Wales v Australia

[KOB1987]

Good onya KOB, thanks for nothing

Sorry mate, my bad

 

[biggsy]

Am i the only one who thought Fainga'a had a cracker of a match? great carries, great breakdown work just to name a few.

No, he has really taken this opportunity..good on him....

 

[Brumby Jack]

Since the soap dodgers lost to the Darkness does this shift us back to no. 3?

Yes

 

[Rugbynutter39]

Jenkins coming on for welsh and yes skelton for aussies was game changer for scrum....and for different reasons...

Jenkins showed why I have always rated him as one of best props in the world...and skelton's effort shows raw product that needs a lot of work....does some good things in terms of impact but scrummaging and lineout (he can't jump due to weight so not really option there) makes him equally liability...

Both tomane and AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) got caught out defensively.....AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) is world class (centre) but not world class (winger).....but he is also our best wing option despite this not being his best position as clearly Mr K deserves to be no.13.

Bring back the badger......

 

[S120]

I have little doubt that 12 months from now when these two teams meet in the RWC, we will be the better side. Some of the defensive errors made today I am happy to put down to Cheika implementing new ideas and growing pains. The Tahs took a while to become the defensive beasts they became to win the title. It will take some time for the Wallabies too.

Folau and Kuridrani were good again. Kuridrani kept a good leash on George North and made great ground with ball in hand as ever. Folau did well with the ball but his two tries were crucial. Both of them tries that not many others backs in world rugby could score consistently. He is that good though.

Foley's kicking was great but the side I thought became pretty rudderless after 5 or 6 phases. Again, I'm prepared to chalk that up to the new coach taking a little time to get on board with everyone but there were times when some very strange decisions were made. Going blind when we were outnumbered, hitting props at first receiver way behind the advantage line and seemingly directionless play amongst Foley at times. I'm confident that can improve over the next month though.

I liked Ben McCalman's game a lot. It wasn't a spectacular no.8 game but it was so solid. Good ground made with ball in hand, great defence and great play at the breakdown. Really liked his performance. Hooper was good again too. Saia Fainga'a played well too I thought. Decent ball running, good defence and was a presence around the breakdown.

Sam Carter's game annoyed me. Some really awful errors in handling and gameplay. I'd rather start Horwill next week. Skelton was fine in general play but good lord, his scrummaging was hard to watch. His arse lifted up so many times, Kepu barely had a chance on our own line.

 

[Dan54]

Ok fellas, cheated and watched game this morning (was watching ABs last night), and haven't really had a look at comments so will add mine or what I thought I saw.
Good win, Wallabies played well, though I tended to think Wales run out of steam a little in second half.
Penalty try, could see it coming obviously (as in AB/Eng test), I actually though Kefu may have been struggling there, but also when Slipper was under pump under posts I thought he turned in quite a bit, and was not scrumming straight, may of just been TH from Wales was getting onto his inside shoulder and turning him, and he seemed alright rest of game, but was interesting that he seemed to struggle under pressure anyway.
When Genia came on he actually handled the ball about 5 times before he actually passed it without his sideways running, just not looking Genia of old to me.
I thought Joubert handled game alright, though was interesting to see the difference in how long he played advantage in penalty situations, Welsh may of felt a little hard done by how quickly their advantage eroded when Folau scored intercept compared to how long he last it go other times.
Wales certainly don't haver a lot of surprises in way they play do they?
All in all a good game , and from a more or less neutral can't see anyone have reasons to moan, but as I said in AB/Pom thread, I wish teams were kept back onside a bit more at breakdown situation!

 

[Inside Shoulder]

11 Tomane - poor bastard found himself isolated on D too often, but made some strong runs and always threatened the defence. Quiet night for both our wings on attack, because the Welsh were rushing up hard inside their own half.

14 AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) - delayed the awarding of a try with superb defence, and also cleaned up some messes as well. Isolated in defence a couple of times and did the best he could.

DEFENCE - needs work, but you can see the Cheika/Grey combination evolving the way it did at the Tahs. There are some first up misses. There are some alignment problems. But the intuition about knowing when to let the ruck lie, and when to go for the drive, looks to be developing.

There's a problem here.
Both our wingers finished up marking 2 or 3 men on a number of occasions.
And yet our 6 gets beaten on the inside...........
Early days in the new pattern? Love to know what that pattern is. Used to be said that defence was a question of attitude

 

[Dave Beat]

-thought Cheika got the balance of the pack wrong. Not enough go forward. McMahon to the bench for me.
- When Skelton came on, Marto wouldn't stop going on about how skelton's weight in the scrums would improve the scrum. The opposite was actually true. The scrum went to shit when he came on. When he gets himself into a good position he's pretty sturdy but more often than not his body positioning was poor. Good to see him get more experience at test level (will be good for him) but he really needs to work on his set piece play. He's clearly a very handy guy to have in attack (got us over the advantage line and draw in defenders) but is nowhere near the finish product. needs more time.
- Think there is going to be some growing pains with Cheika because the players havent quite grasped the game plan. It was really just some indivdual brilliance from a few players which stopped the welsh from running away with it in the first half.

Exciting game. happy with the win - a nice psychological edge heading in the RWC.

I thought the same, i often saw his head up above the scrum. Thinking he doesnt want coleyfloured ears. He has to get his head in there and push through the front rows arses.

 

[Viking]

Good to get a win. Shows our class and adaptability with having a new coach and having so many off-field disruptions.

Surprised Foley got MOTM. I hate to be negative but I don't rate him. There is something Barnes-esque about him that I really do not like. For example he put in 2 aimless pointless grubbbers. When things aren't working on attack, becoming lateral, the grubber is not the answer and if you do try it at least execute it well, he did not.

Maybe I'm a Brumbies bias, but what can Foley do at 10 that To'omua cannot? Foley's running game is just as predictable and at least you will get To'omua dominate defence.

On the positive, Foley managed the game well. General kicking was solid. This is massive improvement. What I really like about him is that he is improving slightly every game.

Disappointed in our scrum, thought we had improved in this area. Hopefully the reason was Skelton's poor scrummaging and that will improve.

Also, I did not see Cheika-ball implemented very well. Far from the dominate clear-outs and aggressive ball running we saw at the Tahs. Lots of lateral running and attack starting from a flat-footed position rather then coming deep at pace. I look forward to this improving through-out the tour.

Still great to get a win, lots of improvement can be made which will only make us stronger. Really looking forward to the rest of the tour.

I'd inject Higgers straight back in (McMahon didn;t back it up), Speight needs to come in too.

 

[Paradox]

Kepu was very ordinary and missed a few significant tackles in the first half. Carter seemed everywhere in first half but made a lot of errors. Tomame was exceptional I thought and showed his quality. Genia was great off the bench as was Alexander.

We got down over at the breakdown and hopefully Higgers is fit this week.

 

[Viking]

The bench certainly had much more impact this time round.

 

[Brumby Runner]

Kuridrani probably would've been my pick of the Australian players.

Foley is right up there for his kicking and that try saving intercept in the first half. But, the missed penalty kick for touch, couple of forward passes/bad decisions, dumb grubbers and lack of direction on attack tempered his game for me. Kicking from hand was a bit of a mixed bag, he came out a bit ahead I think, just needs to put the grubbers away.

On attack, I thought Biggar ran his backline better than Foley.

Agree with all the downsides you mention, but further, he was also hidden on the wing in defense. I'd say Cheika was very nervous about his ability to stop Roberts running in the 10 channel. If he can't do half his job and makes so many errors in doing the other half, he cannot be anywhere near MOM.

Tlaking of Roberts, he made a very strong run early, but for the remainder of the game he was well handled by Lealiifano. The Wallabies' centres finished in front of their Welsh opponents.

 

[Brumby Runner]

Did LILO do enough to hold out To'omua? I'd say no.

Well I'd say yes. The way I look at it, the main reason Izzy played better this game was because of Christian's involvements at 12. He takes the ball to the line and if he makes a half break invariably gets the ball to supports, just like in the Hooper/Folau try. Izzy can then concentrate more on running his support lines and taking advantage of the opportunities on offer. With Matt, he is more inclined to throw the ball to Izzy to make the play rather than capitalising on the opportunities presented by the more creative player inside.

I am now coming to the view that Bernie Larkham has it right. Matt is a No 10 and Christian is a No 12. Indeed, with the threat of the big runners in the No 10 channel in this game, it might well have been the better option to have had Matt To'omua at 10 rather than Foley who was hidden for most of the game on the right wing in defense.

 

[Brumby Runner]

Front row, Hooper and Ben McCalman all good. Carter good as well. Simmons and McMahon needed more impact.
Good win.
New coach.
2 new caps.
Congrats Faulkiner and McMahon

I agree that Carter was good but had some moments that were not good. I believe Cheika has him playing (or attempting to play) a more vigourous game, in the mould of Potgeiter for the Tahs, hitting rucks with as much venom as he can muster. He actually was quite good, but lacked some accuracy at times. That will come the more he plays that way. If he succeeds in transforming his game, he will be a very valuable inclusion for a long time to come.

 

[Gnostic]

And I will stick with my earlier prediction - we have played our hardest match on the tour - although I do not expect Ireland and England to be anything other than difficult.

I take it you haven't watched the Ireland V SA game yet. I can't comment about the England V ABs game as I don't have Setanta but the Irish were very good. Wallabies will have to be on their game and I think they will offer a very hard game.

 

[wamberal]

Horwill doesn't push either, according to one insider's opinion.

 

[I like to watch]

I don't get why Wales went into their shells in the second half. What was Gatland thinking?

Last year I thought Wales were damn lucky to be within two tries of us, this year I thought at half time we were lucky to be within two tries of Wales.

Then Wales came out and played one-out ball in the second half, basically gifting us the game. Can't argue with that, but last year I thought we looked better.

Early days yet for Cheika and Gray, though. They need plenty more time.

Gatland was probably thinking that he wished his 10 wasn't injured 5 minutes into the second half.
There was a marked difference in style when the 10 was replaced.

As an aside,I'm not quite getting all the Foley love.
He rarely makes space for his runners,his ball in hand kicking is inconsistent.
Doesn't make nearly enough breaks for the amount if times he is tackled IMO

 

[Pfitzy]

it might well have been the better option to have had Matt To'omua at 10 rather than Foley who was hidden for most of the game on the right wing in defense.

Ordinarily, I'd say "I can't believe you and Ash are still on the Foley hate train", but I totally fucking can because you're bucking for your own blokes to fill the back line, despite a complete lack of justification for why. Well, except to scream:

"FOLEY MISSED A TOUCH FINDER!"
"FOLEY IS BEING HIDDEN ON THE WING!"

Foley is the fucking reason our attack looks anything like awesome.
Foley is the guy kicking goals that Lilo can't make.
Foley is the guy willing to take it into contact and set up the next play instead of transferring pressure.
Foley is the guy who took a decision to knock over a drop goal under pressure to get us back into the lead.

He's not running a one man show, but respected ex-Test players from anther fucking country picked him as MOTM.

But fuck, keep arguing with reality why don't you.

 

[Gnostic]

-thought Cheika got the balance of the pack wrong. Not enough go forward. McMahon to the bench for me.
- When Skelton came on, Marto wouldn't stop going on about how skelton's weight in the scrums would improve the scrum. The opposite was actually true. The scrum went to shit when he came on. When he gets himself into a good position he's pretty sturdy but more often than not his body positioning was poor. Good to see him get more experience at test level (will be good for him) but he really needs to work on his set piece play. He's clearly a very handy guy to have in attack (got us over the advantage line and draw in defenders) but is nowhere near the finish product. needs more time.
- Think there is going to be some growing pains with Cheika because the players havent quite grasped the game plan. It was really just some indivdual brilliance from a few players which stopped the welsh from running away with it in the first half.

Exciting game. happy with the win - a nice psychological edge heading in the RWC.

Can I direct people back to the pre-game debates about the training shots which showed very lazy set ups. Excuses were we didn't know what was happening if it was just a front row positioning drill etc. My argument was train as if it was real because habits get ingrained. Skelton's bind on Kepu in three scrums was very poor. In the Penalty try scrum his right should was correctly positioned under Kepu but his left shoulder was halfway up Hansen's back, as a result he couldn't anchor Kepu and he pivoted and was detrimental to Kepu.

This is the direct responsibility of Blades. It is a known flaw and has not been addressed. He does need to fix it but as with Alexander's setup the coaching staff have not been paying attention to these details, if they had there would have been significant or at least minor changes in the techniques.

 

[Brumby Runner]

Not sold on that lock pair. Simmons is basically a must for the lineout so Horwill is really the only possible change.

Simmons is not "a must" for the lineout. His reputation far exceeds his performances. He did not make a steal off the opposition's throw (and I can't recall the last time he did) and he doesn't have the impact around the ground to otherwise make his selection essential. When Horwill came on, he only had McCalman as another jumper in the lineout, but he still won all of our throws at the end. Horwill could easily substitute for Simmons and we'd never really know the difference. Horwill is much busier in general play, but still not very effective atm.