Bledisloe 2
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I went for a 17km walk to start breaking in my new hiking shoes.
The wife and daughter unit are at a dance event the next 2 nights, so I cooked BBQ snags for the boy and I.
I had a premix Bundy & coke.The mixture of exhaustion, a full stomach, and alcohol, produced a state wherein I could finally sit down and watch the game.
First half thoughts in no particular order:
Stupid yellow card Holloway after splitting them open and leaving Retallick in the dust
Stupid yellow card Porecki but what the fuck is wrong with our maul defence? We stopped the Boks after all.
Why no warning to Whitelock or YC for Taylor when Samu got within a few metres of the line? We were hot on attack.
Fucking hell Marika. Left foot in please.
Fire Wright into the sun. Fucking useless. More like Wrong.
Defensive line suffered with Foketi going off injured.
Akira Ioane is a passenger on defence.Other than that, we're not actually that far away. We went a couple too many pick n gos when the backline should be given a shot.
I am going to assume the second half is shit before I go ahead and watch.
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Second half thoughts:
No real issue with the "own try". Can't really see what the fuss is about. If Bell was a bit quicker he could have just knocked the ball out instead of trying to grab it.
Physicality in this game is pretty good from both sides.
Brace is right on the money with no straight throws but doesn't carry that through to scrums.
EdG maybe a touch lucky with the shot in Ikitau - he was eyes down from about 5 metres away. Different ref or TMO might see that differently.
The crying action was fucking funny tho. I assume it was directed at White.
Who needs to shut the fuck up, really.
Wallaby lineout is functioning reasonably well. ABs don't appear to be marking up on Holloway much, so easy ball.
Wallaby scrum was pretty solid - Lomax might have been smashing it in the first half with Valetini at lock when Holloway had his YC, but it wasn't as clear-cut with our full complement.
Bell's height was all wrong for his first few scrums. Once he sorted himself out it stabilised.
Foley having a few shockers on the decision-making front.
Petaia is not the hype that QLDers built him up to be.
Tom Wright is still shit.
OK so we're living in a universe where the TMO can pick up a neck roll by Porecki in the first couple of minutes but a very definite head clash for Reece on Hodge isn't even worth a mention. Cool, cool... Must have been taking a piss.
Some flaky decision making on the bouncing ball by the Wobs.
AB maul most of the difference in the game IMHO - and if your discipline gives a dominant opposing maul field position, it is going to be a long night.
I am shocked that last try to Petaia wasn't called for a forward pass.Other than that I don't know what the doomsayers are on about. The score flatters the ABs to a degree and there was nothing wrong with our physicality. Scrum wasn't great at points but the YC didn't help in the first instance, and Bell fixed his shit in the second.
If Holloway doesn't lift Papali'i...
If Marika's foot is not in touch...
If Foketi doesn't get injured...Yeah that's grasping a bit, but I'm not prepared to quit just yet.
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@Kirwan said in Bledisloe 2:
@Nepia said in Bledisloe 2:
@canefan said in Bledisloe 2:
@Chris-B said in Bledisloe 2:
@Tim said in Bledisloe 2:
Caleb Clarke under the high ball and on kick offs was absolutely faultless. Shame on anyone who tried to bag him.
Caleb's good under the high ball.
His work ons are pretty evident though.
He makes some great breaks but then fails to link up.
According to ESPN's stats he made 9 runs and no passes last night.
The week before 11 runs and 2 passes.
I watched him from time to time. Always tries to beat or overpower his man as opposed to wondering where his support is. So when he's taken down we have to recycle to restart momentum.
Yeah, I think he's conditioned to being the power wing in the team so always tries the Maori sidestep instead of sizing it up and maybe stepping, going round, or looking for support. If he tidies that up it should be all good.
He has good “problems”, has the pace to go around and the power to go through.
Is so good under the high ball too he’s covering the two fullback approach we seem to like in the back three. Opens up the other wing for a finisher.
It’s a luxury we’re fortunate have ie, power winger and finisher, both world class. Not a lot of tests teams have that.
Clarke under the high ball was fantastic, all 3 of our back 3 can safely diffuse the high ball now.
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So I only got to half watch the game cos dinner party thing. I did read through this thread yesterday, and now I'm 25mins into watching the replay.
Forgive me if someone already me mentioned it, but I don't remember much discussion about A Smith? I've been a really big critic of him lately, but he has been unbelievable in the first 20mins - catching balls at his feet, clearing at amazing pace, so quick to each breakdown, and even a well-timed snipe!
So good to see again
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In another thread where I was praising Tom Wright you said he was prone to brain explosions. Man you’re not wrong, WTF was he thinking with the quick tap and kick? AB’s had 3 defenders back there? Wide to Rieko who ran away from Jordan but penalty, lineout, penalty try and yellow card. That was a costly brain explosion.
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@TheMojoman and then dropping the ball cold off that shit pass from White and THEN gifting the ABs a penalty for holding on in basically the same motion. ffs...
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@Tim said in Bledisloe 2:
Akira Ioane's try saving tackle on Wilson at 30:35 was brilliant. Wilson had great low body position and pace, and Ioane had to get super low and turn him back from the line in the tackle.
Mate, it was even better than you make out - he was defending the left side of the ruck until the phase prior, he sprints around the base, shoves through 2 of our guys to get into the line on the right, kind of overruns the spot he wants, and has to dive back to his left to effect the tackle
Amazing effort to get there and then to make that tackle showed immense strength
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@TheMojoman said in Bledisloe 2:
It’s a luxury we’re fortunate have ie, power winger and finisher, both world class. Not a lot of tests teams have that.
Not forgetting Sevu Reece
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@voodoo said in Bledisloe 2:
So I only got to half watch the game cos dinner party thing. I did read through this thread yesterday, and now I'm 25mins into watching the replay.
Forgive me if someone already me mentioned it, but I don't remember much discussion about A Smith? I've been a really big critic of him lately, but he has been unbelievable in the first 20mins - catching balls at his feet, clearing at amazing pace, so quick to each breakdown, and even a well-timed snipe!
So good to see again
He's turned into the Charlie Watts or Ringo of 9's. Nothing flash, but does everything perfectly time and time again.
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@voodoo said in Bledisloe 2:
Fuck SBW is bad. Why is he employed? Surely it's some sort of work experience, we're not actually paying him are we?
Makes Miles Harrison look professional.
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@TheMojoman which is a huge improvement from the Irish series where we could barely catch a cold...
Still think we should be utilising our resources better (Jane for high ball work, DC to assist with our 10s...I mean he has been in SA working with thier young guys)
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@voodoo said in Bledisloe 2:
Fuck SBW is bad. Why is he employed? Surely it's some sort of work experience, we're not actually paying him are we?
Well those of us who live here in NZ don't have to listen him too much, but I would wonder the same thing on the odd time I have seen him on coverage from Aus.
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@voodoo said in Bledisloe 2:
@Tim said in Bledisloe 2:
Akira Ioane's try saving tackle on Wilson at 30:35 was brilliant. Wilson had great low body position and pace, and Ioane had to get super low and turn him back from the line in the tackle.
Mate, it was even better than you make out - he was defending the left side of the ruck until the phase prior, he sprints around the base, shoves through 2 of our guys to get into the line on the right, kind of overruns the spot he wants, and has to dive back to his left to effect the tackle
Amazing effort to get there and then to make that tackle showed immense strength
It was a hell of a play but I think most people missed it
Ian Smith started talking about it "I think we've seen something special here" but the AB's took the dropout quickly and there was never a replay
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@Victor-Meldrew said in Bledisloe 2:
@TheMojoman said in Bledisloe 2:
It’s a luxury we’re fortunate have ie, power winger and finisher, both world class. Not a lot of tests teams have that.
Not forgetting Sevu Reece
Definitely, not the size but boy does he pack some punch as Hodge found out.
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@voodoo said in Bledisloe 2:
The Akira "turnover" for getting isolated at 37mins was 100% Ardies fault for a pathetic clean attempt. Try begging
Yep. Wasn't accurate enough to get shoulder on Samu and was forced to try and wrestle him off the ball. It was good, hard, direct meters by Ioane which he's often criticised for shirking.
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@Tim said in Bledisloe 2:
Here's the clip:
Not bad for a "showpony". Great read on defence, and awesome technique and strength! Looks like he knocked the ball out too.
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