If I have to watch another game that the Wallabies are expected to win comfortably and they blow it, I may give up completely.
How arrogant can you get? You get it into your mind that all you have to do is do some flashy stuff and you will win the game.
Nothing gets given to you in rugby. What goes through the mind of Wallaby players that they are so ‘up’ for it and confident that they can sleep through 80 mins and expect to come out the end with a win?
Over 30 years of watching the Wallabies I have seen some shockers, but the lack of commitment in tonight’s game against a very plucky Irish team – that had nothing in the bag apart from guts – showed the Wallabies how to win in a tight, messy, referee dominated game.
Robbie Deans has his burden to carry in this loss as well. His control of his bench was as close to useless as it could possibly be.
His inability to lift this team from the start for a crucial game cost us dearly.
The rest is down to the players themselves.
Sepoke Kepu should have been pulled off after 30 mins. He played gutless football and committed to almost no breakdowns (although he won one turnover) in one of the worst prop performances I have seen in a while.
The other forwards put two players into the breakdown and although they were being murdered there, the rest apart from Vickerman and Tatafu did littl, apart from hang back waiting for a note from God about how much they were going to win by.
The referee got suckered into penalties by an Irish front row that pulled down our bunch of pretenders then played the Irish fiddle which Bryce Lawrence danced to.
This was not the worst refereeing performance I have seen and we we gave Bryce Lawrence many opportunities to exercise his whistle.
In the final analysis we did our self in in this game, our exaggerated belief in being able to win without a plan got us again. Is it arrogance? Or just poor coaching and leadership.
I am wondering when we will learn some level of humility? Maybe tonight during the misery of an after game beer – or we will convince our selves we just had an off night and all will be well?
jeremy
Guest
What's the Lote wink reference?
stillmissit
Roar Guru
Pothale - A little piece of stupidity for you:- Oh! to be in Ireland now the autumn's there The rain is belting down, the trees are getting bare Their rugby team is playing hard as that is what they do The Wallabies in springtime are lambs for an Irish stew
stillmissit
Roar Guru
Julian - unfortunately excessive Hubris does not bring on its counterpart Humility in this Wallaby team.
stillmissit
Roar Guru
Yes good point Pothale - and you are most probably right. Still in the world of southern hemisphere rugby a team that controls possession, defends well and relies on kicking to win the game has little in the bag. Having said that your coach read the Wallaby psyche perfectly. The Wallabies have no guts for the breakdown consistently and the old adage "win the breakdown, win the game" brought the Irish home strongly.
ThelmaWrites
Guest
Hi Pot Hale! Gordon Hamilton strikes back! :-)
ray ray
Guest
From an AB fans perspective hyperbole seems to be the accepted norm following any loss. Kudos to Ireland - well played The Wallabies demise has been eloquently outlined in the previous posts...as such there is little too add of any consequence. Still...better to lose a pool game than a quarter or semi. If the Wallabies are forced to face SA and the AB's to get to the final there should be no fears as they have dispatched of both already this season. As an advocate of free flowing rugby the Wallabies demise is cause for concern as the likes of Ireland play a particularly "ugly" style of rugby. However being a long suffering ABs supporter at World Cups, there is nothing "uglier" than losing! I look forward to your inevitable resurgence... and some interesting weeks ahead.
julian
Guest
Vanity thy name is Quade.... Kurtley... James... and, unfortunately, the list goes on. Personally i hope they don't learn their lesson... 'til after the cup. I used to admire the Wallabies. But it is hard to see them for all their ego... someone should pull them aside and point out they haven't done anything of note lately... and remind them of who has taken their pants off for them this year.... Scotland, Samoa, and now Ireland.... also point out theirrecent win loss ration with the All Blacks. All the talk within their ranks that they are ready to beat the world sounds to me like.... a whole lot of Quade's fantasies..... Hubris thy name is Wallaby.
Derm
Roar Guru
"the lack of commitment in tonight’s game against a very plucky Irish team – that had nothing in the bag apart from guts – showed the Wallabies how to win in a tight, messy, referee dominated game." "The referee got suckered into penalties by an Irish front row that pulled down our bunch of pretenders then played the Irish fiddle which Bryce Lawrence danced to." Are you sure there weren't any leprechauns with pots of gold in the scrum as well, stillmissit? :) I suspect that "a very plucky Irish team – that had nothing in the bag apart from guts" was the depth of Australia's thinking before and during the match.
stillmissit
Roar Guru
Thelma - you are right on the money. Can't imagine who would be stupid enough to deny it, your points are VERY VALID. Maybe they haven't watched much Australian rugby and don't know the pain we go through every time something like this happens, and it does regularly. A sports psychologist is exactly what they need but I doubt they would even listen to them. We have too much of the twitter and too little of the vulture about us. We talk a tough game and if the team all believe it will be a hard game ie Brisbane, then they may get up for it, unless it is the AB's in NZ then they talk how they are REALLY up for it and call for an early taxi out of there. It strikes me that the Wallabies prefer their own ideas about what to do on a rugby pitch and have too little respect for anyone else to tell them what to do. The Irish on the other hand took their coaches simple game plan and stuck to it limpet like. The harder the game got the more flash we tried to introduce, nobody wanted to enter the hard stuff at the breakdown. They entered a dream state where they believed a couple of pushed passes and a piece of magic and they could be back at the hotel for a few beers then onto their Twitter account about how easy it was. This lack of humility and guts has been driving me mad for the last 10 years. (PS the title was changed - and it is a bit odd)
ThelmaWrites
Guest
“Where is THEIR psychiatrist?” is probably more apt, StillMissIt. “The Aussies are soft”, wrote OJ last year. They need mental hardening. If Sam Stosur does not find it beneath her to talk to a mentor at the Australian Institute of Sports, why should the Wallabies? I’ve been “shouted down” on The Roar every time I’ve suggested that the ARU co-opt AIS sports psychologists. Next! I’m suspicious of any team that bask in the lap of luxury before or during a World Cup. When I read that the All Blacks had gone to Nice after the pool games in RWC 1999, I knew they would lose. Caloundra is a better training place than the Gold Coast or Coogee Bay. The Wallabies should train at Caloundra at the height of a hurricane. They should train in lashing rain, wind and cold. Roarers probably think I’m fixated on SAS training at the Brecon Beacon Hills, but the Wallabies need to harden up. Stop thinking about themselves as being celebrities .Clear warning that they’re pampered beings. And the Wallaby supporters need to pitch in too. I knew Eden Park would be hostile to the Wallabies, and have begged on these pages for some singing, e.g. “We Still Call Australia Home’ Well, if indeed the Aussies don’t have a culture of singing, why not “We are Gold”? Too many syllables. Okay, how about just “Gold, Gold, Gold”! All these seem peripheral, but they contribute as much to success as conditioning,,technique, tactics, etc. Just now Wales has shown how aggression and intensity can win against better sides. It’s kinda late now, but I still have one trump card. FLY STEVE WAUGH TO NZ TO GIVE THE LADS A DRESSING DOWN! (Remember cricket world cup 1999? 120 not out.)
stillmissit
Roar Guru
Gobsmacking cros. It was like they thought the rubbish they dished up in the first half was good enough to win the game.
cros
Guest
Couldn't believe the Wallabies came out with the same rubbish in the 2nd half. Just lame, no ticker, same plan!
stillmissit
Roar Guru
Old school is the best school RedsNut. None of this:- you are all winners - everyone gets prizes - you can be whatever you dream you can be - you don't need to work hard just believe in yourself. All this and other baby boomer bullshit has developed a GO HARD, UNTIL IT GETS HARD, attitude in the young.
RedsNut
Guest
". Once again our scrum, with all the loosies looking for the hero moment instead of concentrating on the push and domination or at least a solid platform for the next phase" Absolutely agree. Far too many times all three in the back row were just standing there with their heads up looking for something, instead of pushing like they are supposed to do. Samo was probably the worst offender, as he is supposed to be keeping the second row intact. No. 8 used to be called the lock, because he is the one supposed to give the second row some stability.
stillmissit
Roar Guru
six o'clock - I agree with some of your comments certainly possession is everything and we didn't have quick possession for all of the game. The Irish obviously listened to their coaching staff and did exactly what they were told, in a backs against the wall situation. We went out on the pitch convinced that individually we could beat the Irish and we tried to do that. Chip kicks by Beale, kicking away good possession and running bad by the burgler, AAC refusing to pass, O'Connor strangely missing and the centres who did one dimensional drives up and tackled well. Still it is hard for these young backs to do their 'flashyness' behind the advantage line. I am sick to death of the Wallaby forwards leaving the breakdown to a couple of players whilst they stand in the D waiting for the big hit that never comes. I understand the idea of not over committing, but it is worse to under commit than to over.There is only ever one guy carrying the ball and with 13 players on 11 (assuming we committed 4 to the BD) there is very little room to create an over lap, I think the Kiwi's have come to understand this. All our worst aspects of the last 10 years were on show last night a gutless forward display and crap scrummaging. Backs who believed the media message, YOU ARE THE BEST IN THE WORLD. All confidence - no commitment. This game reminded me of the Lotte wink game against England in 2003 WC.
stillmissit
Roar Guru
If Deans cannot impress on these guys the 'rules' according to Deans then they must move over, even for a weaker player until their head comes right. These guys are living on their twitter feeds and not on reality.
sixo_clock
Roar Guru
The sooner the Wallabies learn what Rugby is about the better. The game is won by possession, is a fight(contest) for possession, and determined by possession. Anyone who has ever scored a point without possession please stand up now and take a bow, you are a unique and special individual. Now lets get personal. The backs are borderline useless, they are dreamers and poseurs. The sooner Kurtley is sent home the better. He doesn't run straight enough, in fact he runs away from his support, he thinks the chip kick is a winning move and is too individualistic. Quade has extraordinary skills which are wasted if he doesn't also take absolute pains in ensuring those daredevil no-look no-recipient passes go to hand. I think Ant is a great player-in-making, he is not ready for this level. We missed desperately Digby and AAC was stranded by the immature antics of the other backs. Drew has ensured his run-on position but he needs players to get him possession. Barnes' stability and smarts will get the best out of whomever Dingo experiments with next. On the other hand the forwards were borderline competent, but they must get the first try as they did in the first game to smarten up the backs. They need to ignore anything Genia says until they have bulldozed their first try as they did in the first game. Saying that however McCalman was missing in action and we need BamBam if we are going to have a sniff. Once again our scrum, with all the loosies looking for the hero moment instead of concentrating on the push and domination or at least a solid platform for the next phase, were part of the loss. Forwards are Rugby. They need to demonstrate to those who hang around Rugby players, ie: backs, what is what. This game was won because the Irish valued possession more than the Wallabies did. All manner of statistics will say we had this and that advantage but without the substructure we are pissing in the wind. It really is down to the boys now. Do they want it enough to fight for it or do they want to go home and watch the final on TV. We know what we want and what these boys are capable of doing and that gutless, mindless, directionless performance against Ireland sells everything the Australian Rugby public has paid for, worked for, and in actual fact deserve, short. They should be thoroughly ashamed of the tripe they delivered last night.
Krasnoff of Noosa
Guest
Another woeful demonstration against a dedicated but mediocre Ireland and a measure of our young, brittle side, but here’s a serve for the coaching staff. What’s the point of bringing on fresh legs in the last two minutes of the match when the game is lost? After ten minutes into the second half it was patently obvious that Kepu was struggling and Elsom was absent without leave for most of the game. Where were Higginbotham, Simmons and Palu? sitting on the bench with stunned expressions not unlike those of the coaching staff. By now it must be obvious that Deans is unable to curb the WOW kids desire to throw away possession by kicking uselessly. The Wallabies will never be champions until the team gets an intelligent but brutal motivator.