Roar Rookie
Joined October 2014
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Unable to afford Foxtel, I went down to the pub to watch South Africa vs Australia in the under 20s World Cup. Plenty of…
I started playing rugby as a junior in 1974. I was bare footed in the middle of winter, trying to tackle the likes of…
1970 had a good crop, had the privilege of being beaten (literally) by a few in school boy rugby: Eales, Horan, Little, Garrick Morgan, Brett Robinson, John Welbourn from what I can find.
How productive is your birth year in sport?
What happened to Biltongbek? What does he think?
Find ten Springbok hopefuls to cut, Heyneke
I am in agreement Dru, irrespective of the truth or otherwise in Larkham’s comments, the fact he has taken the dual role does compromise his position. This dual role with Cheika and now Larkham can only exacerbate the other provinces concerns of bias, particularly after Larkham’s comments. Maybe its not the Wallabies any more it’s the “Tahbies” or the “Brumtahs”.
Reds' Liam Gill cited for foul play
It’s early days in the season, but JOC reminds me a lot of Tim Horan the way he can break through defenses. I’d love to see him get a good run at 12 outside Cooper.
The most positive for me was JOCs post game interview where he was very critical of his own kicking game and some of his passing. First step in getting better is often being honest about yourself.
Much more to come from O'Connor: Graham
Look I understand that Graham is a far more experienced player and coach than I ever will be, so why do I have the burning desire to stand next to him and scream at the top of my lungs “it’s the breakdown stupid!”.
Anyway, let’s hope the set piece improves this week
O'Connor and Thomson named to debut for Reds
Kurtley is a very hard person to grow to like. I’m not sure what his media / support group are advising him but I think saying “I don’t care what people think” (like Quade at the world cup) is not a particularly smart way to go about things.
How about saying something like “I have learnt from my mistakes and am focused on making amends and showing the rugby public I am an individual worth supporting. I love the game and am privileged to get the support I do”. Instead we get a response of a child “I don’t care”.
I also really wonder how long it will be before Kurtley is getting his next chance, he does not come across as that reformed to me.
Beale not bothered by boo boys
I’m not sure how this went beyond the democratic process? Have you not heard of civil disobedience the foundations of the civil rights movement and the movement for independence in India. Strapping ones self to a tractor or a tree on the Franklin river sound pretty normal for the democratic process to me. I have no idea whether Poey is fighting for something worth while or not, but at least now I know about it.
pS very funny write up and I enjoyed the read. If only he was out insulting women or getting drunk instead!!
David Pocock talks to unnamed aussie journo
Great write up and enjoyable read and thank you for being a Wallabies follower.
A few of my thoughts. I think we forget that this is the first year at international level for many players like Cater, Foley, Skelton,Speight and Tomane and some players like Hooper, Folou, Toomua, Leifano, KuridrAni, Simmons, Fardy, Hanson (and probably a bunch of others I’ve forgotten) are only a few seasons in. A player like Cater is likely to have felt pretty physically belt up after that season. The key is they will all be better, tougher and wiser for it.
Hooper is young and isn’t the right guy to captain next year (he will be a good captain someday, but not yet and he needs a few super rugby seasons to develop his smarts) I would love to see Moore come back, a solid no nonsense kind of guy which permeates the team culture (I for one wish they would stop talking up how they are going to win a third cup!!)
I think you have kindly pointed out there are a lot of positives about the Wallabies – if only we could get a better scrum!! improve our tactical kicking and back three defence. Here’s hoping that Chieka has the time to create the outcome we all would love to see.
A true Outsider's review of the Wallabies' 2014 season
Taking he positives out of the game (which are very few) at least Cheika knows where the improvement is needed. Scrummaging skills for the tight five (I don’t think it is just about changing the personnel, we need to be focusing on our technique and ability to cheet) and teaching the outside backs to pass and catch (as well as Nick White or maybe just don’t let him play again).
I thought the scrum was improving slowly under Link, but appears to have gone back to 2005 – 2007 standards. IMO There’s no point of persisting with current set up going forward, it needs significant change in coaching personnel and getting rid of some of the weaker players (namely the two Bens). It also can’t be solved at Wallaby level alone and needs all of the franchises on side.
If we can go from 5 penalties to one or two in e World Cup, we’ll be with half a chance. England didn’t really offer much more than a good tight five, they were pretty ordinary actually.
Wallabies end tour with loss to England
Not sure this is that simple. If we make it through the pools undefeated we will face Ireland or France in the Semis which we have just lost to both.
If we drop one match in the pools (which seems highly probable considering we play both Wales and England at home) we face South Africa in the Quarters and NZ in the Semis and then either France or England or Ireland in the final. As seen in RWC 2011, that would be a very difficult task i..e if we don’t win our pool games our chances blow out to nearly zippo.
I think we have a very uncomfortable World Cup coming up.
Spiro's Rolling Maul: At least Wallabies aren't peaking too early!
Thanks for the response Scott, and also note I love your analysis, it helps create a deeper understanding of the game which only increases my enjoyment of it.
(also had a typo above I meant to say the Wallabies were not using the “shooter” defence, but I understand the reservations you have with their current “umbrella” defence, however they did look a lot better with Toomua in the midfield though)
Loss to Ireland the Wallabies' best tour performance
Great analysis on the defensive and attack participation. However I got the sense that the Wallabies upped the ante in defence on a few occasions and turned it into a real weapon. Do you know of the backline is participating more or less in rucks defence under Cheika ie picking up the workload from the forwards or is it generally the Wallabies holding back from rucks in defence? I presume this means there are less gaps because there are more players aligned defensively?
Ireland very good, but the Wallabies not half bad, either...
I agree the time to try it out is now,not next year. Izzy has the tackle breaking capability to provide impact but he’s likely to be completely lost in defence ( even more than he is at fuklback)
Ireland very good, but the Wallabies not half bad, either...
He needs to be given a proper chance in the run on side though. Noes the time to test him out while we are still experimenting.
Ireland very good, but the Wallabies not half bad, either...
I said last week that the Wallabies were rubbish against France and Cheika needed to pull his socks up. I agree with you Brett, I think this week was a vast improvement and IMO I can see a game plan that could work, when executed properly, against the best sides. My biggest reservations though is that our bench tight 5 just aren’t up to it and are having no impact late in the game (in fact we are going backwards). This has been a problem for a long time and won’t be fixed easily if at all. I thought Hooper had his best game on tour in defence and attack. I know he isn’t a traditional 7 but I can certainly see the benefit of his impact. Toomua was back to his best and Foley looked better for it. Phipps had some shockers mixed with brilliance but I liked that he was having a go and trying to up the pace of the game. McCallman had a blinder. I thought our forwards performed well for 60mins. Jones being held up (twice) was a rookie mistake, but he’ll be better for it and deserves another run. I’m a huge supporter of Genia and Quade but they did not have much impact largely because by that time our pack was being marched backwards. Having Quade, Toomua, and Beale directing play confused us more than the opposition. Overall we had periods where our patterns in attack and defence were world class, now we need to build on it and keep it going for the full 80mins. I’m not expecting a win or some miracle turn around this weekend but am definitely feeling more like a glass half full rather than an empty glass after last weekend. Cheeky (a typo there but thought I’d leave it) has now recognised the importance of the Super Rugby period to get this team right, I just can’t see how he is going to do it while coaching the Tahs though.
Finally I thought the Irish were fantastic and easily the best side we have played so far on this tour,
Ireland very good, but the Wallabies not half bad, either...
I thought that was an 1000% improvement on last weeks game. I can see the intent and what the outcome is when it is delivered. Putting aside the occasional wayward pass and breakdown in defense, the core of a great game appears to be there. Ireland were also spectacular and I think a far better side than France. We still have major problems with depth particularly in the forwards. The lack of dominance and impact was quite noticeable in the last 20 mins and our set piece and breakdown work was starting to fall apart, which gave very little for the back line to work with. Hooper had a great game, as did Toomua and Kuridrani. Phipps was both brilliant and awful (but at least he was trying something) and Foley was vastly improved on last week. Despite Jones being held up in the tackle I thought his presence was a significant improvement on last week in terms of impact. At least we’re heading in the right direction – a win over England would be a great end result of this tour.
Wallabies lose narrowly to Ireland in Dublin
Reds forwards ran out or puff in the second half and struggled to get across the game line. I think some of the big backs need to be run up the middle to support the forwards for a while. They have a high paced game strategy but need to work out when to get the breath before charging again. The reds also looked like they went into their shell in the second half and should have continued to attack. They seem to be improving though, just need to learn to close out these games.
Reds look on bright side of shocking loss