Wallabies v All Blacks, Saturday 19th August, ANZ Stadium Sydney

[wamberal]

Won't be popular but I think Larkham done quite well with cattle both at brumbies and wallabies level. As last time I checked he is not wallabies defence coach! I think larkham personally not given enough credit as a coach on here.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I would love to agree, just on principle, he was such a great player. But cannot see much evidence that he is a good coach. Maybe he is the best of our local coaches, but that is not saying too much.

 

[fatprop]

The AB's were rooted after scoring a record number of points

I never knew teams got tired scoring tries

 

[Ignoto]

I never knew teams got tired scoring tries

Ever played a FPS game with cheat's turned on? The game loses it's enjoyment after one or two play throughs. I couldn't imagine playing the same game for 8-10 years and going from start to finish three times a year and not getting bored of it to be honest.

 

[ACT Crusader]

Bring back Knuckles I say. All started to go downhill after what IMO was a knee jerk reaction to the RWC07 quarter final loss. But anyway all in the past now - as is Deans, Link and for the Wallabies sake hopefully Cheika. Call me old fashioned or even uptight, but the reactions of your head coach at almost every whistle - whether it's called in his teams favour or not - says a lot. And it's not "passion for the game" or "emotional investment", but in my mind it smacks of disorganisation and lack of an overall strategy that the players can work with. Ref calls bad and good have been around since the beginning of time. With those sorts of reactions, as we have seen in league and AFL will continue to get shown over and over.

I know Nathan Buckley has had a real issue with the Tv cameras on them during the heat of battle, but if you don't want them on you, don't react at every call!

Unless of course this is some grand plan of him reacting in a way that many OZ rugby supporters feel as a way to win hearts and minds - e.g 'ABs are favoured by refs' 'Nothing they do wrong gets picked up' 'Refs to scared' etc etc.

If it is fair game to him, but still is not a great look for the game especially in trying times when the game is needing leaders.

 

[KAOPointman]

My comments relate to super rugby of course.

As you said he was playing injured - is he back to full fitness? If so, great. If not I don't want him playing test rugby - I want him doing rehab/S&C. As for your subsequent comments about him not being a card risk - that's crap. He constantly ran the gauntlet under the current interpretation/crackdown on contact above the shoulders. He has been carded multiple times for it.

I am not a Quade hater at all, I'm a big fan - and I share a lot of your concerns around Foley - but throwing a half fit player in who continues to have issues (albeit different issues) with his defence into Test rugby is just setting him up to fail.

Your asking if he's back to full fitness?.....yet happy to judge him either way? OKAAY!
His injuries were not game breaking, some included his ankle which effected his kicking and stepping and then his shoulder which wasn't a massive impact as he plays a very hit and stay on your feet defence anyway. And people really SHOULD educate themselves on a player before they fully assess and judge them. He was fully fit for the last quarter of Super rugby and Was selected for Wallaby duties in June series because of that!
But shock horror....never given more then 10mins sometimes 0mins...and feel free to go back through my post history and find the Foley game assessments in the June series which leave the lack of using the bench 10 an ABSOLUTE MYSTERY!

And as for the yellow card theory....id rather see some facts posted along with these rather vague tarrings. From memory even Barret got like 4 cards this season.....does that mean he gets the shiv for Sopoanga? Maybe I'll look that up and post some card stats.......

 

[upthereds#!]

Which numpty/ies in the QRU decided not to hire him?

Guess he wasn't sitting in the carpark waiting when they did the worldwide search

 

[KAOPointman]

I am not on the band wagon to dump Cheika. As how can one expect our national team to do well when our Super Rugby teams are performing so poorly. First and foremost lot of responsibility rests on coaches at Super Rugby level.

As we just seen coach of Rebels go after terrible season and many would say well over due. We all know the struggles Gibson having with the Tahs and jury out on his quals to be a successful oz Super Rugby coach. And then there is new kid on the block, Stiles for the Reds, who has had a pretty abysmal first year given expectations with improved Reds squad.

Only coaches would give pass marks for is Force and Brumbies. Latter, particularly as they lost a lot of key players from last season and myself like many did not expect Brumbies to be top performing Oz Super Rugby.

I'm with you! I mean.....if we leak 50 points to teams below us on the world rankings.....it's a massive issue. But the ABs put 50 on every team. And we are still ranked 4th in the world. But everyone expects us to be beating the ABs or heads fly. That's just not reasonable. In the end the WORLD NO1 team still leaked 30ish points aswell....so there's that to hold onto....(crying in the corner . )

 

[Rugbynutter39]

I would love to agree, just on principle, he was such a great player. But cannot see much evidence that he is a good coach. Maybe he is the best of our local coaches, but that is not saying too much.

Mate look at cattle brumbies lost year... I seriously expected brumbies to be near bottom of oz conference and to top the oz conference was credit to Bernie, and again I think he has done ok at wallaby level as attack coach..ok maybe not the finished product but think people should give a bit more credit to bernies coaching ability.

As we don't have a lot of good coaches in oz and Bernie imo deserves a bit more credit than given on this site as one of the better ones imo who will only get better. As we lost link to public persecution he was given over beale affair and don't think we can afford to lose another decent coach who can only get better.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[TOCC]

There was a bit of clocking off, but early in the game we were unlucky not to have more points on the board as well

What game were you watching, I'd call conceding 50 points more then "a bit of clocking off", it's a bloody disgrace..
Wallabies were lucky to get that many points, and that's because the All Blacks subbed off their best centre pairing just after half time..

 

[KAOPointman]

I still can't believe people are debating foley vs cooper.That debate is completely dead at this point as no matter what you say about Foley he has shown more consistent form than Cooper has all season.

When Cooper actually shows some form then lets have the debate but please Cooper is not the answer. Yes Foley may not be perfect but Cooper is not the answer at this point. Will be more than happy when Cooper does show glimpses of form to have this debate again but until then can we actually propose realistic alternatives.

I'm sorry but that's just rubbish.....at the end of the season(uninjured finally) Quade was playing just fine. McIntyre was doing an Ok descent job when Quade wasn't available but Quades form Instantly without question dropped McIntyre as soon as he was ready.
Now I've been posting long game asesments of Foley since the June series and he's had an unbelievable baaaaad run. Yet still people are sooo blind ....he scores a quick 5 m dart try in the last 5 mins and instantly a game full of blunders, failings and letting tries thru is forgotten. FACT!
I'm unashamedly a Quade fan.....but I'll 1000% back ANYONE else except Foley atm. For ME it's Cooper as he has great combinations with existing players and actually offers a dangerous attack. Plus his defence has been tight for years ( as long as you don't ask any adopted Aussie kiwi)and he's familiar around wallaby camp. Feel free to try anyone but Foley in my book.....
Let's not forget aswell....whose super team finished higher this year? And they are both Key players in their teams. It's seems to me Quade gets held responsible for his teams performances...AND the Wallabies when he plays....but Foley isn't. Actually there's buckets of proof for that!

 

[Rugbynutter39]

I'm sorry but that's just rubbish...at the end of the season(uninjured finally) Quade was playing just fine. McIntyre was doing an Ok descent job when Quade wasn't available but Quades form Instantly without question dropped McIntyre as soon as he was ready.
Now I've been posting long game asesments of Foley since the June series and he's had an unbelievable baaaaad run. Yet still people are sooo blind ..he scores a quick 5 m dart try in the last 5 mins and instantly a game full of blunders, failings and letting tries thru is forgotten. FACT!
I'm unashamedly a Quade fan...but I'll 1000% back ANYONE else except Foley atm. For ME it's Cooper as he has great combinations with existing players and actually offers a dangerous attack. Plus his defence has been tight for years ( as long as you don't ask any adopted Aussie kiwi)and he's familiar around wallaby camp. Feel free to try anyone but Foley in my book...
Let's not forget aswell..whose super team finished higher this year? And they are both Key players in their teams. It's seems to me Quade gets held responsible for his teams performances.AND the Wallabies when he plays..but Foley isn't. Actually there's buckets of proof for that!

Pity in some ways he is not a sub to prove you are correct as I really don't give a rats what oz franchise they represent as first and foremost I am Aussie rugby and wallaby supporter.

Just not what I have seen with Quade and seen foley have more good games than bad which can't say same for Quade. I would love nothing better for another 10 to be competing for foley' spot as we will all agree lack of depth at 10 in oz professional rugby a concern.

Later


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Derpus]

Man what are you ranting about? Quade has been shite all season. He's a liability and has been on the wain for years. Foley is barely a test quality 10 and can be pretty shit at times. Quade is much worse.

Calm your pants.

 

[fatprop]

What game were you watching, I'd call conceding 50 points more then "a bit of clocking off", it's a bloody disgrace..
Wallabies were lucky to get that many points, and that's because the All Blacks subbed off their best centre pairing just after half time..

The "clocking off" comment was about the ABs ...................... not the Wobs

 

[Ulrich]

With regards to the defensive patterns, Shaun Treeby came out recently and said there are still some vast differences between SA rugby and Kiwi rugby in that there is a sudden shift in SA to adopt line speed in defense but that it had been part of NZ rugby for a while now and that SA are just not as good as it yet (after an entire Super Rugby season).

That tells me it takes quite some time and the Wallabies seem to be intent on going this route, however; it didn't seem to get much better for the Waratahs.

Perhaps it's in part due to fitness also.

Things may get better as time goes on.

 

[zer0]

Many kids change from soccer and league to rugby?

I believe most just drop soccer during or after high school. I don't imagine there's too much of a crossover, though Ali Williams was a notable example of one who did. Many (junior) NRL players are rugby players having a go in the NRL (e.g. Kasiano), who may switch back later (e.g. Milner-Skudder and Laumape).

But, as has been said, soccer has comfortably the largest participation amongst younger kids. Though basketball could end up giving it a run for its money.

 

[KAOPointman]

Not true, I have always been a fan of Cooper and see his potential, and have said as much on many occasions so be careful with the broad brush. He has been way off the form of 2011-12 for years, sadly. If he can get back to it, I'd be very happy to see him at 10 anywhere. And I have a flower. Albeit, a wilted one.

So what???...does Quade need to be back at his world beating form of 2011 to get ANY game time? How bout form good enough to beat a 10 who has limited attacking vision, no long passing game, trips n slips all over the place and can't mark up on the wing 101 style!....costing tries on quite a few occasions. I'm dead serious here.....Foley has an OK conversion rate.....an occasional OK short ball game and a good spread the ball quick game. 5 years in he's finally started kicking across to the best guy in the air in the world mind you....so there's that I spose. He runs hard and straight.....although we have dozens that can do that role (centres) better and his "tackling" is good. I stress tackling as his overall defence is poor and has been allll year.

 

[Dan54]

It makes you wonder why the All Blacks are so damn good and NZ are generally a bit shite at everything else (cricket team has been good last few years, granted).

Basically because a lot of good kids get into rugby when mum stops telling them they have to play soccer, and NZRU are very good at promoting the game, much like AFL here. As for cricket nowhere enough numbers or interest for it to get enough players to be real competitive, it was popular among kids etc during 80s and 90s until the after the highs that it got to after the Underarm ball etc, but from what I see it just dropped off to what it was. Weather probably not all that great to convince kids they should stand around and get pretty bored for a morning, so they tend to just do other stuff.

 

[fatprop]

 

[TOCC]

Larkham "I don't think it was necessarily a poor performance"

Is everyone in the ARU drinking from the same Kool-Aid?

 

[Derpus]

With regards to the defensive patterns, Shaun Treeby came out recently and said there are still some vast differences between SA rugby and Kiwi rugby in that there is a sudden shift in SA to adopt line speed in defense but that it had been part of NZ rugby for a while now and that SA are just not as good as it yet (after an entire Super Rugby season).

That tells me it takes quite some time and the Wallabies seem to be intent on going this route, however; it didn't seem to get much better for the Waratahs.

Perhaps it's in part due to fitness also.

Things may get better as time goes on.

New Zealand players defend their positions. Our players simply can't play all aspects of their role. Kerevi can attack but couldnt defend against an u12s side. We have a long and labored history of carrying incomplete players. Folau for example, cant kick or tackle for shit but because he's so damn good going forward we make allowances. We chop and change to try and make a workable defence with incomplete players.

Tired of it. Get a player who can play an all round game for the position he is supposed to be playing in. Beale at fullback, Meakes or Hunt at 12, an actual number 6 at number 6. Timani at 8. If we do this then we don't have to fumble around in the dark like preteens getting in on for the first time in defense.

We'll still lose it just won't look so goddamn shambolic.