[2014 TRC] New Zealand v Australia in Auckland (23/08/2014)

[Darwin]

The All Blacks will be a lot better organised with Conrad Smith back, and will make better use of the ball in general than they did last week. I'm also expecting them to be a lot more combative at the breakdown and to kick less.

It's definitely going to be a tough assignment, but the Wallabies were also pretty poor around the park last week, and they've definitely got some improvements in them too. White was awful, Toomua was absent, McCabe useless, Folau didn't get the ball enough, Beale needed to run straighter, and the bench under used.

Link is no fool, so it will be interesting to see what he does this time around.

I agree the AB's will be much better organised in the midfield. Not only do they have Smith back, but also Ryan Crotty, who is well known for his organisational skills both on attack and defense.

We should certainly kick a smaller percentage of our ball away this week, but we will still kick a lot. Tactical kicking is a massive part of the AB's game-plan - we probably kick as much as any other side in test rugby - so I still expect to see us kick more than Australia.

I don't actually think we will be that much more competitive at the breakdown this weekend. We have really struggled to (legally) steal / slow down opposition ball at the breakdown for a number of years now, which is a concern for me. It seems we are far more focused on having a rock solid defense and "hoping" the opposition makes an unforced error than actually trying to turn the ball over. I expect our line speed on defense (led by Messam) will be improved a bit this week though.

 

[RoosTah]

The All Blacks do kick a lot, but it's generally very tactically effective kicking that results in a lot of pressure on opposition teams. What we saw in the first test was more kicks in short behind the wallabies line to try and confuse our defence. It worked to a certain extent, with White and Folau getting terribly mixed up, and it suited the conditions. But somehow I expect more of a longer kicking game this time and more pressure on Beale.

 

[Larksea]

All Blacks are going to stomp the Wallabies tomorrow.

Last weekend the Wallabies had home advantage, the weather, the refereeing and absolutely atrocious All Black performance, a 1 man advantage for 20 minutes, heck the wallabies ended up with 65% possession yet they still couldn't beat the All Blacks.

I pick tomorrow the wallabies wont have any of those advantages and they are going to get a reality check. Looking for the AB's to secure a bonus point win.

 

[RoosTah]

All Blacks are going to stomp the Wallabies tomorrow.

Last weekend the Wallabies had home advantage, the weather, the refereeing and absolutely atrocious All Black performance, a 1 man advantage for 20 minutes, heck the wallabies ended up with 65% possession yet they still couldn't beat the All Blacks.

I pick tomorrow the wallabies wont have any of those advantages and they are going to get a reality check. Looking for the AB's to secure a bonus point win.

God some of you blokes come across like the biggest whingers... Heard all this type of chatter before the Super Rugby Final and last week's match too. Absolutely no class at all.

 

[Larksea]

haha who's whinging?

its a prediction, I guess we will find out tomorrow night if its right or not.

The stars aligned to give the wallabies a fantastic chance last weekend, I just dont see it happening again tomorrow

 

[RoosTah]

haha who's whinging?

its a prediction, I guess we will find out tomorrow night if its right or not.

The stars aligned to give the wallabies a fantastic chance last weekend, I just dont see it happening again tomorrow

Hahaha you mate! You're a massive whinger. You went on and on about ref calls after the Super Rugby Final and now you're whinging about them again after the draw.

You might well be right with your prediction, but should you be wrong again I can already tell who'll get the blame

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Fighting a losing battle Sanzar you can't change them and you'll never reason with them. As a Victorian I love to loathe NSW however the tahs definitely deserved the ***le, they were dismal the year before (beaten by the rebels ) and turned it around. Same goes for the Wallabies last year, if we can go from losing a Lions series to winning a Bledisloe, you can't deny the fact we deserve it.

I don't think I've ever gone into a Wallabies game thinking it's an easy win, I'm a nervous wreck for 80 minutes. You can't say that's the behaviour of an arrogant fan.

How a bunch of people can say things like "look at all our trophies, where are your trophies Australia? huh?" and think that is not sheer arrogance, then i've run out of ideas.

 

[jessta]

Hear, hear.

Kiwis go on and on about Aussie arrogance, but I didn't hear Ewen Mckenzie saying the All Blacks had no improving left in them... it was Steve Hansen saying it about the Wallabies. A lot of kiwi fans (not all) are insanely arrogant when it comes to rugby - we had guys over at the roar telling everyone that the Waratahs were about to be done by 30+ against the Crusaders, and that they Waratahs didn't deserve to be on the same pitch as the 'saders.

It's frankly funny that kiwis would complain about Aussie arrogance in rugby... it's almost like they can't see themselves.

I wish hansen would just cut the trash talking! Undermining ewans selections last week and boasting so confidently to the media only to dish out a sub par performance and end up drawing just makes him look like a fool really. This week hes done it again.. I understand its part of his character and pre match mind games but it really isnt a good look when your team is under scrutiny of there own. Just focus on the game ahead and dominating the other team!

 

[Jaguares]

OMG! This is really good. FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!

@first5eight and @sanzar keep fighting, please. I'm going to cook popcorn.

 

[Larksea]

Hahaha you mate! You're a massive whinger. You went on and on about ref calls after the Super Rugby Final and now you're whinging about them again after the draw.

You might well be right with your prediction, but should you be wrong again I can already tell who'll get the blame

All I did was make a prediction for the game. If it upset you in some way I'm sorry, please understand that was not my intention. Enjoy the game tomorrow

 

[TRF_Olyy]

It's always the vocal minority making everyone else look a right tw@, innit?

 

[Draggs]

I'm just laughing that the fact that one of Australia and NZ thinks hey are more humble than the other!

 

[RoosTah]

All I did was make a prediction for the game. If it upset you in some way I'm sorry, please understand that was not my intention. Enjoy the game tomorrow

Haha good one pal - yep I'm the one who is upset, which is why I keep claiming "we woz wobbed" by the ref.

I'm looking forward to it, and very much hope we win just to see who you'll blame.

I wish hansen would just cut the trash talking! Undermining ewans selections last week and boasting so confidently to the media only to dish out a sub par performance and end up drawing just makes him look like a fool really. This week hes done it again.. I understand its part of his character and pre match mind games but it really isnt a good look when your team is under scrutiny of there own. Just focus on the game ahead and dominating the other team!

This is what I like so much about Cheika - When people said stupid things to him like "do you think the Waratahs deserve the championship after the way they've played this year", he just responded with "you don't deserve anything until you've achieved it". He's a passionate guy, but he's no trash talker. Last year Jake White has tried to lure him into trash-talk before and Cheika said "well Jake is a world cup winning coach" but otherwise just kept his mouth shut and got on with the job.

 

[nickdnz]

Ohh man, the amount of *****ing going on in this thread. It's like a competition to prove who is the most self-righteous.

Can we perhaps have some predictions based around game analysis, rather than the inherently more virtuous nature of each countries rugby supporters.

This could be one of the few match threads that gets closed off for being off topic, prior to kick-off :lol:.

 

[RoosTah]

Well, SimonG isn't here to turn the whole thing into a discussion on why soccer is better than rugby, so it hasn't gotten that bad just yet .

To be honest, I think it's more likely that the All Blacks will win this in a tight one, as I feel our pack is ultimately far too low on first choice players and experience, and our "wings" are built more to stop tries than score them (to be fair to Horne he made some serious meters and knows his way to the try line, but McCabe is useless in attack), and our halves just have no combinations built yet and ultimately are only there because of injuries.

They're certainly not crap players, but they're all a little too raw for mine to win in Auckland at this stage. Link will have them well prepared, but at this stage whilst I think they definitely can win, I won't be surprised if they don't

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Well, SimonG isn't here to turn the whole thing into a discussion on why soccer is better than rugby, so it hasn't gotten that bad just yet .

To be honest, I think it's more likely that the All Blacks will win this in a tight one, as I feel our pack is ultimately far too low on first choice players and experience, and our "wings" are built more to stop tries than score them (to be fair to Horne he made some serious meters and knows his way to the try line, but McCabe is useless in attack), and our halves just have no combinations built yet and ultimately are only there because of injuries.

They're certainly not crap players, but they're all a little too raw for mine to win in Auckland at this stage. Link will have them well prepared, but at this stage whilst I think they definitely can win, I won't be surprised if they don't

Exactly how I feel, too tough to call as you don't know which team will show up from both sides. I can assure you though, it wont be "All Blacks by 50"

 

[welshglory]

Will Link face the same scrutiny that Deans did if he doesn't have a decent record against New Zealand?

From what i remember Deans' start as coach wasn't that bad, you guys were playing decent rugby and even beat New Zealand in his first season!

 

[RoosTah]

Will Link face the same scrutiny that Deans did if he doesn't have a decent record against New Zealand?

From what i remember Deans' start as coach wasn't that bad, you guys were playing decent rugby and even beat New Zealand in his first season!

First game in charge we won with Deans.

Deans copped a lot of flak - a lot of it unfairly in my view - on the basis of the team's inconsistency and record against NZ, but I think that was also partly because hopes were so high when he came over.

He did achieve some good things all the same - the wallabies dominated the Springboks during his tenure and broke numerous hoodoos in spite of some embarrassing losses and an inability to topple the ABs.

For Link the hopes are similarly high, so I think he will be under the pump pretty quickly if he can't get a respectable success rate in the RC.

 

[Gavin]

I was disappointed at how 'Dingo Deans' was treated. He did a lot of great things for Australia, like blooding new players and winning the tournament. Sure he had a poor record against NZ, but who doesn't? What he did during his tenure will set up the Wallabies for the next 5 years.

In terms of this match I would like to see Australia win and take back the Cup. It would be a great confidence boost to the team but also remind NZ that other nations are closing the gap fast.

 

[RoosTah]

I was disappointed at how 'Dingo Deans' was treated. He did a lot of great things for Australia, like blooding new players and winning the tournament. Sure he had a poor record against NZ, but who doesn't? What he did during his tenure will set up the Wallabies for the next 5 years.

In terms of this match I would like to see Australia win and take back the Cup. It would be a great confidence boost to the team but also remind NZ that other nations are closing the gap fast.

As someone who used to defend him a fair bit when he was coach, it really annoyed me how often I used to have to point this out. During his tenure the All Blacks only lost tests to 4 nations - England, Australia, France and South Africa. And they didn't lose many to any of them.