RWC - Wallabies v Ireland - 17th September 2011

[tigerland12]

That pass was forward.

Regardless, Cooper wasn't the worst on field.

Quade was one of our best, I hate how everyone is so critical on him. The amount of chances he creates no other fly half in the world can do. Yes his exicution hasn't been great lately, but what else is our team offering? Poor bloke looks like he has so much pressure on to do everything in attack. Who could blame him when you've got two centers with no spark whatsoever, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) doesn't pass the ball, and JOC (James O'Connor) did no off the ball work.

Horne to outside, Barnes to atleast bench, Mitchell starting.

Also Garyowen i know you weren't criticising Quade, just used your quote

 

[Scarfman]

I like this susinct Deans pearl:

"Now we're in a circumstance which was always going to come within the tournament context."

Even within the context of Robbie probably being mad, and the circumstance that he definitely is mad, I still had to go and check that he really said that.

As I've said before, no wonder the players aren't doing what they're supposed to be doing when they're constantly addressed in weasel words.

 

[Slim 293]

I thought Cooper was one of our best on the field (that's not saying a lot though), but he's still prone to making dumb decisions with the ball in hand.

That round the back magic pass that Bowe intercepted is case in point.

The Wallabies just needed to keep their heads, go through the motions and they could've bagged themselves a try.

Instead, through an act of impatience that he regularly displays, he throws the ball away after one backline play.

 

[Braveheart81]

Without Digby, our backline lost a lot of the penetration that it needs to be successful.

Cooper pushed too many passes, but a lot of our attack in the last year or so has relied on Cooper and Beale generating the spark and then Digby, Shmoo or JOC (James O'Connor) latching onto a pass and finishing it off.

With AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) on the left wing, there was far less involvement there. He runs straight and hard but he doesn't swerve round defenders and run the cracking lines that Diggers and Shmoo have been able to in the last year or so.

Fingers has absolutely no ball playing ability at 13 and subsequently JOC (James O'Connor) barely saw the ball.

With a superstar left winger like Diggers or Shmoo, I think we can get away with the defensive centre pairing of McCabe and Fingers however without that player, the balance of the backline disappears.

We looked most dangerous when Cooper and Beale got to counterattack from a kick however we had absolutely nothing from phase play.

I think it is time for the Wallabies to roll the dice. I'd like to see some backline experimentation in the next two games to set up like this.

9. Genia (Burgess should play 100+ minutes against USA and Russia though)
10. Cooper
11. Shmoo/Diggers (this is Diggers spot once he is fit)
12. Barnes/O'Connor
13. Horne/AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) (If Horne shows that he is fit and firing against USA and Russia I'd be keen to give him a crack at 13 in the quarters. This has been our most troubling position all season)
14. O'Connor/Mitchell/AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper)
15. Beale

There is no doubt that Fingers needs to go. McCabe has more of a chance of hanging around, but I don't think he has done enough to deny the chance for Barnes or JOC (James O'Connor) to have a proper crack at 12.

Hopefully Palu plays well against USA and Russia. Samo has got nowhere close to the 3N decider performance at Suncorp. He should have been replaced after 50 minutes. He was a passenger from that point.

 

[#1?]

My MOM from last game vs Italy were:

3: Bam Bam
2: Squeaky
1: Diggers

HM "The Professor" Vickerman and Bieber Boy

When you are only as good as your last game, with my top 3 from the last game missing from this match, it is little wonder we struggled against a fired up Irish team.

To add to my conspiracy theory, Key orchestrators of the Irish Support Coaching staff were ours. Can't figure how the Kiwis managed to arrange that.

 

[Butters]

I'd say this post was a useless turd...

Oh i'm sorry but when i'm watching the wallabies play, i like to see the openside actually getting involved in the ruck making a nuisance of himself. McCalman was no where to be seen in the breakdown and in the rare occasions that he got involved he had no effect at all.

 

[antipodean]

Hopefully Deans will put Horne at 13 and leave him there.

What has Horne ever done to make you think he is a Test level centre?

And that was not what he meant and you know it. Taking 2 words out of an article and twisting it to suit your argument put you both at the same level. he used the expletive to emphasise his point not to denigrate Ireland.

But they aren't out of context:

'and then you come out and lose to fucking IRELAND'​

It's not like losing to Samoa is it? You've lost to Ireland before.

I turned the game off at 9 - 6 as I could see what Lawrence was doing. What ever happened to warning at team about repeated professional fouls? What ever happened to a ref controlling a game with the threat of a yellow card. That game was a complete disgrace to the code. I'm not watching the rest of the cup. Any game that lets an official control the outcome in that shameless sort of way does not deserve any support at all. To all the other teams good luck. The result from here on in will be completely tainted.

You're the sort of person rugby doesn't need. You won't be missed.

 

[Slim 293]

To sum it up:

"Wallabies don't learn from past mistakes. History repeats."

 

[Lee Grant]

There is still that horrible vulnerability upfront that enables teams to manage Australia of a game, but Dean's non-selection of a back-up to Pocock hurt. Its probably irrelevant to point out that Ireland too had no 7 in the side tonight, yet still found a way to dominate the breakdown. I genuinely believe that doesn't happen with Pocock in the team.

I doubt if a fetcher replacement or even Pocock himself would have made much of a difference. Ireland just flooded the contact area with players and pushed any Aussies out of the way - much how we did to the All Blacks and Boks for long periods in the last two 3N games we played. One guy could not have withstood it.

The All Blacks found it very hard in the 1st half in Brisbane to compete with us and just had to wait to the scary part finished. Last night Ireland played like we did then, and we played passively, much how they played in their 4 trial games, all of which they lost.

In case folks have not read several posts in the last two years in this forum: good fetchers will always have value but the since the law crackdown before the 2010 Super14 the role of the pure fetcher has been marginalised, and the pre-RWC guidelines to RWC referees has not helped them either. Counter rucking by defenders has greater currency now than fetching and those teams that don't have a specialist fetcher, and scarcely ever had one, now find their way of winning, or defending, ruck ball is as good as having an ace poacher.

The trick is to be quick to the breakdown in numbers to get the ruck hit, just like getting the hit in the scrum - and if the other team doesn't do that you have won their ruck ball or slowed it down at least, or defended yours against them.

That's what happen last night. Rugby history will not tell us that Ireland did not have a fetcher playing against the Wallabies in the 2011 RWC. Even if David Wallace, the usual Ireland 7, had not injured himself in the last trial, it still wouldn't have been the case because Wally is not a fetcher either.

What it will show is that the Ireland forwards and especially their backrowers were quicker to the physical contests, better man for man when there and even better at working with team mates in them.
.

 

[Victorian Reds Fan]

I thought Cooper was one of our best on the field (that's not saying a lot though), but he's still prone to making dumb decisions with the ball in hand.

That round the back magic pass that Bowe intercepted is case in point.

The Wallabies just needed to keep their heads, go through the motions and they could've bagged themselves a try.

Instead, through an act of impatience that he regularly displays, he throws the ball away after one backline play.

I think that was a set plan between JOC (James O'Connor) and QC (Quade Cooper) so that JOC (James O'Connor) could demonstrate his running ability and so ensure he remains in the starting 15.

 

[Braveheart81]

I really hope that not taking the 3 near the end and getting a bonus point doesn't come back to haunt us.

 

[RedsHappy]

Well the man for man thing was wrong, but I don't see how you think it is unreasonable that I expect the team ranked 2 to beat the team ranked 8. And I wouldn't have minded so much if Ireland produced an incredible display of rugby, but they didn't. They played well, and we played shithouse.

Let me say unreservedly: Barb, I admired the guts and honesty it took to write that blog post as you did. It was remarkably eloquent for someone in that condition . 90% of Aus Wallaby fans would have privately thought that way pre-game re the expectation that we'd beat Ireland, and why. Well done mate.

I especially respected your openness re your emotions last night in that you were/are a self-described 'optimist' re Deans and the recent Wallabies (like many others). But there comes a time of repetitive team deficiency when the dam of positive belief and expectation just breaks, the negative facts are simply too overwhelming to ignore, or hope are just temporary aberrations.

 

[Toddy]

Ireland were allowed to play that way because they were not punished by Bryce. On top of that, he gave them momentum and point scoring opportunities by awarding them scrum penalty after scrum penalty. Granted the Wallabies were wasteful in possession, but you can't discount the impact Bryce had on the match. Not least of all on the basis of a misguided principle that refs can't determine the outcome of a match.

No one can suggest that was a good game of rugby.

I will say that Ireland played the smothering game very well. However, they never looked like scoring a try save for the intercept.

Ireland got a lot of their momentum by man handling the Wallabies in the tackle. How often last night did you see a wallaby being pushed back in the tackle. And the ref was definitely not in behind the Irish player pushing as well.

OZ never looked really looked like scoring either. They just couldn't build any pressure because they were going backwards.

I thought it was a cracking game of rugby. Even if the score was reversed I'd have enjoyed that game. A classic world cup pressure game. And as an All Black I know what it's like to be on the receiving end of an effort like that.

 

[Antony]

And as an All Black I know what it's like to be on the receiving end of an effort like that.

Do you mean you actually were an all black? Because my U16's rugby experience really can't match that kind of chat.

 

[Garryowen]

Ireland got a lot of their momentum by man handling the Wallabies in the tackle. How often last night did you see a wallaby being pushed back in the tackle. And the ref was definitely not in behind the Irish player pushing as well.

OZ never looked really looked like scoring either. They just couldn't build any pressure because they were going backwards.

I thought it was a cracking game of rugby. Even if the score was reversed I'd have enjoyed that game. A classic world cup pressure game. And as an All Black I know what it's like to be on the receiving end of an effort like that.

I really struggle to understand how a neutral could find that an enjoyable spectacle. Every time the ball went dead play was held up for a couple minutes as the Paddies dropped to their knees feigning injury.

I would be very interested to know the amount of time the ball was actually in play.

 

[Shiggins]

This thread is crazy.
THE MORNING AFTER ........

I honestly think it would of been hard for anyone too beat Ireland with the way Bryce reffed the game. However if we held on to the ball instead of the few crazy passes and kicks maybe just maybe we would have gone over for a couple of try's. Let's be realistic. Itali will defiantly put up
A good fight agaist Ireland. If the win and do not give Ireland a BP then we are going through to the semi's.

Has a team that played in the quarters ever won the world cup? Be interesting to know?


Go the force!!!!

 

[Toddy]

Do you mean you actually were an all black? Because my U16's rugby experience really can't match that kind of chat.

Whoops! Forgot to put fan after that. Sorry!

 

[Toddy]

I really struggle to understand how a neutral could find that an enjoyable spectacle. Every time the ball went dead play was held up for a couple minutes as the Paddies dropped to their knees feigning injury.

I would be very interested to know the amount of time the ball was actually in play.

Yep thought it was a great game.

I do agree about the time wasting though. Like when it was Irelands lineout and one of their backs was injured so the Irish hooker went down with a "neck injury". Was frustrating.

 

[nathan]

Cheers sicko.

We'll learn from it, I'm sure.

Fuck that. In the last four years I've seen this posted again and again. I'm yet to see the Wallabies learn from any of these losses. Watching last night I couldn't help but remember the tactical approach that has been taken by Ewen McKenzie throughout his time at the reds and the adaptability coached into his team to be able to alternate their game plan if the original wasn't succeeding.

There's a lot of Red's players in this squad, leading me to believe that Dean's is ultimately responsible.

The question is, will the ARU learn from their mistake of signing him for another three years? Most of his praise has been for injecting youth into a squad, but given the players available any coach would've been in the same position. The problem is without direction you've got a bunch of Gen Y's running around with no fucking idea, thinking they're king shit as soon as they've won a match.

We're not going to win this world cup, and I'm certain as long as Robbie Deans and his sidekicks are in the coaching box we're going to be 'learning' for a very long time.

 

[jay-c]

so now we gotta beat south africa and nz on the way to the final > very unlikely but we've beaten these two teams already this year and u gotta beat the best to be the best
the thing that bothers me the most is that every time the wallabies are gunna put on a show that league fans will be watching we fuck it up royally> think samoa game (before the 4pm sunday league game)
and last night after the golden point finals game >>> shame on the wallabies for giving leaguies all the ammo they need to claim theirs is "the greatest game of all"
and to think i came within a whisker of boasting on facebook "league is like soft core porn- you can enjoy it, but u always get the feeling its only half the show" (thought id wait till after the game and fukn lucky i did)