Ha ha! The master coach!! Shane warne and Diego maradona could coach that team!! Why has he been so desperate to get Wayne smith on board for the last 4 years!! Love it!!

Look this is all moot but Who would you rather in your rugby squad? Greg inglis, cam smith, Jonathan thurston, jarryd hayne and josh Morris? or benji Marshall, Isaac Luke, Sean Johnston and Shaun Kenny dowell? And that’s just the backs. We lose way better players to other sports than NZ rugby do. Which is why it’ll be so much sweeter when we win! Go wallabies!!!

Cant wait for Saturday night. I’m not even going to retort and mention the weaknesses that I can see in the ABs because none of it matters. It’s very very simple for the wallabies. An 80 minute performance is required because the ABs only need to dominate for 20 minutes to score enough points to win. Anything less than a complete 80 minute performance will result in the ABs taking home the trophy. It’s a bledisloe decider, 2 world cups each, old enemies, close neighbours, individual match ups all over the park, 2 of the most experienced sides ever assembled, and much more! Come Sunday morning one country is in for a horrible 4 years of gloating from the other! Come on wallabies!!

Phil Waugh and Jeremy Paul are two ex players who should slap themselves this week. Phil Waugh said we are now favourites and Jeremy Paul said Scotland were rubbish. All the work checks has done to take the expectations off his players and idiots like that want to shoot their mouths off. I hope the players aren’t the only Aussies to learn a lesson this week. And. Please. Stop. Doing. This.

Actually a common misconception that most kiwis overlook. McCaw started it by kicking cooper after cooper cleaned him out at a ruck.

Spot on mate

Actually mate Deans got dropped, Mckenzie resigned and cheika is still there. If those 3 were sitting at a table and 3 journos were sitting at another table which table would you say knows more about the game? And btw Coaches get sacked most of the time because it’s cheaper to sack the coach then to sack 20 odd players. Some great coaches in all sports have been sacked over the years, I doubt every one of them was sacked for lacking knowledge in the game that they were coaching

Exactly Aaron I’m the biggest sheep there is. I know sweet FA compared to people like cheika and larkham. That’s why I try to look past headlines and see what people who have real results in the game say

Went on public tv?!

The funny thing is that every coach he’s ever had picks him but journos have papers to sell so they write up trash to sell papers. Then the sheep read the trash and don’t know enough about the game to form their own opinions. Checks wants cooper to play how he did on the end of season tour last year where he was brilliant. Cooper was injured for most of the super rugby season and hasn’t yet rediscovered his form. When fit cooper has all the tools to do the job for cheikas game plan. So he is taking a risk (a very small risk considering the form of the competition for fly half) on Quade. Next time the sheep read the trash, it’s really simple; just ask yourself does the journo know more than the last 3 wallaby coaches?

I’m leaning that way too. The best of a bad bunch. In theory that should be able to achieve what we want. Quick width when we need it but giteau and kuridrani can both straighten the line. If Genia somehow rediscovered his running game from 2011 that would take a huge amount of pressure of 10 and 12 but I don’t see that happening tbh. I think quade and gits should just get used to an uncomfortable tournament. Toomua on the bench

How do you get McCaw over pocock or hooper? Both were miles ahead of McCaw who played very well but was still no where near as good as the other 2!! The candle burns out long before the legend ever will!!

Great article greg. So bearing that in mind, where does that leave Cheika’s selections for last week? I tried to convince people that last week was an experimental XV but most weren’t having it. Surely Skelton doesn’t feature in the starting side (or on the bench?) for this very reason? The lineout looked great before Simmons went down. It has to be a combination of Simmons, Horwill, Mumm and Fardy at all times on the field in my opinion. And surely Cheika wants that same dominant lineout from the first 2 games which makes the selections from last week even more head scratching….

If you’ve been to Eden park with Quade cooper playing mate it’s not pretty. In my opinion this is a serious factor and that’s why Cheka picked the team he did. It’s hostile. I honestly don’t believe we’ll play a harder game all year. Baby steps mate. No one thought we would get out of our pool a month ago. Now, after sydney Wales and England have really sat up. I guarantee you both those sides have been touched up by nz enough times to know that you can’t write oz off after one game in Auckland. Cheika deserves our support, at least until after the World Cup. I honestly don’t think We’re that far off being a dangerous side

amen brother. Cheika has earnt the right for us to back him no matter what! He has no right to do anything at this World Cup but it now looks like we can give it a good shake with a bit of luck.

I posted this yesterday in another article but got moderated so I want to repost it to see if I get any love. Sorry to piggy back allanthus hope you don’t mind!

i agree with most of this but what i can’t understand is how nobody can see what Cheika did with his selections. This was clearly an experimental 23 with 6 changes to a starting side that won in sydney. why would cheika do that? 2 reasons in my opinion. Firstly, because he still doesn’t know what his best 23 is. This is perfectly understandable because he hasn’t been in the job long enough to know everyones ins and outs. So is this disrespecting the bledisloe (which i thought it was when i saw the selections last week, and the week before if im completely honest)? the answer to that is yes but the excuse is valid because of the second reason.

WE WERE NEVER GOING TO WIN THAT GAME FFS!!!!!! Cast the blind optimism of last week aside why on earth did anyone think we would win that game? Aside from the fact that its at Eden Park, factor in the loss from the week before, look at everything that game meant to NZ last night with all the emotions for McCaw and the rest of them and tell me did you actually think that the Wallabies were going to win. I’ll bet you any money Cheika didn’t, if he did Pocock would have started, Palu would have been reintroduced through the bench if at all and they wouldn’t have started the game with only 2 lineout jumpers (nor finished it with only 2 either imo). i get the feeling that if the wallabies picked their best side last night the scoreline might not have looked much better anyway.

Cheika would never say it because it goes against his ethos but I think Cheika wanted the media to pick up on what he was doing and take a bit of pressure off his side by highlighting that it was an experimental side but of course the media completely overlooked what was happening and did their usual thing of blind optimism mixed in with the quade cooper sideshow.

And now all the whingers are out! everyone who knows so much more about rugby than Cheika, larkham and co think that they see the faults in quade cooper that the coaches can’t!! what an exciting day for the pessimists!! you get to say I told you so!! congratulations.

nothing has changed for me. a month ago i thought that the wallabies were a year away from being a top side, right now i don’t see any reason why we can’t have a great tournament in England. there was not a chance in hell that the wallabies were going to go undefeated for the next 7 games through to win the world cup. last night was a necessary loss and i feel that there is probably one more loss between now and october before we become a genuine threat for the world cup, i just hope im wrong or its in the pool games and we can sneak through. our pack is good, keep building combinations through the tournament, a bit of support from the public (god forbid) and who knows what could happen.

Thank you allanthus for a bit of perspective amongst the flailing arms of the fickle and hysterical wallaby supporters

a good running game from your halfback (ie genia 2010/11) that keeps the close defenders honest is probably the thing that is hurting our 10s more than anything at the moment. neither genia, phipps or white have it at the moment

well said blades

i don’t think it warranted a penalty try also. its one or the other for me. penalty try says that beyond doubt a try would have been scored if the offence hadn’t occured. well he slowed him down with the hit and then he was held up. if he hit him on the chest its likely that the same result would have occured. compare it to tackling someone without the ball who is leading the chase to a grubber or a dominant scrum that is about to get pushed over the try line when the other team collapses. same as the jacques potgeiter tackle in the semis against the highlanders for mine. its one or the other. a penalty try AND a yellow card is pretty much game over and should be saved for really cynical play not just getting a tackle wrong. last weeks send offs were worse though. smith’s was a joke (so soft) and kepu’s wasn’t a sending off it was a last warning. phipps’ was a sending off though. going by last weeks cards (and the whole season really) conrad probably was lucky to stay on the field last night

interesting that he will be playing 10 next year at Toulon Benno! I heard him say that as well but they have bought Nonu. maybe they’re thinking after last night that nonu can just play 10 and he’ll probably still kill it

Biltong, i agree with some of what you say but i think you are underestimating the Eden Park effect. i’ve been there for a Oz vs NZ game and its not pretty for oz rugby at all. its a very hostile place. if you think that is a typical performance from the wallabies forwards than i think you are underestimating us which is fine because i hope that everyone does!

i agree with most of this but what i can’t understand is how nobody can see what Cheika did with his selections. This was clearly an experimental 23 with 6 changes to a starting side that won in sydney. why would cheika do that? 2 reasons in my opinion. Firstly, because he still doesn’t know what his best 23 is. This is perfectly understandable because he hasn’t been in the job long enough to know everyones ins and outs. So is this disrespecting the bledisloe (which i thought it was when i saw the selections last week, and the week before if im completely honest)? the answer to that is yes but the excuse is valid because of the second reason.

WE WERE NEVER GOING TO WIN THAT GAME FFS!!!!!! Cast the blind optimism of last week aside why on earth did anyone think we would win that game? Aside from the fact that its at Eden Park, factor in the loss from the week before, look at everything that game meant to NZ last night with all the emotions for McCaw and the rest of them and tell me did you actually think that the Wallabies were going to win. I’ll bet you any money Cheika didn’t, if he did Pocock would have started, Palu would have been reintroduced through the bench if at all and they wouldn’t have started the game with only 2 lineout jumpers (nor finished it with only 2 either imo). i get the feeling that if the wallabies picked their best side last night the scoreline might not have looked much better anyway.

Cheika would never say it because it goes against his ethos but I think Cheika wanted the media to pick up on what he was doing and take a bit of pressure off his side by highlighting that it was an experimental side but of course the media completely overlooked what was happening and did their usual thing of blind optimism mixed in with the quade cooper sideshow.

And now all the whingers are out! everyone who knows so much more about rugby than Cheika, larkham and co think that they see the faults in quade cooper that the coaches can’t!! what an exciting day for the pessimists!! you get to say I told you so!! congratulations.

nothing has changed for me. a month ago i thought that the wallabies were a year away from being a top side, right now i don’t see any reason why we can’t have a great tournament in England. there was not a chance in hell that the wallabies were going to go undefeated for the next 7 games through to win the world cup. last night was a necessary loss and i feel that there is probably one more loss between now and october before we become a genuine threat for the world cup, i just hope im wrong or its in the pool games and we can sneak through. our pack is good, keep building combinations through the tournament, a bit of support from the public (god forbid) and who knows what could happen.

happy sunday

negative wallaby supporters must go. ill shut the door for you

well squirrel, hes going to be picked mate so i’d recommend either getting used to it and getting behind the team anyway or just stop following australian rugby for a while