Is Meyer foxing the vulnerable Wallaby?

thanks etienne! Yes agree re 72', I saw the same from FM side. As I mentioned he was over extended. My only 'key' feedback: - The big issue and collapse was on the other side. Between Heike Lood Oupa(?) vs Holmes Simmons Fardy. - FM struggled but did not capiltulate - The cause? From what I notice the pressure from WB second row was too great, in particular the locks Also 73', WB applied pressure. FM help up, and scrum was balanced. The Ref ordered Poey to cycle the scrum. At that point, flankers were ready to break away to the midfield. Except the SB flankers were backfooted. A small reward for pressure

...and my last contribution: 72’ Again, frame by frame shows that at 72’09’’ FM’s right knee is already on the ground. Just that is already worth a penalty against him. Anyhow, he regains his footing. Soon after, you can see his right foot move backwards by about 15 inches; this is too big a movement though and he loses his lateral counter-shove ability. All of Sio’s power is now being transferred through FM right leg and into the ground. FM tries manfully, but something has to give; either the grass under his right foot, or his leg. If you watch this part of the sequence in normal speed, you will actually see that right leg quivering feverishly as his foot looks set to slip. FL sees this too, and tries to lend support to the leg, but it is too late. I am not sure what the initial cause was, but I suspect it was a binding issue again. At 72’07”, unfortunately, that damn Owens is in the way again, so the detail is obscured (we really need to remind these referees that the game is not about them, and that they need to develop a better appreciation for camera PoV angles) ;-)

Hi RobC, tried to place comment within the thread as reply to yout last comment, but it seems not to want it there. This in addition to my comments above, and (sort of) in answer to your analysis: 70’ If you watch it frame for frame, you will see that at the moment that the referee gives the “bind” command, FM places his right hand on top of the yellow patch of Sio’s left shoulder, but his grip slips just as Sio shoves forward. FM now has to readjust to get a proper grip – but it is too late. FM tries to rectify his body position by extending his right leg, but his foot slips and he cannot get the required foothold to anchor his counter shove. Sio is now perfectly placed, square and with his power ready to be transferred laterally into FM’s lower neck and upper chest area. FM can only move backwards from here, since his right leg, which is hyper-extended, can provide no forward power. FL realises what is happening and momentarily attempts to provide stability to FM’s flailing right leg. But they are at such a disadvantage now that there is no way out. Hooper, also notices the problem and he times his concentrated shoulder shove onto Sio backside perfectly, as a force multiplier (He is able to do this, as a result of the locks’ perfect alignment, as you make mention of). This one was lost the moment FM’s grip on Sio’s shoulder slips. It was a timing and concentration issue. The rest of this sequence, ending with the a drive-back on Burger is all as a result of that slip. Since we are really discussing front row performance in this thread, I am not going to go into the merits of Burger’s defensive move, safe to say that he had very few options there. A good scrum is always going to constrain and contract the space behind the scrum for the team moving backwards, which increases the attacking opportunities for the team moving forward into that space. This was a text-book scrum counter attack and highlights very well the centrality of the tighthead prop position in the game that we love so much. Flankers steadying and providing directional stability to the prop’s leg(s) is a common thing, both on TH and LH sides. All of our flanks, including big Alberts does it, so it is not related to a weight deficit in smaller flankers (as someone suggested elsewhere). I see the ABs, England and Wales do it as well. A clever flank, that has a good feel for the immediate dynamics as they unfold, is usually best positioned to apply counterweight timeously. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not.

Hi etienne, thanks! Look forward to your thoughts. Would appreciate your analysis before I start wrapping the video for the scrumma-mogrammers to have a look at.

TM In regards to Ellis, Mate, I think that you will find that he's only there till Kerr - Barlow, starts hitting his straps, as he showed in last weekend's Ba ba V NZ Maori encounter, that he isn't very far off.

ck Another thing on BB - it was concerning to see he had relinquished his kicking duties for the Canes in the SR finals....is his injury still a concern for him and how will that impact when he's on the paddock for the ABs?? We always talk about DC being injury prone but DC's performances to date, are showing him building confidence with each match in the No 10 role. I for one, am relieved that Hansen has decided to let him rest after the bruising encounters against Samoa and the Pumas. Fingers x-ed that Sopa gets the start this weekend, for the sole purpose of observing how he handles the pressure of test rugby in perhaps, the biggest cauldron that any debutant can imagine....what a way to prove oneself, aye?? Personally, I reckon he will go bloody well and his kicking boots will just blow the game apart.

Hi RobC, perhaps you misunderstood, or I did not expalin mself properly: when I wrote "Penalty scrum, in 73", I was merely indentifying the 73rd min scrum as one that came from a penalty which was declined by Moore, in favour of a scrum, therefore "penalty scrum". I was not implying that a penalty should hace resulted from the 73rd min scrum. I will review the footage for the others again (soon) just to clarify for myself (and maybe make a comment...or two) ;-) Thank you for the constructive comment, and a different viewpoint.

Not at all, Harry. Rugby is a compex game and it is nigh impossible to take in all the thousand of different elements on a single (particularly the first passion-filled) viewing. I know of dozens of times where I thought I saw a particular game, only later on to realise that the game that I thought I saw, was not played anywhere in this universe. Even happened a couple of times at the stadium (Newlands, in particular - probably because of the extremely partisan crowd). You might have noticed that RobC has given his own (and, in places, different) narrative of how things happened below; he knows his stuff, so I am going to check it out again tomorrow, to try and see where my own eyes might have deceived me. I have sympathy for referees, and hence, I tend to be soft on criticising them, unless it is for really blatant stuff. If on two or three viewings, under zero pressure, we still get things wrong, how can we expect (and insist) that they must get it perfect? I know you don't, but sometimes we all forget ourselves a little.

An enlightened, broadminded, outside the square approach might be more beneficial to the present SB game as compared to the present situation. In my humble opinion of course.

Agree with Pienaar, sure the most overrated from the NH, Ulster fans swear by him but he keeps turning out poorly. The thing with these players is how much does the NH season and timing allow these players to be at peak for tests? Giteau was average as was Hababa, not his usual spark. Just think if you load them up when they're not at peak the SH guys will be carrying them, a sure recipe for disaster.

I don't really agree with Barrett. The others were for a long time world class in their position where Barrett has had several chances at 10 and has found wanting. I think we've seen enough to know he's never going to nail down the 10 position for the ABs. Ellis and the SXV semi he was found wanting. You should really re watch that Ellis effort CK and watch how many times Barrett just takes the ball standing and shovels if on with no effort to run the line, vary it up etc. one of the most frustrating performances from an AB 10 I've ever seen. Plus he got beaten by Pollard twice. He was just out of sync with the position and requirements of it. Sure he's had good ones but he remains a better sub. I also agree DC is. Huge injury risk, but even then I wouldn't go to Barrett. Sapoaga deserves a shot I agree. He should start this weekend in fact.

etienne, the vid will show: 73' is not a penalty. the SB scrum was good enough to hold out WB. FM is angled in by Sio, a little extended but holds his pod up, well. The Ref orders Poey to clear. 72' the collapse is Heinke's side vs Holmes (angling in). FM was a bit extended, but he was fine. - That is why Owen moves to the other side for 73' - He got pushed back then the scrum folded towards his side from Heinke's side - Also Flo fiddles with FM's knee / leg. That is bad. bad. not good. at all - SB four 2nd rowers were in disarray - On the other side the WB 2nd rowers including flankers were perfectly aligned and perfectly shaped. Mario or Topo or Stiles would be proud. This was key, not Hoops 70' This is an issue of Schalk's poor scrum exit: - Schalk didnt pass to WLR nor Pollard, who were ready to clear - The big diff is Phipps is harrasing Reinach, as he knew Schalk was going to clear it FAST - The ball was and out in a jiffy, just like the WB scrum at 14' - He moved to the open side, instead of staying behind the scrumbase. I think Hoops surprised him. btw Hooper was indeed unbound, except for his finger tips. But its a reward for a good scrum. re the 70' scrum - again Flo fiddles with FM leg, knee. Is the new thing? Poey did it once vs Stormers behind Sio (got punished by the Stormers) - WBs were pushing through just as SB were pushing thru the WBsat 14' - WB 2nd rowers were perfectly, powerfully lined up. Beautiful. Lood may have still have bad memories of Holmes Kev Simmons splitting his Cheetahs scrum clean in half, like a katana. Slips had already left the paddock 10' earlier.

Etienne, I went back to watch the footage as you described, and I stand corrected. Malherbe did present a strong right shoulder on two engagements, but did lose it on a couple of others as you say. Sorry! He was part of the problem, for sure. I was wrong.

You South African Bokke hardcore fans are totally crazy, i love it. The Boks will be hard to beat when all their experienced players are back. I would pick Lambie at FB, Frans Steyn at 10, and have Willie and Habana on the wings. And Allende and Kriel in the mid-field. Please get rid of Ruan and bring Houggard back. Surely thats close to the best Bokke backline? Go the All Blacks!

Connor, this is the most sensible comment I've read thus far on this page.

OB and TM Just as Woodcock, Mealamu, and Dagg were given the opportunity to prove their critics wrong (me) and fail or succeed, Barrett deserves the same opportunity. And the scary reality is that Carter is a injury risk and there is the real possibility, of him being invalided out of the tournament and Barrett being needed to start.

Taylorman, very few of the players that have been called up from playing in the NH have made it at Test level for the Boks. Louw and Habana are exceptions. But the list of players tested is pretty long and includes, Andre Snyman,Butch James, Bakkies, Juan Smith, Fourie du Preez, Ruan Pienaar, Gurthro Steenkamp, Morne Steyn, Frans Steyn. JdV and Percy Montgomery were also called up while they played in NH, but only regained form after moving back to SA. So, I'd so players making a successful return to test rugby after going north are by far the minority. On Saturday's evidence its difficult to say if Giteau will be able to keep pace with test rugby. But I expect he'll be given another chance.

But not an excuse.Well played Wallabies.

The substitution did not work because of the combination.ie Malherbe,Strauss,Heinke

For me the obviously concious decision to start kicking all ball away and go into total defence mode is the biggest issue. Props getting scrummed, break down subtleties are skills. But the sudden and obvious change in game plan was incredible to witness. And I can only assume Meyer gave the order? Or was that an on field call? Either way it should be clear this is not the way to play rugby and not the way to win a game!