QF4: Australia v Scotland, 18 October

      
AUSTRALIA v SCOTLAND

18 October 2015
16:00 BST (UTC+01)
Twickenham, London

Live on telly

Ref: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
ARs: Glen Jackson (New Zealand) and Pascal Gauzere (France)
TMO: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)

A. Head to Head

28 Played 28
19 Won 9
0 Drawn 0
9 Lost 19
671 Points 330

B. Recent Form

23 November 2013
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
15 – 21 to Australia

5 June 2012
Hunter Stadium, Newcastle
6 – 9 to Scotland

21 November 2009
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
9 – 8 to Scotland

25 November 2006
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
15 – 44 to Australia

20 November 2004
Hampden Park, Glasgow
17 – 31 to Australia

C. TEAMS:
AUSTRALIA

15 Kurtley Beale; 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Matt Giteau, 11 Drew Mitchell; 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Will Genia;

1 Scott Sio, 2Stephen Moore, 3 Sekope Kepu, 4 Kane Douglas, 5 Rob Simmons, 6 Scott Fardy, 7 Michael Hooper, 8 Ben McCalman.

Substitutes: 16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 James Slipper, 18 Greg Holmes, 19 Dean Mumm, 20 Sean McMahon, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Matt Toomua, 23 Quade Cooper.

SCOTLAND

15 Stuart Hogg; 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Peter Horne 11 Tommy Seymour; 10 Finn Russell,  9 Greig Laidlaw;

1 Alasdair Dickinson, 2 Ross Ford, 3 Willem Nel, 4 Jonny Gray, 5 Richie Gray, 6 Blair Cowan, 7 John Hardie, 8 David Denton. 


Substitutes: 
16 Fraser Brown, 17 Gordon Reid, 18 Jon Welsh, 19 Tim Swinson, 20 Josh Strauss, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Richie Vernon, 23 Sean Lamont.

Scotland will have to defend a hell of a lot better than they did against Samoa to stand a chance against the Aussies. Wales showed last night that if you keep Foley quiet, you keep the Aussies at bay.

George Carlin wrote:

[tbc]



[tbc]

If only Malcolm tucker had taught the king how to speak!!


My brain tells me that Scotland will get absolutely stuffed. My gut tells me they can win.

Good luck guys.

I bet it felt fantastic being able to make this thread GC!

Luckily there is an 8 day turnaround for this, the positives being that:

A - we can recover properly

B - for every waking hour of every day we can work on our bloody restarts!!! This is a national trait - for as long as I can remember Scotland has been bad at them.

The bad thing about the timing of this game is that I have an 'engagement photo shoot' scheduled for exactly the same time as this game. Apparently it was not appropriate for me to try to re-schedule it.

On the plus side, I missed most of the first half yesterday so it might not be too bad a thing to miss next week too!

Bye through to the SF for Oz on yesterday's evidence

Someone posted this on twitter, it's hard to make out but they claimed, a knee and a punch I don't see much in it though. Maybe a penalty at the time
https://twitter.com/nzrayrays/status/652929162890493953

cakeordeath wrote:Someone posted this on twitter, it's hard to make out but they claimed, a knee and a punch I don't see much in it though. Maybe a penalty at the time
https://twitter.com/nzrayrays/status/652929162890493953

Looks like a knee but can't see a punch

I actually noticed that and ,i think, Baldwin was down in play for a minute or so. I remember waiting for the TMO but the ref got no call. I was surprised no one said anything on the thread and when i said it to my dad last night and he didn't see it so thought i was seeing things.

Could be in big trouble

Really looking forward to this. No pressure on us to get through which I'm sure will help and we've got most of our players fit. Should be a cracking game.

My hope is that we can keep it close. I don't think it's realistic to expect a win, but if we can give their scrum a fright and score a few tries, not to mention a better defence, I'll be happy.

I agree with your Dad, bmcr. I didn't see anything at the time either. Only kiwi Bruce seemed to think it was a hanging offence. Seemed like he was simply jagging himself loose from being illegally held.

The other one yesterday involving Wilson? was much worse in the fact that his foot landed on the Samoan tackler's arm/shoulder. I still feel that whilst we don't want to see boots or knees anywhere near player's faces - the laws of gravity went against Wilson yesterday.

He had his leg held tightly... whilst standing on the other trying to shake loose. The 'elastic reaction' due to the force of being held saw his offending leg land on the tackler when he tried to wriggle out of it. Think he did well to land it where he did. Where else could it have naturally landed? The Samoan guy was lucky his face wasn't the landing pad for Wilson's big ugly hoof.

Re Wilson, if you are the Samoan player pulling Wilson's leg, then if Wilson 'stamps' down then surely it will look as if he's exerted more effort? (look worse).

Also, how does this differ to the Tyrone Holmes (GW) incident where he was red carded?

1:37

I am really happy for Scotland to get this far.

But i think against Australia they will struggle to be honest....but then this is the rugby world cup and stranger things have hapend already. Japan beating SA for example, never expected that at all.

So come on Scotland prove me wrong. prove you can beat Australia.

21st Century Schizoid Man wrote:Bye through to the SF for Oz on yesterday's evidence

I was going to post exactly this, but didn't want to upset anyone but I'm glad someone Scottish did so I can agree.

Scotland won't compete with the Aussies at the break down, though if Pocock gets cited for that knee on Baldwin it will even things up a bit. The Aussie backs will shred Scotland though. I expect a minimum of 4-5 tries from them, I'd be amazed if it's close at the end.

Ffs

Why isn't Hernandez taking the kicks against Namibia????

Nematode wrote:Re Wilson, if you are the Samoan player pulling Wilson's leg, then if Wilson 'stamps' down then surely it will look as if he's exerted more effort? (look worse).

Also, how does this differ to the Tyrone Holmes (GW) incident where he was red carded?

1:37

Haven't seen this before but Holmes shouldn't have been red carded for that, he obviously looked at the player when he was clearing the guys arm away with his boot, no danger of hitting his face recklessly or otherwise. The opposition player looked to be milking it afterwards as well. Wilson on the other hand wasn't facing the holding player and therefore could have stamped on his face, intentionally or not.

No question, we are up against it for this fixture. The Aussies have looked the sharpest team in the tournament with their set piece becoming an asset as well. It's hard to think of an area of the game in which we can really target them to be honest.

Cotter needs to replace Wilson with Cowan for this one.

Just watched the Wales-Aus game - amazing to see how desperate both teams were to play Scotland!

hehehehe

I think Australia are playing better rugby than New Zealand at the moment and should at least get to the final.

If Hogg is fit, would anyone consider playing him in the centre with Bennett and playing Visser, Seymour, Maitland in the backs?

Its knock-out rugby, if we get our defense firing like it can, take out opportunities when we get em you never know?

One hope is that Australia have one eye on the semi already, stay in contention first half, keep the score board ticking over.

Let Captain Marvel Greig Laidlaw lead us into the semi's with his game management ability's and quick fire delivery.

Biltong wrote:hehehehe

For your sake you better not lose next week, your going to get battered by the Welsh posters!

P.s. - do you have a Welsh granny by any chance? Wales are looking for an extra back line player.

eirebilly wrote:Scotland will have to defend a hell of a lot better than they did against Samoa to stand a chance against the Aussies. Wales showed last night that if you keep Foley quiet, you keep the Aussies at bay.

Wales' line speed in defence was very effective as well. I think only Beale, and he only once, tried to put the ball in behind them to create some doubt.

Greg Laidlaw's goalkicking success rate in the last 6 Nations was 96%.

If you have a goalkicker like that, you always have a puncher's chance.

George Carlin wrote:Greg Laidlaw's goalkicking success rate in the last 6 Nations was 96%.

If you have a goalkicker like that, you always have a puncher's chance.

Yes but don't you know that they were all in front of the post from 10m out with a stiff breeze behind him?

Doesn't count.

Apparently.

Sorry - that's right, I forgot.

I have checked this and apparently Laidlaw is a Scottish rugby player too. So that makes him Immediately Rubbish.

Midaddy told me this, which means it is cast in kevlar and nobody can possibly argue.

George Carlin wrote:Sorry - that's right, I forgot.

I have checked this and apparently Laidlaw is a Scottish rugby player too. So that makes him Immediately Rubbish.

Midaddy told me this, which means it is cast in kevlar and nobody can possibly argue.

Former Edinburgh player too so the guy's got no chance!

boomeranga wrote:

eirebilly wrote:Scotland will have to defend a hell of a lot better than they did against Samoa to stand a chance against the Aussies. Wales showed last night that if you keep Foley quiet, you keep the Aussies at bay.

Wales' line speed in defence was very effective as well.  I think only Beale, and he only once, tried to put the ball in behind them to create some doubt.

Not letting players go to ground in the tackle worked well for Wales, it slowed Australia's ball as it meant there were fewer breakdowns when they are trying to attack fast and fluid as they did so easily against England.

Wales dragged Australia into a tight game that we played mainly in their half. It was out of the Munster rugby textbook.

Yeah it was. I was trying to work out why our players in particular seem vulnerable to the choke tackle. Any theories?

boomeranga wrote:Yeah it was.  I was trying to work out why our players in particular seem vulnerable to the choke tackle.  Any theories?

It slows down play and creates a situation where you can turn over ball without infringing so many ball on the ground breakdown laws.

boomeranga wrote:Yeah it was.  I was trying to work out why our players in particular seem vulnerable to the choke tackle.  Any theories?

Yep, myself an a few mates were discussing it the other day, the Aussie attack being run at full pace and often with cut backs or inside passes through tiny gaps cause players to be isolated for brief moments, instead of Wales taking the ball carrier to ground to effect a turnover in that manner, they use the less risky option (no penalties for mistimed or unreleased tackled players) to swarm the ball carrier, by the time the Aussie support gets there (They only need to be last by a second or two) it is already too late.

Biltong wrote:

boomeranga wrote:Yeah it was.  I was trying to work out why our players in particular seem vulnerable to the choke tackle.  Any theories?

Yep, myself an a few mates were discussing it the other day, the Aussie attack being run at full pace and often with cut backs or inside passes through tiny gaps cause players to be isolated for brief moments, instead of Wales taking the ball carrier to ground to effect a turnover in that manner, they use the less risky option (no penalties for mistimed or unreleased tackled players) to swarm the ball carrier, by the time the Aussie support gets there (They only need to be last by a second or two) it is already too late.

Incorporatin Maes' answer, I understand why it is effective to our opposition, and BB your comment seems fairly sound but it doesn't read that well for us. I interpret that to mean we are trying so hard to create the advantageous possession that we are also creating a lone runner who is vulnerable in the hope there is no one left to mark him. As it turns out, there is often more than one left. Aren't other teams trying the same kinds of moves though?

boomeranga wrote:

Biltong wrote:

boomeranga wrote:Yeah it was.  I was trying to work out why our players in particular seem vulnerable to the choke tackle.  Any theories?

Yep, myself an a few mates were discussing it the other day, the Aussie attack being run at full pace and often with cut backs or inside passes through tiny gaps cause players to be isolated for brief moments, instead of Wales taking the ball carrier to ground to effect a turnover in that manner, they use the less risky option (no penalties for mistimed or unreleased tackled players) to swarm the ball carrier, by the time the Aussie support gets there (They only need to be last by a second or two) it is already too late.

Incorporatin Maes' answer, I understand why it is effective to our opposition, and BB your comment seems fairly sound but it doesn't read that well for us.  I interpret that to mean we are trying so hard to create the advantageous possession that we are also creating a lone runner who is vulnerable in the hope there is no one left to mark him.  As it turns out, there is often more than one left.  Aren't other teams trying the same kinds of moves though?

We are in the same situation as you.

I have observed the different manner in which teams attack during the RWC, the only two teams less vulnerable is Argentina and NZ, they use pods to attack, not at full pace, merely drawing defenders and offloading or passing to the nearest support runner, always being within a pod of 4 or 5 players.

Whereas we run full tilt at the contact zone, and if there is a halfbreak we are vulnerable.

The problem with hard contact is your body is braced for the impact and therefor if you are not tackled low, you stay up long enough for them to swarm your ball carrier, I am not sure I am making sense here, please nod if you understand what I am trying to say.

Scotland can win this game. I don't think they will though. Funnily enough our best chance is a loose game IMO. If it's a forward battle I think we'll be in a lot of trouble. The Ozzie scrum looks strong and we don't have good enough breakdown operators to challenge POOPER.

Keep the ball alive as much as possible during the attack and hold up as many players as possible and we could be competitive.

Wales showed how to stop them well enough though. If we can emulate their defensive structure we could perhaps hold them at bay and funnily enough I think we have a bit more creativity in the backs than that Welsh side.

I don't but I liked this bit: the only two teams less vulnerable is Argentina and ...

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:Scotland can win this game. I don't think they will though. Funnily enough our best chance is a loose game IMO. If it's a forward battle I think we'll be in a lot of trouble. The Ozzie scrum looks strong and we don't have good enough breakdown operators to challenge POOPER.

Keep the ball alive as much as possible during the attack and hold up as many players as possible and we could be competitive.

Wales showed how to stop them well enough though. If we can emulate their defensive structure we could perhaps hold them at bay and funnily enough I think we have a bit more creativity in the backs than that Welsh side.

I actually think our front five will have the upper hand. Back row is a huge issue, at the breakdown we have Hardy, and um..that's about it really. I would like to see a back row made up of Cowan/Hardy/Strauss. I would also keep Scott at 12, this isn't SA or Samoa we are playing and he will do a job there for us. I would start Laidlaw and have SHC on the bench.

I'm not sure the choke tackle is that effective, I think the reason Australia struggle with is is all to do with pace to the tackled man...

Tipuric, Warburton and co decided from the first whistle to target knees and shoulders, meaning if the ball carrier wasn't held up he dropped like a stone, there was no 1/2/3 yards made over the gameline, and therefore less momentum going forward, when Aus are at their best is when they blow out the ruck and the ball is delivered and played away in 2 seconds flat, once the chop denies them the comitted defenders, or the choke slowed the ruck from behind formed Aus breakdown work become far more contestable...

Holding Australia up isn't the answer, it's denying their mobile and dynamic forwards the extra few yards here and there, allowing their backline to walk into positions and onto the pass at pace, and giving the defence a platform to come up quick and stop them at source.

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:Scotland can win this game.

For sure. Look at the recent results and it shows two two teams that get tangled up when they play each other. One or two results might be a fluke but its not one or two any more. These two teams seem to match up.

cakeordeath wrote:

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:Scotland can win this game. I don't think they will though. Funnily enough our best chance is a loose game IMO. If it's a forward battle I think we'll be in a lot of trouble. The Ozzie scrum looks strong and we don't have good enough breakdown operators to challenge POOPER.

Keep the ball alive as much as possible during the attack and hold up as many players as possible and we could be competitive.

Wales showed how to stop them well enough though. If we can emulate their defensive structure we could perhaps hold them at bay and funnily enough I think we have a bit more creativity in the backs than that Welsh side.

I actually think our front five will have the upper hand. Back row is a huge issue, at the breakdown we have Hardy, and um..that's about it really. I would like to see a back row made up of Cowan/Hardy/Strauss. I would also keep Scott at 12, this isn't SA or Samoa we are playing and he will do a job there for us. I would start Laidlaw and have SHC on the bench.

I agree 100% our tight 5 is our most potent weapon at the moment. Aside from the South Africa game our tight 5 have been awesome. We lost a lot of battles against SA but in the boiler room, the Grays matched Eztebeth and De Jager all the way through the match.

The backrow is a difficult one for me. I'm not sure trying to compete with POOPER at the breakdown is the way to go. Might just be best to say, here you win the ball on the deck contest and try something else.

Cowan/Hardy/Strauss seems a bit like trying to compete with their strength instead of targeting their weeknsesses. We did the same in the SA game by trying to front up physically and it was a disaster.

I'm not saying I have the answer I'm just not 100% convinced about trying to compete with such a potent Australian strength.

[quote="RuggerRadge2611"]

cakeordeath wrote:

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:Scotland can win this game. I don't think they will though. Funnily enough our best chance is a loose game IMO. If it's a forward battle I think we'll be in a lot of trouble. The Ozzie scrum looks strong and we don't have good enough breakdown operators to challenge POOPER.

Keep the ball alive as much as possible during the attack and hold up as many players as possible and we could be competitive.

Wales showed how to stop them well enough though. If we can emulate their defensive structure we could perhaps hold them at bay and funnily enough I think we have a bit more creativity in the backs than that Welsh side.

The backrow is a difficult one for me. I'm not sure trying to compete with POOPER at the breakdown is the way to go. Might just be best to say, here you win the ball on the deck contest and try something else.

You make a good point, Aus might be missing the Poo in Pooper is there is a citing, but unlike Scotland they have some strength in depth

There’s playing to their strengths then there’s ensuring that we are at least competitive – I don’t think we should specifically target the breakdown like they do, but if we ignore their strength there we are going to have a long afternoon ahead of us. We’ve shown that we can be very good with the ball but we struggle without it, especially given we generate so few turnovers of our own.

We need to put more men into the breakdown and make sure we don’t let people carry without good support.

cakeordeath wrote:

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:

cakeordeath wrote:

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:Scotland can win this game. I don't think they will though. Funnily enough our best chance is a loose game IMO. If it's a forward battle I think we'll be in a lot of trouble. The Ozzie scrum looks strong and we don't have good enough breakdown operators to challenge POOPER.

Keep the ball alive as much as possible during the attack and hold up as many players as possible and we could be competitive.

Wales showed how to stop them well enough though. If we can emulate their defensive structure we could perhaps hold them at bay and funnily enough I think we have a bit more creativity in the backs than that Welsh side.

The backrow is a difficult one for me. I'm not sure trying to compete with POOPER at the breakdown is the way to go. Might just be best to say, here you win the ball on the deck contest and try something else.

You make a good point, Aus might be missing the Poo in Pooper is there is a citing, but unlike Scotland they have some strength in depth

Surely it's just the 'P' in 'Pooper'?

Yours,
Lynne Truss

I think we need to sort out our defence then play our best offloading and error free game

We need to start faster and...


SORT OUT OUR Fing restarts

Then we will win (Maybe, possibility, well fingers crossed)

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:

cakeordeath wrote:

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:Scotland can win this game. I don't think they will though. Funnily enough our best chance is a loose game IMO. If it's a forward battle I think we'll be in a lot of trouble. The Ozzie scrum looks strong and we don't have good enough breakdown operators to challenge POOPER.

Keep the ball alive as much as possible during the attack and hold up as many players as possible and we could be competitive.

Wales showed how to stop them well enough though. If we can emulate their defensive structure we could perhaps hold them at bay and funnily enough I think we have a bit more creativity in the backs than that Welsh side.

I actually think our front five will have the upper hand. Back row is a huge issue, at the breakdown we have Hardy, and um..that's about it really. I would like to see a back row made up of Cowan/Hardy/Strauss. I would also keep Scott at 12, this isn't SA or Samoa we are playing and he will do a job there for us. I would start Laidlaw and have SHC on the bench.

I agree 100% our tight 5 is our most potent weapon at the moment. Aside from the South Africa game our tight 5 have been awesome. We lost a lot of battles against SA but in the boiler room, the Grays matched Eztebeth and De Jager all the way through the match.

The backrow is a difficult one for me. I'm not sure trying to compete with POOPER at the breakdown is the way to go. Might just be best to say, here you win the ball on the deck contest and try something else.

Cowan/Hardy/Strauss seems a bit like trying to compete with their strength instead of targeting their weeknsesses. We did the same in the SA game by trying to front up physically and it was a disaster.

I'm not saying I have the answer I'm just not 100% convinced about trying to compete with such a potent Australian strength.

Aye Radge,

Nell made Blood and Mud's team of the pool stage 15. Somewhat bizarrely Ford got into the sh1t 15 - I thought he played better in those games than I had previously seen him play - esp in loose.

21st Century Schizoid Man wrote:

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:

cakeordeath wrote:

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:Scotland can win this game. I don't think they will though. Funnily enough our best chance is a loose game IMO. If it's a forward battle I think we'll be in a lot of trouble. The Ozzie scrum looks strong and we don't have good enough breakdown operators to challenge POOPER.

Keep the ball alive as much as possible during the attack and hold up as many players as possible and we could be competitive.

Wales showed how to stop them well enough though. If we can emulate their defensive structure we could perhaps hold them at bay and funnily enough I think we have a bit more creativity in the backs than that Welsh side.

I actually think our front five will have the upper hand. Back row is a huge issue, at the breakdown we have Hardy, and um..that's about it really. I would like to see a back row made up of Cowan/Hardy/Strauss. I would also keep Scott at 12, this isn't SA or Samoa we are playing and he will do a job there for us. I would start Laidlaw and have SHC on the bench.

I agree 100% our tight 5 is our most potent weapon at the moment. Aside from the South Africa game our tight 5 have been awesome. We lost a lot of battles against SA but in the boiler room, the Grays matched Eztebeth and De Jager all the way through the match.

The backrow is a difficult one for me. I'm not sure trying to compete with POOPER at the breakdown is the way to go. Might just be best to say, here you win the ball on the deck contest and try something else.

Cowan/Hardy/Strauss seems a bit like trying to compete with their strength instead of targeting their weeknsesses. We did the same in the SA game by trying to front up physically and it was a disaster.

I'm not saying I have the answer I'm just not 100% convinced about trying to compete with such a potent Australian strength.

Aye Radge,

Nell made Blood and Mud's team of the pool stage 15. Somewhat bizarrely Ford got into the sh1t 15 - I thought he played better in those games than I had previously seen him play - esp in loose.

You know Ford is playing well when he is escaping the abuse you and Jimbo tend to pile on him

I think the issue again is hooking in the scrums. However our lineout has functioned well and the Edinburgh props with either Ford or Brown in there seems to be a very powerful unit. I'll echo my comments from the Samoa game here. Fraser Brown as the heir apparent for Ford's position is now set in stone for me. The guy is pure class and seems thusfar to have had none of the lineout wobbles that have plagued Ford.

Beggars belief that Ford is in the worst XV – I thought he had a very good game and there were some other hookers this weekend that couldn’t hit a barn door with their throws.

He had one overthrow but you can never tell whether that is his bad throw or the lifters messing things up.

Strangely enough Scotland are only 9th in the world rankings despite qualifying for the last 8 of the world cup! I suppose that’ll be because Samoa were below us in the rankings by the time we played them.

I wonder who the team are that aren’t in the top 8 yet above us in the rankings….

Australia will have star man David Pocock available for their quarter-final with Scotland after he wasn't cited for a knee to Wales hooker Scott Baldwin.

Pocock was caught on camera dropping a knee into the chest of Baldwin, who was lying on the ground and had been holding onto Pocock's leg to prevent him from leaving the ruck.

Neither the officials or the TMO spotted the incident but there were calls on social media for Pocock to be cited for dangerous play.

However with the 36-hour window following the Test for citings to be made having now closed, Pocock will be free to play.

Pocock was forced off with a calf injury in the second half of Saturday's 15-6 win over Wales at Twickenham but should be fit for this weekend.

Erm, wtf???? Fair to say if Pocock was Samoan he'd be twiddling his thumbs for the next couple of weeks

George Carlin wrote:

cakeordeath wrote:

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:

cakeordeath wrote:

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:Scotland can win this game. I don't think they will though. Funnily enough our best chance is a loose game IMO. If it's a forward battle I think we'll be in a lot of trouble. The Ozzie scrum looks strong and we don't have good enough breakdown operators to challenge POOPER.

Keep the ball alive as much as possible during the attack and hold up as many players as possible and we could be competitive.

Wales showed how to stop them well enough though. If we can emulate their defensive structure we could perhaps hold them at bay and funnily enough I think we have a bit more creativity in the backs than that Welsh side.

The backrow is a difficult one for me. I'm not sure trying to compete with POOPER at the breakdown is the way to go. Might just be best to say, here you win the ball on the deck contest and try something else.

You make a good point, Aus might be missing the Poo in Pooper is there is a citing, but unlike Scotland they have some strength in depth

Surely it's just the 'P' in 'Pooper'?

Yours,
Lynne Truss

I found poo funnier.

GLove39 wrote:

Australia will have star man David Pocock available for their quarter-final with Scotland after he wasn't cited for a knee to Wales hooker Scott Baldwin.

Pocock was caught on camera dropping a knee into the chest of Baldwin, who was lying on the ground and had been holding onto Pocock's leg to prevent him from leaving the ruck.

Neither the officials or the TMO spotted the incident but there were calls on social media for Pocock to be cited for dangerous play.

However with the 36-hour window following the Test for citings to be made having now closed, Pocock will be free to play.

Pocock was forced off with a calf injury in the second half of Saturday's 15-6 win over Wales at Twickenham but should be fit for this weekend.

Erm, wtf???? Fair to say if Pocock was Samoan he'd be twiddling his thumbs for the next couple of weeks

I find that incredible.

Next we'll see that SoB won't cop a ban either!

Oh well, Pooper it is then...

Have no fear..... we have Hardcow.