If there is ever a nuclear war, the only survivors would be cockroaches and Shane Watson.

There were several instances of this occurring in the NRL during 2013. James Maloney, the five-eigth for the Sydney Roosters got caught doing this several times over the course of 3 or 4 games – each time with no warning or sanction from the referees. In the end, the NRL judiciary had to issue a formal warning to him that if he was caught doing it again, he would be penalised. In addition to the player safety, the NRL also cited crowd safety as a concern in the event that someone copped an errant boot to the head in the stands.

I agree, that a penalty and warning would have been appropriate in Phipps’ case.

I lost count of the number of times the commentators picked out that Kepu was buckling and trying to point the finger at the English loosehead for boring in or changing the angle. Every time Kepu buckled, Hooper had is shoulder halfway up Kepu’s back. No wonder Kepu was getting hammered. He was getting no support from his flanker! McMahon was better on his side but not by much.

I’m stunned that this is still allowed to happen. It is such a clear and present weakness in technique that one would think is relatively easily fixed. But alas, we get pushed all over the park then whinge like petulant children when the penalty is given against us.

In most aspects of the game, we were more or less on par with the English but the scrum is where we lost the plot and soundly lost the game. No team can give away that many penalties at scrum time and be competitive. It just isn’t possible.

We desperately need to lift our game in the forwards, particularly with regards to scrummaging or we aren’t going to get out of the pool stage next year.

This test has been lost on the back of our scrum alone. At least four, possibly five penalties at scripts time.. How can our forwards coach continue to draw a paycheck? We’re no chance at RWC next year with this mess.

Yet another scrum penalty. I’m not sure I can take this anymore.

Our scrum is just embarrassing now. When will this be sorted out?!

And there goes our scrum. The Hinge is on.

It’s clear to me that Toomau should never be out of the starting XV. He’s carrying the backs and doing as much, if not more work than most of the forwards.

Foley. Looks like Bernie is favoring his left leg so may be injured.

At least three times Sharpie has commented on Kepu folding. Everyone one of those times, Hooper is pushing up somewhere near Kepu’s shoulder. McMahon is no better. How has this been a problem with Australian rugby for almost a decade?

Great to see that at least one person is correctly not willing to comment on the Beale situation for fear of prejudicing the process. Now if only the senior players could see fit to keep their traps shut on the matter, we’ll be making some progress.

I completely agree that Hooper is a great player, but he compromises the scrum with his meerkating, plays too loose to be a totally effective and lacks the leadership skills that he Wallabies desperately need.

In my mind, I’d have Hodgson starting every match and I’d hand him the captaincy at the same time. He’s been an inspiration leader at the Force, offers genuine impact and pilfering ability at the breakdowns, pushes properly at scrum time and is a lineout jumping option on occasion. Horwill hasn’t had the form to justify continued inclusion in the starting XV so I don’t rate him as an option.

I know it would be controversial, but we need someone with captaincy experience to lead from the front whom everyone in and around the team respects. This is certainly how it sounded like he was viewed by the coach and the team when they did the profile on him during Rugby HQ last week.

You beat me to it. Hodgson is the man we’re looking for. I’ve advocated for his inclusion in the run-on XV since the French series. He’s the only genuine impact player at the breakdown, particularly with Hooper playing so loose and away from the ruck. More turn-overs than Hooper in SR and would offer some guidance and experience to the younger players. I’m positive that he would have been able to get his hands on the ball 2 or 3 times while the Boks were racking up 30 phases last weekend. He’s the sort of player that can stop that roll-on from the opposition.

Just last night, John Eales was singing his praises and it appears he has a really positive and stabilising affect on the team, both on and off the field. I’d like to see him playing every minute for the Wallabies that McKenzie can squeeze out of him.

Couldn’t agree more. Seeing Hodgson with his head down and stealing at the breakdown within 5 mins of coming on speaks volumes. Hooper is not captain material nor should he be the incumbent no 7. Put him in the centres or the wing and he can do all the running he wants. We need a true leader at the breakdown and Hodgson is our man.

Loved the contribution from McCallman and Higgers tonight also. KB did nothing. Toomua was more effective at the breakdown than all the forwards as usual. Then Ewen replaces him with a bloke who runs parallel to the try line and can’t tackle or clean out.

Such a hollow win. I hate to admit but I was hoping for a pumas victory at the death so the appropriate questions about the incumbent players and coach would be asked but it seems they’ve all dodged a bullet…for another couple of weeks at least.

How is Simmons still in the team? Four penalties and six points directly to the Boks. 7 points to the Wallabies lost because of an illegal clean out. If the Boks had won, he should have been their man of the match!

I shudder to think how much of a shocker he’d have to have to get dropped to the bench.

I’m in complete agreement regarding Hooper. His impact at the breakdown is limited yet appears to be everywhere. I think his style of play is fine when you’ve got a blindside that gets through a mountain of work close in. Unfortunately Fardy has not provided this. Hodgson is the logical replacement.

I also agree that he is not a great captain – yet. He needs to serve some apprenticeship time under someone with far more captaining/senior experience. It was massively disappointing to see some really silly decisions, particularly the quick taps (one by Hooper himself) in the last Test. Certainly not what you’d expect of a captain with a cool head.

I also noted that when the Wallabies scrum was monstered near the tryline, he was the first up and walking away before the whistle had finished being blown for the penalty. As captain, he should have been in there trying to fire up the other forwards, telling them to forget that scrum that they’d get them on the next one. As it was, he was 10m away by the time the last of the forwards pulled themselves off the ground and offered not a word of support.

These are not the actions you’d expect or require from a captain. I maintain that he’s a great player in his own right, but his captaincy abilities seriously need to be put under the microscope as the team is suffering from this lack of leadership – not only from Hooper, but other senior players in the Wallabies starting XV.

Completely agree with this. The overlap was there again as the forwards were lazy in not getting around the corner to assist in the defensive line. Scott Allen put together some excellent analysis on this aspect of the forwards play after the Eden Park fiasco. It was less noticeable in this Test as the Boks refused to run with ball in hand but the laziness was still there and as a result, the backline was stretched time and again.

I would suggest that Toomua did more effective breakdown work than any of the forwards until Higgers and Hodgson came on. That’s a fairly sad indictment of a forward pack when your 12 is having more impact than any of your forwards.

Not once in the article does it note that the ‘spark’ from Beale was against a 14 man Boks. Of course the Wallabies would get an overlap at some point and it was good play to nail the try but hardly worthy of insisting that Beale is the better 12.

In fact the forwards were so inept for the first 65mins that Toomua was contributing more to the breakdowns than any one forward. How you could replace him with Beale for the full 80 is beyond me. The Boks would have been ahead by 3 or 4 tries and there would be nothing left to salvage by the time a substitution is made.

And enough is enough – Simmons has to go. I don’t care how much of an art calling the lineout is, he was a liability for the entire game. Gave away at least two penalties that directly resulted in points to the Boks plus the penalty for illegally clearing out at the ruck which cost the Wallabies a try and likely 7 points. That’s a 13 point impact as a result if his weak and inept play. Had the Boks won, they’d have nominated him as their man of the match.

No mention of Hodgson who is the only forward with genuine agro and mongrel – something the Wallabies desperately need.

And I guess you could say Horwill is ‘abrasive’ – if you broaden the definition of ‘abrasive’ to the ability to break down and cry on the field after a game.

Stunned that Palu, Fardy and Simmons remain in the run-on team. Hodgson and Higgers would have been far better and worth a run but hopefully they’ll get some decent minutes from the bench.

I’m predicting that Hodgson (if given that opportunity) will surprise on Saturday. He ranked #1 in piifers and tackles in the Super Rugby season and was just behind Hooper in run metres. His stats alone should have had him in the side long before now. Plus his toughness, mongrel and leadership abilities would have served well in both the Bledisloe tests. He is an inspiring leader at the Force and the Wallabies have been noticably lacking in on-field leadership from senior players during the past two tests.

I think the notion of picking the best scummagers and the fastest wingers and can be broadened into just a general theme of ‘picking the in-form player’ for each position and build the team from there. I’ll never understand how picking players out of position is going to allow for the ‘execution of a game plan’ as is so often reported.

Foley is the in-form 10 – pick him there. KB is the in-form 12 – pick him there. Matt Toomua – tremendous player but sorry mate, take a seat on the bench. And what do you know, you’ve got a first-class bench player that can hit hard in defense and shake things up if the game starts getting away from them.

Palu has had zero impact and has again been shown up against a top tier team. He had a great series against the French but I could have taken the field against the French and had an impact. Time to let Higgers run around a bit and mix things up.

Simmons need to come out of the team as he’s had no impact in either game and in my opinion, never has. I’ve often heard of Simmons being referred to as a great ‘off-the-ball player’ however if that means he’s accurate and decisive at the ruck (which he definitely isn’t), then this label is not warranted. Amongst my group of mates we have a running joke about Simmons’ off-the-ball work rate. The joke was made last week that Conrad Smith’s new baby could take the award in Bledisloe 1 for ‘best off the ball’ performance but after the game it was a unanimous decision to give it to Simmons again.

I have no problem with JOC returning to Australian rugby as long as it is with the correct intent.

A humbled and wiser JOC would be returning to Australia to do everything he could to help whichever franchise picks him up, achieve as much success as possible. If their success and his success led to a Wallabies call up, then congratulations to him.

If he is returning to ‘find a path to RWC 2015’ as has been widely reported, then it would appear to be more about what he can get out of it than what he can contribute. I would not consider that the attitude of a wiser man.