@Tim

agree mate but Rennie appears to be picking and sticking with Foley.
And on that issue he’s lost the plot imo – same as selecting Beale previously.

Dave was busy in Europe and obviously didn’t watch Foley with WBs from 2016 to 2020.
If he did he would have left Foley in his 2nd division Japanese club team 👍

@Rugbynutter

Well you’re true to your name and obviously just blind to all the blatant errors Foley makes every Test. That is every Test since 2016.

You don’t see all the tries he’s gifted opposing teams.
Must be well over 50 by now – 1 for every Test maybe.

You don’t see all the missed tackles that led to tries, all the dropped balls, bad passes, pathetic 22 exits, failure to make more than 20m with penalty punts or…. all the ones that didn’t go into touch.

You’re blind to the short on feilds kicks that go straight down the throat of opposing attacking weapons. You don’t see all the panicky hail mary passes whenever a big defender is likely to take him out.

You probably didn’t notice the one he threw to Ikotau against France. And it was only Ikotau who magically saved it and Foketi ended up scoring. Otherwise, it was another gifted try to France.

You’re also blind to the backline defensive changes that have to be made on the run cos Foley can’t defend in the front line.

Take an objective look if Foley gets selected again.
Most rugby fans are hoping he won’t be 😂

As many of you will know I’m no Foley fan.

He was an error ridden dud during the Cheika era, and, as many of us predicted, he’s just been a slower, older error ridden dud in 2022. Except for his solid goal kicking.

I’m being kind and again giving him a point for every goal he kicks but otherwise his on feild punting, defence, option taking and error rate have been consistently poor imo – they all get a zero.

But Lolesio and Donaldson are equally good goal kickers, and longer range.
Both JoC and To’omua are better goal kickers and far better flyhalfs also.
Edmed is also a better flyhalf.

I’ve been a Rennie fan up until now but he’s lost the plot on Foley imo.
They can’t seriously be thinking he’s a viable flyhalf for 2023 RWC.

This tour should have been used to give Lolesio further experience, and blood Donaldson.
Not to let a 34 yr old long time dud lose more Test matches for Aust.

@Ace

you’re obviously a Queenslander 😂

Campbell’s was a far easier side on tackle than Wright’s and he went far too high. Any good player would have fended Campbell off. Not the 1st Campbell has had soft defence either. He’s always been a poor defender.

No top class FB ever misses these easy side on tackles.
Bourke, Latham, Roff, Larkham, Barrett, Muliaina etc etc never missed any. Take a look at R. Mo’unga at 67 min in the AB v Wales game.

At FB you get few opportunities and most of them are critical so you have to nail them all.
Otherwise Campbell had a good game but top Test teams can’t afford a poor defender at FB. WBs had the same problem with Beale.

and what of Wales v ABs Nick ??

Are you giving Wales long shot status or a firm winning tip ?

ok Tim but….. R Deans had Aust at 2-3 in the world for his entire reign.

Considering the small player catchment, and big competition from 3 other football codes, here that was fighting well above our weight imo. Probably somewhere consistently in top 5 is a more realistic expectation in the 2020s.

WBs are now at no 6 so not far off. And no one should be expecting any Bled Cup series wins anytime soon.

More current WBs that also show no evidence of much pride/passion include Petaia, Leota, Lolesio, Hollowa., When you add them onto the other 6 I named above that’s 10. And if you watch national anthem time you’ll see several of these guys not singing.

@Nick
thanks for Coaches Corner 👍

@Tim

I mostly agree with you but I’m unsure about your comments on Rennie atm.
Many other nations have foreign coaches and it doesn’t affect their pride or passion.

And the lack of pride/passion was very evident during the Cheika era.
In those days players like Foley, Beale, Hanigan, Mumm, Genia, Simmons, Phipps, Dempsey often looked like they were just going thru the motions in WB Tests. And they always looked far too happy at end of games after they were well beaten.

And WBs had no lack of it back in the good old days when WBs were no 2 in world under R Deans.

Allegedly Rennie has worked hard on “culture” in this WB squad past 2 yrs but returning old duds like Foley and Hanigan hasn’t helped 😂

Of current WBs I see no evidence of great pride/passion from Tupou, Skelton, Foley, Hanigan, Paisami, or Wright. But the major problem WBs have is generally ordinary skill levels and athletic abilities. AB athletes are way above ours imo 👍

ok hehehe well I wasn’t convinced he was very effective in many rucks against Wales.

Let’s see him prove me wrong against France 👍
Will happily eat humble pie if he is 😂

ahhh Jim – are you in fantasy land 😂

You ask ““Does the tour need such a game?”

hehehe if this ANZAC game is played it’ll be the only game on the whole tour that will be competitive, and the only game that’s needed – provided they pick at least 12 All Blacks out of 15.

A fully blinkered RA, of course, won’t pick 12 ABs and the 7-8 WBs they pick will ensure Lions will win this game easy also. But at least it’ll be worth watching. And I see you’ve helped them by picking 7 in your fantasy team of 15 hahahaha

Or would you prefer to watch the Lions thrash the Force by 100 points, or maybe the Tahs by 80.
The WB v Lions tests will likewise be 3 huge thrashings – 50-60 points.

A much better question is …..”Is a Lions tour of Australia even viable in 2025?”
Given the huge gap in quality between the WBs and Lions now I doubt that it is 👍

@Nick

I thought Neville was industrious against Scotland.
He worked hard at clean outs, tackled well, scrummed well and won a few lineouts.
Made no errors and was one of the WBs better players imo – there weren’t many.

He did a lot more than I’ve seen from Skelton in the past but let’s see how he goes against France 😂

@Nick

If Skelton has a big gme in attack & defence sure I’ll happily admit he’s Test standard. I’m hoping he’ll prove me wrong 😂

Nick – we’re both repeating the same thing.

And your videos a few weeks ago showed him lifting in a lineout, being useful in 1 rolling maul and scrumming well. It didn’t show him making big metres with ball in hand or offloading – which is mainly what he’s selected for.

Let’s see how he goes this week 👍

@Nick

ok let’s see how he goes.
Noting also that we’ve not seen this power at Test level previously.

If Skelton is a dud again are you willing to admit his prowess at provincial and club level don’t translate to the Test arena ??

@mz

we can agree to disagree on Skelton 😂
Let’s see how he goes this week

@Brett – good summary imo 👍

Regarding the backs – I’ve been saying same thing for a month.

Lolesio/Donaldson at flyhalf and Hodge at centre.
Foley and Paisami not in the 23 – not even in the squad.

Foley has not been test standard since 2016 and, as expected, has been consistently poor since being re-introduced in 2022. Surely selectors can’t be serious in taking him to the 2023 RWC ??

Lolesio/Donaldson/Edmed are the best 3 flyhalfs Aust has atm.
So get on with developing Lolesio and blooding Donaldson 👍

Hi Nick

Excellent analysis of the 2 halfbacks.
I’d have While starting and McD at end for tiring defences.

You keep promoting Skelton based only on his French club form even though, after multiple opportunities, he’s been a dud at Test level. Neville also went well against Scotland and I’d keep him in the team.

If Skelton is picked for this week’s Test I’m predicting France will just do what every other national team has done in the past – just nullify him with good defence. Then he’ll do a few lifts in lineout, push well in scrums and maybe ruin a French rolling maul. All of which is nowhere good enough for a top class Test lock imo.

I see you’ve avoided the big WB achilles heel of Foley/Paisami and don’t mention the 2 stupid penalties Tupou gave away, including the 1 Scotland should have won the game with 😂

Nice of Foley to publicly admit his mistake of gifting another try.

Pity he won’t do the same about his poor kicking game, poor defence, taking poor options and the other errors he routinely serves up every Test. And what about a confession on the other 50, or more tries, he gifted in previous Tests going back to 2016.

Biggest shame of all is that he won’t admit his own limitations and make himself unnavailable for further Test selection.

Of course the selectors could fix the problem by picking by Lolesio and Donaldson for future Tests 👍

@Rhys

Except that Foley, Paisami and Hanigan are not 2nd choice, or new players.

None should be in the squad.
And we know all about them – they’ve been Test duds for years and will not improve.

@Rhys

yes I agree but concerning selections……

Why was such a poor 23 picked for this must win Scotland game.
It was no time to experiment with new combinations.

McD, Foley, Paisami and Hanigan should never have been in the 23.
WBs have 2 better halfbacks, 2 better flyhalfs, and better centres.

And predictably, Foley and Paisami turned out to be the worst players on feild.
Hanigan made no impact again and Tupou continues out of form.
WBs were lucky against Scotland.

Will the same Test duds be selected again for France ??

@HL

good article mate – thanks for posting 😂

@Geoff

yes good summary – thanks for posting 👍

@Deano

No hate.
Foley appears to be a very nice guy who isn’t Test standard – no disgrace there.
He’s not been test standard since 2016.

In all the Tests he’s played since 2016 take an objective look.

How many tries has he gifted to opposition – add on another one against Scotland.
How many games has he lost for WB’s – add on the Bled Test against NZ in 2022.
How many missed tackles – how many crucial one’s that led to tries?

How many 100’s of aimless on feild kicks that were short and innacurate?
How many punts that went out on full outside the 22?
How many attempted 22 exits that didn’t make the 40m mark?
How many penalty line kicks that didn’t go out on full, or gained only 20m.

How many poor passes, dropped balls and wrong options?
How many mix ups with other backline players that led to opposition tries?
How many times did the WB backline defence structures have to be adjusted to compensate for his inability to defend in the front line?

If you look objectively over 5 yrs this will add up to 1000s.
Quade was always better from 2014-21 and in 2022 Lolesio, Donaldson and Edmed are all better now imo 😂

@PeterK

Don’t agree with you on Banks.
No one would have stopped Kinghorn once he got to within 2m of the line.
The kick you say he fumbled was over his head and most fullbacks wouldn’t have even touched it. He didn’t make any other errors I saw – 5 out of 10.

Tupou was a dud imo and gave away 2 penalties.
I thought Holloways best game was his 1st Test.
I admit he’s slightly better than Leota and Hanigan though 🙂

@Jim

Watch again – Tupou gave away 2 stupid penalties, including the 1 Scotland should have won the game with.

He did nothing significant elsewhere.
I saw no improvement.

@Hoges

Thanks for info – I missed that. 👍

So then…… WBs went to another proven Test dud in Hanigan.
He again made no impact.

Hopefully, Gleeson will be a success when given more game time 👍