Bledisloe 2 - 5 August 2023

[GIGS20]

I think there was a lot more going on than Nic White deflating the ball every chance he got.

Key moments for me were
Fraser McReight going off to be replaced by Rob Leota, the complexion of the game changed completely at that moment (and...no.... this is not a post directly criticising Leota, simply pointing out that, at that moment we no longer had anyone tasked with putting their hands on the ball and it showed) I counted three series of All Black possession in a row over 18 phases with NOT A SINGLE WALLABY even ATTEMPTING to grab the ball in the ruck.

Fa'aumisili being replaced by Nongorr. This IS a direct criticism of Nongorr. He was completely outclassed in every facet of the game. I know we've got a massive shortage of Tighthead Props with Nela and Mr Seven As being out, but surely we can do better than that! FFS play Slips on the other side and bring Gibbon back if we absolutely have to because Nongorr is a hole in the ground for the Wallaby game to fall into.

We can point to Skelton's appearance aligning with an ineffectiveness in the ruck, but that didn't have the impact that either of those two moves did. We can point to Quade dropping the ball at the death, but the horse had bolted by that stage. Lots of other shit was bad in the last 35 minutes, but those two moments were coaching errors of the highest magnitude which cannot be repreated.

[todd4]

Whats the best site for stats? I was trying to find stats for possession & territory.

[jargan83]

Whats the best site for stats? I was trying to find stats for possession & territory.

https://www.espn.com.au/rugby/matchs...&league=289234

[todd4]

Thanks for that Jargs, the stats for the first half - possession 62% territory 67%. We looked good with ball in hand and put the blecks under some pressure. In the second half possession 34% territory 33%. It looked like our mate Nick White's go to play was box kicks giving possession back to NZ. Seems to me box kicks are very low percentage plays.
In the world cup I'd like to see our game plan involve more ball in hand. It would certainly make for more entertaining rugby.

[WFDom]

So why was White box kicking more than McDermott?
Surely he would not have diverted from the game plan of his own volition? He must have been under instruction?

[todd4]

So why was White box kicking more than McDermott?
Surely he would not have diverted from the game plan of his own volition? He must have been under instruction?

It just seemed to me that he box kicked more. If we retained possession more, put the bleks under pressure and led at half time why would they not continue that game plan into the second half?

[shasta]

It just seemed to me that he box kicked more.

It seems a long time to me since ANY Wallabies tactical kicking has been a percentage winner. When other nations kick, particularly from set piece and re-starts, they are nearly always contestable with a good success rate - against us at least. Even when our kickers manage to get kicks on target, the retention rate is terrible by comparison - with the exception of Koroibete. It's frustrating to watch and the reason so many punters question it.

[GIGS20]

It seems a long time to me since ANY Wallabies tactical kicking has been a percentage winner. When other nations kick, particularly from set piece and re-starts, they are nearly always contestable with a good success rate - against us at least. Even when our kickers manage to get kicks on target, the retention rate is terrible by comparison - with the exception of Koroibete. It's frustrating to watch and the reason so many punters question it.

I've heard it said often enough to believe it

any kick is only as good as the chase. Box kicking isn't necessarily the problem, not chasing (or not being able to chase) is the problem.

For example, when the All Blacks kick, they ALWAYS have a couple of backs chasing the kick hard and putting pressure on the receiver. Often, when the Wallabies kick, they have maybe 1 (usually Koroibete, coming from the wrong side of the field) who generally gets there too late to put pressure on. I assume they do this because they've been taught to simply return serve on any kick that they take in position X on the field, therefore they expect everybody else to have the same regimen.

The All Blacks tend to annoy this process by actually looking at what's coming before they decide whether to boot it or try something else. They also very rarely just boot it to get it away from their red zone, they tend, more often, to boot it to put pressure on, which usually means shorter kicks that are better coordinated within the team so everybody knows what their job is in that moment. It's really interesting that they do that, with so many moving parts that it surely must be scripted, so automatically, that it looks like free flowing off the cuff play.

The only way I think that can happen is that they practise the plethora of possible plays for each situation so much that they instinctively know who's where and when without having the need to make a call or set something up. OR they're just freaks of nature who all read the game so well that they end up in the right place at the right time 90% of the time

[todd4]

A poster on GAGR made a tongue-in-check comment along the lines of 'Ive done the detailed analysis and found that the last 1,000 box kicks by the Wallabies presented 3.6 opportunities'. lol

[Burgs]

A poster on GAGR made a tongue-in-check comment along the lines of 'Ive done the detailed analysis and found that the last 1,000 box kicks by the Wallabies presented 3.6 opportunities'. lol

Sounds plausible...

[WFDom]

A poster on GAGR made a tongue-in-check comment along the lines of 'Ive done the detailed analysis and found that the last 1,000 box kicks by the Wallabies presented 3.6 opportunities'. lol

Legit stat!