Wallabies v Japan 25 Oct

[Major Tom]

Gordon was well and truly running the game at that point. Had it been an 8 point lead he probably would've, but with 4 points in it he wasn't going to fuck with that. It was the right call.

Haven’t been one to question Schmidt’s methods but if that’s how we go with Gordon running the show good then lord we’re in trouble.

 

[Henry]

He didn't play

Exactly.

 

[dru]

I'm not disagreeing Dru, but I think there were at least two lineouts lost with Nasser the thrower. How many did we lose with Pollard throwing, do you know?

Ref allowed throws to centre chest as acceptable even with opposition jumpers up. First two lineouts went like that, one for them one for us. The throws from an Aussie perspective I thought were pretty bollocks. I don't rate either Pollard nor Nasser. And I don't think we can cope with that in Europe.

 

[dru]

It's Schmid's plan. Do you think Gordon just box kicks because he feels like it? Want to blame someone, blame Schmidt. Gordon was my best on ground.

I'd chance a guess that Schmidt might not be annoyed if those box kicks were actually making 30m (as claimed).

EDIT: My annoyance at those box to touch kicks is getting in the road of honesty. I think Gordon was best on ground as well.

 

[TSR]

Given we lost 3 players to injury, including two locks pretty easy, it was a genuine dirt trackers team with a lack of combinations, and the weather was horrendous happy to take the win and move on.

 

[Wilson]

Haven’t been one to question Schmidt’s methods but if that’s how we go with Gordon running the show good then lord we’re in trouble.

Looi, I think we stopped playing rugby way too early, but that wasn't on Gordon, or at very least on him alone. He was doing his job and doing it well, particularly in that final 10 minutes where he managed the game in terrible conditions such that the Japanese never really had an opportunity, not even for a penalty to get within a point.

 

[Hawko]

Gordon got better as the game went on. Some of his early kicks were diabolical and he wasn't quick enough to rucks on a day when he needed to be. I thought his first half was poor. But he gradually got better as the second half went on while those around him got worse and I understand why those who thought he controlled the game brilliantly have expressed that opinion. I don't agree but I do think his last 20 minutes was good and probably won us the game.

Strange on a day when it was pissing down all game that we didn't once kick deep to the corner, but away from the guy who had jet shoes. If the receiver catches it on the full he can mark it but then he's not going to make 50m on kick return. If he spills it or it finds grass they are immediately under pressure, especially as one of our wingers is lightning and the other operates like an open-side flanker. But our box kicks landed 10-30 metres from the kick point and that was obviously the instruction. Deep kicks with everyone rushing up to pressure them would have manufactured mistakes. Did the head coach not know it was raining?

The other thing that was clear to me is that Eddie had his backline drop deeper in the second half and run at us flat out. Because of our very passive backline defence we couldn't adjust. In those conditions a rush defence would have increased the pressure on the Japanese immensely, but that's not how the coaches want us to play. So the Japanese backline hit us at speed and had time to hit their attack runners. When you don't get on the front foot defensively then you are going to end up under the pump, and we were. If one more pass had stuck then we were done.

Joe Schmidt is a great coach, but even great coaches have a few bad days and today was one of his. He got the gameplan badly wrong and we were lucky to get out of it.

 

[rugbyAU]

Joe Schmidt is a great coach

he's record with the Wallabies is poor

 

[Major Tom]

Looi, I think we stopped playing rugby way too early, but that wasn't on Gordon, or at very least on him alone. He was doing his job and doing it well, particularly in that final 10 minutes where he managed the game in terrible conditions such that the Japanese never really had an opportunity, not even for a penalty to get within a point.

Yeah I didn’t get to watch the 2nd half so can’t really comment but just never like the idea of leaving fresh blokes on the pine.

 

[Tomikin]

I'm not disagreeing Dru, but I think there were at least two lineouts lost with Nasser the thrower. How many did we lose with Pollard throwing, do you know?

Nasser lost more then 2. Pollard was alright but also lost some neither of them where great there

 

[Major Tom]

Nasser lost more then 2. Pollard was alright but also lost some neither of them where great there

For what it’s worth losing 2 lineout targets don’t help.
Also, when Edmed kicked for the line he didn’t really get the ball close enough to the 10m. It’s not an excuse for losing the throw but it made it easier for Japan to contend.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

he's record with the Wallabies is poor

He’s not working with 30 players at the required level to be a great Test side.

This along side trying to gut a program coming off Rennie, Eddie as coaches and incompetence in the front office.

 

[Slim 293]

he's record with the Wallabies is poor

How does it compare to the last two Wallaby coaches?

 

[griffins]

People need to calm down. We won and Eddie can go fuck himself. If we lost it would be diabolical but a win is a win, especially with 2 locks busted. Onto next week.

 

[Slim 293]

Ah also Captain Nick was pretty anonymous too.

Eh?

Between this and the Gordon criticism there's a lot of hot takes...

 

[KOB1987]

Yeah I’m not too fussed about it - it was largely our 2nd XV playing Japan’s 1st XV. If it was a one off test we probably would have run out close to our best team but these blokes have 5 games in 5 weeks to get through. I sense Schmidt would have preferred the game didn’t exist, not just for fatigue management but also injury risk, of which there were 3. In an attempt to get some benefit out of it he used it to get some minutes into the legs of some returning players eg Gordon & Valetini and to get Paisami to play like Len.

We eked out the W with a B team and one lock and 3 disallowed tries, of which at least 2 were perfectly fine. Take the win and move onto the main game.

 

[Heavyd]

The question is why we can’t catch a high ball?

 

[Yoda]

Feel for Carter now. A lot of people think it’s some sort of habitual winning messiah returning.

I hope he brains it because it’ll be his jersey for years with a good showing but rust should be expected.

Look, Carter Gordon has shown in the past he's very skilful in attack particularly and is definitely a great defender. He's no messiah though. Not sure if Schmidt's game plan to play off 9 will suit him. He needs to be given the reins to call the shots to play his best footy. I think Kiss will see Wallabies play a different style. In Schmid's defence though wet weather footy is tough to be expansive.

 

[Yoda]

Yeah I’m not too fussed about it - it was largely our 2nd XV playing Japan’s 1st XV. If it was a one off test we probably would have run out close to our best team but these blokes have 5 games in 5 weeks to get through. I sense Schmidt would have preferred the game didn’t exist, not just for fatigue management but also injury risk, of which there were 3. In an attempt to get some benefit out of it he used it to get some minutes into the legs of some returning players eg Gordon & Valetini and to get Paisami to play like Len.

We eked out the W with a B team and one lock and 3 disallowed tries, of which at least 2 were perfectly fine. Take the win and move onto the main game.

Remember, the Japanese played 20 minutes with only 14 men and Australia didn't really capitalise on this.

 

[Yoda]

Not sure why Schmidt wouldn’t bring on a fresh lonergan though.

Last reserve rarely gets on. Schmidt obviously thought it better to replace Tane than Jake. Considering play was all off 9, Tane wasn't calling the shots. I'd like to see Lonergan and Carter start a Test .. far more attacking halves but it is pretty clear that Schmidt doesn't like this style.