When are we going to lose the box kick?

If you said so, but Montero and Fekitoa left him flat on the ground. Some players in green shirts also send their regards. He is a good player, but at this level you must tackle.

it is convenient to criticse a box kick that gets an appreciative audience straight away. I watched the game live an also have had the advantage of a replay. With regards to single thing being the cause of the defeat the following was my summary of the second half 48' grubbed kick by Aus at halfway charged down, Aus recovery inside own half 51' grubbed kick down right sideline, NZ kick return Aus penalised at breakdown NZ convert 22-15 54' cross field kick to unmarked winger kick short taken by NZ 55' dropped intercept 56' White forces penalty at scrum Foley converts Aus 25-15 58' yellow card NZ 59' Aus penalised on attack near NZ 22 coming in on side 60' Hodgson wins penalty 61' Aus lose line out on attack 62' knock on by NZ 65' Foley makes break knock on with try line beckoning 66' turnover to Aus on attack poor pass ball kicked down into Aus 22 66' first time Aus inside 22 in this half ball pased back and kicked out just outside 22 lineout NZ 68' quick tap not taken within 5m of the original offence without defence able to set NZ try to Smith 72' Hooper wins penalty 73 White taken high no penalty 73' White box kicks on halfway NZ return kick Aus lineout win penalty just NZ half White converts from long range Aus 28 - 22 NZ kick off Aus try to hang onto ball in own half pick and drive 77 Aus penalised NZ miss touch 78' Aus turn ball over, poor pass from NZ White dives on ball wins back possession 78' White drives ball deep into touch, not a box kick 80' missed tackle NZ score Now from all of that if you wish you can say one thing cost Australia the game but I am not going to denigrate any of the 23 that played so courageously on Saturday night and I won't choose any one single thing to blame for losing because from the list above ther were a number of key moments. Can we do better I hope so, did we make mistakes, yes we did. Did they try their guts out, yes they did.

White panicked and kicked away the game. I was nervous when he came on as he is a serial kicker. Phipps was fantastic, why take him off ? Genia should have been in the squad to come on. Back to that kick, it was poorly planned in any case. He had very little angle and therefor little distance. If he worked the play to his left a few phases he would have given himself a much better chance at a decent clearance and away from danger. I would have have had TK and Izzy hitting it up off the fringes. Keep the ball in hand.

I haven't mentioned Foley - that was Rugby Tragic. And looking at how the ABs played pouring into the breakdown after the White penalty kick is the clue - they were attacking with their defense - that is what the Wallabies needed to do. How hard was it to hold the ball for 1 minute and 14 seconds? Hard. The Wallabies lost it quicker than that to the ABs who got a penalty, they only got it back because they missed the kick for touch.

RedKev Foley's miss was a two on one. Have another look. Gatesey's second paragraph is unarguable, (though as earlier observed it looked like Joubert was getting excessively lenient with the AB's at the break down.)

Don't blame Deans. The Ab's were doing it with most of the super 15 teams of the time. Thank god for Cheika!

You didn't see him regather?...............weren't watching? Did you just watch a highlights reel? Your bagging the bloke who got a try and kicked all but one of the goals in a game which we should have won. What's your problem?

Yes he does.

Lack of leadership? He made the calls and I disagreed with the first, but that's leadership. Who should be, or should have been, captain. Remember when you choose they must be a certainty for selection every game. So...............WHO?

What on earth do you think the captain can do in such a situation? Which captain are you using as a benchmark when the team had so few options to replace Moore that McKenzie (note) chose the then 22yo Hooper to lead the team. It was obviously McKenzie's belief that Hooper was mentally strong enough despite his youth that it wouldn't affect his play. Actually in this respect Hooper has been exceptional. I cannot understand the criticism of Hooper who is one of our world class players, when he was the last man standing and has continued to lead from the front in EVERY game

Well that was Stephen Donalds exact thinking in Hong Kong, with 20 seconds to go to hoof the ball down field. He did, it went 50 meters downfield, and the W's scored a try and converted from it so perhaps be sure of what you ask for?

absolutely. no one player can ever be above the team. maybe the wallabies should adopt the all blacks rule of "no dickheads". seems to work. if a player messes up he rarely does it again (with a few exceptions) because he knows the team wont stand for it and he will be shown the door.

100% agree Red Kev, the ball should have been hoofed downfield big time. The Wallabies were being dominated at that time, in complete reverse to earlier in the game when the back row had the wood over the AB back row at the breakdown. Anyhow one person alone did not cost the Wallabies that match, if one thinks so then might as well blame Foley for missing taking down Fekitoa in that last play on a one to one. It was a match that the Wallabies should have won with a bit better on field management. Remember Hooper also turned down the opportunity to take easy points in the first half too .. that was a bit dumb imo.

Hooper!Hooper. .the answer is the decision making is a vacuum. Hooper showed NIL leadership to close out the game. Horwill stood back because he is not encouraged by the Prince to add smarts as that would pull the rug under from his authority . Hot head White impulsively steps up into the vacuum.The game is lost. Every action needs leadership and as much as I respect Link as a decent man he allowed this intellectual void to spiral inwards and the result of last Saturday night should gave been a triumph but was a culmination of every warning light that ever flashed, that you can't put an old head on young shoulders and two heads are better than one. Forget about comparing the skill of Hooper to McCaw , compare the leadership, the intellect. Forget about cutting Hooper some slack . He may be like Churchill and achieve greatness second time around, but for now the captaincy needs to go to a Leilifano, a Toomua , a Hodgson or a Genia . In cricket. Australia and England always selected the best leader possible regardless if he was scoring runs or getting Wickets.Tubby Taylor was a good captain who provided continuity and leadership, but for many games was not the best batsman. Do we never learn?

Gatesy this is a terrible article. The Wallabies lost due to very poor game management when kicking intelligently would have won them the game. At 77 minutes the Wallabies had the ball and were near the 40m line (I can't recall exact position or time because I don't have a replay recorded but that is about it). The time was then to kick deep and long and chase hard. Instead the Wallabies followed the poor thought process of you and many others and thought "how hard is it to hold onto possession until the end of the match". And they lost. The All Blacks were ferocious in defence driving the Wallabies back in tackles and flooding the breakdown - as anyone with half a brain could tell you they were going to do. The Wallabies were pedestrian in comparison. Having made the decision to close up shop and hold the ball they moved away from what had been working all game - punching the ball in the centres with Kuridrani or on the wing with Folau and then working the blind before punching back the other way. Instead they used one out runners standing flat footed and got pushed back to their own 22. Then Nick White executed a poor kick and we were off to the races. But the mistake happened minutes before that with the decision to try and hold the ball rather than go for the corner and play the game in the All Blacks half. The right option was a long kick, with a hard chase, followed by phases of a rushing defensive line and flooding for a turnover. They should have attacked with their defense to win the game. Instead they tried to defend with their attack while in possession and lost it.

. Great game but what a waste of opportunity. Genia should have been on the bench not White and that's if you even decided it was smart to take off Phipps. That quick try by Smith was schoolboy stuff. How many more times will a wallaby , as soon as the ref's arm go out close to the try line not track the ball and the opposition ball carrier to stop/control the quick tap.? Where was Leifano or Foley standing to take White's pass off the lineout and boot it 50m downfield ,if the decision was made to kick at all. 1 min of one off the ruck smash up is what was needed. Where was Horwill , ex Wallaby captain ,letting Hooper operate in a vacuum? What was Link doing allowing Hooper so much leash without a bit of use of the onfield think tank?? Only Adolf's decision to simultaneously take on Russia in Winter and Britain on in the West , is a poorer management decision.

All because you have reserves doesn't mean you need to use them. All because you are a reserve doesn't mean you are automatically going to get a cap. If a bloke is killing it - then don't replace him. Also, the box kick needs to be banned from Australian Rugby. It is an unfortunate legacy of the Deans era when it was the only attacking option of a really clueless team.

Watched Danny Care of Harlequins (and England) do about 8 box kicks playing Castres. At first thought sheer madness but then saw tCastres not too comfortable under high ball & Care's kicks were high and about 20-30 metres deep. Also Castres did not pose the threat as NZ did yesterday. Thanks NIck. S T

Oh hang on, I remember why I was confused. The article I was reading was talking about Gregan, Larkham and White - it was Gregan who went to Eddies.

I agree there were 4 options. My point is that I believe White reviewed each one and believed he had only 1 viable one and that was to kick it. I'd imagine that he would have preferred a deep kick however White didn't hustle (or communicate as you have said) his forwards to give him some room to get a deep kick in. Instead he really just cornered himself into making the Box Kick his only viable option. I don't think spinning it out was a good option. Thats just my opinion. I thought Foley was too flat and Folau was too far for White. White didn't do himself any favours with the Box Kick however I don't think its fair to lump the loss squarely onto that play..