[Bledisloe 3] Australia v New Zealand in Brisbane 18/10/14

[Chikwa]

Mate, when you have less than 40% possession, less than 40% territory, miss 31 tackles, concede 15 turnovers, and make less than 400 running metres while your opponents make nearly 600m, and yet you still manage win, outscoring the opponents 4 tries to 3, then there its hard to be too displeased.

They say you learn more from your losses than your wins, but a game like this is the exception to that. This was almost like losing without the mark in the "L" column. Those Aussies and Kiwis here who are old enough will understand what I mean when I say this was a "Clayton's Loss; the loss you have when to haven't had a loss."

Coming off the narrow Bok defeat. This performance confirmed the weaknesses in the AB game.1) poor at the breakdown 2) individuals miss too many one on one tackles 3) Inconsistency at scrum time. 4) Barrett is work in progress (piutau should be playing instead of Dagg) The Franks brothers seem to be jaded. Genuine no 8 back up required for Keiran Read. Another reserve hooker needs to be tested.

 

[dasNdanger]

Mate, when you have less than 40% possession, less than 40% territory, miss 31 tackles, concede 15 turnovers, and make less than 400 running metres while your opponents make nearly 600m, and yet you still manage win, outscoring the opponents 4 tries to 3, then there its hard to be too displeased.

They say you learn more from your losses than your wins, but a game like this is the exception to that. This was almost like losing without the mark in the "L" column. Those Aussies and Kiwis here who are old enough will understand what I mean when I say this was a "Clayton's Loss; the loss you have when to haven't had a loss."

My biggest concern is that the ABs seem to be losing their consistency and their quality of performance over the past year. Even in the Super Rugby level we saw a bit of a decline in the NZ teams. I just hope they can work their problems out before the World Cup, or we All Blacks fans just might be in for a huge disappointment.


das

 

[smartcooky]

Coming off the narrow Bok defeat. This performance confirmed the weaknesses in the AB game.1) poor at the breakdown 2) individuals miss too many one on one tackles 3) Inconsistency at scrum time. 4) Barrett is work in progress (piutau should be playing instead of Dagg) The Franks brothers seem to be jaded. Genuine no 8 back up required for Keiran Read. Another reserve hooker needs to be tested.

That's what I'm saying.

They did a LOT wrong in this game. I'd even go as far as to say they used the wrong game plan, and yet still managed to win it. They weren't so much beaten at the breakdown as chose not to compete at it in numbers. How many times did we see three, four or five Wallabies at a breakdown, and all the All Blacks standing off. Now there is nothing wrong with having that as a game plan so long as it is backed it up with not missing first up tackles, and therefore not giving up metres at the gain line. But that isn't what happened. The Wallabies broke the gain line regularly, only failing to make really clean breaks due to the All Blacks' cover defence.

Now go back and compare this with Bledisloe 2, where the All Blacks competed at the breakdown, made the gain line regularly and didn't allow the Wallabies to; they conceded only four clean breaks to the Wallabies all game. If the match stats in terms of possession, territory, running metres & gain line success for Bledisloe 3 were reversed, IMO, it would not have been close; they would have hammered the Wallabies.

 

[Jaguares]

That's what I'm saying.

They did a LOT wrong in this game. I'd even go as far as to say they used the wrong game plan, and yet still managed to win it. They weren't so much beaten at the breakdown as chose not to compete at it in numbers. How many times did we see three, four or five Wallabies at a breakdown, and all the All Blacks standing off. Now there is nothing wrong with having that as a game plan so long as it is backed it up with not missing first up tackles, and therefore not giving up metres at the gain line. But that isn't what happened. The Wallabies broke the gain line regularly, only failing to make really clean breaks due to the All Blacks' cover defence.

Now go back and compare this with Bledisloe 2, where the All Blacks competed at the breakdown, made the gain line regularly and didn't allow the Wallabies to; they conceded only four clean breaks to the Wallabies all game. If the match stats in terms of possession, territory, running metres & gain line success for Bledisloe 3 were reversed, IMO, it would not have been close; they would have hammered the Wallabies.

Ok, but that is also merit of the opponent. When ABs play well: They are the best in the world. When ABs plays bad, they used the wrong game plan. No, if ABs were overcome in the territory and meters, was because Wobbs did merit to achieve that.

That doesn't mean that some impact players can make the difference in the second half as Sam Cane that was vital to the NZ victory, but shouldn't be removed merit Aussies saying that ABs used a bad strategy, Wallabies were superior and ABs won thanks to their bench: Sam Cane and Colin Slade.

The match was defined by small individual errors, Foley missed a very important tackle (on Fekitoa), Sam Cane obtained possession for ABs in an important moment and Colin Slade made a difficult kick. If Slade failed the last kick, we are talking about the wonderful Wallabies victory, with Carlos Spencer or even with Barrett that could have happened.

The errors don't come alone, errors appear because you have an opponent front of you that smothers you, will not let you breathe, that doesn't leave you thinking. That's what Wallabies did and why ABs committed many errors, it wasn't the Holy Spirit or something like that.

 

[The Jones Boy]

Coming off the narrow Bok defeat. This performance confirmed the weaknesses in the AB game.1) poor at the breakdown 2) individuals miss too many one on one tackles 3) Inconsistency at scrum time. 4) Barrett is work in progress (piutau should be playing instead of Dagg) The Franks brothers seem to be jaded. Genuine no 8 back up required for Keiran Read. Another reserve hooker needs to be tested.

Once again Chikwa you make a lot of sense.
I thought the AB's looked tired and not entirely interested or focussed.
The Aussies were up for it and the only All Black who seemed up for it was the captain, McCaw.
He is not as good as he once was but it's a lofty perch being the best player in the world, now he hovers as one of the better players in the world, with truckloads of experience. His focus and determination kept the AB's in the game, and they were pretty darn average for long periods, but then the Wallabies were pretty darn good for long periods and we allowed them that opportunity.
It was a dead rubber and a hard game to 'get up for' frankly, it's a retarded waste of time this 'third Bleddy' game.
It should be done away with.
For the AB's it was another chance to offer Barrett and Fekitoa game time, and to offer Messam a solid chance to put his case and put the end of the last game antics behind him. Good to see Hansen using the dead rubber for that.
Both teams are focussed on the upcoming tours in western europe but the Aussies at home, and with a very long time between drinks when it comes to beating the AB's had a 'lot' more motivation to play well in this game than an AB side who have all the southern hemisphere silverware the year can offer safely tucked away before kick off.
Just like the Saffrica game, don't read too much into dead rubbers, look at the games where there was everything to play for on both sides.
In those games there was generally some light between the AB's and the rest.
Bring on Sonny bill.

 

[Larksea]

fun game to watch.

my observations.

I thought Messam had a great game I dont know why people keep so harsh on him. Made some hard crunching tackles, some important scrambling ones, played with a lot of energy and made over the advantage line a lot from his set piece running, defused a couple of aussie mauls. The early penalty he was nailed for was a tough call. The replays showed he did make a clear release, just a bit fast for the ref to register it.

This was a game where the Aussies played close to their absolute potential and still came up short. Much better workout for the All Blacks than the aussies being below par and getting a hiding.

Like it or knot the fact this was a dead rubber did have an impact.

Firstly the All Blacks used a gamelan which is a bit stale now and the Aussies took full advantage of that. It was basically like the Aussies had the All Blacks playbook, they had obviously studied the AB's hard and managed to shutdown a lot of the play.

Aussies really targeted shutting down the ball inside Savea, smart move but you could also say that tactic backfired on them a little with Dane Coles try. maybe they didn't close enough of the space.

I think if it wasn't a dead rubber the AB's would have used less predictable tactics.

I Also think that if that was a must win game then Smith & Barrett would have probably played 80. because it wasn't Perenara ans Slade got a chance and it paid off. Though I think that last quarter would have been easier with Smith and Barrett still on.

Good to see Carlie make an impact and look good. Apparently his fittness has been crap I hope he really knuckles down now and keeps on top of it for the WC. IT will take some load off Owen Franks as well who is maybe tiring a bit. Missed a lot of tackles?

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Absolutely gutted here. I thoroughly enjoyed the game, it was everything you ask for in a Bledisloe but I still can't figure out how we lost that one (I can actually, but just trying to explain my disbelief). Further to that, the resignation of Link just left me completely deflated yesterday.

 

[smartcooky]

It was a dead rubber and a hard game to 'get up for' frankly, it's a retarded waste of time this 'third Bleddy' game.
It should be done away with

Disagree with this completely. A two match series is weighted too heavily in favour of the holder.

If the holder wins the first one, they win the Bledisloe Cup and the second one becomes a dead rubber; if they lose it they get a second chance

Conversely, the non-holder has to win both, and at least one will be away. Lose the first one and they are goneburger for another year.

At least with a three match series, one of the teams has the advantage of two home matches every second year.

 

[The Jones Boy]

Yeah it would appear you disagree completely with everything I write on here. You seem to have your nose out of joint over the fact I was involved in building the TMO's box at twickenham and I know that the TMO's do know whats going on in the stadium because you can't account for 88,000 screaming people coming through the walls, through the mic's and being incited by the Vision switcher provoking the crowds with relentless slow mo replays on the big screens, but hey, you live in your world daft cooky and I'll live in mine.
You have been dogging my posts my like a randy Jack Russell that i can't shake off my leg.
Please grow up and leave my posts alone you freaky Lawnmower man.

Three Bledisloe tests has been a waste of time for a long time.
It should be a one off test in the holders back garden.

 

[squirrel]

I do agree with you jones boy, I think the overall intensity of the games has loosened with the extra fixture as well.

 

[TRF_heineken]

Disagree with this completely. A two match series is weighted too heavily in favour of the holder.

If the holder wins the first one, they win the Bledisloe Cup and the second one becomes a dead rubber; if they lose it they get a second chance

Conversely, the non-holder has to win both, and at least one will be away. Lose the first one and they are goneburger for another year.

At least with a three match series, one of the teams has the advantage of two home matches every second year.

And just to add to this.

If the AB's lost, they would've jumped down to the Second Spot on the IRB rankings... It certainly wasn't just a another dead rubber.


My thoughts on the game, Australia was terribly unlucky not to win, but they made the same mistake the Boks did, and that was to run out of juice half way through the second half. The fitness of the All Blacks is something to admire, and to keep the pace while defending so much is astonishing!

I think the All Black's weak spot is Beauden Barritt. It's now the second week in a row where the opposition has targeted him, and on both occasions the opposition exploited his defensive frailties. If a big forward runs in his channel, Barritt comes off second best every time.

 

[squirrel]

I thought the wallabies fitness was good more that they lacked composure and a booming punt downfield.

 

[Jack Reacher]

Augustine Pulu included in the AB's squad for this test. No surprise here, as the AB's selectors have apparently been interested in him for some time. I can't seen him being involved in this test, but he should get some time on the end of year tour against the USA (as barring injury he is bound to be included).

He needs to move S15 franchises - Crusaders maybe?

 

[Jack Reacher]

I do agree. And I hope the All Blacks aren't hoping to rely on a McCaw/Carter combination for the big RWC games...

whilst they are our two most famous players of recent times, they aren't really a 'combination'. At RWC11 I was constantly fearful of McCaw's foot giving out and when Carter got injured I thought the world had ended! I think now we have a better squad than 2011, look who finished the match on Saturday. Conrad, Dagg, McCaw, Read and Mealamu were the only ones from 2011.

 

[Darwin]

He needs to move S15 franchises - Crusaders maybe?

With Kerr-Barlow out injured he should start the majority of the Chiefs matches next season. Perhaps he could look at moving after that (he would likely be 2nd choice at the Crusaders as long as Andy Ellis is still around).

 

[Jack Reacher]

Good to see Carlie make an impact and look good. Apparently his fittness has been crap I hope he really knuckles down now and keeps on top of it for the WC. IT will take some load off Owen Franks as well who is maybe tiring a bit. Missed a lot of tackles?

I solely found myself watching Owen for a phase at one point as I thought he looked knackered. he was really labouring, he dropped off a tackle, got up really slowly, walked about 10 paces, then all of a sudden realised there was a gap in midfield, sprinted to the gap just as an Aussie spotted the gap but Franks made a diving tackle around his ankles! I think front rowers should probably have half games these days rather than waiting for the starter to be exhausted and potentially make an error.

 

[Jack Reacher]

With Kerr-Barlow out injured he should start the majority of the Chiefs matches next season. Perhaps he could look at moving after that (he would likely be 2nd choice at the Crusaders as long as Andy Ellis is still around).

True, he would be better to make the move now IMO. Ellis is resigned to either a replacement now or to go overseas. Heinz isn't good enough (I'm a Crusaders fan BTW). The Blues would have been an option but I see Cowen is signed.

 

[Darwin]

True, he would be better to make the move now IMO. Ellis is resigned to either a replacement now or to go overseas. Heinz isn't good enough (I'm a Crusaders fan BTW). The Blues would have been an option but I see Cowen is signed.

Pulu won't be going anywhere soon though - he's signed with the Chiefs for the next two seasons.

 

[Jack Reacher]

I do worry that a lot of the ABs are going into self preservation mode a little, they really can't be looking forward the AI and all the rubbish that goes along with it (I remember last year the players had to attend AIG and Adidas christmas do's and scholl coaching etc)
Its the age old problem with NZ, we HATE losing so really don't want to field a 'weaker' team, but the likes of Cane, Piutau, SBW, Romano, Harris, Perenara, Tuipulotu even Vito, Faumuina and Ben Franks need to start games and get more playing time. I would feel slightly annoyed (wrong word maybe) if McCaw and Read played every minute of every game.

 

[Jack Reacher]

Pulu won't be going anywhere soon though - he's signed with the Chiefs for the next two seasons.

Ok, isn't there a clause that lets the AB selectors move players about, I know there used to be?