Burgess had a shocker, Mitchell had a shocker, Barnes was mixed but threw a dream try, Giteau went back to standing 15 metres behind Burgess, Sharpe was crap, O’Connor blew it, and once again Baxter can’t scrummage.

Chuck ‘em all out, eh?

I don’t think so. Eden Park and the AB’s do carry a hoodoo!

It’s early in the season. Keep the faith.

Burgess – a nobody who gained a reputation as a halfback because he would run the ball in contrast to the latter years of Gregan’s career. All the commentators were wetting themselves at having a halfback who sniped around the edges. Only problem is Burgess can’t pass, a key requirement you’d think. He had an appalling game.

Sharpe – good in the lineout and a shirker of hard work anywhere else. He has the build to match Botha and Thorn in the tight, but not the mentality.

Palu – In there by default on account of his size. Doesn’t play 80mins.

Baxter – Quite clearly was told he was binding on Woodcock’s arm. A man who has a well deserved reputation as being a scrum bunny was up against one of the best looseheads in the world. No one in their right mind would call Baxter one of the best tightheads in the game, so why are people surprised he got done?

Giteau – went awol, althought to be fair the service he was getting from Burgess can’t make it easy to shine.

Barnes – one poor option which cost them seven points and would have made a huge difference to the game.

Mumm – invisible.

Poor selection and strategy by Deans selecting three opensides. This had been tried before by the Wallabies without good effect.

Notably, the Wallabies have started tests extremely well but tend to fade as the game progresses. The All Blacks on the other hand seem to strat slowly (poorly) and then build into the game establishing dominance.

because I can’t recall on what thread.

N.B. I’m neutral-ish, I think.

1. Ive been a Burgess supporter for a while now, but gee this was by and far his worst game in any colours. mistake after mistake after mistake. His passing was shocking.

2. Scrums ? wtf goes on in there ?

3. The wallabies just dont have the guts to close out the close ones.

Further, i heard people talking about a new golden age for the wallabies. i was puzzled. They havent done anything yet and with yesterdays performance it didnt look like theyre on the verge of anything. Maybe if they beat ITaly and France by more than fifty and holding them to nil that would indicate something. But last night they just showed they are alot younger and inexperienced team that were used to seeing.

Having a feelgood warm & fuzzy is not enough.

I have agreed with his bench selections, use of the bench since he started. This year the tactics have been good until this game. He was outcoached here unless the players did not execute as per his plan. However the coach lives and dies by the results.

Why don’t the Wallabies play a better ruck game? Its more then just being out muscled.
Deans is being out coached. The All Blacks never counter ruck at the first contact, they wait until the ruck is set and the Wallabies are attempting to clear the ball, then they commit waves to, at the very least, upset ball quality and at best get turnover ball.
( this i believe was highly responsible for Burgess’s poor showing, outside of that poor pass he threw but Joubert was in the way a bit there too)
It looks like the Wallabies go the ruck, see the ball on their side then decide its rest time.
Its not like its a new development, this same tactic saw the ABs through last years 3N.
Did Deans win those S14 titles?
Or was he just a glorified development officer?
Todd Blackadder almost took a fair inferior team to the semis.

Lemon?

So knives, what about Crowley’s comment during the game that Baxter was having to hold you up so that he wouldnt get penalised?

You have to play for 80 minutes!!! By play, I mean tackle ferociously, run straight and hard, not give away any penalties, contest at the breakdown and concentrate all the time!!!!

The Wallabies didnt do that and the AB’s, after weathering the early storm, did. they also played to the conditions in both halves. Hey presto, they won and deserved to win!!!

Genia to start, Burgess cannot execute the basics. Not up to this standard I am afraid.

They sound exactly the Waratahs. “Oh, if we just do this… if this just happened… we’re almost there….”

“If” the ref had called the outrageous rushing defence ouffside that led to the 17th minute play, they would have conjured some other magic moment that lost the game for them. But they lost this before they walked out on the field. Since Eales, the Wallabies NEVER win when they should be favourites. Ergo, they never win when things are close.

Look at their wins in Sydney and SA last year – what followed? And what followed the most classic dissection of a SA team in Australia (49-0? I forget what year too); the worst game of rugby ever played, aerial ping-pong as Aus lost their nerve. Compare their last two WC exits to England – one favoured to win; one they were underdogs.

Luckily for Wallabies fans, if this “promising” loss is properly realised as the disaster it really is, they will go into their forthcoming games as clear under-dogs, and still be under-dogs for the next close contest against the ABs, and maybe know themselves well enough to win it.

But they really should have beaten this underdone AB side who will never be so weak again this year. Failure to admit a problem only makes the problem worse.

That’s not strictly true. Baxter is still one of the least effective props playing test rugby. Granted some of the decsions were wayward, but then that has always been the case with scrum refereeing. My perception is that it was 50/50. At no point was Baxter pressurising Hore or Mealamu.

Actually the ball that hit Smith’s head should have been play-on because off the head is not a knock-on. Brave ref who ruled that though!!

This was a very very rusty AB’s performance and they still won. From where I was sitting the AB’s were a 25% better side by the end of the game and the Wallabies game was going backwards.

Why the Wallabies continue to persist with Al ‘take a dive’ Baxter is beyond me. They were also out coached, the AB’s turned up with a superior game plan, and surprisingly executed a superior kicking plan. Mortlock must be getting very tired of making the same old speech.