the appalling wallabies

[Ken Gargett]

Watched the replay.

Pocock was enormous. Genia was good, though he is delaying lift-off for his passes, these days, for so long that he'll soon be called Qantas. HP decent at fullback. The rest? Pretty average. And worse.

24 seconds for that moron beale to cock it up. 24 seconds. One of the dumbest things I've ever seen on a sporting field. Whether you are pro/anti quade, as a huge fan of what he can do, even I will concede his defence is not stellar. But beale missed more tackles in that game than quade misses in a season. All he tries to do is rip the ball out. Not actually tackle anyone. And it worked precisely zero times. And yet, coach clown comes out and says that aside from that minor error early, "I thought the rest of his game was pretty solid." Which suggests he is braindead or beyond delusional. Still, that was inspired thinking compared with the worst captain ever to take a field who told us, after the game, how very proud he was of where the team is at. The bloke would burst if we ever won a game. What a farce.

Worst of all was hooper, our supposed inspirational leader, spending the entire game on the wing. Someone must have told him about Fitzpatrick. The bloke is our number 7 - and to be that, he has pushed a guy who is arguably the world's best number 7 and our only world class player, out of position. All obviously with the full support of coach clown. So why spend all game out on the wing? As someone said, he got far more passes out on the wing than Izzy F. what is the point of all this? Perhaps we were trying to beat the boks by making them overconfident.

Then the goalkicking. One from four. Not too many hard kicks?

It was reported that we had 80% of possession in the second half. And could not score a single try. And that includes when they were a man down. We are god-awful.

Roy Masters on the ABC this morning - a bloke who knows a fair bit about coaching - when asked if he thought we could win the world cup (after he stopped laughing) said he doubted we'd make the quarters. Actually, that is unfair. I think what he actually said was that we would not make the quarters. 

Rugby is officially dead in this country.

I've never watched womens' footy of any code in my life but I thought I might watch the final of the womens' league today. I expect the standard of skills to be so far superior to the rubbish I saw from the wallabies that it will be beyond embarrassing. 

[gweilgi]

Not quibbling with your assessment, but the Wallabies were beaten by the very team that had just defeated the almighty All Blacks.  They are on such a high right now that I think they would have won even without Australia's unforced errors, tactical mistakes and fitness issues ...

Also worth noting, IMO, was the feedback I have heard and read from actual South Africans who complimented the Wallabies on playing well and better than the score would suggest.  Given the mistakes and faults, that is mighty generous of them, so good on the Saffas.  Not all teams and their supporters are so gracious in victory.  

Talking of the World Cup: is anyone else here going to Japan?  The mem and I have just applied for tickets...

[Ken Gargett]

28 minutes ago, gweilgi said:

Not quibbling with your assessment, but the Wallabies were beaten by the very team that had just defeated the almighty All Blacks.  They are on such a high right now that I think they would have won even without Australia's unforced errors, tactical mistakes and fitness issues ...

Also worth noting, IMO, was the feedback I have heard and read from actual South Africans who complimented the Wallabies on playing well and better than the score would suggest.  Given the mistakes and faults, that is mighty generous of them, so good on the Saffas.  Not all teams and their supporters are so gracious in victory.  

Talking of the World Cup: is anyone else here going to Japan?  The mem and I have just applied for tickets...

sure but remember that this is also the team defeated by these bumbling wallabies the game before that. the boks were decent last night but hardly spectacular. certainly good enough to beat our lot but i doubt they'd rank too highly in the spectrum of bok teams from over the years. pollard was very good, but a mistake or two. etzebeth was the player of the game for me. the two packs were reasonably level but our lineout awful. 

[JohnS]

I watched the game live in the early hours, Australian time. Yes, it was hard to watch. On one level, there was excellent skills and play evident, but too often it was let down by ill-discipline and errors. I found the game hard to watch at times.

[gweilgi]

19 hours ago, Ken Gargett said:

sure but remember that this is also the team defeated by these bumbling wallabies the game before that. the boks were decent last night but hardly spectacular. certainly good enough to beat our lot but i doubt they'd rank too highly in the spectrum of bok teams from over the years. pollard was very good, but a mistake or two. etzebeth was the player of the game for me. the two packs were reasonably level but our lineout awful. 

There's no excuse for messing up set pieces like lineouts or scrums.  That stuff should be rote, muscle memory even.  

Fitness also appears to be an issue.  Interesting article on that from Bob Dwyer, citing the example of Will Skelton:

https://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/fox-rugby-podcast-bob-dwyer-says-will-skelton-transformation-is-an-indictment-on-australia/news-story/2d0b229bb560a29fbf58825d1ee6929f

[Ken Gargett]

31 minutes ago, gweilgi said:

There's no excuse for messing up set pieces like lineouts or scrums.  That stuff should be rote, muscle memory even.  

Fitness also appears to be an issue.  Interesting article on that from Bob Dwyer, citing the example of Will Skelton:

https://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/fox-rugby-podcast-bob-dwyer-says-will-skelton-transformation-is-an-indictment-on-australia/news-story/2d0b229bb560a29fbf58825d1ee6929f

that fitness stuff is extraordinary.

there was a time that one could count on aussies, whatever the sport and whatever their level of ability, being the fittest on the park or court or field or whatever. i remember being embarrassed for england - yes, it was that bad and something i had never thought could happen - when i saw a couple of their forwards on a tour many years ago. they looked like sad teddy bears. no doubt they had some technical ability but they had appalling fitness. now we have lost that. 

[99call]

Big fan of Beale. But Ken said it pretty well. One of the most ridiculous blunders I've seen on a rugby/and sporting field of play. 

Always love in those moments. The person who gives the intercept, looks at the would be recipient like he's had the epic brain fart. Then a moment later they realise they have no possible outs. And finally stare at Jesus.

[ayepatz]

The South Africans are having a bit of a renaissance, and will provide a real benchmark for Scotland's own improvement in the autumn test. Should be a great game.

Sad to see Australia in the doldrums again, though I agree that Pocock had another superb outing.

Nice to see the Pumas pushing back against the ABs, too, although they didn't manage to convert possession to points.

It all points to a potentially great, and very open World Cup. 

Speaking of Autumn Tests, did anyone see this article yesterday (from the Times)?

 

Rugby union is poised for its most radical change since it became a professional sport as it prepares for the launch of the most significant global competition since the World Cup was first played in 1987.

World Rugby, the governing body led by chairman Bill Beaumont, has approved a new inter-hemisphere competition that would take place in the autumn and spring Test windows in November and July. It could begin as soon as 2020 if sponsors, broadcasters and other commercial backers can be found quickly enough.

Several formats have been suggested but The Sunday Times understands that the most popular is a 12-team competition that would be split into two divisions. There would be six teams from each hemisphere — England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales from the north, and South Africa, Australia, Argentina and New Zealand from the south, plus most likely Japan and Fiji.

There would also be a second division, with promotion and relegation between the top flight, a significant move that would give Tier 2 nations the chance to burst on to the world stage. Tier 1 teams would have to play away in Tier 2 territories in league play, something they have so rarely done. The second flight would include the likes of Georgia, Romania, Spain, United States, Russia, Tonga and Samoa, with China and Germany contending because of the attraction of their powerhouse economies.

Matches would be played in the autumn and spring, with European teams playing southern hemisphere opponents in the regular season. There would be semi-finals and a grand final. The tournament would probably take place annually for three years, leaving the fourth clear for the World Cup. There is another option in which each tournament would last for three years.

The decades-long suppression of smaller rugby nations would become a thing of the past. Final agreement on the outline plans was given by all nations at what was described by delegates in Sydney last week as a “harmonious” gathering — another first for the world game.

[Ken Gargett]

58 minutes ago, ayepatz said:

The South Africans are having a bit of a renaissance, and will provide a real benchmark for Scotland's own improvement in the autumn test. Should be a great game.

Sad to see Australia in the doldrums again, though I agree that Pocock had another superb outing.

Nice to see the Pumas pushing back against the ABs, too, although they didn't manage to convert possession to points.

It all points to a potentially great, and very open World Cup. 

Speaking of Autumn Tests, did anyone see this article yesterday (from the Times)?

 

Rugby union is poised for its most radical change since it became a professional sport as it prepares for the launch of the most significant global competition since the World Cup was first played in 1987.

World Rugby, the governing body led by chairman Bill Beaumont, has approved a new inter-hemisphere competition that would take place in the autumn and spring Test windows in November and July. It could begin as soon as 2020 if sponsors, broadcasters and other commercial backers can be found quickly enough.

Several formats have been suggested but The Sunday Times understands that the most popular is a 12-team competition that would be split into two divisions. There would be six teams from each hemisphere — England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales from the north, and South Africa, Australia, Argentina and New Zealand from the south, plus most likely Japan and Fiji.

There would also be a second division, with promotion and relegation between the top flight, a significant move that would give Tier 2 nations the chance to burst on to the world stage. Tier 1 teams would have to play away in Tier 2 territories in league play, something they have so rarely done. The second flight would include the likes of Georgia, Romania, Spain, United States, Russia, Tonga and Samoa, with China and Germany contending because of the attraction of their powerhouse economies.

Matches would be played in the autumn and spring, with European teams playing southern hemisphere opponents in the regular season. There would be semi-finals and a grand final. The tournament would probably take place annually for three years, leaving the fourth clear for the World Cup. There is another option in which each tournament would last for three years.

The decades-long suppression of smaller rugby nations would become a thing of the past. Final agreement on the outline plans was given by all nations at what was described by delegates in Sydney last week as a “harmonious” gathering — another first for the world game.

great! something else to embarrass us. 

[Toast & Taste]

"The Appalling Wallabys" would be a good name for a band.

 

Big Al