Bledisloe 3
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After the World Cup we had something of a golden run which I guess was a bit of a surprise with all the players that had moved on ,
It's almost like the delayed hangover has hit 12 months later , injuries , form issues etc have made us look a bit more vulnerable,The rest of the rugby world will take heart from it , more stories will appear , we aren't the force we used to be , aura should make an appearance again etc etc
But I personally still think we are in a great position if we look forward to 2019 , when it comes to raw talent , it's still there ,
But the coaching and planning could be the crucial part moulding and putting it all together .
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We the game was supposed to be played at 3am PST so I got up and it was half time. Not sure what happened. Agreed the backs looked like they were coached by Blackadder but the Aussies had good line speed and we did not adapt. The game has to be won in the forwards and it was even or perhaps they had the better of us. Get Akira into the mix. He adds X factor and in the right environment he will excel. And SammyC give the Todd thing a rest. He is not going to be the player to take us through the next WC. Jettison him now as well as Savea. We need to start building a more dynamic pack.
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@kiwiinmelb great analogy. We woke up the morning after 2015 still drunk and we've been doing everythong we can to stop the hangover from coming. I think we've managed to limit it as best we can, and moving forward we have a great base of players to build from.
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@broughie said in BLEDISLOE 3:
And SammyC give the Todd thing a rest. He is not going to be the player to take us through the next WC. Jettison him now as well as Savea. We need to start building a more dynamic pack.
What Todd thing?
Have I even mentioned him lately?
Cane was awesome... the abs best player last night
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@gunner Great post. I felt that in the 2nd half in particular we needed to go back to the tactics employed against the BIL in that first test. Had to take the pressure off Lima who is frankly not an International 10 imo. We had to play off 9 like we did that day given the conditions, the rush defence and our non performing 10. Hope they get a lot of learnings from this game. We have looked vulnerable all year when teams match or dominate us in the physical exchanges and employ a fast defensive line.
One thing it does prove though, our depth may not be as great as people make it out to be.
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At half time I remember thinking "this'll be a good replay game tomorrow morning"
We were smashing them in tackles, making all the play, got a beaut try with patience and skill (those passes into traffic between the forwards). Aussies were good but we were giving the wee upstarts a bit of a whacking
Second half means I'll never watch this again
Our boys were buggered in that 2nd spell.
No go forward, no advantage line, no injection of energyAussies were committed and playing for sheep stations and deserved their win and exuberant celebrations afterwards
Never known Whitelock to be so anonymous - he's gotta be knackered
they've all got to be tired after all the super derbies, Lions, and smashing the championship
Conversely Aussies had everything to play for (their whole season actually, in a dead rubber, which is a great inferred compliment to the ABs) and they stuck at it
This is a classic example of flush the dunny (and keep that poxy attacking scrum intercept move as a stain reminder not to get too clever) and concede an insipid performance in a dead rubber at the end of a pretty successful season (a grand season but for two referee interventions/intepretations).
No real need for all the baby and bath water or the sudden revelations that Hansen has been "bloody average since 2015", but then social media bleating when things don't go your way is all the rage these days
Rather lose this one than one up north
Observations:
Didn't Cane (who is a warrior) get knocked pretty much out in the second spell with a bit of a Lonergan?
Has damien got enough game for this level? Not so much what he did do but what he didn't seemcapable of doing - provide an attacking, space creating threat when we needed it. Not sure he's got it for this team.
Blokes holding on to legs, rucks forming and still the fluffybunnies let them get up or wriggle forward - Fix this shit now!
Hope the Aussie ferners are pleased with their team last night
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@siam said in BLEDISLOE 3:
Our boys were buggered in that 2nd spell.
No go forward, no advantage line, no injection of energyPosted in that thread about our game style that: I don't think our long-fabled fitness is all its cracked up to me, I recall reading an article about the AB's where Nick Gill said the gains they make year on year, got the AB's to a point where they were almost super-human.
Because we've so many 1st or 2nd year players now, its unrealistic to think we have that same level of fitness.
Its not unrealistic to think Coles, Whitelock, Retallick, Read, Cane, A.Smith, Beaudy, Crotty, Ben Smith, Dagg typically look like our best, because they have the conditioning. -
@siam Whitelock does look tired and Razor has to take some of the blame for that. He didn't manage him at all well this year. I was critical of him when he played Whitelock against the Sunwolves knowing that there were sill many hard games ahead. Could have rested him against some of the other weaker teams as well. It's only going to get worse next year with the increase in the number of NZ derbies, our players will be playing more high intensity games than they currently are.
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@siam I'd be very surprised if Cane was knocked out and didnt go off, he has taken himself off twice this season, once staying off even after he passed the HIA.
Gatland employed the rush defence to neutralise our advantage, other teams are now getting better at it and have used this to good effect and we have failed to adjust when teams use it effectively on us.
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@taniwharugby said in BLEDISLOE 3:
@siam I'd be very surprised if Cane was knocked out and didnt go off, he has taken himself off twice this season, once staying off even after he passed the HIA.
Gatland employed the rush defence to neutralise our advantage, other teams are now getting better at it and have used this to good effect and we have failed to adjust when teams use it effectively on us.
I saw the same incident that Siam did, although, maybe the look on Cane's face was just the pissed off look of someone working hard while his workmates seemed to be going through the motions.
We could do with a 2012-14 era Cruden as his playing to the line style would create space for others with the rush defence.
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@nta said in BLEDISLOE 3:
Was tossing up earlier today whether Barrett or Retallick was the bigger loss.
It's actually hard to call but maybe Barrett squeaks it for the sake of execution.
I don't think the first half plan was necessarily wrong - pin us back, kick points when available in the wet, try to build some pressure and accrue a try or two. The odd contestable kick worked well.
Just that occasionally Sopoaga didn't get it quite right, and we settled on Aaron Smith's kicks better as the game went along. And of course SBW with that.. thing at the end.
Barrett might have given some of those through kicks just a bit more venom, or taken the line on a couple more times.
Not sure what Franks or Moody would have turned around, I don't see the problems in our front row, although yes Coles either no longer has the speed (or confidence?) that he had last year.
I think Retallick is a little more consistent though.I like SB but he just can't monster and turn the match like Retallick.
DMac-not our 2nd or 3rd best 10 is he? And on the line he just isn't big enough to stop those tries. What really pisses me off though is every game or so he throws a really bad pass, even if not under great pressure.I thought Sopoaga could just not handle the pace of the Wallabies.
Squire had some work-rate, but ineffective, he has the size, I am more worried he doesn't have the rugby nous. Perhaps he is quicker than Kaino but in these conditions, Kaino would have slowed them down with his tackling.Worrying weakness was our midfield. Most worried about Crotty, he was weak at what he is normally reliable at.
SBW apart from that kick, was playing with fire with his semi-arm tackling. Would not work against some French refs methinks.Read was great. I still wonder if he is a great tactical captain but nothing bad really stood out for me in terms of tactics that he is responsible for. Coaches though, no, not good at all.
Worst thing though was probably seeing an Aucklander called Tui playing well against the ABs.
I can't even blame the ref! -
@nostrildamus I forgot to add they should have taken Cane off after 60 or 70m, not that he played badly, but he looked exhausted. Is our bench option such a huge drop in quality?
And yes last night Cane Todd would have been better than Cane Squire. -
@nostrildamus said in BLEDISLOE 3:
@nostrildamus I forgot to add they should have taken Cane off after 60 or 70m, not that he played badly, but he looked exhausted. Is our bench option such a huge drop in quality?
And yes last night Cane Todd would have been better than Cane Squire.The bench option, Savea, was used to replace Squire, so there was nobody left on the bench to replace Cane.
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I think with SBW and Crotty in midfield you probably lack a second playmaking option to take pressure of Sopoaga occasionally.
SBW has an offload. That's about it. Crotty is a solid player, but he's no Conrad. So, to me they're a similar style + 1 guy can offload.
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@nta said in BLEDISLOE 3:
I think with SBW and Crotty in midfield you probably lack a second playmaking option to take pressure of Sopoaga occasionally.
SBW has an offload. That's about it. Crotty is a solid player, but he's no Conrad. So, to me they're a similar style + 1 guy can offload.
I think having D Mac there is that option, but he didn't come into first receiver too much like he does with the Chiefs. In theory the midfield shouldn't be too much of an issue, with things going shit SBW and Crotty should just tuck the ball and hit the advantage line - that's how the Chiefs used to take pressure of Cruden, if nothing was on he knew he could feed it to the midfielders who would set it up (unless TNW was in midfield).
Hmm, that post was more Chiefs than I expected it to be ... must be on my brain since my Cruden 2012 comment.
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@reprobate said in BLEDISLOE 3:
cane to 6 isn't the worst idea, he certainly has the defensive presence for it.
He is the same height as the Irish 6 Stander who goes all right. He is a tackling machine already so he can continue doing that. Or do you look at someone like S Barrett at 6. Or can the coaches get the best from Squire and Fifita. Is Ioane a 6/8 option? I guess we will see on the tour.
