Yeah he shouldn’t be in the Wallaby side. But I have to admit I have no idea what backline Australia should have. So many unfixable problems for Deans.

When someone asked David Campese what he thought of O’Connor he warned everybody, “Just let the kid play some rugby, don’t put high hopes on him.” Well people have expected so much from him because he’s talented, and he’s been found out a few times after being thrown into the deep end. Deans has essentially said to him ,”Learn how to swim.” That’s not the right way to nurture such a great talent.

JOC is not fullback, smith showed him up nicely. We need a real solid defender, JOC should play 12, he is being wasted and shown up at 15. AAC, that guy gives everthing and has no fear, put him at 15 for the grandslam.

If deans is such a good coach why are most of the wallaby players not playing in their natural postions? AAC at 12 is seriously a joke, we have 3 S14 teams, and not a single 12 of these teams could slot in???. For me the biggest issues was cross at 13 and Joc at 15, Conrad Smith carved them up nicely, if you are going ot have a suspicous 13 in defence you cannot have JOC at 15, you need someone like AAC who will make the Tackle.

If Deans persists with AAC at 12 and JOC at 15 the grandslam it will be over at twickers next weekend, and we better start looking for a new coach. This current wallabies record is a joke.

I think the Wallabies ought to drop Giteau. Deans needs to ask himself why, in a game where Australia got equal possession and territory (notably Australia’s possession wasn’t always the cleanest), Australia didn’t command any instances in the second half. It says something about how their primary playmaker is controlling the game.

It’ll never happen because:

* Giteau is obviously very talented.
* He’s an experienced player in a side that lacks experience.
* The players seem to rate him.

He’s such a talented player that it seems a waste to drop him. Spiro Zavos has suggested he play on the wing, and it’s not surprising such a suggestion would be made, because Giteau is so talented it seems a waste to drop him.

But he’s not a five eighth. His kicking from hand is horrendous. I wouldn’t go so far to say his kicking is the reason the Wallabies lost this last game. But I think but for Giteau’s kicking, Australia could have won in Auckland this year and in Sydney. Australia should have won in Brisbane last year, when the Aussie forwards played awesome, but Giteau’s kicking let them down again.

I used to love Giteau when he played at 12, but as a friend once said to me, “He’s the kind of player you don’t notice at 12, but then he has little moments that break the game open.” In other words, Giteau doesn’t command the inside centre position, but he can still be a gamebreaker if only for a few moments in the match. I don’t think Giteau should be inside centre.

He’s just a tremendously talented player that doesn’t seem to fit anywhere in a backline. Too much of an individualist in my opinion. He’s not really a constructive-type player. It was nice seeing him attack the line in this last game, but he went for glory too often and the All Black defence was up to it.

The crazy kamikaze idea of one off running flat out into a wall of Men in Black may have been gutsy but it was just plain dumb IMHO, especially as it didn’t appear to have a snow ball’s chance in hell. Yet we just kept on doing. As if….

When we actually hung onto the ball we appeared to find gaps……….or maybe the All Blacks had shut up shop by then, it’s hard to tell.

Tell you what though, I’d like to start a petition for box kick to be banned by our blokes. I’ve yet to actually see the point to them. I mean we already had possession, so our box kick anyways, just either hands it back or else gives us a slight chance of regaining possession. Surely there’s better ways of using the pill?

They bascially dominated us for for the whole of the second-half with 14 men.

I must add, Vainikolo (I believe) butchered a certain try, it was hilarious.

Some think it’s an average AB side but they look pretty good to me. And they are only going to get better.
They’ll win the next World Cup under ‘a tight hold’ in racing parlance.

This won’t be the last loss on this tour.

I noticed that too.

Instead I’d like to try and remain positive, somewhat. Got to say that I was much happier with their efforts at the breakdown. It’s not great but it’s much better. Far more aggressive BUT still very, very slow ball compared to what the AB’s were receiving. The AB’s seem masters at slowing down opposition ball. If the ref isn’t pinging them then why aren’t our blokes reciprocating?

Must agree with Frank O’Keeffe – If ever there was a moment that changed the game it was Pocock getting pinged for not entering through the gate. The replay not only showed that he was fine (and that the AB was holding on) but also showed that Lawrence was Johnny on the spot. It was right under his nose.

Still trying to remain positive here, considering our blokes had no comp below S14 to help get themselves ready, the boys didn’t do all that bad. It may well be that they start to build from here, go to Europe and actually put in some pretty good performances.

Lineouts and handling errors will need to be fixed before England

So where did we go wrong yet again? Here’s a headline………you can’t drop the ball as many times as the Wannabe’s did near the try line and expect to win the game. I don’t care about missed tackles, line breaks, time in possession etc etc………you’re never going to beat the all blacks if you drop the ball that many times attacking the EnZedders line. End of story.

The EZ’s are so clinical in their approach that they know all they have to do is make 5 or 6 tackles and the Wannabe’s will cough up the pill. Elsom set the tone for the whole match and did little else really. Where were his great bullocking runs? Even Palu made some….

The EZ’s with Carter and McCaw on board are a fairly useful outfit. The team knows they will have huge games against the Wannabe’s….so all they really need is for a couple of others to put in a cameo or two and they’re home and hosed…..simple as that. The Wannabe’s can only hope the EZ’s have a rough day at the office and then hope they have a blinder themselves. But everyone knows……hope is not a plan!

Why does it always seem we’re saying “so where to from here?” after every game recently? OK lets have yet another crack at this perplexing question. I can’t stand it when people say that we don’t have the cattle right now. That’s cr*p. We have the cattle……they just need to be herded in the right direction. This is what you have a coach for. The coach’s accept all the accolades when they win (note Henry’s big sh*t eating grin at the end of the match) so they must take the responsibility when they lose. Dingo must find a way or get off the pot.

I thought that Palu and AAC were powerful, that Hore and Thomson were busy, that Jane and Muliaina looked inventive and dynamic and that McCaw played well as a leader. Some of what Carter did was astonishing. Giteau is occasionally very incisive and penetrative. Morne Steyn kicks excellently. Carter does everything. He has speed, tactical appreciation, awareness, time on the ball. He is a joy to watch. Conversely, Rodney So’oialo is not a joy to watch. He is a liability, as was Sivivatu today. He can’t kick, struggles to pass and lacks concentration. What is happening with the NZ coaching?

I felt the refereeing was very unimpressive with some very arbitrary scrum calls and seemingly missing various off sides. The ‘try’ was never a try and I can’t believe that Lawrence gave it without proper correspondence with the video ref.