Australia v Wales 3rd Test: Teams and Build-Up

First topic message reminder :

Saturday 23rd June, 2012
15:00 EST, 06:00 BMT
Allianz Stadium (SFS), Moore Park, Capacity: 45,500
Current forecast for Saturday: Fine, 7-15 deg. C
Sydney Radar (The ground is halfway between .Sydney and .Randwick on the diagonal)

Australia:
15 Kurtley Beale
14 Adam Ashley-Cooper
13 Rob Horne
12 Pat McCabe
11 Digby Ioane
10 Berrick Barnes
9 Will Genia
8 Wycliff Palu
7 David Pocock (capt.)
6 Scott Higginbotham
5 Nathan Sharpe
4 Sitaleki Timani
3 Sekope Kepu
2 Tatafu Polota Nau
1 Benn Robinson

Reserves:
16 Stephen Moore, 17 Ben Alexander, 18 Rob Simmons, 19 Dave Dennis, 20 Michael Hooper, 21 Nic White, 22 Anthony Fainga'a.

Wales:
15 Leigh Halfpenny
14 Alex Cuthbert
13 Jonathan Davies
12 Ashley Beck
11 George North
10 Rhys Priestland
9 Mike Phillips
8 Ryan Jones
7 Sam Warburton (capt.)
6 Dan Lydiate
5 Alun Wyn Jones
4 Bradley Davies
3 Adam Jones
2 Matthew Rees
1 Gethin Jenkins

Reserves:
16 Ken Owens, 17 Paul James, 18 Luke Charteris, 19 Justin Tipuric, 20 Rhys Webb, 21 James Hook, 22 Scott Williams.

So what did the management say post 6 Nations...that we needed to come down under and take the next step. May as well have stayed at home then because we refuse to learn.

Just one thing lads(and lasses) is that everything your accusing the ozzy's of doing and getting away with from the ref, you have got away with it all before and have had refs in your pocket! Every team has at some point. No one says a word when it's going your way.

Just suck it up, take it home and smash them into the CAP in the AIs

mowgli wrote:

rugbydreamer wrote:I'm sick of rugby Billy. Just utterly sick of it. Our sport is being ruined.

Might keep it on in the background. dunno.

you are 24 and a welsh fan....i've been on this rollercoaster 25 years, doesn't get any better i can tell you

Mowgli,

You can add a few more years onto that total for me sorry

no I'm serious Billy, me and rugby are close to being done.

Bedord - agreed. I won't blame Joubert as we made too many mistakes of our own. Won't say that detracts from what was a truly Poopie performance from him though. Guess it's a positive that we only lost by 1 when we are far off our best and playing to reffing interpretations that were being made up on the spot.

A 2pt and 1pt loss in Australia. Both games could have gone either way, Wales have just run out of luck. Howleys selection in the second test cost us, lost too many line outs and lost the breakdown battle. In this test the restarts lost by awj in the first half was worth several points, and the displine was awful.

Tipuric and Ryan Jones helped turn the breakdown in the second half and halfpennys kicking was first class, all three should be nailed on starters now, as should Ken Owens, as he can throw a ball straight.

The one that got me was when we were just inside the Aussie 22, we walked their scrum backwards and the flanker broke off and the props fell over, no pen, EXACTLY the same but this time in our half pen to us, he didnt penalise Aus if he thought we'd get points, and as for that last maul decision, wtf was going on with that????

It's NOT the way the ref plays ffs. It's how you play the ref. We were clueless.

mowgli wrote:

doctornickolas wrote:

IanBru wrote:Three certainties in life:
1) Death
2) Taxes
3) Wales cheapening the game by complaining about the referee.

4) Scotland will get excited about beating second string Australian and Islander teams,

No thats 5, 4 is that they collect wooden spoons

No idea why but Wales losing seems to bring some mysterious scottish comments from out of the woodwork, it was the same on 606. But seeing as we are listing certanties:

6) Scotland losing home and away to Wales on a regular basis then blaming the ref and/or Lee Byrne.
7) Scotland rugby players having inferior tans to the Wales players.

You know i cant believe that dreamer. You will be back singing next time Wales play

yeah I didn't understand that maul decision either ospreyboyo, didn't seem anything wrong with it to me.

Stupid by Charteris to mouth off at the ref though.

Pkease stop winging about the ref and take a look at the stats. the Aussies dominated possession in EVERY game, made more line braks in EVERY game, dominated territory in EVERY game etc etc.
All we ever here from the welsh is that they can beat anyone on their day...well thats rubbish as they have now lost teir last 5 games against the weakes of the SH teams.
We also here winging and moaning from the welsh every thime they loose where they soehow blame the ref! Take a lookm at the stats boyos, they tell the real story!!!

I'll always sing when Wales play Billy, but I'm not enjoying watching it anymore. I'm not enjoying watching my rugby full stop. This season is the first season where I've actually had to switch off games it's been so bad.

If Hooks kick ahead had stayed in you would have taken that game. Australia made far too many mistakes at crucial times on attack and were lucky to get away with it. Not a wonderful match to watch but there's been nothing between these 2 sides this series.

This Welsh side can hold their heads up for a very competitive series.

It wasn't Joubert who miss threw into the line out on far too many occasions - It was Rees.

It wasn't Joubert who missed 3 restarts in a row - It was AWJ.

It wasn't Joubert who rushed up out of the line leading to their try - It was JD.

He may not have been the best but we made far too many of our own mistakes to blame him.

bedfordwelsh wrote:It wasn't Joubert who miss threw into the line out on far too many occasions - It was Rees.

It wasn't Joubert who missed 3 restarts in a row - It was AWJ.

It wasn't Joubert who rushed up out of the line leading to their try - It was JD.

He may not have been the best but we made far too many of our own mistakes to blame him.

This.

I thought Joubert handled the game very well. Blaming the ref is sadly becoming a common occurance in rugby, and an unwelcome one at that.

Wales discipline was shocking. They have nobody to blame but themselves.

Its a major blow to this Welsh side who have some very good players. But I now think its evident they are developing an inferiority complex that will start to haunt this group of players until they manage to get that elusive win over a SH scalp.

Joubert said that it was a maul offence, and Ryan Jones said that as the Aus players were nou competing it couldnt be a maul?? I am still struggling at how it was an offence, surely now all teams need to do to defend a driving maul is to just stand aside and let the other team form one, as its a penalty.

rugbydreamer wrote:yeah I didn't understand that maul decision either ospreyboyo, didn't seem anything wrong with it to me.

Stupid by Charteris to mouth off at the ref though.

South Africa has been penalised for the same thing vs OZ numerous times, they refuse to make contact with the maul, then because the ball carrier is blocked by players in front, it is deemed obstruction.

viewtothegym wrote:Wales are good enough Wales are better than Australia the only difference was the man in the middle,
just the same old bullsh!t , it's like traveling to Thomond and the RDS,
home advantage is an understatement

View, Im not one to complain about the ref, however he has pinged wales off the park whilst allowing Australia to do exactly what they wanted at the breakdown, he allowed Austtralian players to take the ball from an offside position on at least two occasions, 2 high tackles, crossing once, sealing off espescially in the final minutes, forward passes, knock ons, multiple offsides in the defensive line, all the while pinging wales for the same offences or just making up an offence to ping them for. Joubert was either bought or is completly incompetent.

rugbydreamer wrote:I'll always sing when Wales play Billy, but I'm not enjoying watching it anymore. I'm not enjoying watching my rugby full stop. This season is the first season where I've actually had to switch off games it's been so bad.

Its just a bad dream....become a ref

Australia are dominating the stats because they are allowed to by the ref. They are flopping all over at rucks, but hardly ever get pinged.

rugbydreamer wrote:

bedfordwelsh wrote:It wasn't Joubert who miss threw into the line out on far too many occasions - It was Rees.

It wasn't Joubert who missed 3 restarts in a row - It was AWJ.

It wasn't Joubert who rushed up out of the line leading to their try - It was JD.

He may not have been the best but we made far too many of our own mistakes to blame him.

This.

Spot on!

Full Credit wrote:If Hooks kick ahead had stayed in you would have taken that game. Australia made far too many mistakes at crucial times on attack and were lucky to get away with it. Not a wonderful match to watch but there's been nothing between these 2 sides this series.

This Welsh side can hold their heads up for a very competitive series.

FC,

I get your point but I am sick n ******** tired of having to hold my head up for another glorious defeat.

rugbydreamer wrote:yeah I didn't understand that maul decision either ospreyboyo, didn't seem anything wrong with it to me.

Stupid by Charteris to mouth off at the ref though.

Once all opposition players have disengaged from the maul, all players in front of the ball carrier become offside. As soon as an opposition player rejoins the maul correctly the offside players prevent any fair contest. Aka truck and trailer.

"Same mistakes week in week in, week out" -- Scott Quinnel sums it up.

All we need is a coach who can taech the technical skills to handle lineouts and restarts. Does picking AWJ vindicate Howley's selectorial decision not to include Ian Evans?

If Wales are to beat top sides, they have to do the basics -- they have a good scrum, but set pieces are poor (poor lineouts and restarts) and support play not good enough. We also need a better midfield -- Gatland loves big centres and wingers but bish bash is not enough.

I think this Aus team were there for the taking in this serie? Why? They have an inferior scrum and they were missing key top players. Aus will get much stronger, with a much better attack, when the likes of Cooper etc are all back.

Howley in charge for 3 tests: result - 3 losses.

biltongbek wrote:

rugbydreamer wrote:yeah I didn't understand that maul decision either ospreyboyo, didn't seem anything wrong with it to me.

Stupid by Charteris to mouth off at the ref though.

South Africa has been penalised for the same thing vs OZ numerous times, they refuse to make contact with the maul, then because the ball carrier is blocked by players in front, it is deemed obstruction.

see that's just ridiculous.

Swperb wrote:Australia are dominating the stats because they are allowed to by the ref. They are flopping all over at rucks, but hardly ever get pinged.

Sorry mate but evry team does that. You can't blame the referee for that, you have to blame the IRB

Knackeredknees wrote:

rugbydreamer wrote:yeah I didn't understand that maul decision either ospreyboyo, didn't seem anything wrong with it to me.

Stupid by Charteris to mouth off at the ref though.

Once all opposition players have disengaged from the maul, all players in front of the ball carrier become offside. As soon as an opposition player rejoins the maul correctly the offside players prevent any fair contest. Aka truck and trailer.

Its the old truck n trailer call we use to hear and I could see that staright away, what compounded it was Lukes mouth.

So...who wants Gatland to be lions coach now?

Knackeredknees wrote:

rugbydreamer wrote:yeah I didn't understand that maul decision either ospreyboyo, didn't seem anything wrong with it to me.

Stupid by Charteris to mouth off at the ref though.

Once all opposition players have disengaged from the maul, all players in front of the ball carrier become offside. As soon as an opposition player rejoins the maul correctly the offside players prevent any fair contest. Aka truck and trailer.

that again is absolutely ridiculous.

Yes but Wales get pinged for it!

biltongbek wrote:

Swperb wrote:Australia are dominating the stats because they are allowed to by the ref. They are flopping all over at rucks, but hardly ever get pinged.

Sorry mate but evry team does that. You can't blame the referee for that, you have to blame the IRB

this.

Knackeredknees wrote:

rugbydreamer wrote:yeah I didn't understand that maul decision either ospreyboyo, didn't seem anything wrong with it to me.

Stupid by Charteris to mouth off at the ref though.

Once all opposition players have disengaged from the maul, all players in front of the ball carrier become offside. As soon as an opposition player rejoins the maul correctly the offside players prevent any fair contest. Aka truck and trailer.

But Aus didnt join in the first place, as I said, to defend a rolling maul, all you need to do is not compete, pen to your side then!!

Knackeredknees wrote:Just one thing lads(and lasses) is that everything your accusing the ozzy's of doing and getting away with from the ref, you have got away with it all before and have had refs in your pocket! Every team has at some point. No one says a word when it's going your way.

Just suck it up, take it home and smash them into the CAP in the AIs

I don't remember us ever getting away with taking out the scrum half off the ball.

The past two games I haven't held the ref responsible in the slightest for us losing. At this point I'm not going to be sensationalist and bring corruption into the argument. But I can't see how there's any denying that Joubert made a couple of very questionable decisions in the dying moments, putting it very kindly.

A bit silly all this nonsense about the ref. it's very rare that the better team loses because of poor officials. Certainly not three weeks in a row.

We were not good enough. Fact. Australia were smarter than us every time it mattered.

biltongbek wrote:

rugbydreamer wrote:yeah I didn't understand that maul decision either ospreyboyo, didn't seem anything wrong with it to me.

Stupid by Charteris to mouth off at the ref though.

South Africa has been penalised for the same thing vs OZ numerous times, they refuse to make contact with the maul, then because the ball carrier is blocked by players in front, it is deemed obstruction.

The Crusaders have employed that tactic numerous times (and to great effect) this season too.

Anyone up for some rugby algebra?

AWJ = Useless
Mike Phillips = Moron

AWJ + MP = NO CHANCE

mowgli wrote:So...who wants Gatland to be lions coach now?

Gatland wasn't the Wales coach

dreamer

I am exactly the same as you, I am too tense frustrated and angry to enjoy the Wales games, too uninterested to enjoy Super rugby, too pee'd off to enjoy the HC and too demoralised by certain games in the jeff / Rabo to trust to commit to watch a full game.

I have hit a point where even as a neutral I am watching the ref thinking 'ooo that teams been done there' or left scratching my head by numerous decisions by lets face it ALL refs in every game.

Infact I'd go as far to say as the only time I enjoy rugby any more is on the day out to the match, and that is generally because of the banter.

Need to go away lick our wounds and come back stronger.

We need to look at our selections. Warburton, Matt Rees and Gethin haven't played rugby for months and were just not fit enough to play 3 tests of this intensity. Paul James and Tipuric have been playing really well for the O's so have faith in them.

Charteris was our best second row in the WC, Ian Evans was our best in the 6 nations and yet neither are selected. AWJ had his worst game ever and Brad (who I consider 4th choice) was in there giving away his usual stupid penalties.

The other area we need to look at and quickly is the half backs. Hook should be given a run the same as Priestland has had. Where we are lacking is someone to challenge Mike Phillips. Australia had game changers at 9 and 10 whereas ours don't seem to run the game any where near as well.

Finally, stupid errors. How many times in the last few weeks have we got in to their 22 only to get turned over or knock on. We need to be as clinical as the SH sides.

Ok. That's it. Next up Ireland. They are usually the team I love to hate but for the next 2 hours I am Dr O'Nickolas

Knowsit we were taking Pocock out of the game by holding him down at the rucks and got away with it.

Please people stop blaming the reff, it's pathetic.

It really gives the rest of us fans a bad image with your consistant whining

ospreysboyo wrote:

Knackeredknees wrote:

rugbydreamer wrote:yeah I didn't understand that maul decision either ospreyboyo, didn't seem anything wrong with it to me.

Stupid by Charteris to mouth off at the ref though.

Once all opposition players have disengaged from the maul, all players in front of the ball carrier become offside. As soon as an opposition player rejoins the maul correctly the offside players prevent any fair contest. Aka truck and trailer.

But Aus didnt join in the first place, as I said, to defend a rolling maul, all you need to do is not compete, pen to your side then!!

Ok that's what's known as a flying wedge, last seen used in the early 80's well last time I saw it used. Players bound on in front of the ball carrier, it's still deliberate obstruction and a pen to aus.

wales606 wrote:

mowgli wrote:So...who wants Gatland to be lions coach now?

Gatland wasn't the Wales coach

QED

Knackered your wrong, as soon as the maul is engaged by the opposition everyone in front of the ball carrier is onside, even if the opp all back away.

Jouberts argument was than the maul moved to a ruck, then another maul formed, which IMO it wasn't!

wrfc1980 wrote:Pkease stop winging about the ref and take a look at the stats. the Aussies dominated possession in EVERY game, made more line braks in EVERY game, dominated territory in EVERY game etc etc.
All we ever here from the welsh is that they can beat anyone on their day...well thats rubbish as they have now lost teir last 5 games against the weakes of the SH teams.
We also here winging and moaning from the welsh every thime they loose where they soehow blame the ref! Take a lookm at the stats boyos, they tell the real story!!!

Where've you been? I only ever seem to see you when Wales lose a game. You have missed a lot of rugby for the last 6 months. Here's a reminder for you; Grand Slam and two on the bounce against England, England lowest ever finish in the JWC. Now concentrate on cheering on your team against the Boks.

Aussies get the narrowest of margins for victory.

I missed the game but have just read the thread. Sounds like far too many penalties at the breakdown.


A great series. Well done to the Bazzers...!

Howley has made some bad calls selection wise,

Rees - Poor again today at lineout.

Warburton - There were some calls for him to be replaced, ironically I thought he had his best 40 today. Tipuric gave that bit more edge to it though.

Priestland - Better today but poor overall.

The biggest puzzle for me is the way Ian Evans has not been involved. Why go to all the hassle of letting him join up late if he's not going to be used.

He was stand out 2nd row in the 6 Nations and after AWJs performance at the retstarts today I just struggle to understand Evans' lack of involvement

Breaks my heart watching Wales play

offload wrote:A bit silly all this nonsense about the ref. it's very rare that the better team loses because of poor officials. Certainly not three weeks in a row.

We were not good enough. Fact. Australia were smarter than us every time it mattered.

Not the 1st test but the ref was the major player in the 2nd and 3rd tests. Some crucial and very poor decisions in both and when both tests are won by less than 1 penalty kick it makes a huge difference.