Wallabies v All Blacks - Bledisloe 1 - 2015

[jono]

Nic White - you've made retribution. Skelton- paid particular attention, and had to laugh at how he flops over the ruck let alone yet another reverse penalty?! Hooper played his heart out again but this time for once it was actually effectIve, MOM for me. Drew was pretty average seemed to spend more time on dramatics. Gits had a quiet game with a couple of brilliant moments. Beale invisible as usual for the last few minutes. Phipps reverted back to his tantrums (if he could control them he's a much better player). Horwill - invisible for me as well? Fardy not much better seems a shadow of 2 seasons ago. Pocock strong but don't think that 8 works for him. Lineouts- WTF?!!! Overall for me a scrappy game with guys constantly out of position ie wings! Got their shit together sooooo much more second half and overall think they took ABS out of their comfort zone. Not confident on the team but maybe things will come together more and at least ABS seemed less cocky as per previous Pre WorldCup test.

Youre going to seriously try to sell fardy as having a bad game?
Get your head out of your arse

[Macattack]

Fardy had a good game - as did Gitteau, particularly in defence. Scrum was the best I have seen from the Wallabies in years.

Haven't been a big fan of Cheika, but I will give him his dues, he has definitely toughened up the Wallabies - well done

Big, big test next week, but I am feeling much better about us not being embarrassed at the RWC

[shasta]

Youre going to seriously try to sell fardy as having a bad game?
Get your head out of your arse

Yeah. I thought he was MOM.

[GIGS20]

Yeah val, others beat me to it, but you marked a bit hard in that one.

Fardy, huge
Pocock Similarly huge, got the first two turnovers of the match which really seemed to set the ABs on their arses.
Drew, some good some bad, but generally positive
Gits was everywhere in defense and also ran a lot of support lines and decoys in attack, really seemed to be doing the unnoticed work which made others look good
Horwill, OK the lineout wasn't awesome, but he did as well as anybody else, he also did good around the park, certainly didn't look the petulant child he has previously this year....i'd give him a pass
Beale didn't do much but didn't suff up much either
Phipps....yeah Phipps was pretty shit, but on the bright side it didn't cost us the game.

You have to remember with the way momentum works at the moment, we have to play above belief in ourselves to have a chance against the ABs....they did that tonight, sure it looked scrappy, but that's how it looks when you are on the bleeding edge.

[Tonkar]

We'll I am eating my humble pie..

Moore a far better Captian then Hooper Moore stood up for the playes and lead the team in the refs ear when needed and never let Rithie near the ref without him Great work Moore

I agree with the positive post above
Gits was great I think more of the backs respect him for his exprience and he directed the play well once Phipps and Foley left the park..
One Player no one mentions was Toomua . He straightened the play like he always does i think he and Gits played well togetherand not against the other like some other players have...
Was hard not seeing Benny Mac there earlier but who do you swap out when all three back rowers played so well..
I agree still skelton is not the lock we need .. I think its time for Carter or Luke Jones to be blooded ahead of Skelton..

Phipps definatly had brain snaps
The Back line was good once they got the ball after Phipps departure.. Also defended well and rattled the ABs

The uglyness was out of the game with no Simmons..

Great game..
The lack of warratah players was a positive Good spread over the 5 teams
AAC is a great player and just seems to stand up taller with each game.. He was more involved as the clowns( Cooper and Beale)weren't there to stuff it up with there fancy tricks .. Some great wide plays thru the hands and allowed the backs to run.. Back to basicrugby

[Jules]

Spring in the step today! Is great to read some positive stuff about the wallabies. What happened to the boks anyone watch it?

[GIGS20]

Hey Tonkar, My post was a response to the players named whist critiquing val's post. I probably wouldn't have mentioned AAC, but everyone in the 23 deserves some props.

Skelton, twenty minutes is his go, and he does have a lovely pass for such a big bloke. I think, once he starts to hit the ball at pace and the coaches realise he's not an 80 minute player he could be really useful to generate metres against tiring defenses.

If he could do it early in the match, when both teams are looking to hold the ball and then get subbed at 20 minutes the lack of a set-piece wouldn't be too much of a problem, but you'd need to find a Quade Cooper style hole to hide him in defense.

[jargan83]

Spring in the step today! Is great to read some positive stuff about the wallabies. What happened to the boks anyone watch it?

Lost to Argentina and finished last in the Rugby Championship.

[shasta]

Lost to Argentina and finished last in the Rugby Championship.

Average age starting to show. Not a great strategy in RWC season.

[beige]

Drew, some good some bad, but generally positive

He was looking for work though which was good to see.

[Timbo]

Average age starting to show. Not a great strategy in RWC season.

And, if my calculations are right, went from 2nd to 5th in the IRB (sorry World) rankings. BTW wallabies should move to 3rd (I think).

Of course, that assumes that the rankings mean anything

[chibi]

The thing I'm most happy about is that the Wallabies are improving aspects of their game in every match. There's still a way to go, but at least they are not going "a step forward one week and a step back the next week" which is what was happening under Eddie Jones and Robbie Deans.

The All Blacks were pretty poor in a lot of areas this week and I'll be surprised if they're not a different prospect next week; I'm hoping for a tough, calculated performance from the Wallabies next week, weathering the early storm of the crowd. It might be worth bringing in some of the guys who've played and won in an All Black cauldron several times before, some of the 90s guys perhaps, to speak to the team or hand out caps/jerseys etc..?

Questions for the forum:

Besides Ledesma's coaching, was our scrum also better because of our locking selection?

Is Will Genia truly passed it? Can he regain his form of old, work well with Toomua & Giteau and truly enrich the Wallaby team?

Were you guys satisfied that Kepu's and White's tries came from sustained build-up with possession, or was it just individual brilliance? I still feel that the Wallabies aren't doing enough to successfully break an opponent down when we have the ball for long periods. I was glad to see pick'n'drives from Hooper and that there was a driving maul. A further try should have been scored after Folau's break, so maybe I'm being a bit too harsh on them perhaps?

[shasta]

I can't see Genia getting a start until the exhibition game. I wonder if Giteau might oust him because of his utility player strengths. I think he'll be starting 12 anyway. But neither of the other two has been consistently reliable. A difficult choice for the coach next week and not because he's spoiled for choice. Whatever he does, we'll get to see what's his preferred team from those available.

Edit: Just realised the USA match is a Test Match.

[jono]

We need to be 5m further forward in attack. Those half line breaks would have turned into breaks if we were into a decent attacking position

[GIGS20]

We need to be 5m further forward in attack. Those half line breaks would have turned into breaks if we were into a decent attacking position

I think that was a factor of the Bliks pushing the linespeed button all night. Ultimately that was one of their undoings, because they weren't coping with the breakdown, which they usually do quite easily and therefore, having all their defenders 5-10M in front of the ruck when the ball is cycled makes for a night with a lot of running.To answer Chibi's question about Kepu and White's tries, I would suggest that they were both the result of sustained pressure, but neither was the result of pressure applying directly and immediately. By that I mean, Kepu got an easy run to the line through the absence of Aaron Smith, ran straight down the channel where Smith would have been defending and had nobody to slow him down long enough for help to arrive. White, on the other hand was a nippy run from the base of the ruck past tiring forwards, again, no massive pressure in the phases that led up to it, but a factor of the 70-odd minutes of intense effort they had expended at that point in the game. The Wobs ran the ABs off the park and did it without having to run beyond themselves.

Whether that was brilliant insight from the Wallabies coaches or an arrogant decision not to bother working for the victory by New Zealand will only be known next week. Be advised, the Kiwis are running the fine-toothed-comb over the video now and won't be making the same mistakes at Eden Park.....we need to force them into different mistakes if we think we're a chance.

Part of me wants to lose, so that the Blacks go to RWC as arrogant and complascent as they were last night...it'll make us hungrier too. I'd postpone a bledisloe for a year to win Bill back!