Wallabies v Fiji, Sunday, 6 July, 1:30pm @ McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle

[wamberal99]

Wilson did not seem to do much ball carrying??

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

Ya lost me on neither of Tom Wrights passes were forward.

Wilson did not seem to do much ball carrying??

Better when he doesn’t. He’s a ball player not a meter eater. He gets his meters from a one good run through a hole a game from a McReight offload.

 

[Strewthcobber]

Wilson did not seem to do much ball carrying??

He had 8 carries according to Rugbypass which is down on how the Wallabies have used him in the past.

Gleason and Frost on 9 each, so they shared it round a bit more than is often the case

 

[Wilson]

He had 8 carries according to Rugbypass which is down on how the Wallabies have used him in the past.

Gleason and Frost on 9 each, so they shared it round a bit more than is often the case

If memory serves I feel like he was doing a fair bit of tip passing and ball playing at the front of the pods, rather than taking the contacts himself.

Edit: 9 passes for the game which was equal 5th for the wallabies with only the 9s, Lolesio, and Ikitau in front of him supports this.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

Can’t play the Lions with so few impact forwards. One damaging runner in that starting side and yes I know Bell and Valetini will be back but we need more.

Tizz may make way for Gleeson in a match day group. McReight can play 80 comfortably.

 

[Derpus]

Can’t play the Lions with so few impact forwards. One damaging runner in that starting side and yes I know Bell and Valetini will be back but we need more.

Tizz may make way for Gleeson in a match day group. McReight can play 80 comfortably.

LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto), Skelton and Valetini would make a massive difference.

 

[Wilson]

4 lineout takes for Wilson, some of them steals is a very good sign. Goes a long way to proving out that Valetini/McReight/Wilson backrow, even if we start Skelton.

 

[Yoda]

Is

Donno's no better unfortunately. Somebody count the tackles he missed in the few minutes he was on.

Is a 10's main role to tackle or spark attack and guide team around? Quade Cooper was a great player and not sure if defence was his best attribute.

 

[Quicktapsonly]

Don’t stress lads. The Lions lost their first game together against Argentina. At least we started with a win.

 

[Major Tom]

OK, quite a poor effort overall, but the team will be better for the run. Newcastle has become the elephants' grave yard for Wallaby sides.

While he was on, Noah was having one of his better games, two incidents aside; not finding touch with a penalty and the poorly executed kick on half time. He was not parked in the pocket which is exactly what we can expect most of the time from Donaldson. His line kicking has generally improved, and he consistently finds touch in the 5 - 10m distance from the goal line these days. None of the other 10s are any better and we'll see many examples of play that we deplore from them as they get more time against test sides.

Neither of Tom Wright's passes were forward from the hands even though they were both adjudicated that way. Physics will tell you that the ball has the same forward momentum as the player when he lets it go. On the first pass, Tom actually continued running after passing and was some metres still in front of where the catch was made. Perfect evidence that the ball traveled significantly slower through the air than the player and that could really only happen over such a short distance if it had been propelled backwards. The second incident, Wright was stopped by a tackler but the camera angle from the touchline side clearly showed his hands were facing backwards at the point of release. Potter caught the ball in front of the point of release but only because the forward momentum it captured carried it forward. That is not a forward pass, and I don't really understand the vitriol being leveled at Wright over these incidents. The officiating took potentially two tries from the Wallabies with incorrect decisions.

Potter had a reasonable game otherwise but I would really like to see him not kick the ball so much when being confronted by the last line of defence. Must have done it on four or five occasions this game and all to no effect. I have more confidence that Pietsch would simply step or run over the top of some of those defenders in similar circumstances. I reckon Harry has to make way for Dylan to come in for the Lions.

Wiiliams gave away some soft penalties and should have been more for offside. Hope he cleans up his act before the first test as he is alongside Nick Frost part of a very efficient lineout combination. For most of this game we were picking off the Fiji lineout at will.

I agree Noah was having a pretty decent day but that mistake before half time was cooked. Can’t have that decision making in test footy!
And man you must be blind. Both those passes were clearly forward.

 

[rugbyAU]

Don’t stress lads. The Lions lost their first game together against Argentina. At least we started with a win.

True, we didn’t have a warm up last time too

 

[Wilson]

Crowd of 28,132 (94% of the 30k capacity) for the game bodes well for Newcastle getting more smaller test matches in the future.

Hopefully not on a Sunday though - my regular group had plans to go down for it until we realised the last flight back to Brisbane was just after kick off.

 

[notdeadyet]

" Physics will tell you that the ball has the same forward momentum as the player when he lets it go. "
" The second incident, Wright was stopped by a tackler but the camera angle from the touchline side clearly showed his hands were facing backwards at the point of release. Potter caught the ball in front of the point of release but only because the forward momentum it captured carried it forward. That is not a forward pass, ..."

thank you sir

with these players who are immediately stopped after releasing the ball a way i, and undoubtedly others, look at it is imagine that the player wasn't stopped and kept running. is he/she in front of the receiver when the pass is taken

 

[Aussie D]

Hope LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto) (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto), Skelton and Valetini come straight in, we need some go forward. Frost needs to go and not sure what the point of having Tizzano on the bench is.

LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto) and Bobby V, yes. Skelton is a no as the pace which the Lions play would be too fast for him. The sooner we abandon the two open side fascination the better, though I have been saying that for over 20 years now. What you gain with on the ball you lose with breakdown physicality.

 

[Derpus]

Anyone else get the feeling the ref wanted to call the try good but couldn't because the TV presenter couldn't find the reverse angle he was asking for after five fucking minutes of replaying the same angle.

 

[Pfitzy]

Anyone else get the feeling the ref wanted to call the try good but couldn't because the TV presenter couldn't find the reverse angle he was asking for after five fucking minutes of replaying the same angle.

It needed a Gallic shrug

 

[Ignoto]

Anyone else get the feeling the ref wanted to call the try good but couldn't because the TV presenter couldn't find the reverse angle he was asking for after five fucking minutes of replaying the same angle.

Wasn't the Ref and BOK right there and awarded it? Unless the TMO has conclusive proof to over turn a bad call they need to keep quiet. We used to give the attacking team the benefit of the doubt but that's been gone for a long time.

 

[Rugby follower]

Anyone else get the feeling the ref wanted to call the try good but couldn't because the TV presenter couldn't find the reverse angle he was asking for after five fucking minutes of replaying the same angle.

Pass live looked forward , if ref and AF called as it was, we would have saved 5 minutes of replays . Really poor play by ref and the AF . @Brumby Runner thought it was good, as soon I saw it I said forward. Make the decision, move on. Rugby is killing itself by analysis on every move.
.

 

[HogansHeros]

Crowd of 28,132 (94% of the 30k capacity) for the game bodes well for Newcastle getting more smaller test matches in the future.

Hopefully not on a Sunday though - my regular group had plans to go down for it until we realised the last flight back to Brisbane was just after kick off.

Was a great atmosphere today! Glad to see it so well attended. Almost 50/50 Fiji/Aus supporters. Heaps of young kids, getting on the field after the game was a nice touch.

 

[KOB1987]

Wallabies are ALWAYS rusty on their first hit out, rustier than other countries seem to be for some reason. Fiji on the other hand are the masters of loose play and it suits their style to throw a team together from all corners of the planet at the 11th hour. Add to this that Ronald McDonald Jones stadium is second only to Eden Park in terms of delivering crap results for the Wallabies.

Glass half full, people.