Wallaby Team for Perth

First topic message reminder :

The Wallaby team has been announced for the Rugby Championship match against the Springboks in Perth:

15 Beale
14 Shipperley
13 AAC
12 Barnes
11 Ioane
10 Cooper
9 Genia (c)

8 Samo
7 Hooper
6 Dennis
5 Sharpe
4 Timani
3 Alexander
2 Polota Nau
1 Robinson

Reserves:
16 Saia Fainga'a, 17 Slipper, 18 Higginbotham, 19 Gill, 20 Phipps, 21 Harris, 22 A Fainga'a

So Kurtley gets a reprieve, Dom Shipperley debuts, Horne dropped, AAC back to centre, Higginbotham benched.
Stepen Moore becomes the Wallabies most capped hooker with 73 matches under his belt. Out... done his hamstring at training today
TPN's corked backside has recovered well apparently...

Yeah I think the Boks will get better, somehow, mainly because theyre too good to get any worse.

But so will Oz, and I believe so will we in terms of accuracy.

I dont believe Argentina will, despite GH's presence. The easy road there for the AB's is to score early, and heavily. Oz have given them two very good tests on their attack and have curtailed many promising attacks. I doubt Argis will back up against a harder prospect.

Since 1998 they've played 6 times in Perth.
Boks have 3 wins and a draw, Wallabies 2 wins and the draw. Lots of very close games. I think it averages around 7 points difference for each match and 117 points have been scored by both teams.

...looks like the trend will continue as well...close game. Hope to see some tries and its excellent timing for us here Saturday night- 7.30 and 10.30pm- better than a double feature at the movies!

Boks be aware though...when Oz select a backline like that, anything can happen, even if it hasnt all year...

Ah Barnes still at 12!!

There goes any attacking intent from the backs, expect lot's of aimless kicking and then Barnes shouting and gesticulating to no one in particular.

Shame as the rest of that back line looks quality (AAC is best at 13).

Not sure about Dennis retaining his shirt either, he's been totally anonymous so far this tournament.

There's not a lot else we can do at 12 with McCabe, JOC, and Tapuai injured. There should be a blanket ban on him kicking. If the ball even touches his boot once he should be shot out of a cannon.

Dennis would have to be on his last chance.

Will we see the cooper swagger tomorrow?

A Fainga'a used to play 12 and has worked a fair bit inside AAC last season and the season before.

He definitely doesn't kick either.

yappysnap wrote:A Fainga'a used to play 12 and has worked a fair bit inside AAC last season and the season before.

He definitely doesn't kick either.

True. Just a shame he's not very good.

Attacking flair and creativity aren't his strong suit. He went well in the Reds backline last year starching up the defence and with creative players like Genia, Quade, Tapuai, and Ioane around him he complimented them well. When Dingo puts him with creative nobodies like Barnes, McCabe and Horne then not all is well.

Then why not drop those guys and get the Reds players in? It won you a bledisloe and Trinations last year!

I'm so disappointed with Barnes this season. He's just offered nothing at all and been a liability creativity wise. Cooper may balls up a few things and no he didn't fire a shot at Eden Park but Barnes gave the backs no spark whatsoever and needs to go for now.

Pete C (Kiwireddevil) wrote:

yappysnap wrote:A Fainga'a used to play 12 and has worked a fair bit inside AAC last season and the season before.

He definitely doesn't kick either.

True. Just a shame he's not very good.

He's pretty good at one thing, just not much else! And still I'd prefer him to Barnes...

The Reds backline wasn't the same this year as last, too many disruptions along the way. With Cooper and Tapuai missing for most of the year the other combinations didn't gel. Dingo seems hell bent on cramming as many Waratah players into the national team as possible.

That would be because the Wallabies are quality right?

We hear what you're saying, yap.

Nice day today on the east coast but slightly warmer on the west coast with 25 degrees C max. expected in Perth today.

I had to go out and vote in local council elections this morning. There was that usual Aussie feel to it up at the local school.
Forget about trying to park on the road somewhere. (I park outside the headmaster's office... down a lane - nobody else has cottoned on to it yet!)

The smell of the BBQ'd snags, onions and steaks, fresh coffee and cakes, kids running wild and some playing really out-of-tune music in the background, pet dogs dressed up for the occasion. It was hilarious. A classic distraction from reality.

I just hope the Wallabies take the game more seriously tonight.

Biltong, I realised that BBQ smell was as close as you could come to a braai. Couldn't stop thinking about it.

12mins in and we've already done 300 kicks. Sheesh.

Still fumbling around with it. Can't crack their defence after all those phases of play.

yeah but oz are making all the play, SA prepared to sit back and watch.

Superb try from springboks, good defence from oz but that was superb quick ball and a well deserved lead. Oz need to get their hands on the ball and fast

Good try habana. Think we've got a cracker match coming up here. SA gain ground through the ariel kick then pressure from there. Shows the old plan can still work.

Right, that's it. First thing Monday Barnes is getting shot out of a cannon.

He's kicking Barnes is kicking way too much and stopping any momentum oz are building up

Full Credit wrote:Right, that's it. First thing Monday Barnes is getting shot out of a cannon.

He he...was a bit aimless wasn't it.
This is still anyones game. Good hard fast ground.

Sharpie's a penalty magnet so far.

All boks atm

13-3. SA starting to take control of the ball. Oz need to hit back.

Went wide to quick then the boks, should have straightened and executed the overlap by committing defenders, gave themselves no chance with that pass to habana

Now I understand why Kirchner is playing...

Final score 26-19 to Australia

genia and barnes look stuffed after that.
Another one where the second half effort told.
How much kicking was there in this match?

Good effort both sides. Goosen not on long enough to guage. Shipperly looked sharp and cooper took it to the line as he was told. In the end the runs up the middle told.

Second half was a much better effort. All those injuries though. Some brutal defence from both sides but those few lucky breaks went the Wallabies way on the couple of occasions the Bok's defence had a lapse.

How was the breakdown? Are SA struggling without a fetcher type and was Keegan Daniel involved?

Might have to watch that game again. Good old free to air TV Australia can't be arsed showing the game live so had to watch a series of streams ranging from Oz commentary to French and a bit of Spanish for a while. Still far too much kicking from what I could see.

Pretty awkward post match interview with Sanchez. He was obviously feeling a bit touchy over his charged down box kick.

Just a comment, it never ceases to surprise me of how biased the Oz commentators are in fairness they don't even tried to hide it.

Marto and Kearns are the worst, Kafe's pretty fair. They just speak like they're talking only to an Australian audience, they don't seem to realise their comments are being broadcast all over the place.

on second viewing higginbothams try was very similar to the try scored by the argies in mendoza. A couple of one ups then the gap straight up the middle. SA don't protect that inside channel very well. Not sure if they were already spreading wide on defence or whether they were caught napping but in both cases a huge hole opened up.

Genias out rest of the season... big blow...

One thing that impressed me in the Perth game was Adam Ashley Cooper takling two Springbok backs in the same movement... well I thought it was pretty damn clever.

Yea first I thought it was a little high then on replay it looked pretty cool. Good commitment...

That was a brilliant piece of work by AAC. Glad he is finally back at 13.