Springboks v Wallabies
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Rugby Australia can't afford to pay Cheika out.
They can't afford to hire a new coach.
Neither situation would improve the player pool, coaching pool, or pathways.
Welcome to Australian Rugby.Of course, picking Beale at 10 again was always going to work out one way.
I haven't seen the game. Why bother?
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@kiwimurph said in Springboks v Wallabies:
@jegga Boks won 23-12. Aussies lurch from one poor performance to another.
Sorry mate , I was trolling/gloating.
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Krusty blaming the ref is not unusual I guess
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=12134729
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@jegga said in Springboks v Wallabies:
Krusty blaming the ref is not unusual I guess
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=12134729
Another bullshit article.
Here are Cheikas words:
I keep being asked the same question every week," he said after the 11 point loss.
"It depends if you want to cry about it and sook or get on with the improvements we definitely made in this test.
"I think there's plenty of positives. The things we need to improve on is our ability to finish.
"We held our nerve really well, fought our way back into the game. I think we dominated the physical contest enough but we were still able to manufacture a lot of opportunities."
All standard losing professional coach cliches.
The rest of the article is quotes from a fellow journalist at another newspaper, from another substanceless opinion piece
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@siam said in Springboks v Wallabies:
Here are Cheikas words:
I keep being asked the same question every week," he said after the 11 point loss.Herald are pathetic, they ran a headline that said Ledesma was scathing of our play or something...in reality all he said was he was surprised they werent more focussed and accurate or similar.
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@taniwharugby said in Springboks v Wallabies:
@siam said in Springboks v Wallabies:
Here are Cheikas words:
I keep being asked the same question every week," he said after the 11 point loss.Herald are pathetic, they ran a headline that said Ledesma was scathing of our play or something...in reality all he said was he was surprised they werent more focussed and accurate or similar.
I saw that too, a joke .
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@siam said in Springboks v Wallabies:
@jegga said in Springboks v Wallabies:
Krusty blaming the ref is not unusual I guess
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=12134729
Another bullshit article.
Here are Cheikas words:
I keep being asked the same question every week," he said after the 11 point loss.
"It depends if you want to cry about it and sook or get on with the improvements we definitely made in this test.
"I think there's plenty of positives. The things we need to improve on is our ability to finish.
"We held our nerve really well, fought our way back into the game. I think we dominated the physical contest enough but we were still able to manufacture a lot of opportunities."
All standard losing professional coach cliches.
The rest of the article is quotes from a fellow journalist at another newspaper, from another substanceless opinion piece
The trouble is that most of those cliched answers are actually correct. Just that he always seems to make excuses for his responsibilities by laying blame at the players' door.
I have a slight bit of sympathy in that he is trying to make a silk purse from a kangaroo's nutsack and his players simply don't have the skill levels to execute therefore he actually does well in using their athletic abilities to compete (if not win). -
Wallabies no longer seem to produce 'thinking' backs, which gave them an edge in parts of the 80s/90s.
Throw Lynagh in his prime into that team on Saturday and I think they go close. Add Gregan/Farr Jones and Larkham/Horan and they win for me. Beale is mercurial but to me doen't have what it takes at 10. Foley a better game manager, but wooden.
Contrast Boks, where Pollard is growing into a very good operator and helps a lot of things to happen. -
@pakman Yeah, the Wallabies are short a game manager or two. A Herbert/Mortlock centre or Willie O, Finnegan, Kefu type forward ball carrier would help because then Foley could sit and distribute, he'd have more time and a simple check down option if the defence was up flat. As it was the boks could rush up without fearing the wallaby runners too much.
As for the boks, there was a series of plays from the scrum in their own half to Faf's try that showed far more tactical appreciation than we bok supporters have been used to over the last few years.
From that scrum Pollard kicked wide (and beautifully) to Kolbe. On the recycle, we hit Notshe tight who made the swivel pass and the ball was sent wide to Estebeth who of all people threw a beauty of a skip to Dyantyi. Despite space Dyantyi grubbered into touch. That was stupid, but off the lineout bok pressure gave Dyantyi an opportunity to redeem himself with a splendid take off a weak clearance from the Aussies.
Having just taken the Aussies side to side, the boks now stressed their defence on the short side with an interesting switch to Marx, followed by PSDT again attacking the short side.
A phase later the ball gets to Pollard who is served up props defending in acres of space. He didn't need an invitation: try time Faf.
Still lots of work ons for this bok team but this is a team that is thinking far better than any bok team since the days of Fourie and Matfield (which is still, frankly, a shockingly low bar.)
What it really, really needs is a way to manufacture another three or four turnovers a game.
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Re: PSDT
I'm not a close follower of SAF players, so this is more impression than decent analysis. But I've struggled seeing the point with PSDT as a flanker. But he seems to have played himself into a permanent spot the last 2 matches based on his defence (tackling numbers).
I've been very impressed with JLDP in SR v NZ teams.
I guess every pack needs that defensive glue, but should the Boks have more ambition for their blindside flanker than PSDT's role?
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@rapido Earlier this year I would have agreed with you. But he has been immense the last two games and not just in defence. His support lines are much crisper and he hits a huge number of rucks. And he's not just hitting them anymore but doing something once he gets there. In short, he's a pest. The kind you hate to play against because he's a big unit with fair pace.
You're right though, that if he wants to rise above Reuben Thorne status he and the bok management have to find a way to make him more effective with ball in hand. Especially when Vermeluen isn't on the field.
But the work PSDT does is part of the reason that Kolisi can be the tournament leading forward in clean breaks.
I've not spent a lot of time looking at the bok lineout but he seems criminally underutilized there both in attack and defence. But it could be that he's being used primarily as a lifter.
I agree JLDP looked very good in SR. He's been injured and has not been able to translate SR form to the boks in the opportunities he's had. My guess is that Rassie will be hoping to have the headache of selecting between an on form JLDP (and his brother who has been good in the Currie Cup) and PSTD. But that will require the twins to massively up their defensive work rate.
