Australia v New Zealand, 8 August

Surprised there's no thread yet ...

Just started watching - did anyone else think the Oz no. 10 was tap tackled without the ball as he broke through with nobody in front of him just before the ABs got the penalty for diving on the player on the ground?  Unlucky for Oz if I saw it right.

have to say, phipps is having a poor game

having said that, most of the kiwi team arent playing that well

nathan wrote:have to say, phipps is having a poor game

If Phipps is the best 9 and Foley the best 10 Aus have then they will struggle against Eng and Wales in RWC

lot of loose play all around

great run from Folau. Poor handling lets the Wallabies down again.

Cracking game in my book. Line sped from NZ very good. Both teams playing at a pace that no one in the NH hemisphere can match. Not just pace over the ground but between the ears.

TJ wrote:Cracking game in my book.  Line sped from NZ very good.  Both teams playing at a pace that no one in the NH hemisphere can match.  Not just pace over the ground but between the ears.

trouble is there are so many errors from each team. i dont think it's that faster than any other game

Nathan - I would say the errors come from the speed at which it is being played and IMO its so much faster than anything seen in the NH. Its the speed of decision making and the sped with which the support players arrive for the offload or at the rucks

Apart from his two penos, Carter has been poor, kicking out of hand poor. On this display, Barrett looks better option

it looks to me like both teams seem to be struggling to keep hold of the ball

I have to say Wayne doesn't seem too fussed about players being in front of the kicker when the ball is put in the air either ...

Yes!!! try Wallabies. A Smith in the sin bin

these commentators are such donkeys, smart play by smith.... errrr no, phipps had a brain fart

Phipps had a poor game then bang, momentum NZ!

Lots of errors, best man on the park right now is Wayne Barnes who has marshalled this brilliantly so far!

Yup - Barnes is having a good game

Oz playing better now with Giteau at 9

Cracking try from the Wallabies.

new zealand looking tired

nathan wrote:new zealand looking tired

Tired? They haven't played for 2 weeks. 4th Test of the year. 6 replacements from the Springbok game. This almost their strongest side.

Finally!! After a draw and a 1 point loss last year Wallabies win 27-19. Thats the number 1 and 2 sides beaten in the past few weeks.

Icu wrote:

nathan wrote:new zealand looking tired

Tired? They haven't played for 2 weeks. 4th Test of the year. 6 replacements from the Springbok game. This almost their strongest side.

well they still looked tired, over training?

I think just ran out of steam as a result of the efforts put in? Great win for Aus.

Well done Aus, great win. Have to agree on the Barnes comments, he has been a great official in this game.

NZ get nothing from this. The win puts the tournament in the Wallabies grasp with Argentina to play at home. SA away will be a tough one. And if Aus lose the return fixture by less than 8, do they also win the bledisloe cup?

TJ wrote:I think just ran out of steam as a result of the efforts put in?  Great win for Aus.

yeah, agree

nathan wrote:

Icu wrote:

nathan wrote:new zealand looking tired

Tired? They haven't played for 2 weeks. 4th Test of the year. 6 replacements from the Springbok game. This almost their strongest side.

well they still looked tired, over training?

I think it was just the pace of the game. For the 3rd game in a row, the Wallaby bench has made the team better than the starting side.

I guess opinion of the Wallabies will now be re assessed, eh?

Intriguing. Neither side looked fully fluid - lots of handling errors.

The AB scrum looks vulnerable, as does the Aussie lineout. Carter looked rusty, the starting Aussie halfbacks looked clueless.

Hooper and Fardy looked very good for Aus, Pocock did a lot of hard graft. McCaw, Nehe and Ben Smith looked good for NZ. Attacking the edge of the breakdown worked for both sides.

From a Pool A perspective, over 80 minutes I'd expect England to have an edge in the scrum; Wales will need to be switched on, especially when the subs come on. Both sides will attack the lineout.

England will need to recycle quickly. I think it's Poite refereeing, which generally suits England at both scrum and breakdown.

Shambolic scrum performance from NZ, Woodcock got hammered all game.

Great win for Aus without actually playing that well themselves. Strong and breakdown performance set the tone and they took their chances. Phipps and Carter had games to forget.

Unless Wales manage to find a decent enough bench then we don't have much chance. Joubert pretty much rules out our chances of finally beating Aus.

The Wallabies look like they might finally have a scrum. fingers crossed ha ha. The real test will come next week.

Well done Oz - ABs looked off their game and Oz took their chances

Pool A just gets tastier and tastier

IMO Aus looked two levels better than anything I have seen from England and Wales. Wales especially will not be able to win with Gatlandball. Aus will score tries. The speed Aus played with will play england and Wales off the park as neither can play at that pace.

I've read Aus have won the RC, so I think i've missed something. Are there less fixtures this year because of the RWC?

I think the teams only played each other once rather than having home and away fixtures?

mikey_dragon wrote:I've read Aus have won the RC, so I think i've missed something. Are there less fixtures this year because of the RWC?

Yes. Shortened RC because of the WC. It resulted in being weighted in Australia's favour as we got to play both the Springboks and AB's at home while the AB's played SA and Aust away. Nevertheless, the Wallabies won both those games and beat Argentina away. Return match at Eden Park next week will be the Bledisloe decider.

mikey_dragon wrote:I've read Aus have won the RC, so I think i've missed something. Are there less fixtures this year because of the RWC?

Yep, only 3 games each. There is a 4th match next week, but those don't count and are more world cup warm-ups.

Australia had SA and NZ at home, so it's not too surprising they won.

Slightly off topic but I still find it madness that the teams that finish 2nd and 3rd in Pool A are IMO better than any of the teams that are likely to finish in 2nd in all the other pools. I still can't understand why they had to set the pools so many years in advance leading to this crazy situation. Whoever gets knocked out I think can consider themselves hard done by.

Icu wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:I've read Aus have won the RC, so I think i've missed something. Are there less fixtures this year because of the RWC?

Yes. Shortened RC because of the WC. It resulted in being weighted in Australia's favour as we got to play both the Springboks and AB's at home while the AB's played SA and Aust away. Nevertheless, the Wallabies won both those games and beat Argentina away. Return match at Eden Park next week will be the Bledisloe decider.

Ta for clearing that up. Congratulations Wallabies on the title, they've a knack for doing this in world cup year... Is next week's match part of the RC or is it just that extra bledisloe fixture that would usually be played in Japan?

Heaf wrote:Slightly off topic but I still find it madness that the teams that finish 2nd and 3rd in Pool A are IMO better than any of the teams that are likely to finish in 2nd in all the other pools.  I still can't understand why they had to set the pools so many years in advance leading to this crazy situation.  Whoever gets knocked out I think can consider themselves hard done by.

Yep, it's going to be ridiculously competitive,

As a Welshman I am slightly worried but no doubt the Aussie and English supporters are not too keen either.

wales606 wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:I've read Aus have won the RC, so I think i've missed something. Are there less fixtures this year because of the RWC?

Yep, only 3 games each. There is a 4th match next week, but those don't count and are more world cup warm-ups.

Australia had SA and NZ at home, so it's not too surprising they won.

Regardless of the fact that they played at home, this RC shoud dispell the perception that OZ is there for the taking by Wlaes and England.

It is the quality lf their play that is important here come rwc.

Wow quite pleased at those performances as an England fan!

Biltong wrote:

wales606 wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:I've read Aus have won the RC, so I think i've missed something. Are there less fixtures this year because of the RWC?

Yep, only 3 games each. There is a 4th match next week, but those don't count and are more world cup warm-ups.

Australia had SA and NZ at home, so it's not too surprising they won.

Regardless of the fact that they played at home, this RC shoud dispell the perception that OZ is there for the taking by Wlaes and England.

It is the quality lf their play that is important here come rwc.

Yeah no doubt, not sure if England or Wales would have beaten NZ at home today, probably not.

Australia are peaking at the right time and appear to have finally found a good coach who is getting the most out of his players.

Goal kicking is their weakness, and they need to sort it out before the World cup which will be on slower pitches.

mikey_dragon wrote:

Icu wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:I've read Aus have won the RC, so I think i've missed something. Are there less fixtures this year because of the RWC?

Yes. Shortened RC because of the WC. It resulted in being weighted in Australia's favour as we got to play both the Springboks and AB's at home while the AB's played SA and Aust away. Nevertheless, the Wallabies won both those games and beat Argentina away. Return match at Eden Park next week will be the Bledisloe decider.

Ta for clearing that up. Congratulations Wallabies on the title, they've a knack for doing this in world cup year... Is next week's match part of the RC or is it just that extra bledisloe fixture that would usually be played in Japan?

Next week is the BC decider but not part of the RC. Usually it is 3 games although not so long ago it was just 2 games which made it very hard to win as the AB's had to be beaten t Eden Park. I think was made best of 3 to a) give us a better chance of winning (which didn't work anyway) and b) to make more money (which Aust. rugby always needs).

On seeing the draw predicted this result and the 4 Ns winners,next week at Eden park will
be very interesting.
As a incentive for RWC just whats needed no RC winner has won a RWC same year
and this match will up the ante.
Sydney is always an OZ happy hunting ground.

Whatever happens in Pool A the only thing we can be sure of is one of England, Wales or Australia will be out during the pool stages - given the teams that will go through from the other pools this just looks wrong to me. The fact that it could also come down to one piece of luck/bad luck or one poor bit of officiating makes it even worse.

wales606 wrote:

Biltong wrote:

wales606 wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:I've read Aus have won the RC, so I think i've missed something. Are there less fixtures this year because of the RWC?

Yep, only 3 games each. There is a 4th match next week, but those don't count and are more world cup warm-ups.

Australia had SA and NZ at home, so it's not too surprising they won.

Regardless of the fact that they played at home, this RC shoud dispell the perception that OZ is there for the taking by Wlaes and England.

It is the quality lf their play that is important here come rwc.

Yeah no doubt, not sure if England or Wales would have beaten NZ at home today, probably not.

Australia are peaking at the right time and appear to have finally found a good coach who is getting the most out of his players.

Goal kicking is their weakness, and they need to sort it out before the World cup which will be on slower pitches.

They do have other weaknesses as well, their line out is inconsistent and they don't have good tactical kicking, Toomua is a must at 12.

Biltong wrote:

wales606 wrote:

Biltong wrote:

wales606 wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:I've read Aus have won the RC, so I think i've missed something. Are there less fixtures this year because of the RWC?

Yep, only 3 games each. There is a 4th match next week, but those don't count and are more world cup warm-ups.

Australia had SA and NZ at home, so it's not too surprising they won.

Regardless of the fact that they played at home, this RC shoud dispell the perception that OZ is there for the taking by Wlaes and England.

It is the quality lf their play that is important here come rwc.

Yeah no doubt, not sure if England or Wales would have beaten NZ at home today, probably not.

Australia are peaking at the right time and appear to have finally found a good coach who is getting the most out of his players.

Goal kicking is their weakness, and they need to sort it out before the World cup which will be on slower pitches.

They do have other weaknesses as well, their line out is inconsistent and they don't have good tactical kicking, Toomua is a must at 12.

Yeah, it would/will be interesting to see how they do against a strong blitz defence like the Welsh defence against Ireland in the 6Ns - then they will be forced to kick and it might shift them from their favourite game plan.

The Aus and NZ attacking game plan is similar which is why I think Aus are often able to compete with NZ even when not playing well as they are not really being stopped from playing the running game.