[2017 Rugby Championship] Round 2: New Zealand v Australia (26/08/2017)

[TRF_heineken]

Venue: Forsyth Barr Stadium​

Time: 09:35 CAT (SA, GMT+2)​

 

[KeyboardWorrier]

Oh gawd. 78-9.

 

[The Jones Boy]

I don't know what to expect.
Aussie should be harder to penetrate this time around. They will be focussing on their tackling more.
The Ab's need to think about being more patient with their possession in the last 30 minutes.
Dont throw it away on a harem scare-em attacking option.
Be more clinical and efficient.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Australia have defended poorly against Scotland, Italy and NZ. Not all the blame lies with the national coaching for me. Only the Brumbies have a good defence out of the Oz Super Rugby teams and players from other teams will have little experience of quality defensive systems.

Hard to see this being within 30 points really. I wonder what the odds are of Oz winning the Bledisoe.

 

[The Jones Boy]

Attitude counts for a lot.
The Wallabies just didn't look that interested in the first half las weekend.
There was an almost lassez faire attitude about making the tackle

 

[Kiwiwomble]

i'm going to give Aussie more credit, they've been able to get a feel for the Ab's as well as the other way around, they know what they need to work on now

 

[Larksea]

I expect we should win comfortably. i think the Aussies will have periods hey are strong.

I hope we stick to the same team. I'd like to see mckenzie & ioane get some consistent game time. Ab's to use McKenzie more. I'd like to see Ioane get involved more. It seemed like Saveas thing to stay stuck out on the wing unless there was a set play that required him to come in. With Guys like Ben Smith, McKenzie and Barrett all covering the back with you it should allow some freedom to explore other areas of the field and be less predictable. The likes of naholo and Jane have been great at popping up around the field.

 

[Kiwiwomble]

agreed

the next step has to be to start giving some of these combos more than a game or two in a row together

 

[SomeOke]

Unfortunately, it feels like the ABs aren't giving any ground while the Aussie's have been slipping.
The Aussie side is still decent on paper, but they have all sorts of issues with defense, lack of coherent game-plan and some bad balance in places (the loose-trio comes to mind).

For me, you reroll and start again. Time to fire some people.

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

I wouldn't be surprised to see a back three of Dagg, Smith and Naholo. Can even see Dagg starting at fullback just so we have another option there once Smith goes on his sabbatical. Alternatively, could see Havili given a role (perhaps on the bench though).

So many possibilities! Much prefer these kinds of tests where we see new players on the field than the Lions matches where it's all a bit ho hum.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

I wouldn't be surprised to see a back three of Dagg, Smith and Naholo. Can even see Dagg starting at fullback just so we have another option there once Smith goes on his sabbatical. Alternatively, could see Havili given a role (perhaps on the bench though).

So many possibilities! Much prefer these kinds of tests where we see new players on the field than the Lions matches where it's all a bit ho hum.

1st World problems. I'd give a lot for us to know what a settled side with planned continuity actually looks like.

You must check you All Black privileges, my friend. Its grossly insensitive to trigger the rest of us like that.

 

[KeyboardWorrier]

PS; The Lions were rubbish.

 

[mania]

PS; The Lions were rubbish.

i disagree profusely. lions were awesome and really gave it to the ABs. it taught us humility, that ABs arent all that. it also taught me that ABs dont have to win all the time for it to be exciting and enjoyable.
not only were the lions great the supporters reminded me and the rest of NZ what its really all about. i loved this tour. lions is all about a celebration of rugby

gatland is the man

 

[galumay]

I cant see it being anything but worse for the Wallabies, they have shown no recognition that the defensive organisation was hopeless in game 1 and its probably not enough time to dump it and try a more traditional approach, you know, players defending in the role they have been selected to play. So I expect the same defensive patterns, the ABs quickly worked them out and exploited in the first game, will just be more of the same here.

The main likely difference is the ABs not taking the foot of the wallabies throat in the 2nd half, so it could be potenially even uglier.

 

[Red Enigma]

Almost scared to speak in this forum without being jumped on by Senior Members. However when I read guys talking about betting on the game I feel obliged to suggest they look at the "points in" option. In Sydney I was in a room of punters. The major three bets, with descending payouts, were the AB's winning by more than 15, more than 20, more than 25. Most of us backed the Aussies at those odds with various ratios across the three options, and at half-time no one was shouting at the bar! Imagine what went on during the second half!! We are all kiwis and we all won, cheering like hell for the AB's but thankful for the spirited Aussie second-half. Our host lost a fortune, but we all know he'll get it back sooner or later!

 

[KeyboardWorrier]

i disagree profusely. lions were awesome and really gave it to the ABs. it taught us humility, that ABs arent all that. it also taught me that ABs dont have to win all the time for it to be exciting and enjoyable.
not only were the lions great the supporters reminded me and the rest of NZ what its really all about. i loved this tour. lions is all about a celebration of rugby

gatland is the man

Okay, but I'm still recovering from how bad they were. I literally had to take sick days off work for it.

 

[The Jones Boy]

The All Blacks were'nt bad at all.
The Lions defense was rock hard.
The single biggest problem for the Lions was they needed more time together to gel their attacking options from the backline.
Jonathan Davies was fantastic.
Maro Itoje was excellent.
The AB's had three main problems; Ben Smith, Dane Coles and Crotty. A 4th arguably being Sonny Bill.
Ifwe had the top side out it would have been different but it still would never have been a cake walk.
I'm not convinced that Gatland is one of the great attacking coaches.
But, he knows how to make a team hard to beat.

Part of some Kiwi's issues is that because the AB's do win a lot and sometimes convincingly, they perceive the AB's can win everything all the time and do it constantly with élan.
It's just not possible to keep that up and if it was it would become dull very quickly.
Think about our catchment area. We are dwarfed by England, even the saffers have nearly three times the choice and the Aussies have around twice as many players we even come in behind Japan.
Sooner or later the rugby world will catch up with us and overtake us.
We can't keep this kind of run going against these other power houses.

 

[Penne Rara]

Dont throw it away on a harem scare-em attacking option.

You mean a "let's cause mayhem" attacking option? Cause that's what will happen on Saturday

 

[Penne Rara]

The All Blacks were'nt bad at all.
The Lions defense was rock hard.
The single biggest problem for the Lions was they needed more time together to gel their attacking options from the backline.
Jonathan Davies was fantastic.
Maro Itoje was excellent.
The AB's had three main problems; Ben Smith, Dane Coles and Crotty. A 4th arguably being Sonny Bill.
Ifwe had the top side out it would have been different but it still would never have been a cake walk.
I'm not convinced that Gatland is one of the great attacking coaches.
But, he knows how to make a team hard to beat.

Part of some Kiwi's issues is that because the AB's do win a lot and sometimes convincingly, they perceive the AB's can win everything all the time and do it constantly with élan.
It's just not possible to keep that up and if it was it would become dull very quickly.
Think about our catchment area. We are dwarfed by England, even the saffers have nearly three times the choice and the Aussies have around twice as many players we even come in behind Japan.
Sooner or later the rugby world will catch up with us and overtake us.
We can't keep this kind of run going against these other power houses.

I believe their biggest loss was Crotty. Ben Smith's injury was really detrimental to the All Black's game plan too but Crotty is oh so crucial in defense. He organizes the whole backline and directs it as if he were the conductor of an entire orchestra. Without him, the All Blacks' defense leaks from everywhere. A strange coincidence is that he was absent or got injured during every match the All Blacks or Crusaders lost or drew recently. His withdrawal last week also coincided with the moment the ABs began to concede points. Coincidence you say? I think not.

Edit: I'd like to add that even though his work off the ball is not easily noticeable, he communicates a lot. I've seen him point at the man whom he thought would be the main carrier every time a set piece is being prepared. He litterally knows where the ball will go two to three phases in advance. He also performs rush defense at perfection. No hesitation, never misses his man, he knows who he's got to tackle and tells his inside and outside defenders who he'll tackle and who they have to watch or deal with. When play is stopped, he inputs his first five with some valuable intel he gathered from his observations. He talks, and talks, and talks. He chats a lot, really, but I bet everything he says is worth its weight in gold.

 

[Larksea]

Coles is back, I like the side. Think all the changes are positive even if the reasoning behind them is because of injuries and returns from injuries rather than form...

All Blacks: Damian McKenzie, Ben Smith, Ryan Crotty, Sonny Bill Williams, Rieko Ioane, Beauden Barrett, Aaron Smith, Kieran Read (captain), Sam Cane, Liam Squire, Sam Whitelock, Brodie Retallick, Owen Franks, Dane Coles, Joe Moody. Reserves: Codie Taylor, Kane Hames, Ofa Tu'ungafasi, Scott Barrett, Ardie Savea, TJ Perenara, Lima Sopoaga, Anton Lienert-Brown.