Bledisloe #2
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@taniwharugby said in Bledisloe #2:
THat period under the pump 10 mins in was some great defence, granted we pushed the off-side line a bit...someone drove Beale back from the ingoal area into the field of play.
Tuipolotu! Really stepped up
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@nzzp I watched the game again,Tuipulotu defensively wise was outstanding..may have played his way into the squad..we need this sort of form him every time he steps on the field.
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@mariner4life said in Bledisloe #2:
I think the biggest lessons for both teams out of the last 8 days are:
The Wallabies' best is good enough to win
NZ can no longer have an off day, as below our best probably isn't good enough.
I think they are lessons both coaches will be happy with
Agree. Lessons happily learned knowing the Bledisloe is locked away for another 12 months
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Beaudy played with a touch of Suzie's disease
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@canefan said in Bledisloe #2:
Beaudy played with a touch of Suzie's disease
So we're even training for 1995 conditions!
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@Donsteppa said in Bledisloe #2:
@canefan said in Bledisloe #2:
Beaudy played with a touch of Suzie's disease
So we're even training for 1995 conditions!
He even missed a DG just like Merhts! Merhts' one was easier though....
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@canefan said in Bledisloe #2:
Beaudy played with a touch of Suzie's disease
Nice way of saying he had the shits.
Watched the news and that 7 man scrum was damn impressive.
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@Wairau said in Bledisloe #2:
Love the BB is so good at finding mismatches and potential gaps, and now has the time to look from FB-and with Bridge and Reece he has other players with speed and ability to exploit it. Very potent and unpredictable so hard to defend against.
I love that all the other coaches will have to watch hours of super rugby footage to try and work out Reece and Bridge before the cup
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@African-Monkey said in Bledisloe #2:
ALB was awesome last night and has the ability to play both 12 and 13 equally as well. I don't think even the coaches know who they're gonna go with there, it really is a tough one
Was interested in what Foster said on Alby at the presser - that he has a huge work-rate and outstanding support play and he runs unusual lines.
Got the impression they rate him highly but just feel he's somewhat unconventional and don't quite know how to use him the best.
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Can't be the only one who's noticed that BB does a lot of the talking in team huddles. He's becoming more and more a leader.
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@Victor-Meldrew ALB reminded me a bit of Walter Little last night when he was skipping around.
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@No-Quarter said in Bledisloe #2:
@African-Monkey yup that's what worries me. People forget how damn close that game was, it was real trench warfare.
My abiding memory is Nonu bamboozling 3 Springboks with sleight of hand and body movement before putting BB in at the corner. Sublime.
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@Nepia said in Bledisloe #2:
So, the Sunday morning thread read isn't nearly as much fun when we win comfortably.
So my random thoughts on the game:
So I think I was correct in thinking we haven't been playing direct this year, however in this must win match we played really direct and smashed them up in the forwards. I think the TWM must be disappointed they had to play direct in this match as I think they were saving it for the cup finals themselves. We also massively tidied up our defence, although TBF last week we just had so little ball that we had to make so many tackles that we were always going to miss a few.
There seems to be a bit of a loss of perspective on the wings. Yes they both played well (Reece especially played better than I thought he would in defence and without the ball, Bridge as I expected) but it's impossible to make a comparison between this week and last week - last week the forwards played like fairies and the backs suffered because of it (and they were down to 14 for 40 minutes) and this week the pack kicked arse and the wings benefited from decent front foot and counter attack ball. I think Ioane would have carved up just like Bridge did last night with that extra space. Can't believe some are genuinely suggesting he'll be dropped.
Coles is getting shit but I thought he played well outside of his yellow and getting a yellow for dumping a mouthy halfback out of a maul which we were dominating isn't too bad in the scheme of things.
The loosies were awesome. Savea spent the first 40 minutes emulating his brother on the wing (the good version, not the fatty version), dare I say it very Fifita like, then spent the second 40 in the middle more making tackles and hitting rucks. I wonder if that was the gameplan. Also, we may as well just give Ardie the number 8 jumper. He's playing 8, Read is playing 6 and Cane is playing his brand of hard tackling 7 for 60 minutes until they bring Todd on. I still don't get Todd, good rugby player, but 3 7's in the team just seems overkill.
Patty T stood up and didn't get himself red carded so that's a bonus. Whitelock had a new haircut, he doesn't quite look like the missing link as much anymore, and that coincided with his best test of the year.
Beaunga is starting to gel I reckon. I was generally worried when Mo'unga came off injured. Not for the game, BB could easily slot into 10, but for the RWC. Thankfully it looks like it's not serious. SBW and ALB were both good. Smith ran the game well, like he used to.
JB still worries the shit out of me, even though I thought he was decent, but he still looks like he's 30 seconds away from doing something stupid. I guess I have to trust he'll come right like DMac did (who copped far worse from some posters than JB does for arguably less stupidity).
White looked shit this week, Genia looked good when he came on. The number 6 who changed his name was awesome last week, he was terrible this week. My non regular rugby watching Aussie mate picked up how bad he was early in the game and then spent the rest of the game shouting at the screen to get him off. Kervei was irrelevant without as much ball as last week and O'Connor was just left to tackle all day. Beale had his worst test in a while.
Agree with pretty much all of this. Re White, Genia, A Smith, it all just reinforces that the backs can't do a damn thing without a pack that fronts. And man did ours this week, Aside from Coles stupidity (even if you don't think the throw was dangerous, to do it off ball after a warning was as is idotic a thing as I've seen in a while), they were amazing to a man. Lineouts not perfect, but the scrum was immense, the maul defence was perfect, and the breakdown dominance was superb. I'm one of the guys who had written off Read as being past it - fuck did he prove me wrong. As others have mentioned, his eyes!!!
I think SBW did enough to get the 12 jersey, and if JG is back, that means ALB to the bench and Crotty out of the 23.
Worried about the lineout still, more lack of jumpers than Coles throwing. But that's not terminal with the time available.
I'd probably still revert to BB at 10 and BS at 15, but I'm less alarmed after this week. I def want BS on the bench if he's not starting - BS, ALB and TJ can cover the full backline.
Agree the wingers got a better ride than last week (after my earlier post that they'd have no chance to shine with the mess inside them (:face_with_stuck-out_tongue: ). I think Ioane is a better player than Reece still.
Last thought - I thought Jordie took every chance tonight, and looked the part. But fuck me he has way too much hair.
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@Victor-Meldrew that shot they showed of the AB changing room at HT both BB & RM had alot to say, so that to me shows a good environment where a relative newby can come in and speak and people listen.
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@voodoo said in Bledisloe #2:
Last thought - I thought Jordie took every chance tonight, and looked the part. But fuck me he has way too much hair.
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Ritchie has also been in the AB environment for a couple of years thanks to TWM's policy of "getting to know players".
Seems a smart policy.
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@taniwharugby said in Bledisloe #2:
@voodoo said in Bledisloe #2:
Last thought - I thought Jordie took every chance tonight, and looked the part. But fuck me he has way too much hair.
:smiling_face_with_open_mouth_cold_sweat: :smiling_face_with_open_mouth_cold_sweat: :smiling_face_with_open_mouth_cold_sweat:
