The Wallabies Thread

[ForceFan]

It confirms what I'd thought about his ball carrying this year. I don't understand how he doesn't make any impact.

It's probably fair to say that the opposition has worked him out.
Rather than draw 3 players as he did in 2015, its now a case of either one high/one low or two high smothering the ball and preventing an off load.

In the 3rd test against England there were simply too many 'hospital' passes being given to unsuspecting, flat footed team mates in worse positions.
I don't need to comment as to who was the worst culprit as it was obvious.

 

[Joe Blow]

It's probably fair to say that the opposition has worked him out.
Rather than draw 3 players as he did in 2015, its now a case of either one high/one low or two high smothering the ball and preventing an off load.

In the 3rd test against England there were simply too many 'hospital' passes being given to unsuspecting, flat footed team mates in worse positions.
I don't need to comment as to who was the worst culprit as it was obvious.

Thats how it looked with a couple of exceptions with the Coleman run and one or two by McMahon.
As said, both QC (Quade Cooper) and Will Genia are very good at putting big blokes into holes and across the advantage line. This was missing from the Wallabies in this series.

 

[Tip]

One of the things I have never understood is the static forward who receives the ball from static play.

We have three examples on how to move forward IMHO

1/ Follow the Bok approach, have a unit on their hip drving them over the gains line

2/ Look at the NRL, have units hitting the advantage line at pace

3/ Do both

The challenge is that all these options require better fitness and bigger efforts and essentially more workrate

I feel like an honourable mention should go to Rob Simmons. He had two carries in the first half where he caught the ball full-tilt fearlessly running into the White Wall.

Not many other Wallabies have shown an interest in addressing point 2. (Asides McMahon & Coleman as noted above)

I do have sympathy though. When your halfback is throwing this many hospital & bootlace passes, you instinctively stand a little bit deeper to allow yourself more time.

A side point, it would be nice to see our halves do a loop around one of our forward pods. I think it's a better way of attacking the wider channels than our current pet backline play of Phipps to Foley to a k-train crashball / Izzy, then hope someone breaks a tackle.

 

[barbarian]

I thought our forward runners looked really good in the third test, the best we have all series.

It really helps when Nick Phipps takes a step or two to hold the defensive line around the ruck - and that's how Michael Hooper scored his try.

One of the hallmarks of Cheika-ball is the pod of 3 forwards hitting the ball from depth. James Slipper and Sekope Kepu were also good here.

Again, not to sound like a broken record, but we scored 40 points, so there wasn't anything wrong with our attack.
.

 

[Joe Blow]

What is going on with Scott Higginbotham after this season in Japan? Has he re-signed in Japan or signed with someone else or is he returning to Oz?

 

[upthereds#!]

What is going on with Scott Higginbotham after this season in Japan? Has he re-signed in Japan or signed with someone else or is he returning to Oz?

Staying overseas. Aus provinces can't afford him $$

 

[Scrubber2050]

Staying overseas. Aus provinces can't afford him $$

Yeah he was on about $1.2 million PER year in Japan - why wouldn't a bloke stay overseas

 

[Joe Blow]

Yeah he was on about $1.2 million PER year in Japan - why wouldn't a bloke stay overseas

I bet he would really suit the game there too with his speed and attacking ability.

 

[BarneySF]

I feel like an honourable mention should go to Rob Simmons. He had two carries in the first half where he caught the ball full-tilt fearlessly running into the White Wall.

Not many other Wallabies have shown an interest in addressing point 2. (Asides McMahon & Coleman as noted above)

I do have sympathy though. When your halfback is throwing this many hospital & bootlace passes, you instinctively stand a little bit deeper to allow yourself more time.

A side point, it would be nice to see our halves do a loop around one of our forward pods. I think it's a better way of attacking the wider channels than our current pet backline play of Phipps to Foley to a k-train crashball / Izzy, then hope someone breaks a tackle.

I'd love to see the re-introduction of the wrap/loop in general in backline play. Check out this try from Japan from last week. Even though the try itself is nice to watch, it's really the initial wrap right on the adv line that makes for some sublime rugby:

 

[fatprop]

I think the current rush defenses make the loop a more difficult option

 

[Tip]

The whole Japan vs South Africa game at the WC was a perfect example of how to use the Loop to make the most of your speed advantage to nullify their size advantage. They regularly ran this play off the halfback too

If we're going to play with this much width and with small forwards, we want our playmakers touching the ball as many times in a phase as possible to pin defenders in close to maximize opportunities that Hooper, McMahon, Folau etc present in the wider channels.

Re: Rush Defense Fatprop, our backline is standing deep enough that the looper, and the first receiver after the loop has plenty of time & chasers onside to execute a chip kick etc

 

[wamberal]

We don't do chip kicks.

 

[Viking]

We don't do chip kicks.

We use to do do them too much, now we do them too little.... Why can't we ever get the balance right !

 

[wamberal]

We use to do do them too much, now we do them too little.. Why can't we ever get the balance right !

Good question. Can't answer it. Sorry.


As a sweeping generalisation, I would say that we have always under-valued kicking. Maybe it is part of our rugby inheritance. We played our domestic rugby under what was known as the "Australian dispensation" for many years, which allowed us to allow kicking out on the full only from within the 25 (as it then was) whereas the rest of the rugby world allowed kicking out on the full from anywhere on the field. This obviously caused kicking to be under-valued, which of course was the whole idea so as to make our game more attractive to the wider public.



That's the only thing I can think of.

 

[Viking]

Yeah he was on about $1.2 million PER year in Japan - why wouldn't a bloke stay overseas

Surely $1.2 Million per year can't be true.

 

[Scrubber2050]

Surely $1.2 Million per year can't be true.

Yes it is !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Viking]

Yes it is !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.totalsportek.com/list/rugbys-highest-earners/

2015 top earners:
1 Dan Carter Racing Métro (FRA) £1.4 million
2 Matt Giteau Toulon (FRA) £900,000
3 Leigh Halfpenny Toulon (FRA) £600,000
4 Sam Burgess Bath (ENG) £500,000
5 Jonathan Sexton Racing Métro (FRA) £494,000
6 Bryan Habana Toulon (FRA)£474,600
7 Morgan Parra Clermont-Auvergne (FRA)£436,000
8 Thierry Dusautoir,Toulouse (FRA) £408,120
9 Jamie Roberts Racing Métro (FRA) £380,000
10 Bakkies Botha Toulon (FRA) £389,000

$1.2 Million AU = around £670,000 based on current exchange rate.

So your telling me Scott Higginbothan is easily going to be on the top 10 paid players in the world?

Crazy if true.

 

[Viking]

Taking into account in 2016 you probably add new players who left Aus / NZ like Nonu and Smith. (maybe Cooper?) But he'd still be up there!

 

[Braveheart81]

Seems more likely that he could be earning $1.2m over three years or something.

 

[Scrubber2050]

Seems more likely that he could be earning $1.2m over three years or something.

Believe what you want !

No problem to me !

I KNOW my information is right