Yeah good point, looked good at the contest and destroyed the Irish scrum a couple of times. Pocock was superb and thoroughly deserved MOTM, I'd be quite happy to see no change to the Starting XV, save Barnes in for Cooper
Barnes is injured and out of the Grand Sla... the tour. I agree with you, barring Stephen Moore. I think Polota-Nau should be starting for Australia. The Aussie scrum always gets noticably better when Tatafu Polota-Nau comes on. Ironically, Australia's line-out got better when he came on as well. It's ironic as TPN has generally had a terrible throw.
I thought Australia played better in this game. In the previous week against England Genia played well (although he's already overhyped) and Australia, for maybe the first time this year, played better in the second half. This week against Ireland they were better at the breakdown. They actually counter-rucked and got a few turnovers. It was a far cry from where they were against New Zealand in Wellington this year. Their second half performance in the forwards was noticably better (although their line-out is a problem). Their scrum was fantastic, and would have been better if not for Kaplan making some stupid decisions.
Their backline is still their biggest area of concern. A lot of individuals not working together all going for glory. What is it Bo Dwyer used to say, "The sum of individuals doesn't equate to the sum of people working together." Something like that.
I actually like Quade Cooper in the Aussie side. He's been criticised for his defence, but it's incredibly harsh criticism. He has a beautiful long pass, can beat players (and he did that against Ireland), and asks questions of the defence. I'm not saying he's going to be great. Australia don't have great players or a great team, but as long as they're moving slightly forward they're going in the right direction.
That Irish try at the end was a well worked move. The Aussie centres got criticised for it, but Ioane had the choice of picking one of three Irish players. He picked wrong. There was a similar situation involving Tommy Bowe - Cooper had to pick a defender.
I thought they played much better than Ireland (especially in the second half), but that's how it goes sometimes.
