Strewthcobber
Michael Lynagh (62)
Peanuts don't know that that restriction only applies to a ruck, and Tizzano wasn't part of a ruck
Wallabies v Lions Game 2 MCG 26 July
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Omar Comin'
Peter Fenwicke (45)
It would definitely happen more than it gets pulled up, but it's not like it's never penalised either. There's been plenty of TMO interventions for foul play during clean outs leading to penalties and cards over the last couple of years. Anyone saying Tizzano's reaction was a dive needs to watch it in slow motion, there's a lot of force straight into the back of his head/neck. His face gets folded from in front of his arm to behind it in an instant, at the exact speed of Morgan's shoulder!
The Ghost of Raelene
Rod McCall (65)
This is clear but in reality we are putting out the best guys we have available. Cant select things we don’t have.
We have to hope these guys develop before 2027 or someone takes a swing on Lucas in Japan and seeing if he’s the answer. I’d love to see him selected for a EOYT from overseas. Who the hell cares right now.
Strewthcobber
Michael Lynagh (62)
Again though, 84 other rucks have guys flying in off their feet like that. Would be odd to suddenly start penalizing that in the 79th monute
Running_rugby_1954
Vay Wilson (31)
It Tizzano was knocked out it would be penalised and a yellow card minimum.
Was there potential for him to be knocked out?
Yes.
That’s not a rule though. He was supporting his own body weight.
The lions player didn’t do a lot wrong but he was fractionally late to the ruck and he never stayed on his feet. The head/neck contact is irrelevant imo.
A mutterer
Chilla Wilson (44)
6:2 bit us in the arse. We ran out of gas in the last 10 trying to defend, with a pack that was losing contact and collisions. Lions had the self belief that we would have had in years gone by.
Viscount Laurie confirmed. An inability to evolve in any modern professional setting defies belief.
That said, we had the game in our hands to win.
Bring Samu in for Tizzano for the third test, so we have another body to batter them. Give Bell a rev up, that was not the level he normally delivers.
Wobs to win in Sydney.
Viscount Laurie confirmed. An inability to evolve in any modern professional setting defies belief.
That said, we had the game in our hands to win.
Bring Samu in for Tizzano for the third test, so we have another body to batter them. Give Bell a rev up, that was not the level he normally delivers.
Wobs to win in Sydney.
molman
John Thornett (49)
That was the Lions first game sans all their players who were still tied up in other comps who had just been thrown together. Sure Argentina were missing players but at least there was a lot more cohesion in that team than the lions which were more akin to a BaaBaa's team. Argentina played well with a lot of heart, but you need to maintain some perspective.
Sword of Justice
Dick Tooth (41)
My thoughts after a night's sleep. On balance, everyone in gold who got on the park pretty much played well.
In the forwards, 1-6 justified their selection and I was really surprised by how little rust Porecki and Skelton showed. Slipper and Ala'alatoa should be heralded for neutralising the scrum - we take it way too much for granted for sure. Skelton is a trump card. Frost executed his role well. Valetini gave us exactly what we needed early as well; it's a difference of a metre here and there that can totally change the shape of a game. McReight and Wilson put it all out there and deserve a huge amount of respect however I do think that they struggled to provide great deals of impact. Maybe a little harsh on Wilson given that in the deep stages of the match he was still pumping when everyone else was gassed.
Gordon and Lynagh played very well for 60 minutes. They laid the platform that allowed us to score 29 points against the Lions who have shown very good defence all tour. I think Gordon was especially impressive at executing the game plan but I was disappointed to not see him subbed for Donaldson because he was clearly spent at about 3/4 through the match. That would have also allowed Lynagh some breathing space who I also thought started struggle from about the same time. I felt we overused the run option as the game wore on and I'm just not sure why that sub didn't happen. Maybe because it would have been hard to fit in Donaldson, Lynagh, and Wright into the same backline but with a 6-2 bench surely you think of that? Some usual suspects around here are criticising Lynagh but at this point I just skip over the comments because they aren't seeing the forest for the trees. He obviously made a couple of errors from the boot but honestly I felt Finn Russell was worse in challenging conditions. Lynagh plays at the coal face and that allows players around him to be dynamic but also does sometimes mean mistakes. The 9-10 sets the direction for the entire team and on attack I thought we were very impressive for large parts of last night.
Our centres were probably the most disjointed part of our game last night but were not bad by any means. We saw flashes of what we want out of Ikitau and Sua'ali'i. Both of them were pivotal in scores at different points and didn't allow the Lions defenders to dominate through the middle. I dothink that Sua'ali'i found himself at sea a few times when the play had broken up but as I'll get to, it wasn't an easy night defending the deeper attacking lines.
Potter, heartbreaking - maybe he could have helped on defence if he'd been out there, we'll never know. Jorgensen just a wizard on attack; he has the x-factor to bring us back into games. Wright I thought played very well but I'd like to see him more involved. He's added this distribution and kicking to his game so let's use it more. I'm not hanging that on him necessarily because it may not be him that's making the decision to stay away for stretches of the game but when you have a 10 that plays in the close up and two centres who aren't really playmakers we could have used that more.
Re the bench, Tizzano stood up for me but I can't really criticise any of them. I felt Robertson was hard done by to a degree but I don't want to get in to ref discussion. McDermott is just a Rugby god and you can see the 7s experience shining through after a performance like that. Can only reiterate that I think he was wasted in the latter stages. Some of the bench may have liked to been more involved but I don't think there were any really poor performers there.
So how did we lose? Well aside from the obvious discussion re the ref which I don't want to get into (well I do but it's not good for my health), we got run over by bigger players and we needed to use our whole bench a little smarter. When McDermott and Jorgensen are defending the edges it's a foregone conclusion. Our forwards struggled to stop the pick and drive but so did theirs. I felt that we could have kicked better and more often in the second half - we were leading but didn't look like we were.
On the Lions, Gibson-Park was again very impressive. He knows his players and what they can do and he asked them to do it and they did. Sheehan should hang this match's jersey up on a wall. Itoje got outplayed and it showed in his insecurity - it's always a terrible look to start sledging after you've already won.
I really hope in 12 years time (yes they'll be back) we learn a couple of lessons from this series and have more warm ups and larger squads.
I get what you’re saying. But Tizzano was quite clearly on the ball and on his feet. It took someone flying in to dislodge him.
Socceroos 2005+ becoming a team who always qualify for the world cup likely diminished the special international big deal feel only rugby union had (of the football codes) in Australia before that.
He’s actually pretty lucky not to break his neck!
Strewthcobber
Michael Lynagh (62)
I hate to say it, but the more I watch it, the more I think it's fine.
Screenshots don’t paint the picture properly though. Tizzano is in control of his body. He is on the ball. Lions player is not in a realistic position to stay on his feet. World rugby have been asking players to slow down before they enter the ruck so it sorta undermines that.
Omar Comin'
Peter Fenwicke (45)
Why do you think those images show it's fine? You can see a frame later than that last image that the first impact is to the back of the head/top of the neck. If you watch it through, focusing on his face you see how much his neck gets folded.
I'm not able to embed this video unfortunately but you can see a slow motion one here: https://x.com/electricBAU/status/1949079551767900162
TSR
Steve Williams (59)
Listening to the post game press conference it sounds like they went 6:2 specifically because they knew that neither Valetini nor Skelton had more than 50 minutes in them. Valetini was then apparently tightening up by half time so they pulled him early to avoid further injury. Sounds like there might have been an injury issue with one or both starting props too.
I’ve got to say I thoroughly enjoyed that game. Very disappointed with the end result - but it is what it is. The sun still came up this morning.
A selection of random thoughts -
- I thought the last call should be a penalty but hats off to the composure of the Lions to get the win
- I thought Skelton & Valetini were immense. Unfortunately coming back from injury they couldn’t keep going
- I thought Wilson & McReight were both good. Frost also. These guys & the front row are the workhorses that provide the balance to our pack
- I think the Wallaby scrum generally and Robertson in particular are getting a bit hard done by here. The first thing they teach any ref about scrummaging is that players need to be straight and that elbows can’t be pointed to the ground. I thought it was pretty obvious the lions props were scrummaging illegally and - in particular they weren’t staying straight and that Genge had his elbow pointing straight at the ground. But the calls went their way so what can you do. You do what you’re allowed to get away with.
- I still think by far our biggest issue is our defence patterns. Our centres seemed at sea and our line speed became really passive in the second half
- Sua’ali’i really is having problems in defence. I feel he is paying the price both for an injury interrupted lead in and not playing in the centres all year.
- Don’t want to get back into the Lynagh debate but I’ll say that he is going about how you’d expect. Two 5-6 out of 10 performances for me. A bit better this week than last week and some very good touches, but also a couple of costly errors. Personally I think he has plenty of upside but ideally would have another 12 months before this series. However I think the claims that Donaldson is clearly better lack any reasonable substance. He hasn’t been better at Super level and he’s never grabbed his chance at test level. Now that they’ve picked Lynagh I hope they stick with him - at least until someone clearly better is available
- Gordon was very good I thought, but we could have used McDermott’s speed around the ruck at the end. Wasn’t our biggest issue at all, but I think it would have given us something to fight back with
- Tom Wright & Jorgenson both very good. We have 2/3 of a very good back 3. It’ll be interesting who they pick next week to fill the other spot - whether they do in fact slide Sua’ali’i out 1 & bring in Paisami or if they bring Pietsch or Kellaway in. Personally I would mind seeing Pietsch get a go.
- Overall IMO Schmidt is doing a pretty good job with the cards dealt him. We’ve come a long way in 12 months
TSR
Steve Williams (59)
The difference is the context of the decision though. It’s not unusual at all that they place more scrutiny on a key decision at the close - and the fact that they went to the TMO means, IMO, they should get it right.
There are inconsistencies all through rugby - crooked throws and crooked feeds are let go, offsides, and yes, lots at the breakdown. It doesn’t mean that when you get caught out you should get a free pass.
That’s like complaining about a speeding fine because they didn’t catch you the other 50 times you did it. You break the rules, you run the risk.
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KOB1987
John Eales (66)
They aren’t mutually exclusive, it’s possible to be a niche sport and still be the best in the world at it, our swimmers as a case in point. And it’s also possible to be a niche sport, be shit at it and it still be entertaining and popular, the Matildas a case in point, Obviously we want the former example for rugby, and that then breeds entertainment and popularity.