Australia

makemehappy says...

@cuw3100 - are you seriously saying that a ref should be able to choose the pace of a game?? If he is right, then he deserves credit. When he makes numerous insane calls, then funnily enough he doesn't!

Posted 13:29 21st August 2012

fattysock says...

@bothhands

Are you for real? Every team should make dynamic decisions about how far to push the envelope on fair play depending on where they are on the field!

If the other team has possession 2m out from their own line, the last thing you want to do is give away a pen and relieve the pressure. All you have to do is hold your own defensive line and chances are they'll punt to touch giving you a lineout 30-odd out.

But if you're stretched on defence, and only 10m from your own line, then a pen is a much better result than a try.

And it's not like as soon as the opposition get into our 22 we automatically commit a pen just to remove ANY chance of a try. Watch the sequence again where Beale takes the quick tap (around 25mins into the first half). The ABs got their defence sorted, and backed it to hold off the Aussies until they made a mistake OR offered the ABs a chance to steal. They didn't commit anything cynical because they were organised.

Think of Luis Suarez in the (football) World Cup quarter final. With just seconds to go, Ghana had a shot that was DEFINITELY going in. This would have won the game for them. Suarez (not a GK) slapped the ball away with his hands. He knew he'd get sent off AND Ghana would get a penalty.... but he did it anyway because he was desperate, and he HAD to stop that goal. He knew the punishment, but it was worth it as it gave Uruguay a chance, however slight.

But even someone as mentally unsound as Suarez wouldn't do something like that in the first 5 mins of a game, and certainly not up the other end of hte pitch just to stop a defending from clearing the ball. Different situation, different action.

I'm not sure who you support (presumably not the ABs), but maybe that's your teams' problem? That they don't take into account where on the pitch they are when making decisions about what to do??

Posted 11:11 21st August 2012

passtheball says...

Agree with Rockstar re Sharpe - how Deans could leave him out of W Cup games is beyond belief. Horwill is badly missed though.

Dagg can be brilliant with ball in hand but he has already made more mistakes and poor choices than Mils made in 100 tests. Luckily for him the ABs are rarely under concerted intense pressure.

Posted 06:07 21st August 2012

rugby_rockstar says...

I see Robbie is still getting the blame for Austrialian Rugby's neglect of the basics of forward play. It's the same as England's problems at ruck time and their skill levels. The issues come from grass roots up. Sacking the coach isn't the answer. You may as well try to kill a weed by pulling off the top-most leaf.

Posted 15:54 20th August 2012

rugby_rockstar says...

Don't blame him? but he did miss two tackles that Bryan Habana, JP Peiterson Horatrio Agulla would have made.

Mind you Dagg would have missed 'em. :)

Posted 15:33 20th August 2012

TheTruthHurts says...

Beale had a shocker, the Aussie's were below par, and the Kiwi's played very very well. Forget excuses that's it in a nutshell!

Posted 09:54 20th August 2012

jonesy2 says...

few changes need to take place. starting with sekopeout cooper in and berrick to inside centre.

Posted 07:46 20th August 2012

tha_mai says...

Beale's back in court Wednesday to finalise the assault charge against him; that in itself must be a distraction.

No jokes about 'the case for the defence'.

Posted 06:40 20th August 2012

tha_mai says...

Genia leapt to the talented full-back's defence - one could say 'what defence?' having just watched a replay - for the first try to Dagg - what was Beale thinking? "Is my hair OK?" He looked asleep when Dagg went past . . . surely can't play so poorly two in a row - maybe just 'one of those days'.

Posted 04:36 20th August 2012

ABlack says...

Its crazy how many times players and coaches refuse to acknowledge the other teams superiority to the media . Its clear the ABs are superior in most facets of the game compared to Aus at the moment.( including games plans, tactics, coaching ability) Aussie compares to AB's in returning the ball in broken-field play from other teams mistakes- but thats about it. Thats what was so evident in Saturdays test. The ABs blew 5 tries so the score could have been 50+. Then what would the Aus players say?????.

I recall when the SA team was dominant in 2009 the AB coaches and players said so to the media at that time.There was no stuffing around with fluffy excuses by the AB camp. The boks were better and they said so.

Maybe it is a case of a different outlook on the game from Kiwis in general e.g Kiwi rugby players dont have the same hangups about other teams due to their superior record over 100 years of Test rugby history, so they arent always looking for excuses why they lost like Aussie and other teams tend to do.

Posted 01:04 20th August 2012