[2015 RWC] Pool A: Australia vs. Wales (10/10/2015)

[AzaMatt]

Moriarty is a man to watch I also think Gatland is using a little bit of psychology on Faletau by making him believe this young player is on the bench to take his place which might make him want to play 100% since for a good 2 years now Faletau had been unimpressive until the world cup.

North I think is better suited to the Centre as he will be looking for work and more involved than sat out on the wing a bit too much.

My main concern is Gareth Anscombe since I don't know too much about his playing ability.

i think its a bit unfair to say falatau has been unimpressive untill the world cup. yea he's not flashy but he has saved our ass many times this year behind our retreating scrum. moriatty will make a good impact off the bench with his carries, thats the one area i feel he may have the upper hand, the raw power he has.

north i think could really come into his own at centre, the more touches he gets the better.

ive heard Anscombe is a better fullback than 10 from some people so im looking forward to how he gets on.

if this team plays well we could see this lineup (maybe with lydiate instead of tips, as i dont see gats changing this anytime soon) for the knockout stages as well.

all in all, super excited for saturday. should be all out attack from both sides

 

[Jaguares]

SH team's greatest weakness if they cant get the ball or are closed down far too quickly they end up giving away a lot of penalties.

Yeah, and now Australia has a solid scrum. So you are in trouble

 

[The80sDogCancer]

I fail to understand how so many people here can write off us welsh and play down the squad we have.

Mate I wouldn't let it get to you. People are always going to have different opinions, arguing why you think they are wrong will not make doubters suddenly 'see the light'.
Silence is goldern mate, if you honestly believe the welsh are being arrogantly written off then wait and let saturdays result do the talking.

PS go the wallabies!

 

[Belvedere]

Mate I wouldn't let it get to you. People are always going to have different opinions, arguing why you think they are wrong will not make doubters suddenly 'see the light'.
Silence is goldern mate, if you honestly believe the welsh are being arrogantly written off then wait and let saturdays result do the talking.

PS go the wallabies!

This tbh

Considering our injury crisis, the brilliant performance by the Aussies last week and our less than impressive win rate against them We are clearly underdogs.

But, Historically we thrive on being the underdog, the Aussies have the most to lose here.

I can't wait for the game and I'm convinced that what we will see on Saturday is a Welsh team playing at their absolute peak, freed from the shackles of knockout rugby and a big prize still at stake, we'll have a stormer.

Wether that's enough to beat a great Aussie side we'll have to wait and see.....

 

[ABs2011]

Go on holiday and get over, it would appear that others have now noticed your wind up tactics, its not big and its not clever, it would appear your the biggest troll in the village.
Sorry about using the word troll it is very playground and is usually used a substitute for comming back with a decent argument, I won't use it again.

I don't think this post is fair at all. I'm not sure what a "troll" actually is, but my interpretation is that it's someone that says ridiculous things just to get a reaction. Well he certainly got a reaction out of you, but it's not because the things he said were ridiculous, in fact I would fullyt back him on all three points.

I'm backing OZ to win this game. They were my pick to win the RWC before it started (outside of the ABs), and since then they have only improved. Wales showed great heart to beat England and without taking anything away from them they didn't dominate like OZ did (not even close to be honest).

The injuries and subsequent player work loads has to be an issue for Wales - I heard Davies has played all 240min of the tournament so far! Is that correct? It's very uncommon for a halfback to play a full 80minutes let alone 3 games straight in full!! What a legend. Fatigue factor must come into play soon though!

I also wonder if Wales conciously or not have one eye on their QF match. Gatland certainly said that that match is the priority, I guess with injuries and player workload in mind. That could well be a factor that comes into play.

It should be a good match though! Looking forawrd to it and really hoping Wales come through injury free.

Looking forawrd to seeing how Anscombe goes at FB too. The kid is a good player - doesnt have a good record against Folau though.

 

[wayevs]

I don't think this post is fair at all. I'm not sure what a "troll" actually is, but my interpretation is that it's someone that says ridiculous things just to get a reaction. Well he certainly got a reaction out of you, but it's not because the things he said were ridiculous, in fact I would fullyt back him on all three points.

I'm backing OZ to win this game. They were my pick to win the RWC before it started (outside of the ABs), and since then they have only improved. Wales showed great heart to beat England and without taking anything away from them they didn't dominate like OZ did (not even close to be honest).

The injuries and subsequent player work loads has to be an issue for Wales - I heard Davies has played all 240min of the tournament so far! Is that correct? It's very uncommon for a halfback to play a full 80minutes let alone 3 games straight in full!! What a legend. Fatigue factor must come into play soon though!

I also wonder if Wales conciously or not have one eye on their QF match. Gatland certainly said that that match is the priority, I guess with injuries and player workload in mind. That could well be a factor that comes into play.

It should be a good match though! Looking forawrd to it and really hoping Wales come through injury free.

Looking forawrd to seeing how Anscombe goes at FB too. The kid is a good player - doesnt have a good record against Folau though.

What 3 points are you talking about ? ..

Whatever you think, the guy in question does have constant little digs at Wales and tbh it gets annoying hence why valley called him a troll, I would just call him a bitter English man now I'm a troll!
Let's hope the Aussies come through injury free too , I think they'll go far in this tournament.

 

[RoosTah]

What 3 points are you talking about ? ..

Whatever you think, the guy in question does have constant little digs at Wales and tbh it gets annoying hence why valley called him a troll, I would just call him a bitter English man now I'm a troll!
Let's hope the Aussies come through injury free too , I think they'll go far in this tournament.

It's going to be an intense match, that's for sure. I'm betting the Welsh will paint Twickers red for the day, so it'll be like a home game for them.

I seriously hope the Wallabies can keep their run going. They've shocked a lot of Aussie rugby fans so far (over at theroar.com people were predicting we wouldn't make it out of the pool pre tournament) so fingers crossed they keep doing it.

With regard to the pressure, I'm not sure who it's on more. The Wallabies are now favourites for this game, but in a sense both sides have exceeded the expectations for a lot of their fans.

 

[Rugby Jay]

How can you call the Aussie's win against England impressive?? Bah! They beat a completely mentally destroyed half way home team and that's impressive? When a team has lost the will to win and never actually posed a serious threat to this world cup and you knock them out its not impressive. What Japan did was impressive, what Georgia have done is impressive. See my point? Beating an already beaten team is not impressive.

 

[RoosTah]

How can you call the Aussie's win against England impressive?? Bah! They beat a completely mentally destroyed half way home team and that's impressive? When a team has lost the will to win and never actually posed a serious threat to this world cup and you knock them out its not impressive. What Japan did was impressive, what Georgia have done is impressive. See my point? Beating an already beaten team is not impressive.

What Japan did wasn't impressive mate.... it was F#CKING AMAZING! "Impressive" doesn't come close to covering that win, but it'll do nicely for the Wallabies knocking England out of their own world cup by a record margin a year after one of the Wallabies worst international seasons.

 

[Rugby Jay]

Japan have made everyone look up and think about the next four years when the world cup heads to their nation. Anyway back on topic I'm really excited for Saturday and all I have left to say is may the best team win.

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Mate I wouldn't let it get to you. People are always going to have different opinions, arguing why you think they are wrong will not make doubters suddenly 'see the light'.
Silence is goldern mate, if you honestly believe the welsh are being arrogantly written off then wait and let saturdays result do the talking.

PS go the wallabies!

I agree with you fully, and I don't believe I will sway anyone tbh. People have the right to an opinion.

 

[RJAH777]

Not sure who is writing the Welsh off but you can be 100% sure Cheika and the Wallabies aren't. they are a much bigger threat than england and a much smarter team. I think This will be a classic rwc game people will talk about for years to come

 

[RoosTah]

Not sure who is writing the Welsh off but you can be 100% sure Cheika and the Wallabies aren't. they are a much bigger threat than england and a much smarter team. I think This will be a classic rwc game people will talk about for years to come

Yeah, I don't think anyone with half a brain even in the Australia rugby media are writing them off to be honest. This world cup has provided a fair bit of evidence that favouritism doesn't count for much

 

[ABs2011]

What 3 points are you talking about ? ..

Whatever you think, the guy in question does have constant little digs at Wales and tbh it gets annoying hence why valley called him a troll, I would just call him a bitter English man now I'm a troll!
Let's hope the Aussies come through injury free too , I think they'll go far in this tournament.

Perhaps I'm missing some background stuff. I was just referring to the post which valley replied to:
You've not beaten Australia in 7 years
Australia are probably the best they've been in 7 years
You have umpteen injuries to your first team squad.

Not saying you can't win this but there's a reason why people aren't putting much faith in it.

I've bet on OZ for some time now when they come up against Wales because of point (1) and whilst Wales have come close many times, OZ always seem to find a way to win. On (2) I have watched OZ closely for many years and this is definately the best team I have seen for some time. and (3) Whilst I dont know the Wales players well, any team that loses half their backline to injury is going to start to struggle at some point. As an example, as a good a player as Anscombe is he barely found himself game time in a NZ Super Rugby side, let alone as an international starter. If that is a gauge on where you backup talent is at then for me that would be a massive concern. So in summary I'd probably back him in his concluding statement too.

That being said, I hear you with regards to posters who constantly take digs at certain teams. If that is indeed the case here then I appologise for getting involved. I was just commenting on those two posts only.

Good luck vs OZ. I'm a bit torn who I will be supporting in this game. I would usually be rooting for Wales but the way OZ is going I would prefer them to be one the opposite side of the draw to us!

 

[nzlizard]

Really interested to see how Anscombe goes at FB, when he had his 2 good season at the Chiefs he looked like he would be comfortable stepping up to the next level, however in the last year at the Chiefs he looked out of his depth. A large part of that was the rotation the Chiefs did and playing him at #10 didn't help him.

 

[InsaneAsylum]

It's going to be an intense match, that's for sure. I'm betting the Welsh will paint Twickers red for the day, so it'll be like a home game for them.

I seriously hope the Wallabies can keep their run going. They've shocked a lot of Aussie rugby fans so far (over at theroar.com people were predicting we wouldn't make it out of the pool pre tournament) so fingers crossed they keep doing it.

With regard to the pressure, I'm not sure who it's on more. The Wallabies are now favourites for this game, but in a sense both sides have exceeded the expectations for a lot of their fans.

I'm sure there will be a lot of people wearing red and those funny looking daffodil hats

I'm nervous about this one. Wales are a quality side, we are up against it.

 

[Shaggy]

I was more worried about Hooper and Pocock together but now we have Tipuric and Warburton to deal with him on his own, and the back line is scary make no bones about it but they succumb to pressure if enough is applied. SH team's greatest weakness if they cant get the ball or are closed down far too quickly they end up giving away a lot of penalties.

Exactly ... as you only have Pocock to worry about, you run at him, and force him to make the tackle, then he's not likely to get the turn overs. Wales are way better equiped to deal with the Wallabies than England were, particularly if Tipuric and Warburton both start. I thick the Welsh are in with a good chance.

 

[RoosTah]

Exactly ... as you only have Pocock to worry about, you run at him, and force him to make the tackle, then he's not likely to get the turn overs. Wales are way better equiped to deal with the Wallabies than England were, particularly if Tipuric and Warburton both start. I thick the Welsh are in with a good chance.

I'd be wary of underestimating both McMahon and Pocock... McMahon has really impressed in his outings so far, being massively effective over the ball and winning himself MoM awards.

 

[RJAH777]

Adding to that, he has been training with the squad so he can slot into hoopers role at 7 and work with pocock. Wallabies would have planned and trained for this scenario

 

[The Jones Boy]

Let's keep this thread to the merits of Wales and Australia . If you want to talk about England's shortcomings there is a thread for that .

Quite frankly I think you are the only person that isn't over it lol .....

I'm living here, in London, and the English rugby fans are not over it, they are deeply disturbed by it, and why wouldn't they be?
One kick and they would still be in the Cup with all hopes resting on aussie doing a demo job on the Dragons... and if Wales lose to Oz, (which they will) and they end up in a situation where had a draw been the result in the Twickers match, and England would have been leading on bonus points... Robshaws decision carries even more pain because now, regardless of the result this weekend, Wales ARE marching on.
Should Wales achieve the unlikely and pull off a victory however, the dust will settle.

 

[KeyboardWorrier]

Should be a good game. I expect the score to be 25 Wales, 23 Australia.