Wallaby EOYT 2016
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@mariner4life said in Wallaby EOYT 2016:
WTF was pocock thinking with that pass?
About the limit of his skill in that regard.
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that game was interesting for seeing many liabilities and limitations by both sides.
Australia's midfield I thought was poor, their locks v quiet and so too became TImani (so much so, perhaps he went off early?) But the player I really liked seeing around the park was Dan Cole, he was a giant aggro rock in defence. Gee Folau had a mostly down and slightly up game, is he that bad or are the Wallabies all just badly coached with eggshell depth? Maybe, yes and yes. Edit: oh and I thought Pocock at 6 Hooper at 7 and Timani at 8 looks a much better balanced combo. But were they shaded in the turnovers by England?
And how often do we see the Englisg backline look faster and more decisive than their Wallabies equivalants? Or is Foley not fast and strategic enough to get backs hitting the ball at pace? -
@nostrildamus For me, it starts with Phipps; laboured service prevents Foley using his speed, so he ends up pressured and making poor decisions to a stationary backline. Or immensely telegraphed inside ball.
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I arrive here seeking a Safe Space, a place where anyone can relax and be able to fully express, without fear of being made to feel uncomfortable, unwelcome, or unsafe on account of biological sex, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, cultural background, religious affiliation, age, or physical or mental dumbness ...
I made good my escape from the local Australian fan sites where the now culturally traditional whinging is in full swing, with its monotonous blaming of referees Peyper, Owens, Joubert and Poite for denying the Qantas Harmless Wallabies their destiny of beating the Poms in 2016, even more so than blaming the traitorous Eddie Jones who is failing to show respect and demonstrates a lack of humility.
Not a lot is being said there about incompetent passing, catching, tackling, on field decisions, failure to capitalise on bountiful possession and ever so crafty kicks down centre field landing on their 40 metre mark from which the ball found its way to our 5 metre line.
The English commentators didn't do much to improve the kiddies' knowledge of the game - I heard them peeing their pants about a tackle by The World's Best No 6 and went back to have a look, in expectation that the li'l fella had Michael Jones-ed someone into the turf up to his ribs. No, he had made a conventional tackle around the thigh on someone lumbering past his side of the scrum, something Brewer, Reuben Thorne, David Wilson and Matt Cockbain did routinely.
Then they eulogised Folau for running about 40 yards (and failing to pass, a deeply traditional cultural habit of his). One long run per season for eight or nine hundred thousand a year isn't that flash. I'm convinced Israel doesn't pass because he is simply too lazy to think about it. Either that or he studied too much footage of autographed videos gifted to him by Adam Two-Fathers from which he learned that passing is optional and rare. The Roar has Mr Talented-but-One-Dimensional as World's Best Full Back Who Should Be Centre, though.
Haylett-Perry's yellow card is being cited as more evidence of a declared jihad. He has ability and spark but shouldering someone for no profit, late in the game, in your own half, when their kicker is doing Dead-Eye Dick is plain stupid and worthy of a yellow for educational purposes.
Michael Cheika has done well in Europe, better than expected, with the mediocrity dished up to him by the busted Australian system. You'd think the fans would have every reason to be happy with that.
Eddie Jones' success with a team which was on its knees a year ago is worthy of admiration, especially given his lifetime of sterling service to club, state, super and international rugby. Intelligent rugby fans would have every reason to be happy with that, but we don't have many of that type - our lot prefer to subjectively dissect video footage in 7.2 second bites to reveal injustice to their faves.
I'd better check up the page now to see if I have offended any other posters who believe the Qantas Harmless Wallabies' "I surrender" performance was "solid".
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@antipodean oh yes he was so bad I felt too sorry for him to even comment. Oh actually I don't like him anyway but it spoke for itself. But also Foley doesn't seem to be very good when the pressure comes on.
Neither does Farrell, I can see why they choose Ford but it seems a bit risky to have to have both Farrell and Ford on just because Ford is a lousy conversion kicker. Farrell is not a natural 12 and even defensively now he seems to have been worked out. Ford: Carter he is not.
For Australia that Fijian winger looked ok but DHP and Hodge? I am not sold on. Their most penetrating and effective runner was a prop!
I really wish Timani could have kept up his impact.
The knives are out in Australia for Moore but this game apart from a few lineout issues I didn't think he was so bad. -
@Mick-Gold-Coast-QLD said in Wallaby EOYT 2016:
Michael Cheika has done well in Europe, better than expected, with the mediocrity dished up to him by the busted Australian system. You'd think the fans would have every reason to be happy with that.
Actually I thought his coaching has been staid and unimagininative!
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@nostrildamus said in Wallaby EOYT 2016:
For Australia that Fijian winger looked ok but DHP and Hodge? I am not sold on. Their most penetrating and effective runner was a prop!
Agree on Hodge, but DHP? You talkin crazy man. He's been our best player all tour, maybe all year. Incredible consistency, and again made a number of great plays last night.
Can't fault his effort at all IMO.
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@mariner4life Yeah, sure is. I counted five players with Kiwi connections in this English squad. Hughes, Teo, Marko Vunipola, Hartley and Harrison. Billy Vunipola is born in Brisbane. Quality poaching from the hypocrites of world rugby.
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@akan004 said in Wallaby EOYT 2016:
@mariner4life Yeah, sure is. I counted five players with Kiwi connections in this English squad. Hughes, Teo, Marko Vunipola, Hartley and Harrison. Billy Vunipola is born in Brisbane. Quality poaching from the hypocrites of world rugby.
Yawn. If it helps, you can have Harrison back, he's not adding much
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@akan004 said in Wallaby EOYT 2016:
@mariner4life Yeah, sure is. I counted five players with Kiwi connections in this English squad. Hughes, Teo, Marko Vunipola, Hartley and Harrison. Billy Vunipola is born in Brisbane. Quality poaching from the hypocrites of world rugby.
Are you trying to be funny?
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Ignoring the poaching beat ups you do have to consider though about the resurgance in the NH recently being highly influenced by SH "imports".
Jones, Schmidt, Gatland, Lam, a plane load of players not only at a qualifying level but at club levels changing ideas of skills and tactics etc etc
It's certainly difficult to argue that this is some kind of home grown thing going on. -
Wouldn't personally say that for England on the player front. Teo, Hughes and Harrison (who's not very good tbf) have a handful of caps between them. Mako and Billy V have made big impacts, but they've been in England since they were kids. Not a fan of three year residency rule on the Hughes front. Sooner it goes to 5 years the better.
Jones has certainly made an impact though. Has managed to get the best out of pretty much the same group of players Lancaster had access to.
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@Margin_Walker said in Wallaby EOYT 2016:
Wouldn't personally say that for England on the player front. Teo, Hughes and Harrison (who's not very good tbf) have a handful of caps between them. Mako and Billy V have made big impacts, but they've been in England since they were kids. Not a fan of three year residency rule on the Hughes front. Sooner it goes to 5 years the better.
Jones has certainly made an impact though. Has managed to get the best out of pretty much the same group of players Lancaster had access to.
Well, the fact that they require Harrison and Hughes to push the incumbents means they are filling important roles.
No mention of the captain? No mention that one of the most influential players for a number of years in club rugby has been Nick Evans (not to mention a host of other "retirees" that have spread training methods and tactics? I often read comments from local players saying how much imports bring in attitude change etc -
@ACT-Crusader said in Wallaby EOYT 2016:
@akan004 said in Wallaby EOYT 2016:
@mariner4life Yeah, sure is. I counted five players with Kiwi connections in this English squad. Hughes, Teo, Marko Vunipola, Hartley and Harrison. Billy Vunipola is born in Brisbane. Quality poaching from the hypocrites of world rugby.
Are you trying to be funny?
You clearly weren't around in the 90s when every English hack was throwing accusations at NZ for poaching PI players etc when most of them knew the makeup of NZ society. Just think it's a bit ironic nowadays as you don't hear a sound from them.
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For the Aussie fans, I should say that living in London, my Brit friends thought that was a game Oz could have won. Penalty against Maykoe rather than lucky try for Poms and it's 16-6 at half time. That might have been enough for Oz to play with belief and composure. Think Cheika and co. had done their homework and sent team out excellently prepared.
Wobblies seemed to crumble at some point in second and once they stopped tackling England were made to look a lot better than they are. Far cry from Wallabies side who went 21-0 down to ABs in first 20 and stormed back only to lose in last minute. Timani looked excellent in first half but appeared to disappear. And backs developed severe case of dropsies. But on upward curve. -
@Crucial said in Wallaby EOYT 2016:
@Margin_Walker said in Wallaby EOYT 2016:
Wouldn't personally say that for England on the player front. Teo, Hughes and Harrison (who's not very good tbf) have a handful of caps between them. Mako and Billy V have made big impacts, but they've been in England since they were kids. Not a fan of three year residency rule on the Hughes front. Sooner it goes to 5 years the better.
Jones has certainly made an impact though. Has managed to get the best out of pretty much the same group of players Lancaster had access to.
Well, the fact that they require Harrison and Hughes to push the incumbents means they are filling important roles.
No mention of the captain? No mention that one of the most influential players for a number of years in club rugby has been Nick Evans (not to mention a host of other "retirees" that have spread training methods and tactics? I often read comments from local players saying how much imports bring in attitude change etcApologies for missing Hartley. His mother is English and he moved to England as a teenager, so I'm not massively concerned there. There are better hookers in the queue behind him at the moment anyway and he's there as an experienced head. Harrison and Teo both have English parents, so again that doesn't worry me massively. Hughes is more of an issue, but that's life until they change the rules.
Nick Evans? Yeah he's been good,as have plenty of SH players. Not denying at all that there's been a positive influence from the southern hemisphere. For me the primary reason for a resurgence (at least as far as England is concerned) has been the improved player pathway and club academies that are producing players capable of being a little more competitive on a world stage than they perhaps may have been in the past. Just look at the JWC where England have won it 3 of the last 4 years. These players are filtering through to the senior setup with recent experience of success at international level that perhaps wasn't there before. Perhaps some of that is the result of a SH attitude to youth development. Who knows?
