Beale blunder costs Wallabies against Boks

The first ‘brain farc’ was Will Genia’s pass to Kurtley Beale when he had fullback Dane Haylett-Petty directly behind him in-goal. Beale compounded that error by cutting out Reese Hodge and throwing a long, soft floater in the direction of Michael Hooper. Try Springboks! Had Genia passed to Haylett-Petty, the ball would have been easily kicked to touch. Look at the replay over and over. Does it appear that the Wallabies were ever structured to play defense? Not so much. It looks far more like this was a something they'd cooked up in advance - for somewhere else on the pitch. They were set to run the ball and the Hodge cut-out was Beale’s off script mistake. This might have made sense as a last minute attempt to score a needed try, but…in the first minute of the match? Who coaches this rubbish.

Cheers guys, don't really follow the Japanese club rugby. I was always a fan of Barnes

It was good that coach Chieka addressed B.Foley's poor form and changed so they could see if K.Beale could fit in at 5/8th. Sadly Beale needs room to think and isn't the answer, after 2 games that was obvious. Cheika now has 3 options: (a) back to Foley - Beale and bring back the suspect #10-12 defence axis try (b) Foley - M.Toomua, a more dependable defence but you lose Beale's "X-factor" or (3) Toomua - Beale, this seems the best combo but has been used quite a fair bit in the last three games, as Beale moves to 2nd receiver on attack, without much success. I'm not promoting Q.Cooper's return but point to the massive difference of playing a real #10 with spark in his game (admittedly NRC level) to Beale's panicked game against the rush SA defence. I would take a look at the (b) option for this last match and Beale on the bench as #10/12 sub. Over the course of this RC I have suggested why T.Banks should be in the 23 in place of J.Maddocks. JM is too small and suspect in defence to be an international winger. I suggested he move to Canberra or Brisbane if he has any hopes of playing 5/8th in SR or internationals. Now just to totally get my head scratching, I read that Maddocks played in the SA match with a break in his hand, which only got worse once he was on the field and caused him to be replaced by Foley about the 62nd minute. WTF would you select a bloke with a break in his hand/thumb/finger when you have a faster and larger unit in the squad? Is T.Banks the next S.Higginbothem/L.Gill? Now onto the Piggies. The Cheika idea of running opposition off their feet with speedy forwards and fast reloads sounds wonderful, except other teams are mega fit and it's the WB forwards running out of gas. Watch the last 10 minutes of the SA game, every ruck had 3 Boks charging into the one tired WB trying to defend the ruck and watched by standing and exhausted WB players. "Michael mate, it's not working mate, ya need to change mate!". The back-row is a dog's breakfast, why not try what every other SUCCESSFUL international/SR team does; a big #8, a hard #6 and a tackle/ruck machine at #7 with 2 of these blokes good in the lineouts. Instead we get 2 wannabe wingers and one bloke covering all of their deficiencies. And what's with the NRL tactics of forwards charging one-up into packed defence lines ? Charge and ruck, charge and ruck! And it's not much different in the backs. Has anyone in the coaching group heard of backing-up and offloads ? Do the WB coaching group ever watch other sides such as AB vs Puma and take notes on how they defend and attack and what makes them different (and successful) to the WB? Or is the WB team near perfect as we hear after every loss; "she's right mate, we're improving mate, just play the Aussie way but better and the wins will come mate."

Imagine if Q.Cooper threw such an idiot pass, Coach Cheika would have hooked him immediately and stamped "Never to play WB again". What I don't get is K.Beale was passing to M.Hooper who even if he caught the ball was never going to outrun Aphiwe Dyantyi, so what was the point in Beale's head? Chieka says that Beale picked himself up and played a good game after that; I digress he was like a "rabbit in the headlights" every time he was 1st receiver (5/8th). Didn't the Iceman also throw an intercept for Scotland in a match last year?

Corne, Berrick Barnes plays 10 for the Japanese champions Panasonic and looks good. He has all the skills including knowing how to run a team. His coach Robbie Deans clearly loves him and I think he's been there a while. No need to for Barnes to come back just to help out Oz. In the Force game he did something nasty to his ankle or calf so he'd have needed some time out.

He's playing in Japan. Played against the Force during the World Series Rugby comp - still looks pretty good to me.

Yes interesting that some can get exiled for nothing, like Cooper and Higginbotham, yet others can hold a spot in the squad permanently, despite repeated underwhelming and error strewn performances (Beale, Foley, Hanigan). Its no wonder the team is underperforming, the players know its not a level playing field, you either work at getting close to the coach, and thereafter your performance no longer matters, or you stay on the outer and get exiled.

Whether Aus supporters like it or not imo Foley is your best 1st 5. He has no competition and thats the issue. Beale isnt a 1st 5s backside and lacks a 1st 5s skills and tactical nous. He doesnt even have the confidence to pass left to right properly and changes hands to the wrong side to throw that pass as he did a number of times in this game providing less time and space for the receiver. Hes not the only one mind you with that issue in the team. As pro rugby players youd have thought that basic skill would be bread n butter. Whats the options? Not much really however as much as i dont think hes in the top 7 1st 5s in nz Debreczini is playing pretty good footy for Northland and sitting at the top of the Dwayne Monkley medal standings. Hes a bit slow in everything he does and not quite instinctive enough but i think hes worth a try for a team with no other 1st 5 options. You have to think the Aus coaching and talent ID is an issue when they draw over NZ players like Ta'avao who was unwanted over there then returns to NZ and becomes an AB. Pauliasi Manu was another unwanted by the Rebels who returns to NZ and makes the AB squad 2015. Garden-Bachop another whos playing real well for Wgtn and would be a run on 1st 5 for Aus had they kept him at Melbourne. I fail to see what Cheika sees in Hannigan. Although it was 2 tries each i think the real Boks will be seen next week when they come out boots n all. It felt like they never got outta 2nd gear in this match and perhaps were waiting more for next weeks ambush.

I wonder how much a part did Hooper play in that Beale insane pass. Hooper had more possession on the wing than Falou. Was that an attempt by Hooper to inspire his team. It seemed to be a simple situation to clear the ball with a decent kick. If Beale couldn't kick that far give it to Toomua or Hodge. Why would you choose Hooper!!!

Didn't know Barnes still played, I remember he had concussion issues, thought he retired

Still a big fan of Foley but if not him bring in Berrick Barnes,world cup is one year away we need a dependable 10 who doesn't make silly mistakes,after the world cup Stewart and Mason should be brought into wallaby setup,how strong can the wallabies be defensively with 10 Barnes 12 Tomua or Godwin and 13 AAC. Add higgs,McMahon,Naisarani,Jones and Morahan and the wallabies will look really strong.

I Agree,it's just a pity we never got too see DHP and Morahan together for the wallabies,those 2 played very well together in the force team consistently causing super rugby's best problems.

Mate, have a crack at finishing a sentence without an exclamation mark. I'm sure everything you say is incredibly exciting and a fabulous revelation to you - but it's not to us champ.

Consider bringing back Quade Cooper to improve the backline.

Yeah fair comment. I'd say the incredible bokke defense earned their intercepts in their last two games. Saying that you can't absolve the player who threw the pass of all responsibility Agree with the Beale-Cooper likeness. We looked a lot stronger with Beale outside Foley Where to from here? How about trying to clear the ball from your own 22? Just a thought...

Rassie Erasmus has commented after this match that of course the Springboks don't want to defend the majority of the game, they want to play with ball in hand. It is a work in progress at the moment.

If the South Africans continue with the style of play they're using at the moment, it will eventually be to the detriment of their overall game, because all they're doing is creating numbers right across the Park to smother the Opposition after using a close to illegal at times 'rush defence'! ~ All that does is shut down the general play while they continue to nullify the Opposition by the ugly smothering effect! They make very few constructive moves on attack or otherwise as they are committed to defence pretty much the complete game and live off scraps and intercepts, which are easy to do if you're playing a Team that's on a downer like the Australians! It would be very surprising if they caught a team like the All Blacks again using the very same tactics they used when the won against them last week!

Beale right out would be the best option, useless and a liability!

Bestest of bad options atm - Tomua for 10, Beale for 12 or bench, Foley only needed for injury cover (he's not an impact player, so starts or is out of 23).

Love how intercepts are construed differently to other tries, almost as if they are underserved gifts. Intercepts are high risk, high reward moments most of the time. Pressure exerted by the defending team is often a crucial part to creating inaccurate passing. Timing is crucial in the intercept. Positioning needs to be accurate. A knock will be interpreted by refereesas deliberate knock downs more often than not. If you mess up, you invariably break the defensive pattern and therefor likely concede a try. Lets all appreciate every aspect of try scoring, it is difficult enough as it is. Having said all that, Australia lost due to a number of errors in decision making and lacking cohesion at crucial times, like most teams err when they lose. Blaming one player is ludicrous. Though to be honest, Wallabies really need to settle at 10, Beale almost, just almost reminds me of Cooper , his error rate is creating a problem for Australia, he has had some really inaccurate passes in the last few matches