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Official Rugby Thread
- Thread starter KennyD
- Start date
Hurricane
Hall of Fame Member
That warms my heart that they got some sort of a result.
BackFootPunch
International 12th Man
Argentina should beat Aussie in Argentina imo. As long as they don't try to play rugby that'll suit the Wallabies.
BackFootPunch
International 12th Man
Well there's only been one great fullback in my time (Cullen) and Dagg's still a fair way below him imo. He is generally ****ing awesome under the high ball though. Fearless as they come. Just takes the wrong option too often for my liking at the moment.
ripper868
International Coach
Yeah it was - but we never looked like winning. Our D held for a majority but always looked like breaking eventually.
Though timani (who i don't rate) played well in the first 40 - might have finally realised he is 125 kegs and big and hard to tackle because of it and can hit people because of it. Hopefully he continues in this trend. Otherwise I thought Hooper did ok and we kicked the ball far too often and too aimlessly and straight to the most dangerous men on the park (read Dagg).
Needs serious improvement.
Great for the Argies to get the draw, and if not for the charge down what might have been a famous victory. Love the passion they bring when playing at home, it's fantastic.
Though timani (who i don't rate) played well in the first 40 - might have finally realised he is 125 kegs and big and hard to tackle because of it and can hit people because of it. Hopefully he continues in this trend. Otherwise I thought Hooper did ok and we kicked the ball far too often and too aimlessly and straight to the most dangerous men on the park (read Dagg).
Needs serious improvement.
Great for the Argies to get the draw, and if not for the charge down what might have been a famous victory. Love the passion they bring when playing at home, it's fantastic.
Somerset
Cricketer Of The Year
I thought it was a case of both sides performing better than in Sydney, but the Wallabies' inability to cope with the added intensity the ABs brought to the game after halftime the key. I actually didn't think their gameplan was too bad for the first half - trailing by 9 points at halftime against the ABs is hardly ideal but not insurmountable. I also think looking at it in some context might help - this AB side, whilst not at its absolute best, is of such a high quality that playing without three of your best five or six players leaves you so vulnerable. I think the criticism's a bit unwarranted actually. This is, after all, essentially the same squad who beat Wales 3-0 a couple of months ago.
Somerset
Cricketer Of The Year
Cullen > Dagg > Muliana, in my view. I agree that Dagg has a tendency to make a few wrong options though generally they're positive mistakes. Still has so much time on his side that I'd love to reassess the comparision in a few years time. After all, he's only just cemented the fullback spot in the national side.
Somerset
Cricketer Of The Year
Australia don't really have an attacking alternative to JOC to play at 12, unless Deans selects Ioane out of position. Essentially all of the other options have a more defensive mentality - Fainga'a, Horne, Barnes, McCabe, etc.
Barnes had a horrific match at 12 but I don't placing him at 10 is the better option - and isn't that counter intuitive to your point about an attacking 12? Australia played an attacking 10 and defensive 12 on the weekend, and you'd rather a defensive 10 and attacking 12 - whats the big difference?
They did actually employ a similar stategy to what you suggested by kicking for territory and attempting to run the ball once in a better field position, and their aggression on defence was also, for the most part, quite good. They just weren't good enough as a unit to come close to winning the match. Which I still don't believe was a fault of...
...Robbie Deans, who it seems even New Zealanders think should step down. I still believe calls for his resignation are over critical, and those detractors should at least wait until the matches against South Africa and Argentina. At the end of the day, theres only so much he can do with the squad he possesses.
Somerset
Cricketer Of The Year
Remember saying something similar before the tournament started and the result on the weekend makes me even more confident in that prediction. They should count themselves a little unlucky not to win the match really.
Hurricane
Hall of Fame Member
Love the discussions we have here...
"Australia played an attacking 10 and defensive 12 on the weekend, and you'd rather a defensive 10 and attacking 12 - whats the big difference?"
Massive difference - its a 10s job to decide whether to run or kick in any situation. In the situations where cooper wanted the backline to run it - Barnes overuled him and kicked away possession.
A 12 should be running it most of the time he gets it or passing it along the backline.
A defensive 12 just over rules the 10's calls effectively.
