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RWC: Pool C - Wallabies v Georgia, SdF Sunday 10th September 2am

Joe Blow

John Hipwell (52)
I thought McReight was good again. In a big pack he gives us presence over the ball and his running lines are good. Gets through a mountain of defence and his experience as a captain of the underage teams gives him more experience than his years. It would be hard to justify replacing him with anyone right now, including M.Hooper.
 

Green grass

Chris McKivat (8)
Herman and woodwork. If you can't see the potential in this team and that McRight brings as much if not more than Hooper at the end of his career then it's going to be a tough tournament for you guys.
Fraser is a good squad player. He will be a key pillar in 2027, just think Hooper is too important to not use.
 

Tomikin

David Codey (61)
Wasnt watching the backrow specifically but thought Valetini and McReight were a little quiet. Hooper comfortably outplayed both.

On Hooper - what a find. Size, line out skills, power on and off the ball. Hes everything Swinton should be.
I thought they all got through some work. I felt no one really hit Valetini on the chest alot of his runs he had to stutter step.

Bit like Samu but felt his hands were a little off he juggled the ball a bit although seemed to regather well but stunned his runs.. will be better for the 40 minutes.
 

Tomikin

David Codey (61)
Wasnt watching the backrow specifically but thought Valetini and McReight were a little quiet. Hooper comfortably outplayed both.

On Hooper - what a find. Size, line out skills, power on and off the ball. Hes everything Swinton should be.
I do love what the lord said about Hooper. He said his got such a fantastic motor on him you don't need to spend time getting him fit. You just can work on his skills
 

dillyboy

Arch Winning (36)
Yes which I still can’t believe… we need experience
Experience at losing? Or getting carded/shut down by refs....

I thought Skelton did a good job (and I've never been a fan). Spoke with the ref well when he had to & was giving the side a good reving when we started to fall away at towards the end.

It was 9th vs 11th going in and we smashed them so can be proud of the result!
 

dillyboy

Arch Winning (36)
I thought the same when watching live but on replay he slides in front of the Georgian and it looks worse because of the camera angle.
I actually thought Nawa got his legs under and we had the ball held up initially.

Then they both gave up & let him place the ball on his release....
 

Purce

Dave Cowper (27)
Scrums were great. Even the reserve front row went well when they came on which no one expected.

The lineout was mostly good.

I thought all the forwards had good games.

Gordon wasn't at his best but kept working into the game which is admirable.

Kerevi was well marked but doesn't look to be his old self in attack or defense. He does look a bit slower.

Jordy, Koro, Mark and Suli were all good.

Donaldson was ok. The only thing he offers over Kellaway is goal kicking. He may have him in general play kicking as well. He doesn't offer anything to spark the attack. 2 right place right time tries, good on him. Some very poor defense.

The reserves were all generally OK. Stupid not carrying a lock on the bench.

Tactics are exactly what Eddie said. A couple of phases then kick. Personally I hate it and any time we play a team with better kickers than us or a good counter attacking team we will get pumped. Kicking the ball away immediately on turnover ball when you have an overlap and against an unstructured defense is moronic IMO. More like robots than thinking rugby players.

Fiji will be a real test. I'm worried about our backline defense and their counter attacking ability.
 

Derpus

Nathan Sharpe (72)
The kicking in our own territory is fine. It's the kicking when near their 22 that does my head in.
 

dru

David Wilson (68)
The Smash and Grab plan is now implemented and a very successful start.

Even with the complaints, our kicking game easily brought fruit, check the territory stats and note that we did not pay too much for it in the possession stats. Of course, the accuracy and consideration will need to continue improvement through the Smash and Grab to have a decent shot at winning the kicking duel once we hit the QFs. Plan working so far.

We should note that we were well aided by the penalty count with the starting team, you can only play what's there but we may not get that assist in the knock outs. Nor for Fiji and Wales. All good, keep improving within the plan.

The starting XV did a fabulous job of controlling the pace of the game. Brilliant. Once the bench was emptied Georgia slowed it to their pace - another area for the plan of constant improvement.

That back-up line out, man.
I think that many of you are forgetting that this is a tournament and we have limited players. Player who have injuries and fatigue that must be managed. We don't know how Frost is travelling, he may have needed freshening up. Arnold and Skelton may have better heat adaption. Who knows. The coaching staff picked a team to defeat Georgia, it wasn't our best team but it did the job. Look at the bigger picture occasionally.

OK, fair enough Sully.

Donaldson was a success. 100%. Nawaqanitawase, what an input! A few rough spots as the game wore on, get on that improvement cycle, Mark, and you may just make the team of the comp.

Scrum set down a statement last night, not quite as solidly but so did the starting pack - in the rucks.

Next?
1. We should consider starting IFL - more sniping and let there be more consideration with the kicking via 10 and 15 - to start with. Let White's box loose to close the game.
2. Hope Sully is right and we can better arrange the bench, especially with the line-out in mind.

Awesome way to start the campaign. Go gold!
 
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Joe Blow

John Hipwell (52)
Both Kerevi and Koreibete to a lesser extent look a little out of sync with the play. Its a completely different set up to what they are used to and both are damaging runners.
Kick, chase and defend will not work for us against anyone in the top 5-6.
Kerevi needs a 10 who plays close to the line and can put him into gaps. Both Gordon and Donaldson were very deep. JOC (James O'Connor) looks in decent for for the Baa Baas?
Fiji will be a big step up.
 
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