Bledisloe I
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Totally agree with you ACT, I was thinking exactly the same. When you compare his game to Ben Smith its not even close in terms of who can make the right decisions and link up with team-mates. he takes some bringing down but if you are up to the task he becomes quite ineffective. I think his best position would be wing.
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@act-crusader Blessing. Folau or no Folau, not sure getting your ass handed to you time after time is a blessing but I get your point :-).
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Had to listen to the pregame Aussie feed about being underdogs. Seems like this is a change in the ordinarily confidence the Aussies exude. Must be seriously doubting themselves these days and in need of a hug.
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@broughie said in Bledisloe I:
Had to listen to the pregame Aussie feed about being underdogs. Seems like this is a change in the ordinarily confidence the Aussies exude. Must be seriously doubting themselves these days and in need of a hug.
But Jeff Horn, Steve Bradbury, Kieran Perkins and Australia II said they would do it!
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@bones said in Bledisloe I:
@majorrage shit sorry I'd better put the whisky down.
Pretty sure Mick was mocking as usual. That seems rather far fetched.
Good on you Bones - I'm amused that my interpretive analysis did a couple of laps of the oval before you alone picked it up
Bono did say to Jaco "I disagree with that" which deserved the André Watson to George Gregan treatment of long ago "I've heard enough from you, George, go away".
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@dmx said in Bledisloe I:
Totally agree with you ACT, I was thinking exactly the same. When you compare his game to Ben Smith its not even close in terms of who can make the right decisions and link up with team-mates. he takes some bringing down but if you are up to the task he becomes quite ineffective. I think his best position would be wing.
Quite so DMX - I like how Israel Folau plays his game with obvious enjoyment and glee but it is just that, limited. He is a real talent at what he does well but he has been worked out by good outfits and if he is denied those first five yards of explosive speed when he lands that's the end of that. He does go through periods of indifference - by comparison I first saw Ben Smith appear mid way through the first half, jinking and swerving in a crowd, and my reaction was high expectation. His clever mind is always on the job.
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@broughie for the good of the game an Bledisloe and all that stuff 😎
If I were a Wallabies supporter I’d be praying that a player better suited to playing fullback stakes his claim and when Folau is fit again, Folau is moved to where he would be far more effective - the wing. There are a couple of good prospects that ran around in Super rugby.
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@act-crusader said in Bledisloe I:
@kiwiinmelb said in Bledisloe I:
@canefan said in Bledisloe I:
@kiwiinmelb said in Bledisloe I:
Watching a replay , at the time I was frustrated during that first half ,
But watching again , our defence was sound , the handling errors were a result of us trying to up the tempo against an aggressive defence,
With the benefit of hindsight it paid off in the end
It must have been disheartening for the Orcs. They played an excellent first half and still we ran over them at the end of the 80 minutes. The contest was basically over by the 65th minute
If that was tough , the thought of going to eden park without Folau will have them struggling for positives
This may be a blessing for the Wallabies. Folau has a couple of very good strengths, taking the high ball in particular, but he is very average IMO at some of the more fundamental skills of rugby. Struggles to draw and pass, runs sideways, inconsistent kicking game for a fullback.
I’ve always thought if Folau was a kiwi and available for AB selection, he would be wearing 14 not 15
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@wreck-diver said in Bledisloe I:
@rocky-rockbottom I think with only 4 Aussies hanging around for Whitelock just sums up the relationship between the two sides. They don't have beer in the sheds together but the ABs and the Boks do
I don’t watch much of the post game guff these days, but I did see some footage of Whitelock going up to Folau who was on crutches in the tunnel.
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@act-crusader it is interesting the Wallabies havent altered thier lineup to have the wing/FB type at the back.
We have been down the wing/FB player for a while now (pre-2011) and is so effective, am surprised Aus havent tried to replicate it or at leats alter thier game plan a little, or are they content with Folou to defuse all aerial games?
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@booboo said in Bledisloe I:
@broughie said in Bledisloe I:
Had to listen to the pregame Aussie feed about being underdogs. Seems like this is a change in the ordinarily confidence the Aussies exude. Must be seriously doubting themselves these days and in need of a hug.
But Jeff Horn, Steve Bradbury, Kieran Perkins and Australia II said they would do it!
How bizarre is it using Bradbury as inspiration? How were the Wallabies supposed to emulate him? Kick the ball all the time and hope the other team falls down?
The whole prematch was weird. You had Qantas and their pathetic virtue signalling ads (no mention of their vital partnership with Emirates where homosexuality is illegal - fucking hypocrites), Bradbury and Co, Michael Hooper surfing and of course that Welcome to Country bullshit. If that isn't enough, that fat toad Phil Kearns then starts to speak.
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@rancid-schnitzel said in Bledisloe I:
Welcome to Country bullshit
What's bullshit about that?
It may be poorly executed at times (I didn't see the game), and generally awkward as fuck, but it's at least trying to get going in the right direction as far as recognition goes.
The guy in Brisbane does a great job of it, I should add.
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@nta said in Bledisloe I:
@rancid-schnitzel said in Bledisloe I:
Welcome to Country bullshit
What's bullshit about that?
It may be poorly executed at times (I didn't see the game), and generally awkward as fuck, but it's at least trying to get going in the right direction as far as recognition goes.
The guy in Brisbane does a great job of it, I should add.
Total bullshit invented in the 70s. How exactly is it in any way relevant to a rugby game? It's nonsense and I bet the ARU pays an absolute shit load for the privilege.
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@rancid-schnitzel There are plenty of people who ask the same question (how is it relevant to a rugby game) about the haka. The majority of Kiwis wouldn't want to go without a haka before a test match. I see the "Welcome to the Country" as the Aussie variation to the haka: a cultural expression before kick-off. It doesn't matter whether it dates back to the 1900s or is relatively recent; things change, new things are introduced. We're not dinosaurs, aren't we? I think it's quite boring, but it's not up to us to decide what is culturally important to the indigenous people of Australia, what it looks/sounds like etc. It only lasts a few minutes.
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@stargazer said in Bledisloe I:
@rancid-schnitzel There are plenty of people who ask the same question (how is it relevant to a rugby game) about the haka. The majority of Kiwis wouldn't want to go without a haka before a test match. I see the "Welcome to the Country" as the Aussie variation to the haka: a cultural expression before kick-off. It doesn't matter whether it dates back to the 1900s or is relatively recent; things change, new things are introduced. We're not dinosaurs, aren't we? I think it's quite boring, but it's not up to us to decide what is culturally important to the indigenous people of Australia, what it looks/sounds like etc. It only lasts a few minutes.
How can you honestly complare that to the Haka? And the Haka is an actual genuine tradition. Wtf is welcome to country? It's some bullshit invented by some entertainers in the 70s. I'm all for a dance troupe or something but not some dude rambling in a made-up "tradition".
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@rancid-schnitzel Again, things change. It doesn't have to be an (old) existing tradition. Why can't they start a new one? You find it bullshit; they obviously don't. It's not up to us outsiders to judge what's relevant to the indigenous peoples of another country. Cultural expressions can be anything: dance, song, poems, or a "welcome".
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@stargazer said in Bledisloe I:
@rancid-schnitzel Again, things change. It doesn't have to be an (old) existing tradition. Why can't they start a new one? You find it bullshit; they obviously don't. It's not up to us outsiders to judge what's relevant to the indigenous peoples of another country. Cultural expressions can be anything: dance, song, poems, or a "welcome".
I agree with this. Traditions have to start somewhere.
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@stargazer said in Bledisloe I:
@rancid-schnitzel Again, things change. It doesn't have to be an (old) existing tradition. Why can't they start a new one? You find it bullshit; they obviously don't. It's not up to us outsiders to judge what's relevant to the indigenous peoples of another country. Cultural expressions can be anything: dance, song, poems, or a "welcome".
Who is they? And how is it relevant to a rugby game now?
And how is it comparable to the Haka. That is a traditional war dance that is a big part of Maori culture. In other words it has centuries of cultural relevance. How is some old dude rambling in front of a microphone culturally relevant to Aboriginals?
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@wreck-diver said in Bledisloe I:
@hydro11 @booboo The Aussie lineout has been a problem for a couple of years they don't know who to pick at 6, 7 & 8 which is screwing up their options at the lineout.
Sir Stephen's only seriously taxing piece of pre-World Cup homework is how to replace the Ma'a Nonu-Conrad Smith-Cory Jane+Occasional Supplements machine which motored along out there, all low maintenance excellence, purring like a Jaguar XJ6 for so long - yet he has perhaps three combinations of capable individuals to test and switch about and the time to get it right.
Michael Cheika has to work out how to get the ball from the sideline in a straight line to to No 2 or No 5, how to have the front row stay bound more often than not, a cohesive mid field which can communicate and execute conventional plays; maintenance of a reliable defensive line that rarely fails; having a back three which can communicate and reliably judge when to kick and when to run - together; how to tackle; how to catch and pass; and that, when you run out of ideas out wide, a half-hearted rugby league dribble into a forest of legs in front of you is the fast route to seconds next week.
Somewhere in there he must also turn his attention to 6, 7 and 8 and the fact that Gavin, Kefu, Poidevin, Wilson and Cockbain left 20 to 30 years ago and haven't been replaced. Michael Cheika himself became one of the best club men in those positions, playing for and captaining the premium club - industrious, mean, high mongrel quotient, physical - and he would have to be tearing his hair out over this alone. His assistant coach has a similar problem - how to find a competent, talented replacement after his departure from first five eleven years ago.
Cheika remains the man for the job in my mind because he has the tough minded temperament to keep his greatest threats at bay, the ARU and the ever present interstate internecine warfare. They need him more than he needs them, and he has the backing of the politically most powerful putsch protecting him. I think he is making progress against the impossibility which he faced when he took on the job and I do not see losses against better unions as the end of days.
I have noted here before that Sir Graham with the All Blacks post 2007, and Eddie Maguire / Mick Malthouse with their 10 year plan of 2000 for Collingwood demonstrated that it takes a decade of focused, purposeful planning to attain success yet the only party in Australian rugby that misses these glowing examples is the board in charge!
An observation about "modern new rugby" - the first two All Black tries were from the old fashioned fellas' handbook - pass early, pass short and back up, back up, back up; for BBBR's stroll over he had a winger outside him and a centre and scrum-half inside all of whom were well clear. Barrett's try came from a similarly old fashioned take-it-through-with-short-gentle-kicks off the inside foot three times and fall on it (a coach back in the last century had backs and forwards all go through a session of that at every training and I well remember it would work a couple of times through the forwards alone every season - I doubt they ever coach it in Australia now).
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Welcome to country is an aboriginal tradition where an elder welcomes visitors to their land .
Doesn’t bother me , actually prefer it to that cheesy waltzing Matilda thing they used to do .
