All Blacks vs Wallabies, August 7th 2010, Fifth Tri Nations Test

[TRF_Olyy]

I though JOC had a decent game. His best position, imo, is FB, but he's not better than AAC, and Beale impressed me today as well. I think he'll be better used off of the bench, which is where i expect he'll be once players start returning from injury (notably Ioane)

 

[woodward]

Best performance since eden park I reckon, can take more confidence from that than last week

 

[Shaggy]

Great to see a real test match

Yes, great to see a real, closely fought, 15 man V 15 man contest (although Woodcock should have been Yellow carded), test match.

From the AB's perspective, it was great to get a game where they were put under pressure, and to see them handle that pressure.

From the Wallabies perspective, they've shown that anyone who writes them off at WC, does so at their own peril - they're not far from that win against the ABs.

Not a boring game, just real rugby

 

[Sam Owen]

Best game of the tri-nations so far. Enjoyed it thoroughly.

 

[smartcooky]

How can anyone think this match was boring? Is it just because there weren't a truckload of tries scored?

Last week, the game was over as a contest by half time. In this one, the Wallabies were one score away from drawing right up until the 71st minute.

This was the best defensive effort by the All Blacks this season. No doubt about that, missing only 5 out of 151 tackles. Australia had all the possession stats except line-outs in their favour (Breakdowns 113-74, Penalties awarded 11-8, Scrums 10 - 8) but they just could not break the line.

One of the interesting stats to come from this game is this one.

Ball Carries: AUS 131 - NZL 104
Metres Gained running ball AUS 361 - NZL 329

That looks about even, AUS 2.75m per carry, NZL 3.16m per carry

However, those stats are grossly distorted by just two runs... Beales 67 metre try scoring run, and Mitchells 52m run in the second half. Thats 119 of Australia's 361 in just two runs. If we deduct those two, then it becomes 129 carries for 242 metres... 1.85m per carry. Thats as clear an indication as any that the Wallabies just could not make any headway against the All Blacks' defensive screen.

Also noteworthy is that while Beale carried for 88m and Mitchell for 73m (obviously both boosted by their two long runs, Nathan Sharpe (a lock!!) was their next best ball carrier with 55m!!

 

[shtove]

Watched most of this, so don't flame!

ABs great in the first half. Back line attack, Weepu perfect, Nonu on angles, first try classic release by Rocko. Nonu is better when he runs from deep - up close just a battering ram. Best thing about the ABs was the Oz cries of pain every time their scrum took the hit - think I heard "oh faawk!" at one point - like the shunt when train carriages get connected at the platform. I guess that's why refs are so fussy about the crouch-pause-engage. Hehe.

Plus AB defence was excellent. And McCaw gave away a penalty on 76 mins to stop an Aus breakout - not sure it was an offence, but that's what a captain does - I can see him lifting the Web Ellis. Lineout can be spoiled, but Aus didn't have the wit to take advantage.

Aus are a good team, well drilled. Reminded me of England - except for the marshmallows in the front row. Disappointed by Genia and Giteau - no idea how to release the backs. Genia put in some shocking passes just when it mattered, and Giteau couldn't slide any good ones on the inside. Mitchell is a genius runner, but Rocko had the best of it today.

Kaplan excellent - no penalties for 15 mins.

 

[Sam Owen]

Also noteworthy is that while Beale carried for 88m and Mitchell for 73m (obviously both boosted by their two long runs, Nathan Sharpe (a lock!!) was their next best ball carrier with 55m!!

Mitchell, Beale and Sharpe's metre-eating runs was good stuff, I was hoping for Mitchell to score a try from his 73m dash that wouldve been the best individual try for quite sometime but no ABs caught him. Yeah the ABs did defend well that Anthony Faingaa was solid in his defence, I had my doubts about him but he proved me wrong.

 

[Sam Owen]

Disappointed by Genia and Giteau - no idea how to release the backs. Genia put in some shocking passes just when it mattered, and Giteau couldn't slide any good ones on the inside. Mitchell is a genius runner, but Rocko had the best of it today.

Kaplan was excellent.

What's with Giteau these days he's gone quiet in his form, normally pulls out a big play here and there.

 

[William18]

How can anyone think this match was boring? Is it just because there weren't a truckload of tries scored?

Last week, the game was over as a contest by half time. In this one, the Wallabies were one score away from drawing right up until the 71st minute.

This was the best defensive effort by the All Blacks this season. No doubt about that, missing only 5 out of 151 tackles. Australia had all the possession stats except line-outs in their favour (Breakdowns 113-74, Penalties awarded 11-8, Scrums 10 - 8) but they just could not break the line.

One of the interesting stats to come from this game is this one.

Ball Carries: AUS 131 - NZL 104
Metres Gained running ball AUS 361 - NZL 329

That looks about even, AUS 2.75m per carry, NZL 3.16m per carry

However, those stats are grossly distorted by just two runs... Beales 67 metre try scoring run, and Mitchells 52m run in the second half. Thats 119 of Australia's 361 in just two runs. If we deduct those two, then it becomes 129 carries for 242 metres... 1.85m per carry. Thats as clear an indication as any that the Wallabies just could not make any headway against the All Blacks' defensive screen.

Also noteworthy is that while Beale carried for 88m and Mitchell for 73m (obviously both boosted by their two long runs, Nathan Sharpe (a lock!!) was their next best ball carrier with 55m!!

I agree. This was a test match so you cannot expect to see lots of tries scored. Besides, if we are looking forward to next year the whole World Cup will be filled with defensive orientated matches like this one. The Wallabies might take quite a bit of heart from this game but I think it could also be a bit demoralizing. I think it showed that they are going to need quite a lot of luck or more tries like that one from Beale if they want to beat us. That's not saying I don't think they can beat us.

The All Blacks defense was just brilliant. So far in the Tri Nations they have made 92% of all tackles, Australia has made 88% with South Africa making just 82%. I think that has been the difference between the teams.

 

[admartian]

Pococks my favorite Wallaby, and one of my favorite players, he's immense. I remember in the autumn internationals last year, in the BaaBaas match, he made a big hit, the player offloaded, and he managed to hit the guy who recieved the ball as well. His workrate is quality

I first saw pocock's game when the young wallabies won the 2006 u-19s World Cup, I was officiating then. He's been a quality player ever since!

Yeah Pocock was excellent.

Should be captain I reckon.

A real test match that was.

Looks like the All Blacks have a "Plan B" or should I say, "Plan D"... D for defence. The tackle count would surely have to be in the 200's, and it was like a Black Wall, there was just no way through.

Woodcock was lucky not to get

That was just a dumb-f**k thing to do.

Yeah, very lucky. Was he cited?]

keep in mind this is a young and inexperienced australian team vs new zealands best and experienced team, australia are improving with a young team whereas nz may well have already had their peak, as a new zealander i'm worried this is a repetition of what happened in 03 and 07

So you're one of those 'peaking' people aren't ya? Sheesh. Broken record folks.

We too have young talent. The difference is, we have experience to back that up. Can this Wallabies team beat us? Sure. Doesn't mean that we're peaking though.

Just watch the games people, you can't read too much into these things. If we win, awesome, if we lose, it's extremely guttering - but it's just a cup.

Yes, great to see a real, closely fought, 15 man V 15 man contest (although Woodcock should have been Yellow carded), test match.

From the AB's perspective, it was great to get a game where they were put under pressure, and to see them handle that pressure.

From the Wallabies perspective, they've shown that anyone who writes them off at WC, does so at their own peril - they're not far from that win against the ABs.

Not a boring game, just real rugby

Yeah, I don't think the ABs write them off though. I think if anything, they overestimate them.

How can anyone think this match was boring? Is it just because there weren't a truckload of tries scored?

Last week, the game was over as a contest by half time. In this one, the Wallabies were one score away from drawing right up until the 71st minute.

This was the best defensive effort by the All Blacks this season. No doubt about that, missing only 5 out of 151 tackles. Australia had all the possession stats except line-outs in their favour (Breakdowns 113-74, Penalties awarded 11-8, Scrums 10 - 8) but they just could not break the line.

One of the interesting stats to come from this game is this one.

Ball Carries: AUS 131 - NZL 104
Metres Gained running ball AUS 361 - NZL 329

That looks about even, AUS 2.75m per carry, NZL 3.16m per carry

However, those stats are grossly distorted by just two runs... Beales 67 metre try scoring run, and Mitchells 52m run in the second half. Thats 119 of Australia's 361 in just two runs. If we deduct those two, then it becomes 129 carries for 242 metres... 1.85m per carry. Thats as clear an indication as any that the Wallabies just could not make any headway against the All Blacks' defensive screen.

Also noteworthy is that while Beale carried for 88m and Mitchell for 73m (obviously both boosted by their two long runs, Nathan Sharpe (a lock!!) was their next best ball carrier with 55m!!

Nice stats cooky. That's a pretty impressive rate

 

[Haysie]

I've got to say that I didn't think much of Kaplan at scrumtime. "Crouch........Touch........Pauuuuuuuuuuuuuuse.......................ENGAGE" is not something you want to hear as a prop, nor do you want him touching you on the neck just before you engage. He drew the call out too long.
The touch judge on the near side called some of our passes forward, mysteriously! I don't think any of them were actually forward. You could tell the All Blacks were realising that the Wallabies were getting called forward on flat passes because whenever a flat pass ensued afterwards the All Blacks would all collectively yell "forward! forward sir!".

Altogether I think that the Wallabies played pretty well, and the All Blacks played well. Neither team was really outstanding and they both seemed to play at the same level as one another.

 

[InsaneAsylum]

i don't mind so much when the wallabies actually turn up to the game. i enjoyed it thoroughly, but the all blacks were just that bit better. i thought kaplan did a reasonable job, just needs to control the scrums better as mentioned by other posters and he gave too many "final warnings" for ruck infringements. poor form by woodcock, makes you wonder what was going through his head as he could have seriously hurt faingaa, just reckless stuff.

 

[admartian]

I've got to say that I didn't think much of Kaplan at scrumtime. "Crouch........Touch........Pauuuuuuuuuuuuuuse.......................ENGAGE" is not something you want to hear as a prop, nor do you want him touching you on the neck just before you engage. He drew the call out too long.
The touch judge on the near side called some of our passes forward, mysteriously! I don't think any of them were actually forward. You could tell the All Blacks were realising that the Wallabies were getting called forward on flat passes because whenever a flat pass ensued afterwards the All Blacks would all collectively yell "forward! forward sir!".

Altogether I think that the Wallabies played pretty well, and the All Blacks played well. Neither team was really outstanding and they both seemed to play at the same level as one another.

I found that annoying as well. Seemed like you could make a cup of tea in between.

 

[Haysie]

Somebody made the statement on the board before that the referees are all vying for world cup jobs, so they are delivering cards and being much stricter so that the IRB takes notice of them.
Is that the case do you believe, and if so, why on earth did Kaplan do what all the other referees are not doing?

 

[woodward]

Woodcock was a bit lucky but to me it only looked really bad on the replays so I could see how he wasn't confident to give a card. I don't think the refereeing warrants much discussion, they missed a bunch of Aussie knock ons so it was pretty even both ways, also called a flatish pass forward on the AB's five metre line. Carter was great in that first quarter, he sucks in so many players when he runs with intent. Pocock was such a nuisance

 

[smartcooky]

Somebody made the statement on the board before that the referees are all vying for world cup jobs, so they are delivering cards and being much stricter so that the IRB takes notice of them.

Whoever said that is talking through a hole in their arse (no insult intended)

Pretty much who you see on the Elite Panel now is who will be at the RWC.

Only the "fringe" referees will be vying for jobs, and one of those could be Stu Dickinson, who has not been appointed a 6N or 3N match since his train wreck in San Siro last year.

The referees we have had this June Tours & 3N (Joubert, Barnes, Kaplan, the Lawrences, Rolland, Lewis & Clancy etc) are gold plated certainties for RWC duties next year

Is that the case do you believe, and if so, why on earth did Kaplan do what all the other referees are not doing?

This point has been raised on the Rugbyrefs message board. Here are some of the comments

JK lectured him, but only a PK. I thought the game was well managed, and not crying out for cards. Wouldn't have argued either way on it, tbh

not dis-similar to something WB carded in an Wales vs Ireland match a couple of seasons ago.

My comment was

it could also be that he (JK) was under pressure to keep it a 15 v 15 contest given what has happened previously this season.
Regardless of any of that, Woodcock should have been shown the YC

I agree with Woodward's suggestion that it looked worse in replay than at full speed (i.e. how Kaplan saw it)

 

[hobo]

this is my first time commenting on this site,

just wanted to know if anyone understood why Kaplin called "no influence" when 3 offside all blacks were charging down a kick out of wallabies own in goal, how would that not influence the kick, it was applying pressure to him forcing him to rush it??

 

[smartcooky]

Sorry but I don't remember that. If you have the approximate game time, I'll have a look at the match footage.

 

[hobo]

i'm not sure of the exact time but i think somewhere mid second half... i swear i heard him say it and that's what he was referring to, however i could be wrong. just a bit disappointed with a lot of the decisions both ways.
(Not a Jonathan kaplin fan)

 

[esoj]

a real hard thought test match with the abs just having the edge to get the win. some outstanding defence by the all blacks, wallabies had a hard time getting through to make ground most of the night. it wasn't the abs flashest win of the tri-nations but it was still a win and they can take a lot from it espeically the much improved defensive effort.