Bledisloe 2 - The Empire Strikes Back?

[Buddha Handy]

Warhorse is spot on. It is so predictable logging in here that Palu and Skelton would be copping the blame even though the damage was done after they went off.
One or two different selections would not have made a difference, we would have got belted regardless. McCalman should be happy he didn't get a game coz it helps his selection chances.

[andrewg]

Murder on the Dance Floor – Forwards Ruck Involvement

Bled 2 in Auckland saw a total reversal in form by both sets of Forwards.
Unfortunately, this meant that the Wallaby Forwards were totally outgunned by the All Black Forwards.

In the first half the All Black Forwards were “flooding” the breakdown and had nearly 30% more ruck engagements over the whole game. (Head-to-head breakdown for first half at end) The All Blacks earned 5 Turn Overs Won at the breakdown; the Wallabies only 2 TOW (Nick White at 46 mins and David Pocock at 56 mins).

4 All Black Forwards had more ruck involvements than the leading Wallaby Forward – Scott Fardy with 26 Total Ruck involvements.

Apart from Pocock, the Wallaby “Finishers” offered little change at the breakdown. In his 41 minutes, Pocock finished with the same number of ruck involvements as Hooper had for the whole game, and nearly 4 x the Defensive Ruck Involvements of Hooper.
Together Fardy (82 mins) and Pocock (41 mins) made >50% of the total defensive ruck involvements made by the Wallaby Forwards.

For both teams the Forwards made about 80% of the Total Ruck Involvements and 80% of Total Ruck involvements were Attack Rucks. Both sides were generally holding off Defensive Rucks.

The ruck data only tells part of the story for any of the Forwards. Check out other stats at ESPN Scrum.

There is a summary for each Forward’s average ruck involvement for the 3 TRC Tests, as well as a comparison with SXV 2015 averages at: G&GR/Rugby Discussions/Wallaby Forwards – Stats for TWC (?? Typo – TRC).

Attachment 3988



The Wallaby Forwards held their own for the first 21 mins. The score was 3:3.

A Wallaby Line Out and collapsed maul resulted in a critical turning point when Sam Whitelock earned a turnover. The Wallaby Forwards were still lying on the ground while the AB Forwards were already on the move. This quickly resulted in Dan Coles’ try. Mc Caw earned another turnover shortly after. At 26 mins it had been Wallabies with 69% Territory and 50% Possession. A penalty against Kepu for not rolling away resulted in another successful Carter penalty at 28 mins– score 13:3. 10 points in 7 minutes.
In the 20-30 minute period Wallaby Forwards had only 6 ruck involvements (Backs 4 others - 10 Total – 4A/6D). In the same period the AB Forwards had 20 ruck involvements (Backs 9 others – 29 Total - 27A/2D).

The Wallabies were still in this game at half time.

Attachment 3989

This table looks at a head to head of Forwards for the 1st half.

The All Blacks had 20% more possession BUT had 47% more ruck involvements.

Essentially the All Blacks Forwards generally had much higher work rates in supporting their own ball carriers and putting the Wallaby ball carriers under pressure.

The ABs Front Row had nearly 80% more ruck involvements than their Wallaby opponents.

The ABs Locks had nearly 50% more ruck involvements than their Wallaby opponents.

The ABs Back Row had >20% more ruck involvements than their Wallaby opponents.

Only Moore, Horwill and Palu matched the efforts of their opposition.

Fardy (5 or >25%) was the leading Wallaby for Defensive Ruck involvements but was well short of McCaw’s 11 Defensive Ruck involvement (46% of ABs).

The normal full stats breakdown can be viewed at: http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/com....15858/page-64

[GIGS20]

I apologise to Palu, if he can ruck at a similar rate as Kieren Reid, then he probably wasn't as much of a problem as I gave him credit for.

Looking at the stats, it was pretty obvious that Mumm wasn't as involved as Skelton...it appears we're still on the lookout for a high work rate locking pair.

Sio and Kepu weren't involved in much ruck work, but they really didn't do a lot of that last week and we raved about them, I guess it's not really their go.

Poco I was too little too late this game, the match had been lost before he hit the pitch. With precious little support from much of the rest of the pack, as many rucks hit as Hooper did in 80 minutes still wasn't going to win it for us.

Kafir posted a stat on Thursday night that Hooper and Pocock on the field together had a 47 point differential in Australia's favour. I wonder if anybody has thought to try finding the stats for Hooper alone vs Pocock alone. My (terribly biased) gut feel is that Pocock on his own is far more valuable than Hooper on his own, but I might be wrong.

The backline is almost immaterial in this match, we experimented with the pack by trying blokes who have already been trialled and failed.....end of story.

[travelling_gerry]

Casting Quade Cooper as villain of the piece is the easiest gig in Australian sports journalism in the wake of the Wallabies’ 41-13 Bledisloe Cup Test loss to the All Blacks on Saturday night. The ‘Cooper Blooper’ headlines are everywhere, the calls for his head bordering on hysterical. And all of it totally unjustified.

In fact, a grave injustice is taking place. Cooper, for all his previous mishaps against the All Blacks, did not cost the Wallabies the match on Saturday night. The real culprit hasn’t even been mentioned. And, ironically, it’s the man many feel should replace Cooper at flyhalf: Matt Toomua............read on

[palitu]

I felt that we were sorely let down by slow delivery from the base of the ruck. I'm not talking about ploddingly slow, im talking about, it was the same speed out, whether we had quick clean ball or not. Sometimes, we needed that really quick delivery and to be able to pass without stopping and looking around.

I feel that whilst Phipps had some wayward passes, his speed of delivery on quick ball is much better, allowing the wallabies to have great go forward.

As long as he doesn't do dicky things again like last week, he is our number one pick.

[Indigo Wolf]

What the hell is that man drinking?

Probably this one!

[andrewg]

I apologise to Palu, if he can ruck at a similar rate as Kieren Reid, then he probably wasn't as much of a problem as I gave him credit for.

As per usual it's not quite that clear cut.

Palu had 10 of his 11 ruck involvements in the first 20 minutes and then, in much the same way as his fellow Forwards up until half time, went missing when the game turned dramatically.
His early arrivals are only 55% - about every 2nd ruck involvement. Palu had no involvement in Defensive rucks.

Read made another 11 rucks in the 2nd half and had early arrivals of 73%. 30% of Read's rucks were Defensive Ruck involvements.

[travelling_gerry]

[jargan83]

I wonder what those numbers will look like once Channel 10/One's numbers are counted.

[travelling_gerry]

[hertryk]

I watched via 10 so much better than Fox!

[Sheikh]

Why split the game in two? (two halves?)

[beige]

Why split the game in two? (two halves?)

Nowadays pre-game and post-game shows (including trophy presentations, Jessica Mauboy, etc.) are often counted as separate programs for the purposes of TV ratings. The same applies to other major sporting events it should be pointed out.

[travelling_gerry]

Why split the game in two? (two halves?)

Don't you listen to clichés? It was a game of 2 halves!

[GIGS20]

Don't you listen to clichés? It was a game of 2 halves!

No it wasn't it was one big puddle of poo