After a jam-packed weekend of rugby action, including a five-match Super Saturday that left Australians everywhere burning the midnight oil, there’s plenty of action to dissect in this week’s edition of Coach’s Corner.
Rvery week, The Roar’s rugby expert, Nick Bishop, is here to answer all your questions from the action-packed world of the greatest game.
Miss the latest issue of Coach’s Corner? Catch up right here!
Dominating discussion this week will surely be the Wallabies, whose winning streak was ended by Scotland with a 15-13 loss.
The men in gold had their chances, and showed plenty of signs of a bright future, but were left to rue some poor work at the scrum throughout the match, while the absence of Samu Kerevi, Quade Cooper and Sean McMahon proved difficult to overcome.
>> Check out the new-look Wallabies Spring Tour squad
Were you impressed by the Wallabies’ performance? Did the returning trio of Will Skelton, Kurtley Beale and Rory Arnold do enough to justify Dave Rennie’s faith in bringing them back to the table? We can’t wait to hear what you thought of what transpired at Murrayfield.
Elsewhere, England predictably flattened Tonga as they gear up to take on the Wallabies; the All Blacks and Ireland were far too strong for Italy and Japan respectively; while a much-improved Wales might have been one unruly pitch invader away from taking down the Springboks. With France and Argentina also slugging it out in a tight-fought match, any insomniac rugby-lovers would have been in heaven on Saturday night through to Sunday morning. What caught your eye from that stretch of matches?
We’re sure you’ve got plenty of questions for these and many other topics for Nick this Friday. So get asking in the comments below and, of course, check back in right here at The Roar to see the answers.
FunBus
Roar Rookie
Marler out with COVID - bugger…
FunBus
Roar Rookie
It’s always been a mystery to me, given the emphasis on the scrum in French rugby, how Poite can be so poor understanding what’s going on.
Harry Jones
Expert
Unbelievable that guy. Hang your head in shame!
Leroy14
Roar Rookie
Yeah, it wasn’t poite’s best game but it’s his last. It made for a crap game. No continuity. Back n forth. Penalty after penalty and stop of play.
Nicholas Bishop
Expert
See tomorrow. :thumbup:
Nicholas Bishop
Expert
You are rigtht but Aussie not flush with options - will take a look on Fri.
Nicholas Bishop
Expert
LArgely played under the old rule as if the new guidelines had never happened Leroy! Neither side could keep ball for more than two or three phases.
Nicholas Bishop
Expert
There is a def chance of that happening if Aussie get it wrong.
Nicholas Bishop
Expert
Answered in tomorrow's column M. French refs prob have the most difficult transition of all, because the culture up until now has been to allow 'anything goes' at breakdown time. Romain has always been in my opinion a rather untrustworthy scrum ref - he likes reffing the scrum and giving pens, but often picks out the wrong culprit!
Nicholas Bishop
Expert
Great game in the recent SA-Wales tradition wasn't it? Even had folk running on the pitch to scupper Wales try scoring chances!
Nicholas Bishop
Expert
I'd lean toward TT if fit because of the matchup with Ellis Genge, but would be happy with either...
Nicholas Bishop
Expert
I think it would be hard to 'flick the switch' from where they are now M, esp considering how many tries England scored out of D v the WBs in the Cheika era.
Murray
Guest
Nick, given it was a low score by previous standards do the WBs ‘flick the switch’ to all out attack mode in first half of the England game to shut the crowd up? Or more a case of executing all the small plays and collisions as well as the red zone plays?
Olly
Roar Rookie
You be a 10 or 12 :laughing:
Olly
Roar Rookie
We have some key players we need on the field to win a RWC but I do think this is the same for most countries. Need a bit of injury luck at the RWC!!! Kerevi for example is a very difficult player to replace as you effectively build an entire game plan around him.
numpty
Roar Rookie
His D is still shaky and he was very 'erratic', but you can see his potential with a a couple of those carries.
numpty
Roar Rookie
Nick - assuming both are fit, would you pick AAA or Tupou? AAA resulted in a yellow card, a shaky scrum, and lack of go forward. Rennie/Wisemantel seem to use different set plays/structures when Tupou is starting and this has led to a number of try involvements from him early in matches for the WBs and a better start for the team.
Harry Jones
Expert
Looks like Marx is the only possible offender — he’s in the 10 m “box.” But he does reverse after a second or two and doesn’t affect play.
Harry Jones
Expert
Cheers, Nick. The disallowed Mapimpi try has been played back many a time in the Republic to see where the problem was. Here’s one of the better explanations of why the call was wrong (https://www.sarugbymag.co.za/swys-mapimpis-non-try-100-try-for-sure/). Seems legit to me. EE did his job perfectly, after coming from behind the kick. Mapimpi was behind Cobus at the kick. Am held the other guys back. Wales tapped back, to a lurking EE. What am I missing?
Marshy
Guest
Yes I believe correct Craig. Scots were the only team this year to keep WBs below 20 points. May be wrong though and no doubt will be corrected on it if so!