Has this forum gone really **** or has it always been this bad? I mean come on guys in terms of genuine, intelligent rugby discussion this thread is completely lacking. We have some people involved in pointless Lions vs the All Blacks discussions (save it for 2017, guys); others are either just blatantly trolling or else watched a very different game of rugby to me.
On to the game itself - I didn't think we were that good. None of our tight 5 played well at all. Our scrum is going to need to do a lot better than that this week. If it doesn't then we need to find players who can. South Africa would maul us if we scrum like that against them. The lineout was incredibly sloppy but you have those days every once in a while. I expect we will see Coles start this week.
In the loose forwards, I thought McCaw was pretty good. He looked a bit rusty at times and his handling was a bit suspect. However, then he took a fantastic kick off and got some turnovers/won some penalties. He's still got it. Luatua was fantastic on debut. I think he brings what we need to the side. In terms of an individual player I don't think Luatua is actually better than Messam or even Vito. However, I think he gives us the most complete loose forward trio. Read was a bit anonymous but he could afford to be. Australia did put a lot of pressure on us at the breakdown and Hooper was fantastic there. I think his injury really affected him poorly. Gill needs to start alongside him next week.
9/10 was where the game was won. Aaron Smith just completely outplayed Will Genia who is still the best halfback in the world. Genia is great around the base of the ruck but he still clears the ball too slowly. A. Smith always made the right decisions and was very quick at spreading the ball. He has his best game in ages. Cruden then marshalled the game excellently. He shows the danger that can be created when you have a first-five who is able to take on the line. Like Carter, he seems to always pick the right moment to really have a go. Toomua was anonymous which you should never say about a first-five.
Nonu missed a few first up tackles which was disappointing (but did get back to put a good hit on Ashley-Cooper). Conrad Smith was excellent as always. Dagg was quiet but even when quiet does the basics well. Ben Smith was fantastic. There was a lot of talk at halftime that Savea wasn't getting involved enough. He actually doesn't need to get involved though. You put him in space and he will show you what he can do. You don't want him stuck at the bottom of a ruck when a line break is made. Just by being there he looks hugely dangerous. Completely outshone Folau although he obviously had far more opportunities.
Overall, I think the best thing we did was pressurise Australia into making a lot of mistakes.
Sorry mate, I got caught up in that. New to the forum and didn't realise thats how some people got their kicks on here... Oh well... So on to the rugby....
I agree, I don't think we were that good either. I think we were made to look a lot better because OZ are truly an average side. I expected a bit more out of them in their first game under McKenzie but they were as bad as they were under Deans to be fair.
I would disagree with you about our tight five and worries over the scrum. The one thing that was woeful was the line-out though. I thought our tight five was dominant around the park, and feel the scrum will take a while to make adjustments under these new laws. That is a discussion in itself though. I watched a good deal of ITM cup this weekend too (and club rugby prior to that where the laws were being trialed) and it is obvious the refs and players need some more time to figure it all out. You've also got to give the tight five a lot of credit for much of the pressure that was put on the Ozzies and many of the mistakes they were forced into.
I was hugely impressed with McCaws comeback. I think he pretty much quashed all those that doubted he could slot back into the team so soon after his break. His opposite, Hooper was probably the best player on the OZ team and really impressed me. I thought Luatua was impressive on his debut. I've seen enough of him at lower levels to be pretty comfortable in saying that he is a better player than Vito already, and given a bit more time will make the 6 jersey his own. For now I'd agree with you though that Messam is still the #1 6 option.
Yup the AB 9 and 10 were fantastic. So happy for Cruden. He's a good Manawatu lad that has all the potential in the world and it was great to see him dominate at the highest level! I still really rate Genia, he may have been outplayed by Smith but how can Genia shine in a team that is getting dominated so badly? I hope OZ stick with Toomua, he has more potential than Cooper in my opinion and OZ will do well to develop him a bit more. Going back to Cooper would be a big mistake, I think he is a good fit in the OZ team off the bench.
The AB backs dominated - but again I would suggest you have to give the forwards a lot of the credit for that. Interested to see who will be the NZ starting wingers when Jane comes back as Smith is arguably the form international winger right now, and Savea is one of a kind... Nonu and Smith were clinical. Not much to say about the OZ backs other than I feel they need to make a positional change to get Folau in the game more. I'd leave Mogg out all together, he's a good player but has shown a couple times of late that he isnt quite ready for the step up (lots of errors and poor decisions). I'd switch in Folau to 15 and give Tomane a crack on the wing.
ABs will win by a bunch in Wellington so long as Cruden starts, but it will be interesting if they have to start someone else. I am concerned about the D of Barrett and the options after him are definitely a class below.
