I think the focus on the coach miraculously turning it around is unfair. We can keep changing the coach, but the players have been severely undercooked/prepared this season.

We are reaping from years of underinvestment (and the competition from codes is just too immense), and Super Rugby AU vs NZ this year was proof that we are miles behind.

We have to accept that this ship isn’t going to turn around soon, unless we can develop talent or poach more talent from league.

Folks – the Spiro article is about his axe to grind re: Folau and his sacking. The article has clearly been written to demonstrate a form of hypocrisy on the part of RA (calling for the sacking of Castle/Cheika through breach of conduct) – when really what it is, is actually a lightweight piece of subjective journalism, masquerading as a well thought out, objective piece. If you want the latter, search for articles by Nicholas Bishop!

On a flight and was freaking out!! haha

Is it raining or something? Lots of handling errors..

On a flight and was freaking out!! haha

Mate is it 14-16 or 14-19???

Mate that’s the definition of the Australian side – for years.

There was no Pocock in the side for that game and we had a lot of debutants (or recent debutants).

NZ has been beating an AUS B side for years – what an achievement. Cheik is building depth through rotating enough players to find the AUS A side (the side that can win the World Cup and move Aus to number 1 ranking).

It’s pretty clear – once you scratch the surface of the NZ team, an Aus A side has the ability to take on the NZ and beat them (see super rugby).

Here is a thought.

Perhaps it’s time for a on field decision review system. Where a captain can request one review per game for an infringement.

The aim here is to get a situation where the ref doesn’t ignore the captain. Like O’keefe did in the dying minutes.

You get the infringement correct and you hold onto the review else you have nothing – like cricket.

The point being – it means nothing giving the guy a suspension after the fact. It needs to happen in the moment.

Another, apply a post match points penalty on the winning team if an infringment breaches the red card threshold. In F1, they apply 10 second penalties etc post fact, or grid penalties.

Yet another is the crusaders need to be playing 14 players for 45min for a subsequent game – no point giving him a suspension – the guy might as well be injured.

In essence, the punishment doesn’t fit the crime, and doesn’t actually do anything to change behaviour.

Yeah I agree with you on that.

Cheika does himself no favours. But glad it was Daryl Gibson – so we can see it for what it is, rather than discounting the incident due to a blow up by Cheika.

DL thanks for writing this article. Somewhat cathartic!

Aus Rugby needed this win and I’m hoping for a more sustained reporting of this. With support from RA, forget Folau and all the articles about nothing.

Castle should use this as an opportunity to galvanise the troops. Rather than focusing on distractions.

It’s also great to see a kiwi coach (Daryl Gibson) calling out the dodgy hit. If it was Cheika – all hell would have broken loose.

Ben O’Keefe, is that you?!?

Marginal… no chance.

Sanzaar has sanctioned it as passing a red card threshold. Missing yellow cards happen all the time.

But the timing and location (first try and the act led to a crusaders try) had a material impact on the outcome of the game.

A red card at that moment and we’d have had a different outcome – the tahs were 29-0 up. Saders wouldn’t have survived 50 min with a player down.

Not one to speculate outcomes – given all the variables, but this is the closest we’ll ever get to a case where we can predict such an outcome.

btw – the Tahs found another way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory…

This is total BS – isn’t it?

It angers me even further! So it’s been officially deemed a red card. He’ll miss a game or two – the net effect is ZERO.

The system is definitely broken.

A red card at the point the saders gained momentum definitely changed the outcome of the game.

Yeah mate – let’s go back in history to justify an illegal move last night.

You know when people start doing that they are trying to convince themselves that it was deserved.

The point was this was a red card offence and the crusaders were in a try scoring position – and scored a try because of that incident.

Not surprising that it was an incompetent NZ ref that missed a sitter of a decision. That guy needs to join Cooper at club rugby.

Yeah it is wishful thinking! ?

I think it’s the process of skill development that needs to improve at a rate faster than any other team.

The notion of selecting the team on merit as you say is what worked when we were in the amateur and early professional era, when processes were rudimentary.

The ABs have created a factory/production line, where we associate skills to a player, rather than a by-product of good skills development (which helps to build a players reputation).

With proper skills development (que Mick Byrne) we need to commoditise each position – otherwise we’re just hoping for random freaks of nature to materialise – and that just won’t cut it in this day and age.

I agree too!

All I want to see this year is that Bledisloe Cup returning to Australia…even if it’s only for a couple of seasons!

We need all AU sides doing well – that’s why I don’t care who snaps that AU/NZ losing streak.

Before I get ripped into, there have been a few drawn series (2011, 2014, 2015). If we had won 2013, we would have had it for three years!

Mate the reaction is justified by Spiros’ article. Have you not read it? This is a culture of cheating.

This is Lance Armstrong-esq if indeed it is proven that the same tactics were used in the ashes and port Elizabeth.

I think we can expect more footage to be found.

How CA deals with this is an opportunity to then apply the same blow torch to other teams (Faf du plessis).

A ban for Smith and Warner and anyone else involved would allow CA to then set the bar for future infringements by other players – given the ICC is useless.

@piru – surely you aren’t serious?

I agree with @ed and sorry @David_Lord, I think the stats you present are actually a lightweight analysis. They presume all 9 captains have had precisely the same conditions (coaches, talent, competition etc).

The reality is, everyone always looks favourably on winning teams with rose tinted glasses/nostalgia, elevating a couple of people as the key to success.

The AU cricket team was notoriously dysfunctional (Waugh/Warne) – but it didn’t matter, they won, they made their coach and captain look good because they had multiple once in a generation players in the same team, who could pull a rabbit out of their hat when it counted.

I think the same could be said of the Queensland SoO team, you take out Thurston/Slater/Inglis and look what happened.

It is fair to say a good coach and a good captain have a multiplying effect, but pep talks can only take you so far.

Honestly I thought they lacked a bit of composure and were too conservative and this could be attributed to Stephen Moore.

There was a time in the first 16min when they should have gone for the corner and they left with 3. They needed to go for the jugular at that early stage but they let them back into the game. The poms we’re making all the mistakes.

Listening to the post match conference it’s clear that all provincial teams need to be singing from the same hymn sheet, and there is a plan to make that happen.
http://rugby.com.au/videos/2016/12/03/19/00/161203-wallabies-post-match-press-conference

I seem to be drinking Cheikas cool aid atm, I think he needs time and space to experiment and build a team that’ll gel.

While I agree with many of your assessments, I don’t agree that Cheikas head needs to roll.

We’ve had this revolving door at so many levels in our country it’s time we all show a bit of spine and resolve and take the losses with the wins and not kid ourselves that we don’t need to rebuild at all levels!

Changing coach is just a shot in the arm…the provincial quality was average here and in South Africa.

There were some pretty average calls (that forward pass was NFL worthy) – but still no excuse for what transpired afterwards. Also thought the Ward try was knock on.

2016 has been the worst…good to see the end of it…won’t miss it!!!

I agree with the author, aaron smith would have been hit hardest with all those stopovers…poor guy, don’t know how he even shows up for game day.

Oh mate – tell me about it – I saw Nigel come in from the side-lines and was like – get back to your corner mate, you’re a touch judge.

The big issue here is his ego, he’s been the poster child for reffing and he must have been missing the limelight, so he found his way to inject himself into the test multiple times, the lifting tackle was an example of this and the “forward pass”, yet he couldn’t see Pocock being held back or the obstruction.

I’m glad I’m not the only person to shake his head at Nigel…

Hi Mike,

I agree with many of your comments.

I thought Genia was OK – not fantastic.

He had a couple of knock-ons at crucial moments (one unforced). And generally I find him a tad bit slow to the ruck (which just creates a bit more pressure on the attack and puts the team out of sync). This is where I give Nick Phipps full marks (re: his speed to the ball/speed of service – though not much else).

Both of their tactical kicking games are non existant and hope that Mick Byrne can unearth this.

Listening to Cheika’s full press conference – it is good to see he is thinking long term and acknowledges that this tour is a perfect opportunity to blood-in new talent and get them to learn how to make the right decisions in high pressure situations (no amount of training will help you learn this).

But where I disagree with him is re: penalties – in the end, you have to build that into your game plan buffer, the potential for the ref to influence the game (so you still need to execute when you get your chances and keep the momentum on your side).

As much as it hurts to watch the team mis-firing, there are plenty of prizes still beckoning – like bledisloe (and winning in Eden Park) and world cups – and we need some long term thinking to get us there and to fill that canyon that separates us from the Kiwis.

You could argue England is now where the Wallabies were last year. An initial confidence boost.

Chieka gained some good political capital over the RWC and is using it now to lay the foundations for future success.

The thing that I see missing from the commentary is how shocking all the Super Rugby teams did this year. If finals positions were based on points then the brumbies and Waratahs would have missed out (if memory serves me right)

He’s had to re-coach everyone and hopefully they take it into next season, with hopefully some national cohesion across coaches.

Winning Super Rugby teams lead to winning Wallabies.

Don’t know if you saw the Ireland match @diggercane but next weeks Ireland match is going to be a whole another level – culminating with the poms.

It’s going to be interesting to see how AU performs with more in your face defence.

Yeah I saw that and it was face-palm worthy!

It does make you appreciate what hodge brings to the team.