England vs. Australia (2024)
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There’s not a lot of top drawer star quality players in the home unions currently. They’ll have a strong team but won’t be among the greatest lions sides of all time.
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@NTA said in England vs. Australia (2024):
@ACT-Crusader said in England vs. Australia (2024):
Happy for the kid, because after the announcement a while ago that he was changing codes there were a number in league circles who turned on him. They would’ve been ready with the daggers this morning had he not been so influential.
And now they'll use it as proof that Rugby "Yawnion" is easy
You can let them know an amateur club rugby back switched over and became a regular first grader and test player at prop - Leo Thompson.
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@MiketheSnow said in England vs. Australia (2024):
@barbarian said in England vs. Australia (2024):
Instant classic. Going to be a great week!!
Won’t repeat the good points from the many rugby gurus on the thread (and NTA posted as well), but I will say one thing.
Len Ikitau is just class. I really rate him. You know who didn’t? Eddie Jones, who left him out of our World Cup squad. Fuck that guy.
But yeah it’s the best Wallaby win since we put 40 on the ABs in Perth. And you could argue it’s better than that.
Ikitau was excellent, typified by the final pass to Jorgensen
But it was the double threat of the midfield combo which allowed both to excel
English defence didn’t know who was going to be the threat on any given play
And that created time and space for both of them
This could be the start of a really good partnership
Sua'ali'i, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship
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@Tim said in England vs. Australia (2024):
To think that Eddie Jones snubbed Ikitau for the World Cup ...
It was a bit of a weird situation because he hadn't played for almost two months by the time the World Cup rolled around due to injury, so it wasn't quite as straight forward as him just being dropped.
Regardless, Ikitau is probably the Australian player from the last few years with the best argument for selection in a World XV (though Rob Valetini is now there or thereabouts and Angus Bell would be if he could stay injury free). A good coach would've utilised Ikitau at the World Cup.
On the match itself, great performances from Bell, Frost, the loosies and midfield. Wright was at his best too. Comfortably Australia's top performance of the year although England seemed to play into their hands a fair bit. Been interesting seeing the chatter about McDermott starting. His running game is great but Gordon's kicking was pretty crucial for a lot of that match. I think Schmidt has the right balance now, starting Gordon and using McDermott off the bench.
Grand Slam dreams still alive! Would be very (present day) Australian to lose to Wales next week but hopefully that isn't the case, should be the easiest challenge of the tour.
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@Mr-Fish Valentini has been at a world class level IMO for a good 18 months.
Also agree that Ikitau was probably a line ball call for the RWC given his injuries and lack of match fitness. Eddie got plenty of other things wrong though.
The midfield combo that I thought would work was Ikitau and Petaia but I think this one has some promise.
Schmidt has debuted more than a dozen new players this season so there is plenty of youth in there.
Sets up an interesting clash next week because the tune will have changed and the expectation will be that they beat Wales, and that's different than what was the case against England.
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@ACT-Crusader would've been nice to see Petaia kick on. Probably the most talented athlete that union has produced in Australia in a good five years but was just never able to nail the finer details and now appears to be lost to the NFL. Think it could be a really good move for him to be honest, doesn't need to worry too much about his decision making, just get the ball and run. Would've done well in the NRL too you would have thought.
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@MiketheSnow short shelf life, indeed.
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@MN5 feel like a couple of those players who flaked out were poorly assimilated though. Depends on where they land as much as how good they are. Credit to Schmidt for saying on day one ‘he’s a 13, let’s go.’ No fooling around learning the game on the wing.
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There's some good players in the wallabies. Bell, Wilson, Valetini, McReight are all quality, and the locks were good. Ikitau, the new bloke and Kerevi back is a good midfield.
Where they are lacking is 9 and 10. One halfback is too slow and the other can't kick, and Lolesio has been very patchy. Got Lynagh in the wings too, and they're young, so there is potential for them to be a very good side again. Not heaps of depth as per usual, so they need injuries to be on their side too.
Great game to watch, good fun and a nice antidote to our games. Does make very clearly the point that rugby is a completely different game depending on the referee. -
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The further I get away from this game the more I believe it was really important for us.
We needed something, anything to show people that we might be able to compete with the Lions. Going 1-3 might be OK considering where we are at, but it doesn't scream 'watch out for us next year'.
Now we might drop a couple of games in the next three, but it matters less because we've shown now that when we are on we can compete with anyone.
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@game_film said in England vs. Australia (2024):
Nice to hear old mate Maloney on the commentary going nuts. Always liked the dude and good to have something for Oz to get excited about
It's funny, I've seen a host of clips of the final play with different commentary and his is by far the worst. It's pretty clear that Jorgenson is going to score almost as soon as he gets the ball but it's not til he's bacially over the line that Maloney gets excited - super anti climatic commentary.
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That's what ypu get for commentating from Sydney and can only call what the TV shows you.
I fucking hate it. Fuck you Covid.
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According to someone
Angus Bell:
Carries: 14
Defenders Beaten: 9
Passes: 5
Offloads: 1
Tackles: 14
Turnovers: 1
Most defenders beaten by a Wallaby since 2019 (Koroibete against Georgia).
Most defenders beaten by a loose head prop for a T1 nation ever.Those are some good numbers
