All Blacks V Wallabies, Hong Kong, October 30th

[TRF_Olyy]

I agree that McCaw made a bigger impact in attack, but at the breakdown today Pocock was king.

 

[madflyhalf]

I will be in Florence for Italy vs. Australia, and from the stands I hope to tell AAC that "in the game he IS amazing"! LOL

 

[smartcooky]

I notice Larksea & Invictus (President and Vice-President of the Stephen Donald Admiration Society) are keeping their heads down at the moment.

I wonder why that is?

 

[smartcooky]

BBC webiste says it was Alby's kick that didn't find touch, not Donalds. Is this true???

No true, it was Donald's kick that missed touch

 

[dan the man]

I'm gutted about the loss!!! but it was a great Test Match. And we've scored the winning try in the dying minutes of the game a couple of times this season so i guess "what comes around goes around"
Well played Australia.

It's just a shame that our backs on the bench don't even come close to the starting backs (Mathewson was solid)... Toeava missed a crucial tackle and Donald... well, need i say more?

 

[eot345]

yer i guess mccaw did do well in attack he is a strong runner however considering he is supposed to be king of the breakdown Pocock did simply dominate i have never seen anyone contest so much ball

 

[Sam Owen]

Come on guys, lets not turn into a Stephen Donald lynch mob. Yes we knew he struggles at test level and we knew he was suspect at kicking under pressure but he tried his best and missed.

Dan missed 2 penalties, although Dans missed points wernt crucial at the time and were seemingly more difficult than the one Stephen missed, Dan still missed, hell Dan might've missed that valuable penalty kick that Stephen missed (I wouldnt bet on it though, as Dan can under pressure and already kicked a couple).

Larksea and Invictus have very good reasons for backing Stephen. I mean he looked very good in his return to the ITM cup this year, so dont hate on them (Lark & Vic) it wasnt their fault Donald missed the kick lol. However I will have to really think about taking in their opinions next time I read from them and no I've never been a Stephen Donald fan.

Ice had a poor game too. I feel sorry for both him and Stephen they came out and tried their best. Ice made a very bad blunder as he looked too rusty for the occasion. His first touch he gave a forward pass but luckily for him Rolland was playing an advantage.

Take nothing away from the Wallabies though, had Donald got that kick over and the ABs won, I'd be on here praising the Wallabies. Australia had lineout turnovers, scrum turnovers and made mistakes when they were hot on attack and they still won. They were slightly sloppier than the ABs in some areas but they just looked the better side to me. I thought they had more things go against them but like I said before (a post in this thread a few days ago) about Drew Mitchell, they came out on the other side of the grey cloud, just what I was thinking when Drew sprinted and dived in the corner.

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Saw the second half, great game of rugby, surprised no one mentioned Quade Cooper's little dig at McCaw at the end of the game, personally thought it was a little cheap, running a fair distance to deliver a cheap blow!

Also Rolland was a complete and utter tosspot when it came to the scrums. Held on to long on the pause so thats why we saw so many infringements at the scrum from the props.

 

[Hurricane Nate]

I actually hope Donald gets a start this tour now. Really play himself out of world cup contention once and for all.

 

[Darwin]

My thoughts on the game (though possibly clouded by the 9 hours of drinking before the game started....)

I thought Aussie deserved to win the game. NZ have been winning all the close games between the two sides over the last few years, so I hope (from a NZ perspective) that Aussie haven't gotten over that mental hurdle they seemed to have had against the AB's! Goal kicking almost cost Australia again, luckily (for them) they made the correct decision to change their goalkicker after Giteau and Beale had missed a few. I think goalkicking is an area they really need to sort out. Giteau can be very good on his day, but seems prone to having the odd match where he is terrible with the boot - I wonder whether now is the time to give O'Conner the goalkicking full time, as he seems to strike the ball well, and certainly handled the pressure well in this game.

Scrums were a bit of a mess - I couldn't work out whether this was down to the poor condition of the turf, or the inadequate refereeing (the ridiculously long pause that Cymro alluded to), though I expect it may have been a combination of both. The breakdown was interesting - Pocock was sublime, but it he didn't get that much support from his fellow loosies, whereas the AB's loose-trio worked better collectively. If Australia can keep there trio together for another year they will possibly develop into a trio as effective as the NZ loosies, but at the moment they seemed to be playing more as three individuals. McCaw, Kaino and Read were possibly the pick of the NZ players to me - I love the way McCaw has developed his running game in recent years, he seems almost impossible to bring down at times.

I thought Cowan had one of his best games of the year, while Carter controlled the game well when he was on the field. Nonu was probably the most threatening NZ back, but he did make a few errors. NZ were let down by there back reserves (Donald & Toeava), though this has been well covered already. Quade Cooper had an ok game for Australia - he looked like breaking the line on more than a few occasions, but he did kick the ball out on the full a couple of times, and did miss a few tackles. AAC again scored a great try against NZ - he always seems to pull out strong games against the AB's. I was really impressed James O'Conner - he had a couple of shockers against the AB's last year, but seems to have really grown as a player with the experience he has gained. He still seems a bit wasted to me on the wing - I'd love to see what he could do at 12 for the Wallabies.

 

[Sneaki]

Saw the second half, great game of rugby, surprised no one mentioned Quade Cooper's little dig at McCaw at the end of the game, personally thought it was a little cheap, running a fair distance to deliver a cheap blow!

I thought that was pretty poor too, that sort of thing may often happen at lower levels of the game, but it's awful sportsmanship from a professional rugby player in a test match, it looked like he had a bit to say as well. I guess he'd been put on his rear-end all day and he jumped at the chance to knock someone over himself, even if the guy was already lying down...

Despite of what everyone is saying about bringing in Barnes for Giteau, I think that they would be better off replacing Cooper with Barnes, whether he's at 10 or 12. Nonu, McCaw and Carter all bumped off Cooper like he wasn't even there. I know that he's a great playmaker, but in another test match, a couple of missed tackles like that and it could already be game over.

I mean, Carter is a classy player, but at one point he was practically moving at a light jog and Cooper still couldn't tackle him.

 

[eot345]

I thought that was pretty poor too, that sort of thing may often happen at lower levels of the game, but it's awful sportsmanship from a professional rugby player in a test match, it looked like he had a bit to say as well. I guess he'd been put on his rear-end all day and he jumped at the chance to knock someone over himself, even if the guy was already lying down...

Despite of what everyone is saying about bringing in Barnes for Giteau, I think that they would be better off replacing Cooper with Barnes, whether he's at 10 or 12. Nonu, McCaw and Carter all bumped off Cooper like he wasn't even there. I know that he's a great playmaker, but in another test match, a couple of missed tackles like that and it could already be game over.

I mean, Carter is a classy player, but at one point he was practically moving at a light jog and Cooper still couldn't tackle him.

and whitelock he also knocked cooper on his back when cooper went infor the tackle

 

[eot345]

Cooper doesnt seem to understand that when when a lean 14 stone guy trys to tackle a 17-18 st guy around the shoulders he just gets knocked flat

 

[Shaggy]

Well I actually really enjoyed the game, and while i'm never happy when the ABs lose, i think they will benefit from the amount of pressure exerted by the Wallabies and how they dealt (or didn't deal with it).

This tour is all about simulating the World Cup for the AB's by selecting an appropriate squad, and getting the correct mix of players ... i believe that they haven't sort a replacement for Sivivatu for this reason (RWC player replacement rules), although G.Henry is probably tempted to replace him now with someone like Colin Slade who can play 10, wing, and full back.

While I am far from Donald's biggest fan, it's important to remember that the AB's leaked a few points, and weren't defensively sound in parts of the game before the likes of Donald and Toeava came on.

... Got to give Australia credit for the positive manner and the pressure they exerted to win the game, but i'm sure they'll be concerned about their scrum and their goal kicking.

Not a big fan on Ref bashing either ... we AB supporters are proud of how Macaw manages the Ref, and how the team adapts to refs style ... both teams have the same ref/it's the same for both teams.

... I don't think the AB's need to panic just because they lost a match, just move on/learn from the experience ... and make some personnel changes if necessary

 

[Wally]

an UNDESERVED win by the wallabies, nearly every single point they scored only because of an NZ mistake and not because of any play they made, the only try they really made was the last try, every other try only came because of an nz error. once the rust of playing little to no rugby since the tri nations wears off NZ will be dominating.

 

[RoosTah]

Agreed. That is possibly one of the dumbest posts on the thread. Half of winning rugby games is all about exploiting opposition mistakes.

 

[Wally]

Below is footage of JOC circa '07 doing the exact same thing to Ipswich Grammar School in his playing days at Nudgee College. Notice his left field cut-out pass at 0:43. Not too many 16 year olds can do that.

 

[Muzzy]

i knew you guys would be upset about that comment but it seems to me like nz lost the game rather than aus out playing us which makes the loss sting more, sometimes games like that happen, but i better say congrats to aus and do deserve the win for scoring on our mistakes

and looks like australia have finally sorted out their goal kicking woes with O'Connor, O'Conner has always been a good goal kicker

i feel sorry for stephen donald, he made a bad little grubber kick and gave possession right back and yeah he failed to kick the ball into touch in the 78th min, but there still was time to play anyway, the game wouldn't have been over, the only bad thing about that kick is it meant aus ran the ball right back into our 22, and he missed one penalty. but other than that he played ok, i reckon he's still better than cruden and delaney and i don't think slade is above him yet but may be in the future. but i believe aucklands gareth anscombe will move ahead of all of them next year

but i still think toeava had a worse game because not only did he get constantly exposed on defense and throw that forward pass, but he was also the reason aus scored one of their tries when he fell over, aus scored that try from inside their own half only because toeava fell over leaving a big gap and thats what i mean when i say most of aussies points only came because of nz mistakes like this, once those mistakes are gone aus will be in trouble. and yes i know australian fans are gonna get ****** at this too

 

[Sneaki]

i feel sorry for stephen donald, he made a bad little grubber kick and gave possession right back and yeah he failed to kick the ball into touch in the 78th min, but there still was time to play anyway, the game wouldn't have been over, the only bad thing about that kick is it meant aus ran the ball right back into our 22, and he missed one penalty.

Even if there had still been some time left, the 80 mins would pretty much have been up by the time the lineout was finished, and there was always the possibility of the AB's stealing it. The main advantage though would have been that the AB's would have had a much better chance of defending successfully, if it was from a structured set play like a lineout.

But we lost, so there's no point crying over spilt milk I suppose... Can't wait to see SBW getting a run next week .

 

[RoosTah]

i knew you guys would be upset about that comment but it seems to me like nz lost the game rather than aus out playing us which makes the loss sting more, sometimes games like that happen, but i better say congrats to aus and do deserve the win for scoring on our mistakes

and looks like australia have finally sorted out their goal kicking woes with O'Connor, O'Conner has always been a good goal kicker

i feel sorry for stephen donald, he made a bad little grubber kick and gave possession right back and yeah he failed to kick the ball into touch in the 78th min, but there still was time to play anyway, the game wouldn't have been over, the only bad thing about that kick is it meant aus ran the ball right back into our 22, and he missed one penalty. but other than that he played ok, i reckon he's still better than cruden and delaney and i don't think slade is above him yet but may be in the future. but i believe aucklands gareth anscombe will move ahead of all of them next year

but i still think toeava had a worse game because not only did he get constantly exposed on defense and throw that forward pass, but he was also the reason aus scored one of their tries when he fell over, aus scored that try from inside their own half only because toeava fell over leaving a big gap and thats what i mean when i say most of aussies points only came because of nz mistakes like this, once those mistakes are gone aus will be in trouble. and yes i know australian fans are gonna get ****** at this too

Not ******... wallabies fans have been suffering long enough not to get carried away with a 2 point win (especially when it should have been much more considering that we missed 5 kicks!).

It's just that what you're espousing is a tired old apologists argument... Any sensible person understands that Rugby games are generally won on the successful exploitation of mistakes (and the odd one by strange refereeing).

It's simply a matter of applying more pressure than the other side so your mistakes are less than theres. After all, every try that has ever been score has been the result of a mistake by the opposition, whether it be the defence not forming correctly or quickly enough, simply not reading the play or just bad tackle technique; these are all mistakes. If teams didn't make mistakes no tries would ever be scored.

As for the match. Well Australia still struggle for consistency throughout games, being brilliant in patches and making inexplicable decisions at other times. This is getting tighter though. Other than that, defence needs work, as our boys were slipping off way too many tackles and a the Nonu try was a result of poor technique (mistakes) in earlier phases which created the opportunity. Finally, Giteau doesn't kick either consistently or under pressure and should be dumped. Beale had a bad night and I think should be given another go, but otherwise the kicking should be given to O'Connor while he's hot.