France v Australia

[cyclopath]

So the question remains; how much importance do we place on attacking spark (Quade Cooper) or extremely accurate kicking (Foley)?

Hard to know. Foley worse than normal with the ball, kicked well; Quade looked very good in his cameo, but we don't know how / if he'll kick goals.
If nothing else, it was good to see Cooper on the field getting the ball in his hands and having an impact.
The 10/12 combination remains uncertain to me - I think the players to choose from are OK, but the gel isn't there. Leali'ifano not great tonight, but has been good at other times. Foley poor with ball in hand tonight.
Starting front row and McCalman good, rest of the pack not great.
Hmmmm.

 

[I like to watch]

Poor selections and bad use of the bench from Chekia cost us the game.

Simmons Horwill McMahon Lilo Alexander all need to go.

Terrific,but who do you replace them with?
There are plenty saying Carter is not up to it,and even more protesting Skeltons involvement.

 

[Bardon]

A decent shift against Argentina next week and a poor French team could be the only team outside NZ to go 100% in this test window.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

If the Wobs were in the same position as France, I'd expect the Men in Gold to wind the clock down as well. Well played by Les Blues.

I wouldn't.
I'd expect a box kick or a charge down.

 

[GaffaCHinO]

Terrific,but who do you replace them with?
There are plenty saying Carter is not up to it,and even more protesting Skeltons involvement.

I left out Skelton from my list of scrap heap players.

Neville Jones Wykes Carter anyone they cant be any worse than Simmons Horwill and Skelton.

Hodgson or jones for McMahon

To'omua or Godwin for Lilo

My granny for Alexander...........

 

[Wilson]

Hard to know. Foley worse than normal with the ball, kicked well; Quade looked very good in his cameo, but we don't know how / if he'll kick goals.
If nothing else, it was good to see Cooper on the field getting the ball in his hands and having an impact.
The 10/12 combination remains uncertain to me - I think the players to choose from are OK, but the gel isn't there. Leali'ifano not great tonight, but has been good at other times. Foley poor with ball in hand tonight.
Starting front row and McCalman good, rest of the pack not great.
Hmmmm.

In his last NRC game he was excellent, I think he kicked 9/10 getting a few from the sidelines, I doubt his place kicking will be an issue.

 

[The Rant]

Gonna be tough for the Gold MOM nominations.

Faiinga I'd say. Gave it everything.

 

[Shelts89]

A decent shift against Argentina next week and a poor French team could be the only team outside NZ to go 100% in this test window.

They were poor last year, but hardly seemed poor today. Didn't see the last week but they racked up plenty of points as I remember?

 

[Merrow]

Thanks Ben Alexander for this defeat

Useless

Pretty sure he didn't do it in his own. Don't blame a guy that played 10-15 minutes for the teams shit play for the other 60-70 minutes. McMahons dumbass penalty - if you lift a guy, you know there's a good chance you're gonna get into trouble. Skeltons loose carry. Poor handling all around.

 

[The Rant]

But seriously.

Can someone tell me who was playing where in our backline in the 2nd half?

 

[Tex]

I don't regularly agree with Steve Hanson but the video replays from the French producers were clearly biased and arguably were intended to influence Owens. I'm not sure what the solution is, but it's a free leg-up home teams have.

I was also frustrated to see the clock run down as the French fucked around setting the final scrum. I'd like to see time on when the scrum is engaged, and time off for all the buggerising about in between.

 

[Dan54]

Ok fellas I admit I haven't seen the first half, was watching a recorded play of SA/Poms,( to be honest I struggling to get interested in the soap opera that is Wallabies at moment), but from what I saw in second half I really question why anyone would pick Skelton!! He comes on seems to struggle to scrum, doesn't seem to jump in lineouts, and doesn't really carry the ball with any venom, Australian rugby needs to realise there is more than size that make a good player!

 

[Marcelo]

The second row is a mess, we need Kane Douglas.

The ARU should be granted special permission to Kane Douglas and Ben Mowen, we need those players right now

 

[GaffaCHinO]

Our defence is also fucked.

I'm sick of seeing 2 or 3 players free on the open side it may work in super rugby where you flood the inside channels but this is test rugby these players are capable of cut out passes........way to easy

 

[Bardon]

I don't regularly agree with Steve Hanson but the video replays from the French producers were clearly biased and arguably were intended to influence Owens. I'm not sure what the solution is, but it's a free leg-up home teams have.

I was also frustrated to see the clock run down as the French fucked around setting the final scrum. I'd like to see time on when the scrum is engaged, and time off for all the buggerising about in between.

Live footage on the big screen unless the ref asks for a replay. Let the TV producer influence those watching at home, we're going to be biased as fuck anyway. Just leave the man in the middle to make up his own mind when he needs to see something again.

 

[cyclopath]

In his last NRC game he was excellent, I think he kicked 9/10 getting a few from the sidelines, I doubt his place kicking will be an issue.

Good to hear. I didn't see it. It might be worth starting him then - Cheika has to bite the bullet and use the last 2 games to tinker a bit I think. I'd like to see To'omua at 12 if Cooper starts.

 

[BabyBlueElephant]

The second row is a mess, we need Kane Douglas.

The ARU should be granted special permission to Kane Douglas and Ben Mowen, we need those players right now

Douglas leaving was a real head scratcher for me. Entering the prime of his career and getting consistent caps.

 

[Tomikin]

Is there a rule that Aussie half backs must wait 2 seconds before they are allowed to pass? Just made it so easy for the defence to realign every time.

Lol no but when the attacking structures shit with no runners are they suppose to just toss it backwards.

 

[Rugbynutter39]

I left out Skelton from my list of scrap heap players.

Neville Jones Wykes Carter Jones anyone they can be any worse than Simmons Horwill and Skelton.

Hodgson or jones for McMahon

To'omua or Godwin for Lilo

My granny for Alexander.....

Hodgson played very well when come on for sub last 2 games...hence

Hodgson for McMahon with McMahon/ as bench option

To'omua or Godwin for Lilo - yep fair call - pity cooper can't tackle as otherwise would put him at 12 on attack......I like cooper what he showed when came on in terms of touches (and been a critic) but foley still first choice for me...

Second row options with douglas gone fairly tough to find....hence why would be keen to see how Jones goes there - as not many decent options..wykes maybe option to look at or even neville......

Horwill, Skelton very dissappointing....I thought simmons played ok on what I saw.....

If we go to RWC with that starting 15 we won't get out of the pool of death.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

I wouldn't.
I'd expect a box kick or a charge down.

I would expect them to fart around and waste time setting up the scrum, adjusting Hooper's headband, reset the front row a couple of times, etc.

Would they meet my expectations? Based on previous performances, No.

As you identify, my expectations wouldn't be met and the most likely outcome would be a box Kick, dribbly little grubber kick, charge down, second row meerkat impressions, fatty losing their bind, fatty hand on the ground etc.