Ashely-Cooper, Palu out of Wallabies team

[andrewg]

I really enjoy Hooper’s running game.
His first try was a bottler and the 2nd resulted from his running support play – being in the right place at the right time.
Yes he continues to be busy but is ineffective and often not where the team needs him most.

It’s interesting to compare some ruck involvement stats up until the time when Toomua went off at 52 minutes.:

Toomua – Involvement in 25 rucks with 1st or 2nd involvement for 17 of these (68%).

Horne – Involvement in 9 rucks with 1st or 2nd involvement for 7 of these (78%).

Hooper – Involvement in 33 rucks with 1st or 2nd involvement for 15 of these (45%).

So what do we see from this?
1. Hooper’s ruck involvement for the first 52 minutes of the game was equal to the combined total of Toomua (outside Center) and Horne (Winger). This confirms his work rate.
2.Toomua/Horne were 1st or 2nd at rucks on average 70% of the time compared to Hooper’s 45%.
3. I doubt if we’d see such stats for any other team in International Rugby i.e. when the Openside Flanker leaves a lot of the hard ruck work to Outside Backs.
4. Surely these Outside Backs would be of more use running out wide or cutting inside to take the pass at pace rather than working so hard up close and personal?

After Toomua had gone off the ground, for the remaining 28 minutes of the game, Hooper had another 8 ruck involvements with 1st or 2nd involvement for 7 of these. (88%) This lifted his game average for 1st & 2nd involvement to 53%. Still well short of Toomua’s 68% and Rob Horne’s 75%.

Hooper missed another 2 tackles (one of which partly enabled a try for the Pumas). His tackling was at 80% effectiveness. He's averaging 83% for the 7 Tests this year. He has averaged about 91% in Super XV rugby.

Most pundits heavily criticised Simmons for his mindless obstruction which caused Pek Cowan’s try to be disallowed against the Boks in Perth. The same pundits seem very quiet about Hooper’s obstruction and the subsequent disallowed try against the Pumas.

Horwill made little impact for his 20 minutes with 5 tackles at 71% and not much else.

Higgers had even less impact for his 31 minutes with 2 tackles at 67% and a single Carry with nil gain.

Beal appeared lost and out of touch for his 28 minutes on the field.

Hodgson laid on more tackles (3 @ 100%) than either Higgers, Carter, Fardy, Slipper, TPN or Kepu (and 2 less than Simmons) and he only played for 11 minutes and once again earned a critical turn-over which resulted in 3 points. He continues to show why he was the form No 7 in Super XV in 2014.

IMO more changes are necessary and inevitable if there is really a desire to prepare for next year’s RWC.
One of these changes should be to select a more mature Captain and let Hooper focus on his own game as my impression is that the burden of leadership is starting to get to him. He is not managing the refs at all well.

[beige]

IMO more changes are necessary and inevitable if there is really a desire to prepare for next year’s RWC.
One of these changes should be to select a more mature Captain and let Hooper focus on his own game as my impression is that the burden of leadership is starting to get to him. He is not managing the refs at all well.

They did - Stephen Moore. I'd be surprised if he wasn't the captain next year.

[James]

Like what you are saying AndrewG.

I always wondered how good Hooper would have been as an inside centre. He has the pace and power and all round skill set. He might need to work on the passing and/or kicking but maybe you'd look at a playmaking 13 or 15 instead. Pretty sure his brother was a 12. But yeah you just don't see the same breakdown potency that you see with Hodgson or Pocock.

[valzc]

Jesus! Where did you get those stats from Andrew, really eye opening. For a 7 to have that percentage of ineffectual work and the coaches not resolving it is incredible! Hooper's got everyone fooled with the amount of racing around the field he does but obviously it's way off track. And to be trundling extra tackle work on to the back line has got to be detrimental to the team. Surely if Link and the coaches have these stats can't they see how stupid to have hooper running around like a lunatic. I would say he's desperately trying to over achieve & it's not very fair to burn out a great player as he is. How long before he gets injured & they're in the poo even more.

[andrewg]

Jesus! Where did you get those stats from Andrew, really eye opening.

Valzc, I sat and watched the replay twice and took them myself.

Initially I had the impression that Toomua had a high level of involvement and wanted to know to what extent. It soon became apparent that Horne too was very much involved.
These guys are getting involved because they can get to the ruck quicker than the bigger guys.
BUT, the Wallabies loose their impact out wide or in taking the ball to the line at speed.

Hooper had pretty much the same level of involvement against the Boks the previous week.

FYI, Hodgo's ruck stats were - Involvement in 4 rucks with 1st or 2nd involvement on 3 occasions (75%).

I too think Hooper should be at 13.

There is a view around re Hooper as follows:
It is clear he is under instructions to take advantage of his incredible running skills, rather than commit to every ruck. If Link wanted him over the ball at every breakdown, he would be over the ball at every breakdown. He is that kind of player. Incredibly talented.

I have no desire to get into Link's head to find out the real story. It's just as I see it!

[jargan83]

THE poorest roll-up for a Wallabies Test in 16 years means the Gold Coast and its apathetic footy fans will be dropped by big-time rugby for four years.

“Bye bye Gold Coast” is the sharp rejection that dedicated followers will have to cop because so few marginal fans bothered to pump up the crowd beyond 14,281 at Cbus Super Stadium.

Another Sunday afternoon Test at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium after the winning vibe of June’s Test against France, on and off the field, or returning to Brisbane, Canberra or Melbourne for Argentina’s next visit in 2016 is on the cards.

The rows of empty seats at last Saturday night’s Wallabies-Argentina Test confirmed that fickle Gold Coasters are only attracted to shiny new sporting toys.

That was the Gold Coast Titans in their NRL finals form of 2009-10 at their new stadium at Robina or when the first Wallabies Test there in 2012 attracted 8000 more fans.

A 10-year stadiums deal has guaranteed the Gold Coast another rugby Test before 2021. A further Test against Argentina might have been in the offing but expect some subtle shuffling to host a lesser team like Samoa or Fiji.

The roll-up was the lowest since just 9239 fans attended a low-key World Cup qualifier against Samoa at Ballymore in 1998.

It is too easy to blame the Gold Coast’s poor track record of support for teams when the Wallabies’ collapse against the All Blacks in Auckland last month was a mood-killer.

Ticket prices weren’t a turn-off because $88 for a family-of-four was great value.

“It’s a great venue and it would be nice to have a full stadium which is obviously an important part of the equation,” Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie said.

“There are people (in administration) looking at it who are smarter than me. It’s an issue we have to keep thinking about beyond the team doing its bit to get people watching.

“It could be (the loss to) New Zealand but rugby has plenty of rusted-on fans and the Wallabies are always out there touching hearts and minds.

“I think you’ll find in sport around the world that crowds are shrinking. Is it the quality of pay TV coverage, I don’t know.”

Test crowds in Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth have also been down this season.

http://www.news.com.au/sport/rugby/p...-1227058197762

[Alison]

Even some of those rusted-on fans are losing interest e.g. me!! I've spent $000s going east to watch the Wallabies but they are so disappointing these days that I'd rather save my money and watch the TV instead.

Blaming the venues and the long-suffering supporter is very short-sighted, too simplistic and unfair. How about looking at the real cause - boring, error-strewn, stilted performances by rusted-on players who feel they have a right to pull on the jersey. Like respect, support has to be earned.

[jargan83]

I think some criticising the crowd are overestimating the crowd pulling power of Argentina.

[Alison]

Apparently, the opinions of the fans who pay Wallaby players' wages don't matter. I'm absolutely staggered by Nick Phipps' arrogance in this piece!!

http://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/wa...ce=twitterfeed

[Rex Messup]

I think some criticising the crowd are overestimating the crowd pulling power of Argentina.

I agree although they are a team on the rise

The ARU needs to lookat it's marketing instead of blaming the punters. The Gold Coast didn't even know there was a test match on........neither did WA. What incentives were there for marginal fans to go? What incentives were there for new fans to go? What about the holiday crowd which is massive? You could have filled the stadium with tourists if anybody told them you could watch the wallabies play rugby. The marketing is farking terrible. Gone are the days when Tweed wearing Pimms drinkers will fill the stadium at Concord. If you want to take the games to new venues, how about promotiing the game in the market place. The ARU are farking amateurs at promoting the game

The "next level" rugby NRC is gayer than two d1cks touching. The Melbourne rising is the Rebels. Some teams are using it to develop new talent. The comp is a mismatch, poorly promoted, poorly thought out, not supported and will be a massive flop like the last one. We can't even get fans to test matches let alone gimp games at poorly lit venues played by teams nobody has ever heard of at minileague finals time. The ARU is a cluster fark of bumbling idiots

They continue to play test rugby at patterson's stadium Subiaco despite the fact that every feedback from every official and every fan that has shelled out hard coin for tickets tells them that it is the most farked place in the world to play rugby.

If they switched it to NIB, they would fill the place for double the ticket price and create a hungry market for tickets every year due to scarcity. People pay for quality. People are happy to shell out coin for a memorable experience and a good view. It's Business 101. All these farking toffs at ARU HQ with private school educations , MBA's , corporations and old school tie thrash w@nking clubs should be able to work this sh1t out. It's pretty farking basic business skills. Apparently they paid some consultancy company $$$$$? to tell them why fans aren't turning up? Why would you turn up to Spewbiaco to sit in the rain in a stadium with no atmosphere, no view and no FREE binoculars to watch the action? Jaysus Mary mother of.......(insert blasphemy)

Try promoting the game and engaging with the public.

The Bush to Bledisloe was a great innovation. Why did it just involve the old school tie valley of Orange and Bathurst..........private school bullsh1t as usual. You want fans, expand your farking horizons. There would have been 10,000 rugby mad Japanese tourists on the Gold Coast at the time of the test. They would pay 2900007999088844000 yen for a captains run selfie with the Australian captain and a ticket to the test with sushi and sake. Wake up you d1ckheads. There is seven billion people in the world so if you can't fill a 30,000 stadium, you haven't exactly got your finger on the pulse. Did anybody think to put some deal together for Argentinian fans to travel? Fark me. The Gold Coast is on everybodies bucket list. Take the kids to Dreamworld, Seaworld, Movieworld.........and the captains run for a selfie and by the way here's a ticket to the game. This is called packaging for the ARU's bebnefit. Bundle some deals together......value add......promote it. Fark me, I'll do it for FREE because I love the game. The people in charge of marketing should be shown the door. It's an insult to the fans to blame the people of the Gold Coast

Amateurs. Don't blame the fans you w@nkers. In the information age (computers et al) you need to value add to make sales and you need to have a business strategy that promotes customer engagement and loyalty. Try a few books in the business section of the airport newsagency.

Innovate or die

[Alison]

You have such a way with words Rex! But I can't disagree with a single one of them in that post! Nail; hammer; head!

[shasta]

Nice rant. On the money but the scribe might be off his meds.

[Rex Messup]

You should see me on crystal meth