0
![Not allowed!](images/buttons/down_dis.png)
![Not allowed!](images/buttons/up_dis.png)
FEAR not, Wallabies fans, all is not lost.
Few people are giving Australia any chance of springing a Bledisloe Cup upset in Dunedin on Saturday night, even with the momentum of a last-start thrashing of Argentina, a couple of injuries to key All Blacks and the knowledge that, surely, New Zealand just can't keep on winning forever. Surely?
Australia is a $6.50 outsider for the clash and being written off as David to New Zealand's Goliath. Ouch.
Front cover of Otago Daily Times sports section.
In fact the Otago Daily Times has gone as far as to mock Ewen McKenzie's men with a provocative front page of their sports section, featuring a Kiwi chullin' in the Bledisloe Cup accompanied by the headline ``Cup Envy: You can look, but don't touch''.
So you could be forgiven for getting ready to write off another loss to those merciless men in black. But that's not how we roll. We have crunched some numbers, delved into the history books and bitten off more than we can chew to come up with five reasons the Wallabies can win their Bledisloe Cup battle with the All Blacks.
Note to Kiwis: before you sprint faster than a Smith (Aaron, Ben or Conrad - take your pick) to the comments section to vent your fury at the slanderous suggestion that your almighty All Blacks are not altogether unbeatable, remember that it's Friday - and we're having a bit of fun.
THE DUNEDIN FACTOR
The Wallabies boast a formidable record in the South Island city, where they are unbeaten for 16 years. The fact that they've only played one Test in that time - a 23-15 victory at Carisbrook in 2001 - is by the by. As the saying goes, you're only as good as your last match ... in Dunedin. Furthermore, Australia is also unbeaten at Forsyth Barr Stadium. That's right, they have never lost at the indoor venue. Ever. Okay, they have also never played there before, either.
NEW ZEALAND SPECIALISTS
In addition to Australia's incredible recent record in Dunedin comes this stellar statistic: the Wallabies have won five of their past nine matches in New Zealand. Five! From nine! That's better than 50 per cent, and they've already played (and lost) in New Zealand this season, so they're due. That's maths. Just don't tell anyone that all five wins occurred during the 2011 World Cup - and featured opponents that were not the All Blacks.
HALFBACK HISTORY
Will Genia has bounced back from the disappointment of being benched to line up for his 50th Test. The Queensland Reds star becomes just the third halfback to notch a half-century for the Wallabies, following in the footsteps of Wallaby greats Nick Farr-Jones and George Gregan. And here's the thing, both Gregan and Farr-Jones celebrated their milestone with victories. So history is on Genia, and Australia's side.
ALL BLACKS LACK BITE
Sure, New Zealand has had no problem tallying up try after try in 2013 but signs have emerged that the All Blacks are in danger of becoming toothless. Literally. According to stuff.co.nz, stars Israel Dagg, Ben Smith, Ben Franks and Julian Savea have been pictured playing for the All Blacks without mouthguards. That revelation hasn't impressed coach Steve Hansen, who declared: "They'd be dumb if they didn't have mouthguards, as far as I'm concerned. I didn't wear one once and ended up with 14 stitches in my mouth from putting my teeth through my lip, so I'll be recommending they wear one.''
DEAD RUBBER RECORD
Okay, this one almost has some acutal merit. Saturday's clash is a dead rubber as the All Blacks have already retained the Bledisloe Cup for a 135th straight year - or something like that. The positive? New Zealand's record in recent Bledisloe dead rubbers isn't all that crash hot. That is, they haven't won any of the last three. Last year they were held to an 18-all draw in Brisbane, in a match Hansen described as one of the ugliest games of rugby he had ever seen. That followed on from Australia's 25-20 victory in Brisbane in 2011 that saw them clinch the Tri-Nations, and the James O'Connor-inspired Hong Kong triumph (26-24) of 2010.
Read more: http://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/wa...#ixzz2i7Ws55EU
Our time will come...which decade, I'm not sure..
Thank goodness the AB's make mistakes!
May the FORCE be with you!
Really? I would bet the stats will show the Wobblies made 3-4 times as many errors. As I've said before here their most costly ones are the restart errors. Every time we score points we are immediately back under the pump.
I do see a faint glimmer of light at the end of this 11 year long dark tunnel. For a back dept that is constantly chopped and changed they are showing signs of what might be. Settling on a starting team is the key. I'm very happy to say I've changed my view of QC. He was outstanding tonight. His improved defense is great. His front-on effort on a steam-rolling Nonu pretty impressive. His willingness to run the ball also. But he still tends to telegraph that he's looking to pass. I know that's his strength but I reckon he could cause some havoc if he takes the line on more often with his foot work.
Hopefully a good NH tour will build confidence.
Last edited by shasta; 19-10-13 at 18:19.
"The main difference between playing League and Union is that now I get my hangovers on Monday instead of Sunday - Tom David
Shasta I didn't mean that we didn't but that if the AB's didn't we wouldn't have scored at least two try's.
QC has really stepped up his game and yes his tackle on M'a N was great. Thought he had been knocked into next week but no back he came.
Just imagine having two or three Falou's. What a came changer that would be.
May the FORCE be with you!
Yes Cooper Stepped up but he and genia are not on the same page.. We need new blood would love to see White and Toomua in 9 ---10 Cooper passes then steps back and many a time never chased the play 99% of time waiting for it to come to him .... Genia does a double pump which gives the opposition a chance to get up ... The outside backs played well when they knew what was happening but Genia and QC lack communication skills . When QC was left out of the plays they made metres... Beeny Mac was awesome . Horwill very ordinary.. The replacements did well Foley wanted to be there on the park... I think he could see Cooper rolling back to the safety zone so stepped up and went forward.. Genia I think had the craps on as he was not given the VC job since it was his 50th game and to me is like a spoilt little brat and spits the dummy to much
Falau , Kirindrani . ACC Toomua all looking to get into game overall a resonable showing
ABs can make late changes but still put on a winning performance
Yeah I get that but it works both ways. They can't be so dominant if our blokes get the basics right when they have the ball. I get bloody frustrated watching them consistently lose the restart contest. It shows a real lack of confidence in that area - against almost all comers. Folau goes ok but that's about it. They need to throw caution out the window and attack the ball at pace. That way they might get close to a 50/50 success rate. At present I reckon they lose 80% of them so ther's little to lose.
Here are the five reasons why the wallabies will beat the darkness.
1). The AB's don't attend the game.
2). The AB's don't attend the game.
3). The AB's don't attend the game.
4). The AB's don't attend the game.
5). Quade Cooper isn't selected.
Posted via Mobile Device
Cooper was very good this evening--to say otherwise is very demeaning
Starts at the front row wallabies do not have one and smelly finger is a joke .win up front and backs will be fine
I think that Simmons also did ok tonight. Horwill was pretty atrocious, and if he was my team's captain I would have run the water out myself specifically to get a chance to bollock him about some very soft errors.
If your team leader can't catch a perfect pass in the clear he can't expect anybody else on the team to, that's just not good enough.
Folau was outstanding, Kurindrani showed promise and I really liked some of the touches Toomua got on the pill. Betham seemed to be overawed by the situation, but did OK. Jury's out on Quade for me, Definitely stepped up his defense, but he didn't provide the X factor he has been selected for, so I'm calling it 50 50.
Genia is a liability at the moment, probably the reason I didn't think Cooper had a good game.
C'mon the![]()
![]()