Australia vs Wales RWC Pool A 10th October

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AUSTRALIA v WALES
10 October 2015
KO: 16:45
Twickenham, London

Live on [tbc]

Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Touch judges: Jérôme Garcès (France) & Stuart Berry (South Africa)
Television match official: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)

A. Head to Head

38 Played 38
27 Won 10
1 Drawn 1
10 Lost 27
897 Points 590

B. Recent Form

8 November 2014
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
28 – 33 Australia

30 November 2013
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
26 – 30 Australia

1 December 2012
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
12 – 14 Australia

23 June 2012
Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
20 – 19 Australia

16 June 2012
Etihad Stadium, Melbourne
25 – 23 Australia

9 June 2012
Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
27 – 19 Australia

3 December 2011
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
18 – 24 Australia

21 October 2011
Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand
21 – 18 Australia

TEAMS:

AUSTRALIA

I Folau; A Ashley-Cooper, T Kuridrani, M Giteau, D Mitchell; B Foley, W Genia; S Sio, S Moore, S Kepu; K Douglas, D Mumm; S Fardy, S McMahon, D Pocock.

Replacements: T Polota-Nau, J Slipper, G Holmes, R Simmons, B MCCalman, N Phipps, M Toomua, K Beale.

WALES

G Anscombe; A Cuthbert, G North, J Roberts, L Williams; D Biggar, G Davies; P James, S Baldwin, S Lee; L Charteris, AW Jones; S Warburton, J Tipuric, T Faletau.

Replacements: K Owens, A Jarvis, T Francis, J Ball, R Moriarty, Ll Williams, R Priestland, J Hook.

*************
The pool decider.

Damn those boys in the Canary yellow shirts look good, really good. Going through top of the pool Wales would be likely to meet Japan or Scotland...! Go through second and we meet a refuvinated Bok side.

Fair enough, I think Sam has a bit of credit in the bank compared with Robshaw anyhow.

Griff wrote:I said the same thing earlier in the thread: try something twice only.  If it doesn't work, change it as it's likely (from watching tons of international matches) that the 3rd or 4th time the attacking team will lose the lineout/lose a scrum against the head/knock on, etc.  So yes, attempt to get the try.  Have another go.  But after two goes I'd have said 'enough's enough, lets take some kickable points and regroup and have them kick off to us'.

Yep, we are in complete agreement.

Wales surprised me on Saturday and I thought the performance was more than we could have hoped for. Yes we had our chances to win it but at the end of the day Australia were marginally the better side and we failed to execute when we had our chances. Still a very encouraging performance with the personnel we had to choose from.  For me it was the first game that we actually missed our most creative strike runners in Scott Williams and Foxy Davies as IMO they would have had the composure, power and guile when it mattered and would have got us over the line. Well done Australia, its there for you if you can keep this level of performance up.

I think Scotland will do a rattle on them... the Aussies. May not win but my gut is telling me they'll spook the Wallabies big time.

SecretFly wrote:I think Scotland will do a rattle on them... the Aussies.  May not win but my gut is telling me they'll spook the Wallabies big time.

They've got more footballers in the backs than Wales do at the moment.

RubyGuby wrote:Wales surprised me on Saturday and I thought the performance was more than we could have hoped for. Yes we had our chances to win it but at the end of the day Australia were marginally the better side and we failed to execute when we had our chances. Still a very encouraging performance with the personnel we had to choose from.  For me it was the first game that we actually missed our most creative strike runners in Scott Williams and Foxy Davies as IMO they would have had the composure, power and guile when it mattered and would have got us over the line. Well done Australia, its there for you if you can keep this level of performance up.

I think you guys are underestimating the depth of talent in Wales. There is more talent there than you rate, you just got so used to Gatland selecting the same players over and over, in fact I think Wales are actually better off with some new blood, the old guard is becoming too predictable.

Issue is Bilt that only the select squad (or the 40 or so pre-WC crew) get the benefits of the regime required to keep them punching, running, hitting, ducking and diving for 80 solid minutes in energy sapping full-on International games.

They've already lost 30 of those to injury!!! (okay so I exaggerate for artistic licence!)
But any sucked-in players now from outside might not be at the fitness/recovery standards that Gats rightfully always demands.

Obviously that 10 minutes was where the game was won and lost, and funnily enough where all of our injuries took its toll....

We had no natural 15 (Anscombe does not hit the line at the right times, he hit it too often and Roberts told him to sit back and he barely hit the line again).

No natural 13, North is a winger, and not necessarily a creative one. Considering the amount of breaks we've been making down the 13 channel this world cup there was no real threat down that channel....

Cuthbert - if he was an sporting animal someone would have put him out of his misery by now bless him.

I thought the team performance was outstanding overall today, the Wallabies just showed why they won the 4N and why they quite possibly could win the world cup. They can tear you apart but they now have a formidable set-piece and huge heart and a desire in defence which I don't think I've seen since Gregan was there.

Well played Australia!

Wales, poor play when Oz were down to 13, its been said but having no natural attacking instincts at 13/15 seemed to cripple our confidence out wide (after a few nervy plays earlier i nthe game admitedly).

Should hve taken the points, shouldda wouldda couldda.

South Africa, we meet again

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:

SecretFly wrote:I think Scotland will do a rattle on them... the Aussies.  May not win but my gut is telling me they'll spook the Wallabies big time.

They've got more footballers in the backs than Wales do at the moment.

Possibly, but I would back the Welsh defensive structure as being vastly superior.

offload wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:All were pros on the field today so should be confident in their ability to pass a ball. For me, that 13 man period says more about Wales ie our backline, rather than the Ozzie defence.

So true.  The defence was strong but should never have been given that opportunity.  Roberts and North in the centre couldn't find space in the middle of the sahara.  That Welsh backline was devoid of any creativity.  Gatland continuing to pick Cuthbert is bordering on sadistic - surely every decent rugby fan wants to see his torture end.

Add to that some shocking leadership decisions and we have the biggest missed world cup opportunity I've seen.

Empty space between their ears too perhaps?
To add, I wish the tv people would give us a period of wide angle viewing now and then. Like you'd get when watching it live from a posh seat.

Cardiff Dave wrote:

offload wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:All were pros on the field today so should be confident in their ability to pass a ball. For me, that 13 man period says more about Wales ie our backline, rather than the Ozzie defence.

So true.  The defence was strong but should never have been given that opportunity.  Roberts and North in the centre couldn't find space in the middle of the sahara.  That Welsh backline was devoid of any creativity.  Gatland continuing to pick Cuthbert is bordering on sadistic - surely every decent rugby fan wants to see his torture end.

Add to that some shocking leadership decisions and we have the biggest missed world cup opportunity I've seen.

Empty space between their ears too perhaps?
To add, I wish the tv people would give us a period of wide angle viewing now and then. Like you'd get when watching it live from a posh seat.

We've had back lines containing many of the same people as on Saturday and have managed to score plenty of tries v Aus in the past, so not sure it's the empty space between the players ears. That empty space has been plenty prolific in the past.

Griff wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:

offload wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:All were pros on the field today so should be confident in their ability to pass a ball. For me, that 13 man period says more about Wales ie our backline, rather than the Ozzie defence.

So true.  The defence was strong but should never have been given that opportunity.  Roberts and North in the centre couldn't find space in the middle of the sahara.  That Welsh backline was devoid of any creativity.  Gatland continuing to pick Cuthbert is bordering on sadistic - surely every decent rugby fan wants to see his torture end.

Add to that some shocking leadership decisions and we have the biggest missed world cup opportunity I've seen.

Empty space between their ears too perhaps?
To add, I wish the tv people would give us a period of wide angle viewing now and then. Like you'd get when watching it live from a posh seat.

We've had back lines containing many of the same people as on Saturday and have managed to score plenty of tries v Aus in the past, so not sure it's the empty space between the players ears. That empty space has been plenty prolific in the past.

We've lost to Oz 11 times on the bounce mun!!!
Are you a BBC ChumV regular by any chance?

ChumV International. The one programme I force myself to watch yet spend every episode just hoping that no one who isn't Welsh is watching it and always feeling sorry the non-Welsh guest who is probably finding the smell of smugness a terrible thing if Wales have won

Cardiff Dave wrote:

Griff wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:

offload wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:All were pros on the field today so should be confident in their ability to pass a ball. For me, that 13 man period says more about Wales ie our backline, rather than the Ozzie defence.

So true.  The defence was strong but should never have been given that opportunity.  Roberts and North in the centre couldn't find space in the middle of the sahara.  That Welsh backline was devoid of any creativity.  Gatland continuing to pick Cuthbert is bordering on sadistic - surely every decent rugby fan wants to see his torture end.

Add to that some shocking leadership decisions and we have the biggest missed world cup opportunity I've seen.

Empty space between their ears too perhaps?
To add, I wish the tv people would give us a period of wide angle viewing now and then. Like you'd get when watching it live from a posh seat.

We've had back lines containing many of the same people as on Saturday and have managed to score plenty of tries v Aus in the past, so not sure it's the empty space between the players ears. That empty space has been plenty prolific in the past.

We've lost to Oz 11 times on the bounce mun!!!
Are you a BBC ChumV regular by any chance?

We're talking about try scoring ability v Aus, not the previous outcomes. These same players have been creative, had flair, cut good lines, played the running game against Oz and have managed to score some very good backs tries. The same players should have been able to do it again. That's my only point.

Steffan wrote:ChumV International. The one programme I force myself to watch yet spend every episode just hoping that no one who isn't Welsh is watching it and always feeling sorry the non-Welsh guest who is probably finding the smell of smugness a terrible thing if Wales have won

You're hard mate. Countryfile for me.
Andy Robinson was good though a couple of weeks ago. I saw that bit.

Griff wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:

Griff wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:

offload wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:All were pros on the field today so should be confident in their ability to pass a ball. For me, that 13 man period says more about Wales ie our backline, rather than the Ozzie defence.

So true.  The defence was strong but should never have been given that opportunity.  Roberts and North in the centre couldn't find space in the middle of the sahara.  That Welsh backline was devoid of any creativity.  Gatland continuing to pick Cuthbert is bordering on sadistic - surely every decent rugby fan wants to see his torture end.

Add to that some shocking leadership decisions and we have the biggest missed world cup opportunity I've seen.

Empty space between their ears too perhaps?
To add, I wish the tv people would give us a period of wide angle viewing now and then. Like you'd get when watching it live from a posh seat.

We've had back lines containing many of the same people as on Saturday and have managed to score plenty of tries v Aus in the past, so not sure it's the empty space between the players ears. That empty space has been plenty prolific in the past.

We've lost to Oz 11 times on the bounce mun!!!
Are you a BBC ChumV regular by any chance?

We're talking about try scoring ability v Aus, not the previous outcomes. These same players have been creative, had flair, cut good lines, played the running game against Oz and have managed to score some very good backs tries. The same players should have been able to do it again. That's my only point.

If we were that "creative" and had "flair" we would have scored a try against Oz on Saturday, no probs. Against 13 men it should've been a stroll in the park.

To be fair we crossed the line how many times? Just couldn't ground the ball. I thought North made a huge mistake when he cut back inside to be tackled by two Australians. Had he gone on the outside he had only one to beat. Still, it's a much easier game to play in the armchair than on the pitch.

Don't you think it's freakish to cross the line three times and be held up. It's dead unlucky The boys did OK. What if they did get the ball down once nobody could see it and anyway we deserved a penalty try. So come on Wales you can do it.

Scarpia wrote:To be fair we crossed the line how many times? Just couldn't ground the ball. I thought North made a huge mistake when he cut back inside to be tackled by two Australians. Had he gone on the outside he had only one to beat. Still, it's a much easier game to play in the armchair than on the pitch.

You're missing the point. Wales had oodles of time to create an opportunity for a winger to walk in unopposed yet they couldn't do it.

Cardiff Dave wrote:

Scarpia wrote:To be fair we crossed the line how many times? Just couldn't ground the ball. I thought North made a huge mistake when he cut back inside to be tackled by two Australians. Had he gone on the outside he had only one to beat. Still, it's a much easier game to play in the armchair than on the pitch.

You're missing the point. Wales had oodles of time to create an opportunity for a winger to walk in unopposed yet they couldn't do it.

Agreed

But then if i was thinking Cuthbert would be on the end of the pass i'd keep it tight myself too.

What has happened to him? For his own good he needs to be kept away from a rugby pitch for a while

Scarpia wrote: I thought North made a huge mistake when he cut back inside to be tackled by two Australians. Had he gone on the outside he had only one to beat.

That tackle from Sio and McCalman was almost as good as Gregan's solo effort against John Kirwin.

Maybe North should have gone for his signature fist pump into the air a few metres out. That might have put our defenders off!
How he didn't score...

The Loaded Dog wrote:

Scarpia wrote: I thought North made a huge mistake when he cut back inside to be tackled by two Australians. Had he gone on the outside he had only one to beat.

That tackle from Sio and McCalman was almost as good as Gregan's solo effort against John Kirwin.

Maybe North should have gone for his signature fist pump into the air a few metres out. That might have put our defenders off!
How he didn't score...

Should have gone to the front of the line out, then we'd would DEFINITELY have scored

That was another 5m scrum after that though wasn't it?

but yeah, a few cheeky throws at opportune times... anything just to break to cycle of negativity.

The Loaded Dog wrote:

Scarpia wrote: I thought North made a huge mistake when he cut back inside to be tackled by two Australians. Had he gone on the outside he had only one to beat.

That tackle from Sio and McCalman was almost as good as Gregan's solo effort against John Kirwin Jeff Wilson.

Maybe North should have gone for his signature fist pump into the air a few metres out. That might have put our defenders off!
How he didn't score...

Fixed that for you LD.

goneagain wrote:

The Loaded Dog wrote:

Scarpia wrote: I thought North made a huge mistake when he cut back inside to be tackled by two Australians. Had he gone on the outside he had only one to beat.

That tackle from Sio and McCalman was almost as good as Gregan's solo effort against John Kirwin Jeff Wilson.

Maybe North should have gone for his signature fist pump into the air a few metres out. That might have put our defenders off!
How he didn't score...

Fixed that for you LD.

Thanks goneagain. Seems like yesterday... and my short term memory fails me every now and then.

So does mine, but that tackle is burned in my memory! "Yes, Yes, Noooooo, Gregan you Tinkywinky!"