Pumas v Wallabies, Twickenham
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The suspense is killing me about who of the Wallaby 24 will be dropped...
This is a big game for the Argies. They have been very inconsistent over the 80 minutes over the last 3 tests. Not that OZ are playing that great, but they will need to play a bit smarter than they have to beat the Wallabies.
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Effectively a home game for the Wobblies.
A real clash of styles too given the lack of comparative mobility in the Aussie pack. If they keep enough ball I think they'll run over the Argies.
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@antipodean Gonna be interesting to see who this is home for actually.
Yes, will be a shitload of expat Aussies there, but there will also be expat Argies & you can guarantee every Pom that goes will be barracking for them.
I expect Aussies to win again, and win reasonably handsomely too. For all the positive press the Argies get about their improvement, I still don't think they are a match away from home for most of the top tier teams.
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@Bones If I was there, I'd buy you a ticket instead of the canes jumper which I owe you.
But, unfortunately, as I'm not. I won't.
Just read that only 30k tickets sold ... that's pretty poor, would have sold more in Argentina, surely (although maybe at a cheaper price).
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Guardian did a good bit on this -
Moving on up
When Australia last played Argentina away in the Rugby Championship, the game was staged in Mendoza. On Saturday, the sides will meet at Twickenham, the Pumas playing home and away as the Sanzar nations look for ways to stimulate financial growth.
The Mendoza match attracted a crowd of 25,000; when the two sides met in Perth last month, fewer than 17,000 turned up. Even if Twickenham is half full this weekend, the attendance would exceed that of the two matches in the Rugby Championship on the round before last. The last four matches between Australia and Argentina in the tournament have been watched by fewer than 72,000 spectators, more than 8,000 fewer than England drew for the World Cup warmup against Ireland last year.
Argentina's victory over South Africa in Salta in August was watched by 19,000 spectators. With Sanzar's desire to have the income generated by friendly Test matches between tier one nations pooled, including Lions tours, not generating much support in Europe, Saturday can be seen as an experiment.
The reaction of the England scrum-half Ben Youngs earlier this year on hearing that Argentina would be playing Australia at Twickenham was: "I couldn't imagine going to Melbourne to play a Test against Ireland". But the point is England have no need to leave Twickenham, never mind board a plane to fly to the other end of the world, to attract a crowd.
New Zealand have played Australia in Hong Kong and during this autumn series will take on Ireland in Chicago as part of their bid to tap into new markets and broaden their commercial base. England's advice is to build a new stadium rather than take Tests around a country that is made up of two islands, something that suggests they are not too bothered about how their supporters in the north-west and north-east manage to get to Twickenham and back six or seven times a year.
If England laugh at the suggestion Test match income should be pooled, how would they react to a request by New Zealand to play a match at Twickenham? By demanding a high rental fee, probably, but if the friendly international calendar changes after 2019 so that neither hemisphere has to embark on an end-of-season tour, the end of August into September could become the window for what are now the autumn and summer series, blending the two into one. The All Blacks could play England at Twickenham on consecutive weekends, or Wales in Cardiff or France in Paris, away in the first and at home in the second, banking far more than they would for a match at Eden Park.
"Everyone will look at opportunities available to them and I am sure they want to see how successful Saturday is," said Steve Phillips, the Welsh Rugby Union's finance director as he reflected on Saturday evening's match at Twickenham. "We would consider a request to play a Rugby Championship match at the Principality Stadium whilst being careful about cannibalizing our own market by competing against it.
"We spoke many years ago about the possibility of Bath and one of our regions playing back-to-back European Cup matches at the ground. It was an interesting idea, and while Bath are playing Leicester at Twickenham next April, we are closer. There are politics involved, of course, and the talks about the global calendar are continuing. They will play out to a conclusion and while we would not look at anything if we thought it would work against our interests, you do not want to see Australia and South Africa going the way of France. The world game needs all the leading nations to be competitive and add to the mystery."
Borders are expanding. The Aviva Premiership ventured into the United States last season when London Irish played Saracens in New Jersey, a venture that will be repeated if, with the Exiles in the Championship, another club can be persuaded to give up a home fixture; Newcastle seem to be the most likely. The Top 14 played its final this year at the Nou Camp in Barcelona while Saracens, after trying to arrange a European Cup match in Cape Town, entertained Racing Metro in Brussels four years ago.
Players have moved from the south to the north in ever growing numbers in the professional era, following the money just as their countries now are. Oregan Hoskins, the former president of SA Rugby, said last month that he believed South Africa should leave Sanzar, and therefore Super Rugby and the Rugby Championship, and link up with the European unions, taking advantage of the same time zone.
"We need people to sit around the table and ask where we stop the haemorrhaging; do we continue with Sanzar?" said Hoskins. "We need to join the northern hemisphere and we should call convention involving the stakeholders in our game the people who put in a lot of money."
Hoskins had advocated moving to Europe before, when he had an official role. Having resigned from SA Rugby before his time as president was up, he is now speaking as an individual against a backdrop in the country of falling gates, fewer television viewers and the loss of sponsors. Television revenue has increased, but not by enough to stem mounting losses.
The figures may mean that South Africa heed Hoskins's advice and act out of self-interest rather than solidarity. The Six Nations would be less demanding to win with New Zealand not part of it, but if Hoskins had floated his idea a generation ago, when the south was the powerhouse of the game on the field and in the bank, he would have been laughed at.
Not now which is why Argentina and Australia, two countries not in Europe's time zone, although the evening kick-off at Twickenham will mean an afternoon slot for television viewers supporting the 'home side', are in London this week, on the money trail.
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@MajorRage said in Pumas v Wallabies, Twickenham:
@Bones If I was there, I'd buy you a ticket instead of the canes jumper which I owe you.
But, unfortunately, as I'm not. I won't.
Just read that only 30k tickets sold ... that's pretty poor, would have sold more in Argentina, surely (although maybe at a cheaper price).
TRC Attendances this year -
Game Crowd AU-NZ 65,328 SA-AG 27,357 NZ-AU 35,372 AG-SA 19,000 NZ-AG 23,361 AU-SA 30,327 NZ-SA 20,836 AU-AG 16,202 -
I for one am shocked that a team whos coach is known for breaking doors while having a tantrum and abusing officials is involved in an incident like this.
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@jegga said in Pumas v Wallabies, Twickenham:
I for one am shocked that a team whos coach is known for breaking doors while having a tantrum and abusing officials is involved in an incident like this.
I watched a fair bit of the game. Aussies appear to be as undisciplined as Cheika - gobbing off, shaking head, disagreeing with refs, niggling and swinging arms. They are not doing themselves any favours with referees or neutral fans.
Reputations take a long time to go away, particularly when they are just playing stupidly. FFS, if you just got someone back from 10 in the bin, don't get in and take someone's head off straight away. Cheika reckoned they were unlucky. He's more delusional than most.
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Australia took advantage of Argentina's mistakes. Argentina try to play like the All Blacks but just don't quite have the skill yet. Some of their decision making just isn't quite up to it. There wasn't really that much in the Phipps incident - it was a penalty and nothing more. Hardly worth of a headline.
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It was a douche act and not comparable to the Brown incident. What was Phipps going to do, take a quick scrum by himself and surprise everyone?
I'd say he's lucky to get away with a warning after trying to maim members of the crowd with stray boots earlier in the season.
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The guy deliberately runs into the way of the ball, and should have stayed away from it. Maybe he was trying to be helpful and get the ball, but that's not his fucking job. How he's going to do that with two hands full is another question.
Here is an Argie medic (maybe the same guy - hard to tell from the angle) getting involved right after they scored a try.
What the fuck is he even doing there? If he spotted an injury in that pile of bodies he's some kind of fucking Jesus-level miracle prick.
Take water, come onto the field during breaks or for immediate medical assistance. Otherwise, stay the fuck away from anything not involving welfare of your own players.
He (Phipps) got a warning from WR. What is the medic going to get? Particularly after the Argies have been diving like little bitches the last few years to try and get penalties.
Fuck all, I bet. Same as the Argie winger who ran in and started on Phipps.
Some of you guys are seriously off your bikkies with this holier-than-thou attitude. So what if Phipps is a prick? He's a halfback - that's his job.
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@NTA What was Phipps hoping to achieve? What is the problem with the physio getting the ball during a break in play when nothing is happening? Phipps could have done nothing at all if he got the ball first...apart from walk slowly back to where play was to restart.
If it was anyone else pushing over an Aussie physio, then fair dues.
