Australia v Samoa

First topic message reminder :

Samoa leading 17 - 0 after after 31 minutes.

Samoa's lineout and scrum were rudey poo though. I mean just non existant at times, any top 10 team would have targetted those areas and worked on them.

I think any team that had actually planned for the match, ran some drills and had any kind of tactics should beat them. A few Oz players looked very poor, Gits looked like he couldn't care less for most of the game.

It's worrying because now a lot is going to rest on guys like Beale, cooper and O'Connor. If they don't bring the goods then there could be problems.

Did the somoa team have 4 connacht players in there side

luckless_pedestrian yeah Davies was given a couple of hostpital passes but if he had sucked it up and help onto the ball then Oz may have held onto the ball and been able to recylce and start again. Dodging the ball and given the opposition a line out so they can boot the ball back into touch on the half way line just means you have surrendered 40 odd metres. Yeah it wasn't going to nice but how much more would we and more importantly the coaching staff and team mates have respected him if he'd manned up and kept hold of the ball. Could be the difference between him making the squad or being left behind, in the high pressure games you need to know your players are gonig to be brave enough to put their bodies on the line.

He wasn't the only Oz player to try and avoid the big hits either but his looked the worst because of the situations he was involved in. The ironic thing being that he left the ball trying to avoid the contact and Tuilagi just smashed him anyway.

A good article from John Eales this morning. I hope the all of the Wallaby players read and understand what he has said... words of wisdom.

8 Lessons for Class of 2011

Really? It reads a little bit like: "In my day, son..."

What he really needs to back that up is a Captain to come forward and talk about the positives from the game and how they are moving in the right direction.

...you learn more from a loss than a win, and in that light, we're happy we lost...

Wait, there it is:

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/pacific-islanders-golden-moment-is-the-wakeup-call-australia-needs-20110717-1hkal.html

TheGreyGhost wrote:I thought they weren't too bad. Kearns' comment about the studs in the boots was tongue-in-cheek, and to be honest some of the banter was filling the injury gaps and pauses where the Samoan's were cleverly slowing down the game....

.....At least none of them came out with any of that condescending "pacific warrior" patronising rubbish that you get from Inverdale et al.

So I guess you also reckon Marto's comment after Pisi's intial three pointer "They'll be taking a photo of that scoreboard the Samoans" wasn't at all condescending? Mate, you'd be apoplectic over English arrogance if Inverdale came out with something like that. Do you always see double or just when it comes to standards musher?

GG,

You're dead right. Not that I ever expected the Aussies to suffer from any type of complacency come the RWC group games, they will be 100% focused for certain now.

However, the fact that they lost could still be useful to Ireland in the sense that any team that loses, even when missing a nukber of player due to being rested/injuries, lose a sense of invincibility that could have neem perceived by their future opposition.

The Irish players are experienced and will have seen that there was no mystery to this win; Samoa won the collisions and had the stomach to take'look for the hits in order to lay down marker after marker for the Aussies.

When Ireland beat England, they too won the forward collisions 80:20 at least and they have to contiue in that vein. But there will be no surprise ambush now. Fingers crossed we can pull it off.

As for Samoa winning with less ball, well their defence was excellent, they were more efficient with the ball in terms of scoring and gainline success so actual time in possession becomes irrelevant, especially when you seee how ineffective the Aussies were across the park with a lot of ball. As they say, it is what you do with it that counts.

One thing I did see as worrying if I were an Aussie is that inspite of a lot of doubtless clear communication and concise motivation by Rocky when they had been hit for a few scores early in the game, the other players did not seem to react in the focussed professional manner that you'd expect from an Aussie team. Obviously they are rusty as a national team and there were a good few 2nd even 3rd string players in the game, but its not like they were coming in cold. The S15 ended 3 weeks ago, not 3 months ago.

Samoa were good for the victory, with no caveats or asterix required. Well done, best of luck in New Zealand.

TheGreyGhost wrote:Really? It reads a little bit like: "In my day, son..."

Well, at least he's been there and won 2 RWCs unlike the insignificant armchair expert you are GG.

I agree Peter, a few words from the captain now would be timely but somehow I don't think we'll hear anything. It's not his style.

NewTraditionalHaka wrote:

TheGreyGhost wrote:I thought they weren't too bad. Kearns' comment about the studs in the boots was tongue-in-cheek, and to be honest some of the banter was filling the injury gaps and pauses where the Samoan's were cleverly slowing down the game....

.....At least none of them came out with any of that condescending "pacific warrior" patronising rubbish that you get from Inverdale et al.

So I guess you also reckon Marto's comment after Pisi's intial three pointer "They'll be taking a photo of that scoreboard the Samoans" wasn't at all condescending? Mate, you'd be apoplectic over English arrogance if Inverdale came out with something like that. Do you always see double or just when it comes to standards musher?

To be fair I did take a picture of the scoreboard when Tigers went ahead of Australia

To be honest I never thought of that Peter, I just have a copy off of the highlights where the Tigers front row drives straight through the middle of the Saffa scrum which just parts down the middle.

Sam,

It was a waste of time. I was at the opposite corner and the scoreboard as you will know is the one facility Tigers have refused to invest in. Usinga camera phone it looks like an orange blur.

NewTraditionalHaka wrote:

TheGreyGhost wrote:I thought they weren't too bad. Kearns' comment about the studs in the boots was tongue-in-cheek, and to be honest some of the banter was filling the injury gaps and pauses where the Samoan's were cleverly slowing down the game....

.....At least none of them came out with any of that condescending "pacific warrior" patronising rubbish that you get from Inverdale et al.

So I guess you also reckon Marto's comment after Pisi's intial three pointer "They'll be taking a photo of that scoreboard the Samoans" wasn't at all condescending? Mate, you'd be apoplectic over English arrogance if Inverdale came out with something like that. Do you always see double or just when it comes to standards musher?

To be fair I did see a couple of Samoan fans in the crowd taking a photo. The difference is that everybody beats England so if Inverdale had said something along those lines it would have been crass and arrogant. Whereas the Wallabies are the second best team in the world, so for Samoa who got dumped something like 70-3 last time around it was worthy of a snapshot.

Linebreaker wrote:

TheGreyGhost wrote:Really? It reads a little bit like: "In my day, son..."

Well, at least he's been there and won 2 RWCs unlike the insignificant armchair expert you are GG.

I agree Peter, a few words from the captain now would be timely but somehow I don't think we'll hear anything. It's not his style.

Not saying he wasn't a fine player, just pointing out the tone of the article is more "this new lot are rubbish, what I did when I was the greatest captain and arguably greatest player in the greatest team of all time was theees..."

If you look at the schedule -
Saturday, July 23: Australia v South Africa - Sydney
Saturday, July 30 New Zealand v South Africa - Wellington,
Saturday, August 6: New Zealand v Australia - Auckland
Saturday, August 13: South Africa v Australia - Durban (TBC)
Saturday, August 20: South Africa v New Zealand - Port Elizabeth (TBC)
I imagine a game in Australia vs NZ but can´t find the fixture. Any ideas?

you´d have to say that´s a tough ask for both Australia and South Africa. Australia has, I think, the worst draw in terms of travelling the farthest distance for their double header weekends and playing NZ in probably the worst stadium they could´ve picked (although what a huge confidence boost if they can finally break the Eden Park Hoodoo not to mention the NZ one. I can´t remember the last time they won a game in NZ)

The pressure is off the South Africa barbarians this weekend and they might just well get a sniff of blood from that performance by the Wallabies. Certainly the Wallabies will be fired up to avenge that loss but all the pressure seems on them.

NZ, in the meantime, has a chance to play a few guys short of rugby against Fiji and also find out the form of a few fringe players. Fiji might be fired up after having conditions put on them by the NZRFU - the Fijian soldiers have not been allowed to tour due to the military coup - so the All Blacks will no doubt face a fired up Fiji side as well.

But then they have the luxury of putting out their best side against SA (having had a chance to look at how they shape up a week earlier) and injuries aside also for the Wallabies at their happy hunting ground / garden of Eden. If the game gets way from the Boks early at Wellington, Henry will have a chance to look at more players and rest his key men for the crucial match at Auckland.

Then NZ have a week off to see how SA´s best team shapes up and then play the Boks after they´ve played the Wallabies.

So looking at that draw, you´d have to say that draw by far and away favours NZ. The way SA have chosen their team as well as the draw they have suits them next best and the poor old Wallabies seemed to have drawn the short straw of the draw.

So the big game for me is Aus vs NZ in Eden Park and then SA vs Australia in Durban. That will provide the best chance, in my opinion, to see how each team´s best side is performing.

TheGreyGhost wrote:

Linebreaker wrote:

TheGreyGhost wrote:Really? It reads a little bit like: "In my day, son..."

Well, at least he's been there and won 2 RWCs unlike the insignificant armchair expert you are GG.

I agree Peter, a few words from the captain now would be timely but somehow I don't think we'll hear anything. It's not his style.

Not saying he wasn't a fine player, just pointing out the tone of the article is more "this new lot are rubbish, what I did when I was the greatest captain and arguably greatest player in the greatest team of all time was theees..."

To be fair the RFU pay Martin Johnson a lot of money to tell that to the england players

Eden park maybe the worst venue now 80% All Blacks wins,statistics say
Dunedin at 86% was the worst venue for touring sides.
With there Reds players back and a couple of games under there belt they
may catch the All Blacks cold as they are notoriously slow starters.
Don`t think the Boks are just there to make up the numbers either they are playing for a RWC spot.
IF as I would expect the ABs win there home games,then this year could be down to bonus points.
Expect the Boks injured to make miracle cures for the home legs and RWC.

TheGreyGhost wrote:

To be fair I did see a couple of Samoan fans in the crowd taking a photo. The difference is that everybody beats England so if Inverdale had said something along those lines it would have been crass and arrogant. Whereas the Wallabies are the second best team in the world, so for Samoa who got dumped something like 70-3 last time around it was worthy of a snapshot.

Only Phil Kearns could have called it that wrong GG. Unlike the Wallabies England have never lost to Samoa and the Samoan fan clearly had both hands on her placard the whole game, so no Kodak moments there either. You're obviously Kearns' love child, poached as so often happens, by the Kiwis.

NZ weren't such slow starters last year as I recall...

Yes Alan but in the World cup era (1987) its definitely Eden park with only one loss at 94%, most of the losses pre 1980 with 3 losses at Dunedin this decade.

To have only one loss at a venue since 1986 is phenomenal in any language.

Regardless, Kias right with the draw favours NZ another reason being that we get a good look at them both this weekend- the team selections and Samoan wins tell us absolutely nothing.

GG they were a little slow against Ireland (well- they let 4 tries in- the most equal against them all year)- although they did score 68 in the end...then a bit scratchy against Wales. Then took off at Eden Park...

The Ireland side that they put 68 past were tipped for a first ever victory against NZ though if you recall. The ABs were supposed to get stuffed by the greatest Ireland side of all time. And they were a pretty useful side too. It's shame that Barnes was presiding, because I think it would've been a great match otherwise.

Barnes didnt ruin the match. Jamie 'supposed Irish Captain material' did when he decided to knee Ritchie in the head a couple of times.

Perhaps, but you don't think Barnes might've been a bit quick with the red card to curry favour?

Yes I'd forgotten that Heaslip thing. Thats was a good match and no reason why Ireland can't do similar things here.

TheGreyGhost wrote:The Ireland side that they put 68 past were tipped for a first ever victory against NZ though if you recall. The ABs were supposed to get stuffed by the greatest Ireland side of all time. And they were a pretty useful side too. It's shame that Barnes was presiding, because I think it would've been a great match otherwise.

Really?I must have been reading Hello magazine that week cos I don't remember this.

GG, no way. He dropped the knee twice. Intent alone he got the red and 5 weeks from memory. Totally spot on. I am Irish and Heaslip is a quality palyer, but that was a total brain fart and ruined any chance that we might have had that day.

apparently all tickets allocated for sale for South Africa v samoa (North Harbour) have been sold,plus the Fiji v samoa (Eden Park) and Wales v Samoa (Hamilton) are really selling well since Sundays game..
Other games with none available are:
The Final.
NZ v France
and France v canada.

asoreleftshoulder wrote:

TheGreyGhost wrote:The Ireland side that they put 68 past were tipped for a first ever victory against NZ though if you recall. The ABs were supposed to get stuffed by the greatest Ireland side of all time. And they were a pretty useful side too. It's shame that Barnes was presiding, because I think it would've been a great match otherwise.

Really?I must have been reading Hello magazine that week cos I don't remember this.

Yeah... that's really just made up

I think most people were hoping to avoid a hiding on that tour- we traveled with a ton of players out injured. There are times when Ireland have gone with the expectation that this would be our moment, but that wasn't one of them. The tests in 2006 were our biggest chance; now those were two good games.