bhim
Chris McKivat (8)
The worst loss definitely. I would want to see if they could bounce back for these next two games first, especially against England
The game was hard to watch and sadly the AUS u20s quality wasn’t any better than watching two top tier colts teams go head to head in the Sydney comp. I hope AUS u20s find form and get the right players on the field, before the campaign gets away on them. Have read the posts here and on other platforms and as the captain said there isn't any excuses, this is the WC u20s and the standard should really be elite. In retrospect, there was no comparison to the AUS u20s TRC team that took the intensity and physicality to the SAF a few months ago. The SAF were always going to come out to play at the WC, as they previously did in the first 40mins against both AUS & NZ in the TRC, but the SAF just couldn't last the 80mins at that time. The TRC game was faster paced and AUS weathered the SAF first half physical storm by managing the game and field position much better and coming over the top of them when they had tired them somewhat. In this WC encounter the SAF made 5 changes to their team, whilst AUS coaches made 7 changes to that of the team that played the TRC game? The AUS forwards found their feet and did their bit & winger Watters workload and skill competence was high and he was exceptional holding up the backs effort. The ball players (9, 10, 15) executed poorly and along with the 13 & other winger made too many mistakes, dropped balls, missed tackles for this elite level. With the slower game, the attack shape being lost and only small defensive exits and average in field kicking not impacting, it was hard for AUS to get out of trouble and free from their danger zone of which is a primary defense against big mobile forward pack/teams. The coaches/team needs to go back to basics, have a better strategy and swap out some injured players, as they may survive Scotland, but the team as it stands currently, won’t stop the English if they get going like the SAF did.
Have to ask, where was the AUS u20s starting 10 (who also plays 15 from the REDS or West Force I think) from the SAF TRC and Japan u23s games? The big tall guy seemed to be calm, communicated and coordinated traffic well, had great hands and kept the SAF and Japan teams at bay with an exceptional boot, plus could goal kick with accuracy and demonstrated far less mistakes and a better defensive effort, than what we saw in this last game. Although I am from nsw and could be considered somewhat blinded by our local talent, it is supposed to be a national elite team and it is about performance. A game managing 10 is critical to a teams success, so it seems there is a way to go on how we select these teams, if AUS are missing players who have presence on the field and have demonstrated their capacity at level in fast, physical games like that?
Prass. Didn’t get picked. He has a big boot but not much else.