Wallaby forwards are soft, time for change
Roar Guru
By Rickety Knees, 11 Aug 2009 Rickety Knees is a Roar Guru
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Games of rugby are seldom won when the forward pack does not turn up to play the full 80 minutes, as evidenced on Saturday when the Wallabies went down to South Africa. Changes need to be made.
Al Baxter, rightly or wrongly, is a target of referees.
Unlike Benn Robinson, Baxter is the invisible man in the pack. The scrum became a potent weapon once Alexander replaced Baxter. His time has come.
I am most disappointed with Nathan Sharpe.
Our lineout was obliterated by the Boks, and as the senior lineout man, his inability to devise a counter strategy does not bode well. There is a perception that Sharpe can be intimidated and goes missing when the going gets tough.
It is time for the ARU to bring back Vickerman, no matter the cost.
Palu is not, and never has been, an 80 minute footballer. Dean Mumm lacks the aggression required for the heat-of-the-battle. Rocky Elsom cannot return quickly enough.
Luke Burgess, as nice a guy that he is – and nobody tries harder – has a passing game that is below Test standard. He gets flustered and is a luxury the Wallabies can no longer afford.
Genia is a hard nut with a superior passing game – his time has also come.
The captain of the side should be a hard nut forward or an inspirational halfback. Inspiration is always needed in and around the forwards, whether it be the right action or the right words, or both.
James Horwill is such a hard nut, whose aggression and large imposing frame is well suited to the job.
For mine, the forward pack would be Alexander, Moore, Robinson, Vickerman, Horwill (C), Pocock, Smith (no8) and Elsom.
Reserves TFN (until Damian Fitzpatrick is ready), Cowan, Brown and Caldwell.
And barking up their backsides is Genia.
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sheek said | August 11th 2009 @ 6:41am | Report comment
Rickety,
There was a time when I was the leading head-banger on The Roar, often drawing howls of protests from the ‘primrose glasses’ brigade, for daring to suggest anything was other than pristine with Australian rugby & the Wallabies.
Now I’m being swamped by even more aggressive head-bangers……………….. !
vinay verma said | August 11th 2009 @ 6:54am | Report comment
Sheek..without advocating thuggery,the Wallabies need hard heads. John Eales was as tough as they come and in many ways he was the “Iceman” of our cricket folklore.
This young Burgess passes the ball with the guilty fervour of a Lady Macbeth. ” Out ,out damn spot”
I like the look of O’Connor…he was good under the high ball and showed counter attacking nous.
Nathan Sharpe impersonates the Incredible Hulk without any of the attendant menace. They also seem to be missing an onfield leader. Make Elsom Captain.
pothale said | August 11th 2009 @ 9:54am | Report comment
Like O’Connor too, Vinay. He has nice hands. Should get a starting spot in the next test, in my view.
Stin said | August 17th 2009 @ 10:14am | Report comment
Here here! Elsom for captain. Rocky is a hard nut and inspirational. He seems to have a very sharp rugby brain and he’s a composed player. He’s a freak! A fairly good CV for captain. Finally, (with Giteau doing his best impersonation of the Invisible Man at the moment), he may well be the only world 15 player in the squad at the moment.
Benny said | August 11th 2009 @ 7:40am | Report comment
Horwill as captain…didn’t you see what happened to NSW in the State of Origin when they appointed a joe average player as captain, even though he was lucky to have a spot in the side??? disaster
I hope Genia gets a start next test, if only so everyone here can see that Burgess is not even close to the reason the Wallabies are losing…it is the awful turnover ball (Genia 2 turnovers in 24 minutes on the weekend to Burgess’s 0 too) we keep gifting the opposition (or worse, penalties when we take the ball into the ruck)
It is also high time that Giteau came under a bit of pressure…time and time again he seems to have one moment of brilliance to his 9 moments of simply average play (especially his understrength kicking game)
sheek said | August 11th 2009 @ 12:09pm | Report comment
Benny – Horwill as skipper – Yep!
Bonza said | August 11th 2009 @ 8:17am | Report comment
“Bring Vickerman back whatever the cost” – nice in theory and the most dissappointing part is that if the ARU had handled it better he would never have left. He is in his second year at Cambridge with another year to go and has signed to play for Northampton this season so maybe for the RWC year a best
Virgil said | August 11th 2009 @ 9:25am | Report comment
Smith is not a No 8′s bumole. Keep him at 7, leave Pocock on the bench – he’s definitely not good enough for a starting spot yet…. when he starts pulling turnovers as is his job ala Brussouw and Smith, then give him more game time. Frankly I’d prefer to see him playing club footy until he gets better and leaving Waugh on the bench.
Mike said | August 11th 2009 @ 10:29am | Report comment
The Wallabies scrum is fine, and has had the better of their opponents in all tests this season, except for Auckland which doesn’t count. Alexander has always had the potential to push Baxter out of the starting line-up, as his open play is much better. But Alexander’s scrummaging has let him down in the past. He did look good this last test – he might just be ready to challenge for No 3.
I don’t know what happened to the line-out on Saturday. South Africa have the best line-out in the world at the moment, but that is no excuse for our piggies just not turning up. Very strange…
Its all very well to say that Vickerman would get a slot if he were available. But he isn’t, so what’s the point? And why do we think that throwing money at him would bring him back? My understanding is that he is o/s because getting qualifications for his civilian career is his top priority – and why wouldn’t it be? A football career can end with a single injury.
Horwill for Captain? Interesting idea. I’d like to see Smith given more of a go, and a lot of people mention Moore. Barnes alaso made a strong claim on Saturday night – he stepped straight up and took control when we had two men off. I think a captain has to be prepared to carry the fight to the referee, one area where Gregan was exceptional, and Mortlock is lacking, sublime player though he is. I think Smith shows most promise, so he would be my first choice for Captain.
Rickety Knees said | August 11th 2009 @ 10:35am | Report comment
“I think a captain has to be prepared to carry the fight to the referee” good point Mike and Smith is good at this.
eric said | August 11th 2009 @ 10:46am | Report comment
Rickety,
You’re frustrated, but your options are not an option. Vickerman isn’t available, Elsom isn’t fit, and Will Caldwell got crook in SA at the end of the S14 and has lost 24 kgs.
I don’t think we’re far off the pace. We haven’t had a home game yet. I’m sure we can fix the lineout, and sooner or later we’re due for a rub of the green with the refs. I hadn’t realised Rudi Koertzen had come back to Capetown after he finished up at Edgbaston!
I agree that Burgess is scatty and needs a cooler head and stronger pass. Robbie should be able to fix that.
Have some faith.
TommyM said | August 11th 2009 @ 4:56pm | Report comment
24kg!!!??? What did he have? Ebola?
Rickety Knees said | August 11th 2009 @ 10:52am | Report comment
I agree that Vickerman is not a short term solution but I don’t think we would have a chance at the RWC without him. Clearly the bar is set at Matfield and Botha – if we can’t match these guys and win our throw we are going to be in deep do do
Mike said | August 11th 2009 @ 10:55am | Report comment
As well as being a great player, Dan the Man is also fluent in Afrikaans. Very frustrating for the Bokke at line-out time!
Chris said | August 11th 2009 @ 11:21pm | Report comment
Hahahaha I was in South Africa when the Sharks played the Waratahs last yer, and thats exactly what the commentators said. Vickerman made them look very pedestrian
couchnorm said | August 11th 2009 @ 11:12am | Report comment
May be we have to start asking questions abot the coaching staff, rather discussing the capabilities of the players.
All I read prior to the game was the the forwards were in the right “state of mine” and they were prepared for the battle. This may be true however they weren’t prepared or had any answers for when the pressure was applied to them.
The way I see it was the homework wasn’t done. Surely they would prepared and trained ways to release the “pressure valve” when it pressue was put on. Then they would then have the confidence and ability to change the way they were playing to get back on the right track.
I hope in the future I don’t read the headline of the ‘old chestnut’ that still haunts the All Blacks 2003 World Cup campaign ” No Plan B”
Mike said | August 11th 2009 @ 11:21am | Report comment
What about 2007, couchnorm – both the Wallabies and the ABs knocked out in the quarter finals? And even Fiji made it to the quarters. Its a slow process, but the rest of the world is getting better. Is it possible that NONE of the 3N nations will be in the RWC final in 2011?
Robbo said | August 11th 2009 @ 2:35pm | Report comment
No it isn’t possible. Do your homework.