Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18
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Other stuff I just thought of: our set piece improved from last week and we seemed to blunt the ABs maul - absence of Whitelock? Earlyish loss of Moody? Dunno. Anyone got an update on Moody's neck?
Scrum was a bit back n forth with penalties each way. Each team lost 1 lineout according to stats I saw on ABC.
Wallabies 40 missed tackles to ABs 23. Turnovers won ABs 8 - 9 Wobs. Penalties conceded ABs 9 - 8 Wobs.
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@Rapido said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
Certainly some sliding door moments for Oz, and the match.
Dodgy Savea turnover on own line.
Double movement no try by the hooker.
Korobiete held up.And that is probably the moments to keep in mind for AB fans - knowing that, while 20 points is a lot in Test rugby, they are edge moments when you've got a team that can score like the ABs can. 14 point turnarounds are not unusual with BB on the field.
Both of the Wallaby no-try incidents you list above are failure to execute, and while one was a great bit of defence, the other was pure error from our guy.
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@booboo said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
@kiwiinmelb said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
Just a thought , how would reiko go on the right wing ?
Wouldn’t that give us some strike power out wide ?
Would like to give that a crack
Well Rieko does carry the ball in his right hand a fair bit so that's a start.
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@bayimports said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
Frizzel with hands like feet today, sure not an easy pick up, but not the first time today
Had some good and bad, to be fair.
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@taniwharugby said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
Well done Caleb!!
What a difference a surname makes.
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@chimoaus said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
@Kirwan said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
Great debut from Hodgeman
Has been excellent, like an extra loose forward.
Tupou left soon after his arrival?!
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@NTA said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
@broughie said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
@NTA Well the only solution to that is don’t go backwardsI'm not disagreeing, but consistency from the ref would be nice.
Your scrum has been rubbish with Laulala. The new guy made him look good
He seems to want to scrum low. Sio kept hips up and when the inevitable happened Angus ajudged it to be Nepo's failure. But he kept doing it!
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@taniwharugby said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
@nostrildamus said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
Patty T might have some fitness issues. Still think our 6 is reactive rather than proactive
yeah Patty not yet carryign his Superform over, hopefully just getting into his work as he was better in the 2nd 40
Frizell, really not sold on him, so hot and cold
Totally agree. BUT Clan kept playing him and by end he was form NZ 6. Even St. Jerome grew into role.
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@NTA said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
I just mused this on the social medias:
If "failing to score from within 5m" and "pointless flick pass instead of going to deck" were KPIs, the Wallabies would have their maximum bonus.
The issue for Rennie the next fortnight is - if you get booted for not doing your job - how many can he reasonably expect to boot?
I'm not as disappointed as I could be, given I expected to lose, but it is ample demonstration that the players haven't yet broken the shackles of brainfart play. The young players throwing flick passes instead of better options - that needs to be tempered.
A couple of individuals weren't up to scratch today and when it is strike weapons like Koroibete it hurts.
Aussie backs more tricky than a barrel of monkeys, but for me need a sober head in there. To'omua seems to engender better option taking. Hope injury settles.
Forwards seemed less effective this week. Tupou in particular seemed well looked after. Hannigan seemed mix was very good and very stupid. Not sure he was a step up from Samu.
If I were Rennie, I'd tinker, but tell the boys to use defeat as a lesson and just to be better next time. Young men.
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@pakman said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
@NTA said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
@broughie said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
@NTA Well the only solution to that is don’t go backwardsI'm not disagreeing, but consistency from the ref would be nice.
Your scrum has been rubbish with Laulala. The new guy made him look good
He seems to want to scrum low. Sio kept hips up and when the inevitable happened Angus ajudged it to be Nepo's failure. But he kept doing it!
Yep that's the scrum tho - most refs have no idea and just go with the flow. Note when the ABs got the penalty for Wobs standing up, it was AB feed. Next scrum was Wob feed and no such thing occurred because they're all aware that the team feeding is probably going to get the rub short of a massive shunt.
EDIT: I do this all the time to refs when I'm playing - butter them up with a bit of yes sir/no sir, but gently inform them the opposition LHP is boring in/standing up. Then on our feed I'll stand up and get the penalty more often than not
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@pakman said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
If I were Rennie, I'd tinker, but tell the boys to use defeat as a lesson and just to be better next time. Young men.
Obviously Toomua needs looking at with the injury. Koroibete extremely unlikely to play that badly again.
I'm not yet convinced Tupou is more than a flat track bully with ball in hand although his threat value isn't used enough to decoy IMHO.
The skill level is higher than previous squads and that's what we need to start building on. Do that, but like you say don't change too much - just identify that there is less time and space and maybe put away the flick passes.
Hanigan's ball to Hooper after his break was an example- ball in two hands, end over end like a league pass instead of bullet spiral at the chest, waiting until he'd fixed the defender. Quicker and easier, keeps the opposition guessing, commits a number. The younger guys (Wright, Wilson, Uelese) all tried to go out the back of the hand too close to contact and fucked it.
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Awesome afternoon of rugby (day rugby is so much more enjoyable!!), and so good to finally get along to a test again.
With a 7 year old, 2 year old and a wife 30 weeks pregnant we were not keen on the idea of public transport so we drove to the ground at around 1PM so we could park close(ish). By 1.30 all parks within cooee were gone so we were glad we got there nice and early. Had a picnic, let the boys play for a bit, then made a leisurely stroll down the road to the game.
Wife was decked out in her Wallabies gear, standing out in a sea of black, bless her. A tough afternoon for her lads thankfully, and the 7 year old let her know ALL about it haha.
Atmosphere was great, especially when the ABs clicked into gear after 15 or so minutes. That was an improved performance as you would expect, albeit in far better conditions which helped some of our players thrive.
Best moments of the afternoon was when they brought up Eroni Clarke on the big screen a couple of times. The second time was right after Clarke's epic run that set up Ardie's try and he got such a massive cheer he had to acknowledge the crowd. He looked proud as punch.
Some random thoughts on the game, bearing in mind I haven't seen it on TV:
- I thought 20 points flattered us; but for some more clinical finishing from Aus it could have been a damn sight closer.
- Aus picked up where they left off last week and dominated the first 15. It was only individual brilliance from Beauden and then Clarke that kicked us into gear. It does feel like we are still too reliant on that to get into a game, better defensive sides won't allow that to happen so easily.
- On Clarke, fark me what a performance from the 21 year old. He looks made for test footy. It's highly likely Bridge would have got the nod again if not injured, and without Clarke the ABs would have once again lacked the firepower needed to break open the test. The selections are going to be an ongoing concern with Foster at the helm.
- RM is electric in broken play, which is why I like him on the bench coming on against tired legs. In a tight test he doesn't lead the team around the park, and as we found out last week if the conditions are difficult he can be found wanting big time. That said, Beauden is not exactly well suited to the role either, but he has a damn sight more experience trying. Fact of the matter is we don't have a 10 that can really take control of a game when the opposition defense has come to play like we did with DC.
- Beauden was simply superb in the first half, which helped take some pressure off RM who grew into the game and had some fantastic touches to set us away.
- Frizzel is a very solid player but he doesn't seem to possess the power Akira does. I really hope they give Akira a good crack as he has the potential (only that right now) to be our next Kaino.
- Coles made a real difference and is back to his best (which is better than Taylor's ceiling). Great to see after his serious injury concerns a year or so back.
- ALB is a fantastic all round player and solidifies our midfield big time. He needs to be 12 with JG 13. I can only assume they have JG closer in to help defend the channel as RM is a bit of a liability there.
Overall a really enjoyable game in the sun with both teams willing to play attacking footy. Still a lot of question marks over this AB side, and I can see some very squeaky bum times ahead in Sydney and Brissie, but nice to keep the Eden Park fortress in tact with a comfortable win in the end.
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@Derpus said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
@Rapido Toomua going off was the real turning point i reckon. Defensive lynch pin and no 2nd 5 on the bench.
Tupou too, to a lesser extent.
But also the strategy across the park from the start was wrong - we had no chance.
Toomua was a huge loss and contributed to some of the more erratic play from the Wallaby backs. They needed cool heads out there today.
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@Derpus said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
@Rapido Toomua going off was the real turning point i reckon. Defensive lynch pin and no 2nd 5 on the bench.
Tupou too, to a lesser extent.
But also the strategy across the park from the start was wrong - we had no chance.
Yep, O'Connor was screwed without him there as well.
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@No-Quarter DC is the best 10 I’ve seen play because of the combination of things he brought - kicks off both feet, textbook tackling, pass both ways, and despite his lack of size was excellent in taking on the line.
I remember when he was in a bit of a form funk in the lead up to the 07 RWC and Nick Evans was having an excellent year particularly in attack. Some calling for Nick to start etc. But the thing that wasn’t in doubt with DC was his defence and that sweeping left boot that would get us out of trouble time and again.
The ABs have had challenges defensively at 1st 5 since I can remember watching as a kid and whilst we’ve tried different things to mitigate it and rotated players, it’s not a unique challenge we find ourselves.
I thought Richie was pretty good defensively off set piece defending in that traditional channel. It’s more when he is out wide he’s under more pressure. Man I held my breath when he was the last line of defence in that OZ build up!
I have to say I thought Beaudie was a very good front on tackler in that 10/12 channel. He was vulnerable when defending at fullback as we saw with the Blues earlier this year. But he was excellent tonight and provided a bit of steel in those tackles.
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@NTA said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
@pakman said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:
If I were Rennie, I'd tinker, but tell the boys to use defeat as a lesson and just to be better next time. Young men.
Obviously Toomua needs looking at with the injury. Koroibete extremely unlikely to play that badly again.
Totally agree.
I'm not yet convinced Tupou is more than a flat track bully with ball in hand although his threat value isn't used enough to decoy IMHO.
Defense moved up early on him this week. Like both Wallaby LHs but not sure on TH. Is there a young Ewen McKenzie coming through?
The skill level is higher than previous squads and that's what we need to start building on. Do that, but like you say don't change too much - just identify that there is less time and space and maybe put away the flick passes.
Hanigan's ball to Hooper after his break was an example- ball in two hands, end over end like a league pass instead of bullet spiral at the chest, waiting until he'd fixed the defender. Quicker and easier, keeps the opposition guessing, commits a number. The younger guys (Wright, Wilson, Uelese) all tried to go out the back of the hand too close to contact and fucked it.
Sometimes knowing when not to pass is more important than passing. Seem to recall something about someone in a better position than passer?!
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@No-Quarter Agree with pretty much all of this, but TBF if RM hadn't made game's pivotal tackle things could have been quite different.
