RWC Warm Up: Canada v. Australian Barbarians

[LittleGuy]

Outside of swapping Smith for Evans, this is as good of a Canadian side as it gets. Is this a sign that Evans injury is worse than thought?

(all things considered I stand by my original prediction)

I've been following a few of the team on twitter, and it seems Evans was really struggling for a while, in fact this was Tyler Hotson's(although humourous) last post "Great to see all the hard work @mattevans_88 is doing here in #SurfersParadise. He can no longer walk forward downstairs only in reverse." Hopefully with another couple of weeks he will be ready for the Tonga match or at least for most of the pool stages. As many of us here have been saying I think we can use him an centre, and Keep Pritch at #15 to keep our best players on the field.

Here is an interesting article by Phil Mackenzie on the US home and away series,

http://talkingrugbyunion.co.uk/international-teams/phil-mackenzie-the-road-to-the-rwc

 

[LittleGuy]

Great news everyone according to Rugby Canada, the Australian Rugby Union IS making the stream of the game available to Canadian fans, the broadcast will be starting at 5:20 am Eastern, 3:20 Mountain and 2:20 Pacific. I should be able to catch the first half and maybe a little more before work hopefully its not too late for many of the Canadian supporters.

Here is the link to the rugby canada article http://www.rugbycanada.ca/leagues/newsletter.cfm?clientID=3817&leagueID=0&page=54947

And the stream http://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/w...720pm-est-friday/story-e6frf55l-1226121543747

Aparently Giteau has pulled out due to injury as well...

 

[Co2en5]

the stream is now officially up

http://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/w...720pm-est-friday/story-e6frf55l-1226121543747

 

[LittleGuy]

Just started watching it is available in Canada, early morning here, weird without the commentating LOL.

 

[Co2en5]

can someone record this, or make extensive highlights afterwards??

my stream keeps cutting out and i missed that last try

 

[LittleGuy]

Baa Baas, up 26-14 at half, Canada started and ended the half well went to sleep from 25-35 minute marks though, DTH has played fantastic, Smith is kind of struggling.

 

[Co2en5]

does DTH play in europe somewhere, he seems good enough for a top 14 side or even a sef efrican super rugby team

 

[LittleGuy]

does DTH play in europe somewhere, he seems good enough for a top 14 side or even a sef efrican super rugby team

2nd highest try scorer in Magners League last year with Glasgow.

 

[CDN_Rugby]

38-14 for the Baa Baa's. Decent effort by Canada, looked good in defence and on occasion looked dangerous with the ball in hand. Hope Phil Mackenzie's injury isn't too serious though. He had a damn good game.

 

[Co2en5]

Canada put up a better fight than i thought

Barnes was looking pretty good, shades of larkham on that one great burst he made

and drew mitchell is looking right for the world cup

 

[LittleGuy]

38-14 for the Baa Baa's. Decent effort by Canada, looked good in defence and on occasion looked dangerous with the ball in hand. Hope Phil Mackenzie's injury isn't too serious though. He had a damn good game.

Just confirmed on twitter he will be fine, really proud of the boys today they worked hard. I think this bodes well for the RWC.

 

[formerlyfastwing]

Smith is kind of struggling.

this is not surprising.......that is a good scoreline for us.

It gives me some hope for the world cup.

 

[LittleGuy]

this is not surprising.......that is a good scoreline for us.

It gives me some hope for the world cup.

To be fair Smith finished strong, pretty much the enitre team was struggling from the 25-35 minute mark where the Baa Baas put through most of their points.

 

[formerlyfastwing]

I was wondering is the scoreline a case of us playing well, or them playing poorly?

 

[LittleGuy]

I was wondering is the scoreline a case of us playing well, or them playing poorly?

I'd say the former mostly although the Baa Baas could have been a little crisper in their play.

 

[formerlyfastwing]

that sounds positive

 

[LittleGuy]

that sounds positive

I really liked the way they were putting the phases together in offense agian, Pritchard missed an early penalty which would have kept the game a shade closer, as well an argument could have been made for a penalty try late when the Baa Baas took a few penalties when Canada had a 5m scrum. As well the lineout was functional, something that must have been worked at. All of the subs got a run on the field Dala looked good in defense, and Cudmore was out of the game noticeably early. Monro continues to look good at #10 and has to be the link with His Edness and the forwards.

Attendance was 4,122, and many of them were actually expat Canadians even the moderator of the chat in the broadcast admitted the turnout was poor. Perhaps a smaller more intimate venue would have been more appropriate.

Canada will be playing a Queensland Reds Selects XV on Tuesday in Ballymore at 6 p.m. AEST, the game will be played in quarters apparently due to the IRB not allowing Canada to have any more official warm up games LMFAO. Admission will be free of charge, and the Reds will be announcing their lineup on Monday.

 

[Wally]

Canada will be playing a Queensland Reds Selects XV on Tuesday in Ballymore at 6 p.m. AEST, the game will be played in quarters apparently due to the IRB not allowing Canada to have any more official warm up games LMFAO. Admission will be free of charge, and the Reds will be announcing their lineup on Monday.

Sounds good. I may have to get along to that one too (I went last night) because the Canadians are enjoyable to watch. Their set piece was satisfactory, did some good things with ball in hand and defended well on their own try line. I think they are a solid outfit and you can see the impact that professionalism has had on their game.

 

[LittleGuy]

Post match press conference video



Here is a highlight package I found I suggest muting the video. You'll find out soon... LOL

 

[CDN_Rugby]

Nice to see the highlights of a pretty decent performance. I guess Mark Bryant isn't a big fan of Smith either, eh?

Watching his poor coverage and missed tackles is making me like Evans at 12 more and more. Evans is class in attack and defence, which Smith isn't. Hopefully Evans gets a run around on the paddock in the "controlled scrimmage" against the Queensland Select XV side and is fit for Tonga. No point putting Smith in when he isn't the best option and plans on retiring after the WC anyway. It has to be Evans (or maybe even Trainor).

And apparently the knock Mackenzie picked up isn't as bad as it initially looked. Outside of DTH, he's been our best attacking back.