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Wallabies 2023

dru

Tim Horan (67)
Personally, I count this season as being successful, even if only for the wins against the Saffers. The losses to the Scots and Welsh were acceptable, given the circumstances.

I'm less sanguine. I'm OK with the season but I'm not at all happy and increasingly less full of joy running up to a Wallaby match.

I do like what Rennie and the rest of the coaching team are doing. The rediscovery of Cooper and Kerevi is crazy and especially with Cooper somehow was a successful. I like his pushing the kicking game though we still need to learn how that strategy must change when closing down games.

The maul D is powerful, who woulda thunk that with the WBs. The scrum is international standard if not an international leader. I don't agree with confidence here in the line out, but in a world when many line outs go uncontested we get away with it and probably will keep on doing so.

I'm not happy with the game play from our locks, but we chopped and changed somewhat, it's not a popular thought but I hope the experiment with Skelton is over. Not because he doesn't have strengths but because he will always lack cohesion and in that situation we can do better.

The team is building and I think it can be strong.

But we finished outside the top 5, and I don't see that as a pass. We need to do better. A couple of close games would have changed that result. Make it so, Rennie.
 
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Brumby Runner

David Wilson (68)
Yet be seen if Kellaway at fullback is actually a good option or if it just limits one of our best strike players.
And to accommodate a player who hasn't yet been seen at international level. Hopefully, Vunivalu is as good as many are predicting, but let's wait and see over the next Super Rugby season before moving players around to accommodate him.
 

Rugbynutter39

Michael Lynagh (62)
Another way of looking at it is the Wallabies lost 33% of games in 2020, but lost 50% of games in 2021
And in 2021 some of those wins came against a 3rd string French side. Look I think at least our wins against SA showed the potential is there but consistency and gaps in critical positions became also obvious when certain players became unavailable.

So in short we need to secure our best players (what the giteau law looks like from here key and indeed whether our Japanese based wallabies will make themselves available) and find greater consistency (which not mutually exclusive from first point).
 

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
France were clearly missing some obvious first choice players like Antoine Dupont and Romaine Ntamack from their top couple of sides that didn't tour because they were still playing finals and needed to quarantine.

We often claim that teams like France that we are less familiar with because we play them less often have sent out an understrength side. This is often because people don't realise that the better known players they have been familiar with for a while are over the hill and no longer first choice or have actually retired. This has been happening for ages.
 

Tomikin

Simon Poidevin (60)
France were clearly missing some obvious first choice players like Antoine Dupont and Romaine Ntamack from their top couple of sides that didn't tour because they were still playing finals and needed to quarantine.

We often claim that teams like France that we are less familiar with because we play them less often have sent out an understrength side. This is often because people don't realise that the better known players they have been familiar with for a while are over the hill and no longer first choice or have actually retired. This has been happening for ages.
It just seems to be a way to put down the performance of the team or more likely individuals from different franchises who posters don't support.

No one mentions that SA where coming on their first tour and could have been undercooked for playing Australia in Australia.
 

Derpus

George Gregan (70)
It just seems to be a way to put down the performance of the team or more likely individuals from different franchises who posters don't support.

No one mentions that SA where coming on their first tour and could have been undercooked for playing Australia in Australia.
Undercooked following a Lions series? overcooked, if anything.
 

Tomikin

Simon Poidevin (60)
Undercooked following a Lions series? overcooked, if anything.
Okay maybe overcooked, but they basically came out here and were locked up for weeks before having to play. I feel it took them a while to warm into the season, once they hit Australian shores. Can't tell me they weren't a different beast by the second All Blacks game then the First Wallabies game.
 

Rugbynutter39

Michael Lynagh (62)
This is pretty clearly not the case.

11 players that played for France in the July series against Australia were in the 23 that smashed New Zealand in the final test of the year.

That's a lot more than was the case for the Wallabies by the time we got to the end of the year.
Cool - I stand corrected with updated data point. That makes our performance slightly more noteworthy I guess.
 

John S

Desmond Connor (43)
Slightly? we beat a team with 14 men for 75 minutes. That's basically unheard. Then nearly did it again against Wales.

I guess its a good thing we are reasonable at playing with 14 men because it happens often.
Unfortunately the one thing the Wallabies have been really good at in the past is snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

It seems to be turning around, but at the pace of a super tanker, not a tinny.
 

Rugbynutter39

Michael Lynagh (62)
Slightly? we beat a team with 14 men for 75 minutes. That's basically unheard. Then nearly did it again against Wales.

I guess its a good thing we are reasonable at playing with 14 men because it happens often.
Slightly? we beat a team with 14 men for 75 minutes. That's basically unheard. Then nearly did it again against Wales.

I guess its a good thing we are reasonable at playing with 14 men because it happens often.
So the positives we are good at playing with 14 men…ok righto
 

Members Section

John Thornett (49)
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looks like we have 2 away games to the pumas in next years RC
 
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