Bledisloe #2
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Now that I’ve had some time to reflect, I’m a little more positive about our chances, though I am far from convinced we should be favourites for the cup given our form leading into it.
SB’s red card cost us the chance of winning that test. Yes we got dominated in the first 40, more so than usual. But that wouldn’t be the first time we’ve weathered the storm, kept the scoreboard close and then finished stronger.
Credit to the Wallabies, they didn’t let up and they didn’t panic when Beauden dotted down after by far our best passage of play. They exploited the numerical advantage, particularly around the fringes and really made us pay for SB’s brain fart. But I would expect any of the top sides to do that; bottom line is we will get pumped if we lose a player early in the game as we’re back in the pack now. The same is true for the other top sides.
We do have the cattle to go all the way, and a win against SA in pool play will give us a pretty easy run to the semi, but we need to get our tactics right.
Given we will never blow teams away in the first 40 I’d like to see us be more conservative with both selections and gameplan.
That means keeping the ball in hand more and using our forwards to hit it up around the fringes in the early exchanges. Wear teams down even if we’re not scoring tries.
Selection wise we need to start Taylor and TJP, move Beauden back to 10 and put our most experienced back BFA at 15 where decision making and defence will be important. A rookie like Ennor at 14 is not a huge risk. Cane should start at 7 with Ardie on the bench, and a big bopper at 6 (Frizell, Jacobson or Squire, they just need to go hard for 50 odd minutes).
Then in the second 40 we can roll out Coles, A Smith, Aridie and Mo’unga to really up the tempo - those 4 blokes coming on at the 50-60 minute mark can provide us a massive point of difference. I don’t think any other team could boast that level of class and impact off the bench when defenses are tiring.
This 2nd Bledisloe is a great chance for us to adjust our game plan and play more to our strengths.
Thoughts?
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@No-Quarter a lot to like about that. If we adjust our tactics what do we do with the front row. Not mobile, poor hands, passive on ruck d (team issue) but good at scrum time? We have to hope that these guys will get better.
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@kev said in Bledisloe #2:
@No-Quarter a lot to like about that. If we adjust our tactics what do we do with the front row. Not mobile, poor hands, passive on ruck d (team issue) but good at scrum time? We have to hope that these guys will get better.
There’s no easy answer at prop. Moody has been disappointing as he has been good with ball in hand in the past but that part of his game has dropped away. Franks has never been a ball runner. I’m no expert in the dark arts but I’d lean towards someone that can offer more with ball in hand as we need to be making more inroads up the middle.
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@No-Quarter Yep spot on if we go that way we have impact from the bench which will be devastating.We badly need a hard hitting ball carrier at 6.
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@canefan said in Bledisloe #2:
A lot of it is mindset. No more fancy throw it wide stuff. Concentrate on hammering the aussies up the guts and choking them to death. Then we can swing it wide
Sounds similar to the U10's coaching manual, perhaps we could get a copy to Foster and co.
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@sparky Like your team for the most part. Only changes I would make to it is to bring in Ennor for Havili (need pace on the wing) and a bigger blindside for Ardie. Maybe Squire gets the nod but fuck we are lacking options there. Will start Cane due to his physicality on defence, and bring Ardie off the bench early in the 2nd half.
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@Yeetyaah said in Bledisloe #2:
Ah okay. I thought it'd be points difference or something. Cheers fellas.
It comes down to how many boundaries hit
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@canefan said in Bledisloe #2:
@Yeetyaah said in Bledisloe #2:
@Duluth Laumape to 12 and ALB to 13.
Laumape had a very good game last night, he's earned a chance. I wonder if Hansen will channel his inner Gary Stead and pick Sonny
I thought he was as average as everyone else and he really needed to play his hard and straight bashing style and didn't.
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@Nepia said in Bledisloe #2:
@canefan said in Bledisloe #2:
@Yeetyaah said in Bledisloe #2:
@Duluth Laumape to 12 and ALB to 13.
Laumape had a very good game last night, he's earned a chance. I wonder if Hansen will channel his inner Gary Stead and pick Sonny
I thought he was as average as everyone else and he really needed to play his hard and straight bashing style and didn't.
At least he fronted up on D at a time when we were leaking like a sieve. Shag knows what he gets with Sonny. At the same time I can see him playing Sonny if he is the more solid option in a game we really want to win
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@canefan said in Bledisloe #2:
@Nepia said in Bledisloe #2:
@canefan said in Bledisloe #2:
@Yeetyaah said in Bledisloe #2:
@Duluth Laumape to 12 and ALB to 13.
Laumape had a very good game last night, he's earned a chance. I wonder if Hansen will channel his inner Gary Stead and pick Sonny
I thought he was as average as everyone else and he really needed to play his hard and straight bashing style and didn't.
At least he fronted up on D at a time when we were leaking like a sieve. Shag knows what he gets with Sonny. At the same time I can see him playing Sonny if he is the more solid option in a game we really want to win
Agree with that.
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@Billy-Tell said in [Bledisloe #2]
We've lost to Australia and still done fine in the RWC (2011, 2015). We've also thrashed Australia and got knocked out of the RWC (2003). I'm all for not showing a complete hand, but winning with a little bit of style would be reassuring, given our only other match before SA in Japan is Tonga.
The year in question is 1991. That's what it looks like to me. A tiring team, and coaches without a clue about how to arrest the slide.
So we'll scrape a win, and the over-optimistic will think we're back on track.
