Australia 40 - 27 Italy

Wallabies win it 40 - 27.

Tries - Folau, Naivalu 2 each, Foley and Hodge

Italy - 3 tries

2 late tries blows the score out for the Wallabies. Italy made them work for it, controlling vast parts of the second half until Foley and Hodge score in the 78th and 80th minutes to seal it. Coleman was great and DHP was very good except dropping the high ball for one of Italys tries. Aussie scrum was under a lot of pressure conceding many penalties and a yellow to Toby Smith. Skills are developing, work off the ball was better and ruck cleanouts were slighly improved. Best on ground - Folau or Foley.

The ABs must be petrified!

Thought DHP was great, even with that bad catch. He was involved in 5 out of six tries. When Naivalu went off it was like his speed was all we were relying on as we we were useless and only at the end did we manage to make the score respectable.

Chieka has lost me.
The total passivity at the breakdown will see the Wallabies get murdered against the ABs and the Bokke.

Check out the average efforts in these 3 Tests versus the other Tests of 2016.

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We're certainly missing the efforts of Pocock, Fardy and McMahon and now even Hodgo and Gill are out of the mix.

I didn't need your stat's to identify that they were practically running away from the breakdown. What do you expect when Cheika names a background of Hooper timpani and hannigan?

The rumour that you only get dropped if you don't wear sky blue for your day job seems to be pretty accurate too.

I just don't understand some of the wallabies attacking strategy. For years the rule has been "earn the right to go wide" in other words hit it up the middle early to drag in defenders (assuming you get over the gain line) and then you can go wide to find gaps. However, the wallabies seem infatuated with going wide immediately against a full strength defensive line rushing up on the backs - end result, heaps of pressure and handling mistakes. We seem to be doing it time after time and I hate it, especially for a team low on confidence.

When we do use our forwards to go up the middle we are doing ok, but we just keep throwing it wide early, as we saw in yesterday's match and last week against Scotland - bloody madness leading to handling mistakes under pressure. Really starting to question the coaching strategy in attack.

On a more positive note , Adam continues to play really well, one player rating extract below

Really hope we can secure his signiture soon!

Adam Coleman - 8

Australia's best forward, and by a long way too.

Physically imposed himself in defence with some bone-crunching tackles.

But what was just as impressive was his hands and passing in attack.

He's starting to have the same impact as Brodie Retallick does for the All Blacks.

Ratings for Dane a little more variable (across the three sets of ratings I've read this morning), however I thought he went pretty well, having an influential hand in three or more wallaby tries

Well done to both lads

TPN didn't rate quite as well, although he did add some power to a front row that struggled all night

After years of it being a problem we still struggle to find a front row that can compete against international teams, ABs and Saffas can expect to really hurt us at scrum time

We struggle in the front row because we select guys who are ball runners over scrummagers. That'd be ok for me if these "fit" "mobile" front rowers would do something other than run hard and die with the ball. If were not making gains in three or four other areas, why the f@&k are we ignoring the scrum?

who writes this twaddle?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fox Sports Player Ratings

Israel Folau — 7.5
Dane Haylett-Petty — 6
Karmichael Hunt — 7.5

Once he straightened up in attack, Hunt was Australia’s most influential back.
Sefa Naivalu — 8
Bernard Foley — 6.5
Will Genia — 7

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Do they realise that the score for "Australia's most influential back" is not even internally consistent?

I'm not arguing a 7.5 for Hunt, I thought he was pretty good, 75% is about right, But Folau on the same score? How much is he paying Fox? Sef on an 8 (surely HE would have to be Australia's most influential back then) seems high-ish to be, but he definitely showed some toe.
What really grinds my gears is Foley getting 6.5 and Genia getting 7 SIMPLY FOR NOT BUGGERING IT ALL UP. That is a freaking joke!

However if Hunt deserved 7.5, I think Dane getting a 6 is about right, Horne was lucky to get a 5!