, you open the back field to contestable bombs, minimise launching counter attack, his free roaming ability to inject himself and you can contain him to one side of the field among other disadvantages.

But then again he could be a revelation, but based on what? Super form?

 

[Dave Beat]

Can this performance relate to continued focus on the elite?

Our Soup wasnt good this year.
3 zip to the poms.
The pages and pages of thoughts on this thread.

And the 60k odd crowd in our show peice test, in a rugby stronghold state.

Dont think a click of fingers can change status, but planning, and hard work can - as rugby is still a great game

 

[HoldingOn]

He kicks to the man. His kicks carry quite a good distance, but rarely bounce or find touch - they're almost always caught on the full by an opponent.

The best kicker of a rugby ball in Australian professional rugby at the moment is Reece Hodge. (By a long way I might add)

Jack Debreczeni has an enormous boot

 

[Quick Hands]

That's the most frustrating part, his kicks rarely touch grass.
It's a simple concept, if the opposition catch a kick in the full,if it wasn't contested,then you have fucked up.
Clearly that's not the thought process or he is totally inept, which is a worry,either way.

Or maybe no one has ever taken the time to explain to him what his kicks are trying to achieve. He's only ever played rugby at super and test level. Has any coach ever sat down with him and gone through this? I strongly doubt it, because Folau has always seemed to me to be a very coachable player who likes to continuously improve his game.

 

[couldabeen]

I can only assume that Larkham just works on fancy moves for the backlines?


The ABs don't seem to need any fancy moves.

I didn't see any fancy moves either. Aussies played everything they had well back from the Kiwi defence, who only had to wait and drift. The kiwis on the other hand played their game right in the face of the Aussie defence, thereby committing defenders and allowing for line breaks or catch and pass to overlap. Pretty basic really.
When I coach junior teams I get the backs to stop where they are an point to where they are running. If our backs had done that last night they would all be pointing to the sideline.

 

[Gnostic]

Jack Debreczeni has an enormous boot

Absolutely but erratic and inconsistent as well.

 

[Quick Hands]

Can this performance relate to continued focus on the elite?

Our Soup wasnt good this year.
3 zip to the poms.
The pages and pages of thoughts on this thread.

And the 60k odd crowd in our show peice test, in a rugby stronghold state.

Dont think a click of fingers can change status, but planning, and hard work can - as rugby is still a great game

But it's also quite obvious that what is being focussed on at the elite is a long way off the mark. The 20s programme is a train wreck, the schools selection process is a shambles and a junior club level our ever diminishing pool of juniors have more and more rep teams to play for. But is all this junior rep stuff actually improving the skills of the players involved?

And a good portion of the 60,000 were kiwis and a sizeable number of the Aussies were on buses or trains with 20 to go.