Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11
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Interesting game, interesting comments.
Smith was good.
Mo'unga was mediocre, but he's a good player and will come right.
Goodhue played fine albeit not in his best position: defended very well, well positioned and nice hands to link for the try.
Ioane was poor. Very good as always once he caught the ball and ran with it, but unfortunately bad everything else. The bombed grounding was a shocker, and as others have mentioned, no surprise. He didn't pass when he should have to blow an overlap, and also bombed another try with the foot on the line but that didn't get called somehow. And he was the guy who squeezed in on defence instead of trusting the insides to give the Aussies their try. Of those 4 bad mistakes, 2 are wingers jobs, so no excuse. He's a good player, but that was not a game to remember.
Bridge was okay only. Not as good in the air as we'd like, good pass for the try, otherwise not involved enough which is supposed to be one of his strengths.
Jordie was okay out of position, not his fault he was picked there. That 22 reception was a shocker though.
MacKenzie was pretty good actually. More like the North vs South than the Chiefs version.Moody was good.
Taylor was okay.
Tungafasi was okay, but I had hoped for more.
Tuipolotou was okay, but I had hoped for more.
Whitelock was good-ish, which seems to be about where he sits in his dotage. Lots of work in the ruck and tackle and solid lineouts.
Frizzell was fine, lots of tackling, and linked well for the try in the corner. Seems a bit weird to be copping flak from some of the same guys lauding Cane when Frizz had the more tackles in the first half.
Cane was mighty. Not sure he's a captain, but the performance did say 'follow me'.
Savea was poor I thought. A few good moments, but just nowhere near enough of them.Coaching wise, well, fucking hopeless. Selecting 3 debutants on the bench alongside Perenara means Foster either was arrogant enough to think it would be in the bag by 60 minutes, or is just stupid and has chucked one of the positives of Hansen's regime in blooding new players one at a time surrounded by experience and established combinations.
Just pick Sotutu. He's good enough, so he's old enough. Savea was playing well enough to demand selection in the WC year, but I don't think he's done that this year, and there's no dropping Cane barring injury.
Barrett and Bridge, no no no. Jordie is a fullback. Bridge is fine, but if he's selected the other wing should be a bruiser like Clarke for a shit day in Wellington.
For those saying drop Goodhue, what the hell? He was fine in this game, he was our best in the WC loss, and let's not forget that ALB has had a shit super season at 12. Certainly his best position is centre, but dropping him would be crazy.
You'd think we would have had a plan for White after what he did to us last time, but apparently not.
Passive defensive line. We're sticking to that shit tactic eh. Nice.
Bugger all possession, another time-honoured tactic. Gotta love that continuity.The reffing, as others have said, plenty let go both ways. Either side could point at missed decisions in the last few minutes that could have changed the result, but who cares really.
Well done to Dave Rennie, didn't really expect anything less given his history of making teams greater than the sum of the parts. If Faingaa hadn't played so badly I think the Aussies would have got the win they deserved. Also worth noting that they showed a bit of belief - Aussie sides of the recent past might well have crumbled after playing all the rugby for scant reward and then conceding points against the run of play.
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@ACT-Crusader said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
@KiwiMurph said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
The positives are there are some players we can bring in to the starting XV to make this team improve.
Yeah it will be interesting what changes come. Two forced changes pre-game.
Clarke was great off the bench and I think most of us predicted he (and Sotutu) would provide impact late in the game against tired defenders. Do they start?
Might seem like an easy decision but as we know many a player has looked good coming on in these situations and it is stark given the way the test has played out.
Ideally at this stage I would still have Mo’unga coming off the bench behind B. Barrett. And my “informed” team selections 😎 I had Barrett at 10 with Jordie at 15. To me Reece and Ioane are our two best wingers and Goodhue and ALB our best midfield.
I don’t have stats or analysis other than from the armchair but it covers several bases.
As a neutral, I find your commentary very Crusaders biased.
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@cgrant said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
@ACT-Crusader said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
@KiwiMurph said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
The positives are there are some players we can bring in to the starting XV to make this team improve.
Yeah it will be interesting what changes come. Two forced changes pre-game.
Clarke was great off the bench and I think most of us predicted he (and Sotutu) would provide impact late in the game against tired defenders. Do they start?
Might seem like an easy decision but as we know many a player has looked good coming on in these situations and it is stark given the way the test has played out.
Ideally at this stage I would still have Mo’unga coming off the bench behind B. Barrett. And my “informed” team selections 😎 I had Barrett at 10 with Jordie at 15. To me Reece and Ioane are our two best wingers and Goodhue and ALB our best midfield.
I don’t have stats or analysis other than from the armchair but it covers several bases.
As a neutral, I find your commentary very Crusaders biased.
Job complete then.
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@canefan said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
@junior said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
@chimoaus said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
@ACT-Crusader He basically walks up to the ruck, puts his hand on top of the wallaby then casually walks away. The next drive the ruck is directly under the posts. Its at this stage he should be demanding the ball to throw it over. WTF is he even doing at the ruck. The rest of the backline are out waiting.
That last shot of the 4 (bottom right) is quite telling - look at the space behind the ruck, right in front of the posts, basically the perfect spot for him to casually knock it over.
Like our failure in 2007 it has to be a failure of the onfield leadership group, its not up to Richie to call his own number
I don't disagree that there needs to be some collective accountability. However, by the same token, if your 10 does not have the nous or courage to make the big call in that situation, and more importantly put himself in a position to be the match winner, you have to wonder whether he has the temperament for test footy.
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@junior said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
@canefan said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
@junior said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
@chimoaus said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
@ACT-Crusader He basically walks up to the ruck, puts his hand on top of the wallaby then casually walks away. The next drive the ruck is directly under the posts. Its at this stage he should be demanding the ball to throw it over. WTF is he even doing at the ruck. The rest of the backline are out waiting.
That last shot of the 4 (bottom right) is quite telling - look at the space behind the ruck, right in front of the posts, basically the perfect spot for him to casually knock it over.
Like our failure in 2007 it has to be a failure of the onfield leadership group, its not up to Richie to call his own number
I don't disagree that there needs to be some collective accountability. However, by the same token, if your 10 does not have the nous or courage to make the big call in that situation, and more importantly put himself in a position to be the match winner, you have to wonder whether he has the temperament for test footy.
I kind of agree. But over our history I don't recall many instances where our 10 slots a DG in that situation. Merhts is the only other who I can recall and he missed his chance
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@KiwiMurph said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
Didn't Carter nail a last minute drop goal in the wet in Wellington vs Ireland in 2008?
Not in that test.
DC 8 droppies in 112 tests.
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@KiwiMurph said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
Didn't Carter nail a last minute drop goal in the wet in Wellington vs Ireland in 2008?
EDIT - sorry it was in Christchurch.
I kind of remember DC doing one but couldn't specify. I couldn't remember if it was for the win or icing on top
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2012 vs Ireland in Christchurch
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@ACT-Crusader said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
@KiwiMurph said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
Didn't Carter nail a last minute drop goal in the wet in Wellington vs Ireland in 2008?
Not in that test.
DC 8 droppies in 112 tests.
Goes to show we aren't DG exponents if the GOAT AB 10 has only taken 8 of them in 112 tests. What chance did Moounga have? Don't get me wrong, I am not excusing his flat game
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Jeff Wilson albeit in a more high pressure situation, last roll of the dice to win the game, was near inconsolable after that game where Gregan stole the show.
So it’s not quite the same situation. But it’s close enough. And to see Reiko was all smiles afterward either means he’s not aware of what it meant to fuck up like that or he doesn’t care.
He’s young and young men often don’t understand the gravity of a situation. It’s not life or death but this is Bledisloe rugby. It’s not for me to tell another man how to feel but I was surprised, if not pissed off he was all smiles.
Foster could not accept that Reiko needed dropping which he clearly does and that the ABs were the lesser team yesterday. It was fucking obvious. Save for a few moments of brilliance we were out played. But in the presser when delivered the stats and having been present live at the fucking game chose to look at it another way that possession does not always add up to a winning percentage. But then said the stats went too far in their favour. What in the fuck does that mean???
It’s only one game and it’s unlikely that we will play that type of passionless rugby 2 games in a row. But ffs it’d be good to hear some accountability for an average as fuck performance.
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@ACT-Crusader said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
2012 vs Ireland in Christchurch
Was it for a late win?
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@canefan said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
@ACT-Crusader said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
@KiwiMurph said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
Didn't Carter nail a last minute drop goal in the wet in Wellington vs Ireland in 2008?
Not in that test.
DC 8 droppies in 112 tests.
Goes to show we aren't DG exponents if the GOAT AB 10 has only taken 8 of them in 112 tests. What chance did Moounga have? Don't get me wrong, I am not excusing his flat game
He’s attempted more than 8, but not that many more!
I remember the first test match he nailed one, after all the talk following the 07 QF, it was against the Boks in 08 at Carisbrook. ABs lost.
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Yip I remember that one. It was solidly applauded and I thought at the time it was a massive cop out from any one cheering a droppie because we all usually booed and hissed when someone even attempted and missed vs us. As if it was the ponsiest thing ever. And here we were cheering.
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3 years now, same shit.
ABs need some news eyes and ideas. I've no doubt it's wholly professional and determined in that camp but the tactics on the day, ( non rush defence, going wide so much, playing to win with little ball), haven't changed in a few seasons now. Stagnated perhaps.
It's like there's only one way to play and by hook or by crook we're going to persevere until it all falls into place.
We're rather uninspiring of lateAll a bit disappointing, but hang on it's only the first, so give them a chance.
Christ, all I can think about is Foster's successes and innovations achieved over his long coaching career...