Wallabies still need to make a major improvement

Can't agree with the scathing criticism of Dean Mumm from some input. In modern day rugby if one is going to match man for man opponents of the springbok or AB caliber we need a range of skills. Whilst the Tahs pack went well in the set pieces with Mumm (and at test level once he didn't have Sharpie beside him, he also is mobile as shown in a game a year or so back scoring a try from over the 22. Not as quick as say Higginbotham (back row ,I know) but significantly better than most Wallaby 2nd rowers over the years. If the wallabies (as pretty much everyone agrees )are to keep possession in hand and run the opposition ragged, we need forwards with superior aerobic capability and pace to be first to breakdowns.The team should not be impatient if early breakthoughs don't materialize they will later as opponents tire. The tries will come,with sticking to a possession dominating game plan. I was away overseas during May ,and only just got to see the best tries section of the rd 14 . In the two games shown involving the Tahs and reds the great talents of both Lachie Turner and Hynes were very much to the fore. In particular Lachie's chip ahead ,regather and that that great wide cutout pass to the tryline hugging Mitchell are the srts of skills which should give him the edge over the other speedster Davies should in the future selectors comparisons be discussed. As for Hynes the positional savy, line running,swerve, ability to position his support,and both look for an time off-loads are superb . The big question in my mind is could he with less space than at F/B. achieve as much at O/C. If AAC stayed at F/B due to his ever improving abilities under the high ball,I would want Hynes somewhere where he was not just a finisher .O/C is the obvious spot , with probably Ionie on the left wing and Lachie on the right

Herein some interesing comments Budda 's team has some good and not so good. Like Chester I like the front row .In the first pom game Baxter was missing whilst Sharpe was present. The latter has been the common denominator over the last few years when the poms have anhialated our scrum.Maybe in times that Baxter was being thought the problem,it was Sharpies lack of power to weight or technique which was the issue. Wihen he lost his spot through injury the scrum improved. The choice (by Buddah) of Elsom in the lock position is something worth trialing. His hands (and co-ordination)somtimes are a bit lacking,more like a tiring lock .He and Dean Mumm may make a better 2nd row. This would leave room for higginbothom to join pocock and Hoiles to make up the back 3. with brown on the bench. Whilst Luke Burgess may have had some really good games and some not so,one could also say that Genia looked by his super14 standards pretty ordinary in his return performance. He was probably a fair way short of match fit.Let's see which one earns the spot in comming weeks!! No arguement with Quade Cooper,though I agree with the many who thought that we took the pressure off by kicking away too much ball into the hands of deep-set opponents. Believe this,that if they hand this possession to the T/N teams they will spend one hell of a lot of time on confidence sapping desperate defence and will have their opponents tails up. O'connor at I/c would be one hell of a gamble .O.K. he has a good step in attack etc but in defence they would walk through/around and over him.Stick with Gittoe or Barnes. Ionie Run hard makes breaks but better on the wing .His skills aren't linking ones .I wouldn't mind AAC or Horne Or even trial Turner (excellent game for Eastwood at O/C against Shute shield leaders on the W/E)or Hynes ,though possibly the latter my preferred F/B. Other wing to the best performing left over of the O/c's + Mitchell

He wasn't on the bench.

Storm in a teacup alright. Of course he's only there due to injury. As to whether he can play rugby union at this level, I suggest much better judges than you or I have indicated he can, that's why he had 3 starts off the bench. What a great opportunity for a young bloke to get!

And his other games too, - he did not leave me feeling confident. Especially with the loss of possessions in all three games (by resorting to over-stretched league style territory grabs) and other fundamental errors (if I can rely on my memory). He is a promising solid lad, that is true but the test is whether he can play Rugby Union at this level and I have my doubts, still underdone - but he is only getting a run because of our sick bay so really a storm in a teacup.

Hey Pete, Did you watch the same game. Kicking in that situation was a joke. It's not AFL. He was 5 meters from the line, why didn't he score himself. "'The grubber was the flashy option? " Scoring the try was the flashy option!

'A forgettable impact'! 'places no value on possession'! 'poor coaching when he was starting out'! As I said in an earlier post, 99.9% of roarers have little idea of selection and coaching at this level. You obviously don't know his background and are making these judgements on one ball carry. Deans, who I suspect has considerably more experience with these things than your good self, was well pleased with his performance. A 21 YO in the front row coming off the bench. What a great effort and his performance was admirable. He certainly isn't a 'club stalwart'. In fact, he's only had a few games for his club, which is par for the course at this level. What great depth we are building at the moment. Let's hope it comes to fruition next year.

South Africa no, NZ no, Wales no Gits is out of form

On Par.... Rubish, The reason the ABs had those penalty chances is that Wales were under constant pressure. It was a comfortable win. Lets not forget that the Maori team took England and Ireland as well. The AB forwards were pretty awesome at times the continuity in the backs just wasn't there. Wales were a good side as well that pushed the a good Boks team a few weeks ago. The ABs will be disappointed with this match especially after the week before but Aus are yet to fire. They seem a bit lost and playing as individuals.

Sorry. Slipper, I forgive myself though, he had a forgettable impact. Don't want to be hard on youngsters but if they place no value on possession then they are never will be representative level players. That comes from poor coaching when he was starting out so not his fault unless he persists.

To clarify, Tana Umaga was out injured for the majority of the World Cup and was completely under done. He was lucky to have a position on the bench.

Well said johnny boy! It seriously is frustrating because we are capable of playing some good rugby which will bring the crowds back to rugby. The rubbish being produced is enough to turn away anyone however!

An another thing - it's very rarely the referees fault but that was the worst refereering display I have ever seen in 40 years plus, for both sides.

There is something seriously wrong with this team. Seriously wrong. How can they play so well, showing oodles of potential one week, then play so appalling the last 2 games. Their play is just downright embarrassing it is so amateurish. There is no structure, no rhythm, no concerted purpose. It's just depressing and there must be lots of supporters feeling the same. Having said that, the All Blacks mostly play nowhere near their potential except every now and then they pull one out of the bag (usually in France funnily enough) and imo it's when the players have finally had an overload gutful of the psycho and techno babble (or riddles as someone put it) from the coaches and just get together and think bugger it let's just have a go. A couple of red lights for Australia coming out of the Ireland game are this. Jim Williams is a useless forwards coach. Maybe he tells them to do the right things to do but the forwards still don’t do it. It's still Jim Williams' fault because he's obviously not getting his message across. They aint listening, or they are and it's the wrong message. Like don’t bother counter rucking or hang off rucks and let the opposition counter ruck us. They are a disgrace really and Jim Williams should hang his head in shame and resign. He's had long enough. He's useless. Doing pre match interviews while kicking the ball around the field with 'the boys' - shows he and Graham (and Deans flogging vitamins) are more interested in being celebrities than serious coaches. It's interesting to see how others perceive performances completely differently. Some say Rocky had a great game but I watched him a bit more closely than usual because I've assumed previously that because of his reputation and that he's the captain that he'd be digging in somewhere. I thought his seagulling off the side of the ruck was a sickening lack of commitment by a captain. You'd never see McCaw or Smit just swanning to the side waiting for the opportunity to do a flashy run while his teammates are getting smashed. Sickening. Talk about leading from the rear. Robbie Deans is clearly not an international standard coach. He's had more than long enough to develop some sort of team ethos or go forward that Australian supporters could be proud of or look forward to. He hasn’t. It's a shambles. I'm sick and tired of this excuse used by second rate coaches that oh, we are going c... because we are building for the World Cup. As a fervent supporter I've had a gutful of being told we have to put with second rate (no third or 4th) rate performances because .... drum roll - we are still building for the next world cup. It's become a clever con to enable these snake oil salesman to collect their lucrative salaries achieving sweet b.... all. Deans your time is up. Next time the Wallabies embarrass the Australian rugby public, have some balls and stand in front of the tv camera and say 'well i've tried and tried to get the wallabies to play better but I cant - I'm just not up to this job - I might as well quit and give an Aussie a go'. But he won't, he 's too interested in just going thru the motions and excuses and greedily looking for more moola in his spare time. With his team playing such rubbish you'd question why he has spare time !. Disgraceful selfishness. It's not just poor. It's a disgrace. I can't take the b...... anymore. There is no discernable improvement in the Wallabies since Deans took over. Look at the record. Even Eddie Jones would be better at this stage and Eddie was worse than useless and had completely lost it in the latter years. Deans apparently took up coaching after being impressed by Brockhoff's ? concern for him post match after injury. Deans gratitude seems to be to complete screw Australian rugby. I have always had begrudging respect for John O'Neill. Love him or hate him, he gets result. Correction, he used to get results. Deans appointment is turning in to one almighty cock up. O'Neills luck has run out. He can fix it by doing something or he can just sit back giving his favourite son his undying support (probably) and have his reputation go down the gurgler with Deans. In the meantime Australian rugby goes backwards as the supporters turn off after being insulted time after time by the rubbish being dished up by the Wallabies. Personally I think the Wallabies do have good enough players, they just aren't playing, save a few like Pocock and Cooper who can obviously rise above crap coaching, to their infinite credit. A great coach can make a team of ordinary players perform great - the sum of the parts being greater than the parts. A second rate coach can be made to look good by great players and Deans is the worlds prime example and imposter. Australia has rarely, if ever had the best set of players on paper but they sure has hell have had the most enterprise. Cooper's shimmy to score was downright memorable. A joy. And I like the fact O'Connor and AAC and Beale have a go (tho for c.... sake why kick it beale ?). It's the Australian way, as the Socceroos belatedly discovered. But what I want to know is, after the 1st England game, where fast service and having a go worked so brilliantly, who was the b..... idiot who told them to stop doing it !. Why why why was Genia stopping and standing over the ruck so the other teams can get their defence set and why why why did Burgess suddenly decide it was a good idea to do the same in the next game . Who is the moron putting these ideas in to their head that it is a good strategy ? Put your b..... hand up. Come on Deans, Williams whose idea was it ? I want to know because somebody is poisoning this team. And if wasn’t Deans, or Williams or Graham, then why the hell is the message not getting thru to the players to not do it ! Because you don’t have their respect and they are not listening so step aside so we can get someone they do ! And who is telling them that up and unders that you dont really have to bother to chase are the way to go instead or having a go. I want to know whose idea this is because it doesnt b.... work ! Why would you do it when not doing it and having a go worked so brilliantly against England in the first. Supporters need answers and now because the Wallabies have become a joke of a team !

Your'e not a closet Bok lover Hansie trying to infiltrate the Wallaby mindset? Henry and Co showed on Saturday night against the Welsh a tactical mind set which was not looking towards the TN as when the game was comfortable at 19-3 instead of going to the lineout on penalt oppurtunties they went for three points. I'm sorry byt when you are a couple of weeks out from playing the Boks shouldn't the lineout option be pushed and pushed? Bad move, bad tactics. At least Deans stands by his decisions and talks 'almost' openely rather than the cloak and dagger stuff from Hansen and Henry, Smith though is rather upfront.

On par? I think you're giving the Wallabies performances a bit much credit there. That was the AB's worst performance of their last 3 tests and I'd put it on par with the Wallabies best (the first test against England).

The Irish put four tries on the All Blacks with fourteen men and their scrum did pretty well with seven men so Rabbitz the doomsday predictions are well off the mark. There was only one standout performance in the Tri Nations and that was the All Black first test against Wales. If anything the Wallabies played better opposition in England and a full strength Irish side so those tests would have helped the guys realize what they need to aim for come the TN. It will be a very close affair come the TN and can see the referees deciding some of these games if Kaplan's performance on saturday night is anything to go by, not sure if it is me but he seems to have lost the feel for the game and become to black and white on the rules.

Harry I went to the Welsh v AB game in Hamilton and being an impartial supporter, just wanting to see good rugby was taken aback ofhow vocal the Welsh supporters were and they added much needed life into the atmosphere. I was sitting with a very large group of BOP supporters, naturally AB suporters and come 10 minutes into the first half I had them questioning the AB tactics for going for penalties instead of taking the lineout options and when they chose that option they were booed. When the Welsh scored their try they were rewarded with AB fans cheering them and to be honest aside from Corey Jane's try that was the highlight of the night. The attitude of the AB crowd suprised me as did the tactics from the AB coaches but it does show that the ABs have a hard ask to please the faithful and the performance they showed on Saturday wouldn't have the Boks too nervous. On par with the Wallabies.

No-one pothale, absolutely no-one, except himself

"Despite being hit hard by injuries, which have claimed eight of their first-choice players, tireless flanker Elsom wasn’t satisfied with the two-try shutout in their last Test before the Tri-Nations." This disclaimer is being used - and it shouldn't be. Ireland were dismal yesterday. The worst they have played in at least two years. Simply stating that Aus was missing eight first-choice players ignores that Ireland were missing the likes of O'Connell, Ferris, Heaslip, Wallace, McLaughlin, Muldoon, Flannery, Best, Fitzgerald, Earls, McFadden and Cullen, all of whom would either have been in the starting 15 or likely ahead of those selected in the full 22 squad. "I think when we played Ireland last year we played a hell of a lot better and came away with a (20-all) draw so we have to be pleased about that.” said Elsom. Who's he kidding?