Australia's minnow status has been confirmed.
Sad but true lolOriginally Posted by jargan83
Dave Rennie will be laughing his ass off!
Great game, Fucken battled right through to the 80!
To be honest, while he may be, I don't think we would have been any better off.
Rennie's record was very poor for the most part, including against those outside of the top couple of ranked opponents.
Something had to change, the conversation now would be "who else", not "should stick with Dave".
Rennie seemed to be a lovely bloke with much respect in the camp (and from me), but he wasn't having any effect.
If you keep doing the same thing with the same bodies it is highly unlikely you are going to suddenly become successful.
There are massive issues at RA, SR and yes, all the way to Clubland (and Schools) but the answers there were never going to positively influence the outcome in France under Rennie or Jones.
Those calling for Cooper need to look to the Argentina Player Cam footage, he was not only terrible, but toxic.
Those calling for Hooper need to balance that with the now apparent other injuries being carried in the Squad and Hooper having the closest like for like cover in McReight. Would he genuinely have been fit to play last night?
Slipper and Tupou had to travel due to the gap down to the rest of the Props (apart from Bell, who was also coming back from injury).
We urgently need more quality Hookers and personally I can see Horton being a bolter next year.
Arnold was a curveball, but with experience in France can be understood.
Philip and Frost will likely start the rest of the tournament (if no Skelton) and Arnold will likely thrive as a bench player.
Jones' faith in Tom Hooper appears to be coming off, but nobody wants to talk about that.
Jones was in a no-win at Halfback, if picking White and lose then (particularly in the West) it's "should have gone with Fines-Leleiwasa", if go with Fines-Leleiwasa it's "he's mad to not back experience given the outs" (personally I would have gone with IFL anyway...).
Gordon's selection may well prove to be wrong, but so is Cooper and so is Foley. Why? Because they aren't there! If the case was that compelling they would have been in the tent already as absolutely no-brainer decisions. They would have been "Giteau'd" ahead of Arnold. They weren't. Both had chances and came up short. Ineffective. Not part of the solution. Poor.
Few would seriously debate a fit Kerevi.
The Outside positions bring some confusion granted, I don't understand the Vunivalu Project, yet ironically is starting to show promise.
Petaia deserves the negative comments around decision making, yet is often the spark for scoring. I hate his continued attempts at dribble kicks as much as I hate White's poor box kicks that keep getting excused by the Coaches (I assume as he keeps trying it...).
I like Kellaway, but Donaldson has been best on ground in the solitary win and amongst our best with strong coverage at #10 last night. He brings far more cover and a far superior kick compared to Kellaway's better "flair" and marginally better defence. Though defence hasn't been a major factor in our losses. Clearly everyone thinks we need cover at Flyhalf, after last night we can see we have it.
Foketi hasn't been as compelling to me as seemingly to others, but probably needs more time on the park to be fair.
"Marky Mark" just has a very troublesome surname for punters and commentators alike...
The Wallabies have depth problems and have had a losing record over the last few years.
Neither of these things can be laid at the feet of Eddie.
He has an extremely short lead in with a group of players he hasn't coached before.
This can't be laid at the feet of Eddie.
Arguably, yes, the change of Rennie should be the thing in question.
In retrospect, why didn't it happen sooner?
I think we all need to have a deep breath, respect the fact that Fiji has come a massive leap forward through better opportunity and pathways than historically to realise their potential and to appreciate the journey we are on.
Rugby isn't going to die in Australia.
The Wallabies will be competitive in future years.
Our collective kids will be (and are being) inspired by our stars.
Beer will still be available to assist with lively debate.
Life goes on...
Last edited by Burgs; 18-09-23 at 15:55.
"Bloody oath we did!"
Nathan Sharpe, Legend.
Wildkard is not happy...
Japan and the Pacific Islands for Aussie Super 9's!
Let's have one of these in WA! Click this link: Saitama Super Arena - New Perth Stadium?
I think Fiji generally looked far better coached and prepared than Australia.
I thought the game plan was confused and some players seemed to not be singing from the same hymnbook.
Nice whites box kicks seemed to surprise everybody except him and the Fijians, carter spent much of the match running full pelt at the line alone, with no attacking threat to take the heat off him and the forwards didn't seem to know whether they were pressuring ruck ball or fanning out to fill the line, so just seemed to decide each phase one or the other without telling anybody.
Ifl did look better, but was that because his 10 wasn't the headless chook that dlgordon was. Donaldson looked far better in 10, but wasn't doing anything that Ben Donaldson isn't famous for, pocket passing, good kicks for territory and steady play.
It didn't look like Eddie had formulated a plan specific to Fiji, whereas Fiji seemed to be able to shift plans at half time to counter any adjustments the wallabies made.
Fiji deserved the win and we will just need to wait and see whether we are a worse basket case than Wales.
My bet, after watching last night is yes.
C'mon the
Nic White trying to slow the game down while Nawaqanitawase and Kerevi are busy creating the opening try
Japan and the Pacific Islands for Aussie Super 9's!
Let's have one of these in WA! Click this link: Saitama Super Arena - New Perth Stadium?
I haven't watched the second half yet..I wasn't surprised to hear this morning that Australia lost, Fiji were definitely more in control of the game in the second half. I assumed though that our fitness would be the difference in the second half, obviously not.
Did Fines get a run?
Yes, about 15 minutes I think.
If Cron was watching, IFL will be starting in '24.
"Bloody oath we did!"
Nathan Sharpe, Legend.
Would be insane not to. Whites passing and kicking weren't any better this game.Arguably kicking was worse due to no comm making the chase ordinary
C'mon the
IFL's pass is flatter/faster too. Doesn't float up to make the same distance.
"Bloody oath we did!"
Nathan Sharpe, Legend.
Mummy needs to wash his mouth out...
"Bloody oath we did!"
Nathan Sharpe, Legend.
Burgs, while Eddie's player selections have been a major issue, the biggest problem is Eddie's game plan and coaching structures. I believe his low possession high kicking plan is fundamentally flawed and totally doesn't suit the personnel we have available (we don't have great tactical kickers and are generally poor chasers, neither of which appear to have changed under Eddie's tenure).
The defensive pattern that appears to be being implemented is also not great and likely to leak substantial points to any sort of quality opposition.
And further to this, the problem is that RA & Eddie have decided to completely change our entire coaching team, strategy, structures and a huge chunk of our playing group (mostly those with significant experience) 8 months out from a world cup.
While Rennie's win percentage wasn't great, most losses were by very small margins and we had 2 main problems in injuries and discipline. Those could have likely been overcome this year if he was rightly given until the end of the world cup. The strategy and game plan in place appeared to be one that could be successful and you could feel that the team was generally going in the right direction and would be in a good place come RWC.
Rennie team lost to Ireland by 3 and France by 1 away from home. Just putting Quade and Kerevi into that team would provide enough improvement to make a win very possible. I see that team comfortably beating Fiji, and running much deeper into the RWC than Eddie's wallabies.
I suppose we could go around in circles about coaches, selections etc. The most fundamental problem, it seems to me anyway, is exactly why does Australian Rugby have such a dearth of quality 10/12/15's?? We have arrived at a situation where most are either too inexperienced or past their use by dates with not much between. Is it the structure of the modified rules for juniors or are young players, particularly at jnr rep level, being restricted by over-rigid game plans & having creativity coached out of them?
On the bright side we can look forward to a lively contest for those spots at the Force in 2024.
For how many years now have the Wallabies run the ball one-out into isolation and lost it in the ruck or given up a penalty? Is that really something so obvious that Eddie could have missed it? It was like watching the Wallabies from his last coaching stint, or Deans, or Cheika's...
Is this an endemic problem throughout Australian rugby? Have we not been able to develop fundamental ruck play and recycling, or any other way of moving the ball forward and creating an attacking platform, throughout the Australian system in over nearly two whole decades?
Last edited by chibi; 19-09-23 at 17:04.
Japan and the Pacific Islands for Aussie Super 9's!
Let's have one of these in WA! Click this link: Saitama Super Arena - New Perth Stadium?
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