Bledisloe 2 - Wallabies vs All Blacks, Wellington, 27 August 2016

[ACT Crusader]

In defense of DHP - many posters on this thread were saying can't play Falau at 13 as he doesn't have the experience to defend there. So we make the other 15 in the squad (DHP) defend at 13 of set phase with no experience. I only noticed this once AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) went off so the original plan may have been to have him defender there. If you have to hide Cooper and Foley then would you not be better to use Hodge or Kerevi to defend at 13 as they may have done it more recently.

Also we liked DHP in the England series for his work under the high ball (taken away from him) and hard running in attack (and we haven't had the ball)

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Good post D. All the shifting of players in defence is okay only if the players moved to the busier traffic areas of the park are actually going to do the job. Otherwise just leave the players where they are selected.

Wallaby players were exposed in defence due to lack of combinations, inexperience and the shifting around.

 

[cyclopath]

I'm late on to the forum, but not a good call. If Mumm had to come on to call the lineout, Hooper should have gone off.

It was partly the lineout, partly the scrums I think. In any event I was guessing, mainly because Fardy has not been great at lock in scrums. It seemed to be a compromise.
But whatever, you're gonna find offence because, you know, Fardy and Mumm and Hooper. If Coleman didn't get yellow, I doubt it would have happened. And the lineout seemed to get better funnily. And you didn't read what I wrote earlier, apparently. So basically, I don't really care what you think.

 

[Viking]

Surely DHP has played himself out of contention for wing. Don't think he's played a Test where he hasn't leaked a try from a missed tackle.

 

[Twoilms]

The hardest part of the All Blacks current generation of dominance isn't that they dominate (they always do) but that they act like a sack of shit while they do it. Constantly offside, constant cynical fouls, blatant cheating for all but Poite. But its more than the cheating, its the attitude. Even the great McCaw, who lived on 1 Offside St, was a top bloke in every other respect. Dane Coles pretty much summed up the Kiwi attitude these days when he did his best to blind and choke Douglas. On top of that you booed the bloody kicker. You goddamn arrogant twats.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

I get so nervous when Fekitoa touches the ball. It usually ends with a change of posession.

we'll take him...and his sister.
Is his mother under contract?

 

[No4918]

Pocock is just too damn small. What is he, 5"10? Turnovers, sure, but hopeless running impact, stumpy dwarfman lost in the lineout and almost zero short passing sense.

I reckon Aus best loosie combo would be

6 Fardy
7 Hooper
8 Higginbotham (at least he's a big nasty c**t who likes hurting people)

Surely taking the piss.

Swapping one dwarf man and keeping the other that is less effective in tight where we need it. Then adding an even looser 8 that has never hurt anyone at test level and called him a nasty c*nt as though it helps add credence to the waffle.

 

[Marcelo]

I want to see Timani at 8. This is my backrow:

6 Fardy
7 Pocock
8 Timani

And Hooper as impact player. He could be the best impact player in the world like Beauden Barret used to be for the ABs

 

[Marcelo]

8 Higginbotham (at least he's a big nasty c**t who likes hurting people)

Timani is the man for that job in the current squad

 

[Brumby Runner]

A better effort tonight but not by much. Four tries to nil probably indicates a more one sided affair than the final score.

Work needs to be done on the defensive structures, the lineout and a couple more tweaks to the line up and maybe some more progress will be made.

The compressed and sliding defense is putting too much responsibility on the outside backs to cut off the inevitable overlaps on the flanks. Seems to work ok if the defenders are faster than the attackers, but the ABs' outside backs have far more pace than ours. Then we see DHP and Hodge missing tackles because they just can't get across to the runners down the sideline.

The lineout problems seem to be connected to the disparity in the number of jumpers in each of the packs. In Bledisloe 1 we went in with 2 and a half jumpers against four. This week we had three jumpers against four. Having the extra jumper seems to mean that the ABs can simply lineup against each of our jumpers and try to get up in front of the marked man. They then have the fourth jumper to put extra pressure on the thrower because he doesn't need to be trying to match up against anyone in particular but to to be able to have a hack at anything that might be a bit off target. The situation is reversed of course on the ABs' throws. One jumper will almost always be unmarked.

On the players themselves, Will and Quade looked the best we've had at 9 and 10 for quite a while. Bernard Foley offered nothing more at 12 than he has shown at 10 previously. The backline simply did not function in attack with Quade/Foley at 10/12. Compounding that, in defense Quade moved to 15 and Foley to the wing it seemed to me. Both had missed tackles. Foley four I believe. The sliding defense is bad enough but when two players have to be shifted around because of their perceived or real defensive deficiencies, then the whole thing goes to ruin.

So, for next week, I hope we persist with Will and Quade, bring Kerevi into 12 and reinstate Kuridrani at 13 to tighten up the defense. DHP might lose his spot, but with AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) either out injured or back in Europe, then he just might get another chance but the sliding defense strategy must be ditched. The wingers otherwise might be Hodge, though apart from his one long goal kick didn't really stand out this game, and Henry Speight who must be about ready to come back from 7s.

To get a fourth lineout jumper, we will have to bring someone like Lopeti Timani into No 8 which means one of Pocock or Hooper need to be dropped. I hope to see Poey back at his best spot at 7.

 

[Teh Other Dave]

A large number of players that were part of the 99 RWC win were also part of the side that lost by 40 in Pretoria in 1997.

Let's not forget that the head coach was suffering from a brain tumour.

 

[lewisr]

Genia and Cooper have been good players for Australia. Are they going to take it to another level at this stage of their careers. I doubt it. Was Coopers game a standout.no. Has he ever excelled against NZ.no. Whats likely to change this? A better team...how do you get better if nothing changes?

Sometimes the other team is just better... You don't see the Boomers dropping Bogut and Mills because they can't ever beat the US!

Changing the team for the sake of it will not solve our issues. I firmly believe the players we have in the team are the best we have to offer, and they are the same players that took us to a World Cup Final last year where we had so much confidence and self belief (until about 10 minutes into the second half of the final...).

Once again, I reckon this is more psychological than anything for any team that plays the ABs, any referee involved in their games and particularly the Wallabies who play them the most - and we desperately need to find a way to counter it.

 

[Dan54]

Well after a night to think on it, I have to say as an All Black supporter I was quite happy. I saw a few things that needed to be tidied up but when I see a young fella like Leinert-Brown play his first test and look like he looked quite comfortable I am reasonably content.
For Wallabies I didn't think QC (Quade Cooper) went bad, wasn't overly good but not too bad so not sure who the hell should be 10!! I suspect Cheks not sure either hence he has a crack at the ref, he did the same during the Pom series. You can see the Wallabies have a different mindset when they taking penalty shots from 55 or so metres(and what a great kick), I not criticising them for it but quite unusual for them, perhaps not confident of their attack ot lineout.

 

[KOB1987]

Presumably they will be looking at the Cane push on Pocock as well as the Franks incident. It's dirty play and the same offence that Hooper got condemned globally and suspended for on Hollywood-Sanchez v Argentina a couple of years ago.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

the sliding defense strategy must be ditched

Huge call.
What are you proposing instead?
Rush umbrella? I suspect that the AB's will then just exert the superiority up the middle where it will have to be pretty much man on man.
Hooper was beaten on the inside shoulder from either a scrum or lien out - we can do without that sort of sliding, if thats what you mean.
I think it might help if the fact were faced that there is not one aussie, even Folau, who would be in an ANZAC team. Face that and at least we understand the issue.

 

[KOB1987]

 

[Dan54]

I suspect you maybe right IS, Folau will always be real close to an ANZAC team, but I do agree with comments that perhap Pococks game is getting nullified a bit , especially against ABs. genia playing well, but the All Blacks have the bloody good 9s.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Everyone makes mistakes.
Ask Cheika.
Nice to see Pichot owning up to his role in that one - sure beats N Grey's "we can fix it in a week"!
To be fair, I suppose, he didn't tell us which week.

 

[zer0]

Does the Phil Kearns tear dam also have a desalination unit? If so, can management please activate it? There's more salt in some of these after-match posts than there is in the Dead Sea.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

I suspect you maybe right IS, Folau will always be real close to an ANZAC team, but I do agree with comments that perhap Pococks game is getting nullified a bit , especially against ABs. genia playing well, but the All Blacks have the bloody good 9s.

Im prepared to give Pocock the benefit of the doubt: I'd like to see him in a properly balance back row with a 6 and 8 who can win lineouts.
We have sunk so far that its now an improvement when Mumm comes on, ffs.

 

[Scotty]

Im prepared to give Pocock the benefit of the doubt: I'd like to see him in a properly balance back row with a 6 and 8 who can win lineouts.
We have sunk so far that its now an improvement when Mumm comes on, ffs.

I focussed on Pocock for a 5 minute stretch of the game. When we were in defence he was being held back consistently at each ruck by the All Blacks. There was a period of 3-4 rucks where it happened every time. The ABs cheated him out of the game - I can't believe how much restraint he has not to snot one of them.