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Apart from some absolutely disgusting commentary I think it's been proven that
1) we need a new captain
2) we need a new selectors panel
3) we are now officially England's bitch
4) we will carry on being NZ's bitch
5) we SHOULD beat Argentina and possibly SA
Many people laughed when uk hired Eddie now they even make him prime minister!
Chieka on the other hand may end up helping out Ewan in CC!
Chieka was out coached!
May the FORCE be with you!
And I thought he was pretty generous to us.
C'mon the![]()
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Wot Jono said ^
Also, highlighted one of the issues with Australian rugby. Owens had to tell Moore (I think on at least two occasions) about how players communicate with the ref. Phipps was pissing him off suggesting England players get cards. If there's one thing you don't do to Owens its try and tell him how to ref the game; he's quite clear in his instructions to players and explains decisions to the captains. But he doesn't accept any back-chat once his decision is made, even from the captains: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFxK0UyUxrU
Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon
Was at the game last night and noticed once again how the England guys did a lap of the ground at the end of the game applauding and acknowledging all their fans while the Wallabies (bar maybe one or two) all turned their backs on the crowd and just stayed huddled in their 'family corner'. Was exactly the same in Brisbane.
I know losing is crap, but a little more respect for the fans - some of whom travel a long way and spend a lot of money to support them - would go a long way. #justsaying
Proudly Western Australian; Proudly supporting Western Australian rugby
Yeah I though Owens was spot on. He had a good game and communicated well. And last weeks ref (Joubert?) was good too.
Phipps needs to be smacked in the head. He's a fucking moron
For those who may be interested in who did all of the Ruck work for the Wallabies in the Sydney Test.
Remember:
1. Early means 1st or 2nd of player’s team AFTER the ball carrier has been tackled and brought to ground.
2. Impact means active engagement: strong physical contact, changed shape of ruck, clean-out, protecting ball etc. (more than hand on someone’s bum or arriving after the hard work has been done). Yes it’s subjective - but as I collect all data at least it’s consistent.
3. Impact DOES NOT equate to Effectiveness. I’ve concluded that coming up with an effectiveness measure is just too hard in the time that I have available – but open to suggestions.
Ruck Involvements over Time
Comments:
1. Those critical of Fardy making a few mistakes towards the end of any game need to remember his work rate at the breakdown over the full game.
2. Fardy was in the top 3 for Ruck Involvements for all 3 Tests and made the most Ruck Involvements for the Wallabies in this series.
3. If he's not the man to have at BSF then his presence at the breakdown will be greatly missed. His Defence Ruck Involvements (DRIs) in the 1st half (10) was almost equal to the combined efforts of Hooper (6) and McMahon (5).
4. Fardy had the same number of TRIs with similar splits between Attack and Defence (35T - 24A/11D) in his 50 minutes as No6 as McMahon (36T - 27A/9D) and Hooper (35T - 24A/11D) had in their 87 minutes.
5. The Wallabies Front Row lifted their efforts in this game to 24% of Total Ruck Involvements (TRIs) and 28% of DRIs.
6. Fardy's efforts in the last 30 minutes (20T - 15A/5D) significantly boosted the TRI's for Locks to 20% (usually only 15% or less).
7. In 43 minutes Simmons had more Ruck Involvements (19 Total - 17 Attack/2 Defence) than Skelton in 55 minutes (16T - 15A/1D) and Coleman in 43 minutes (16T - 12A/4D).
8. Both Simmons and Skelton main focus at the breakdown is on supporting the Wallabies ball carriers. Coleman was more involved in DRIs and earned a critical TOW late in the game - which resulted in the last Wallabies try.
9. Unfortunately I have been unable to find any good Turn Over Won statistics. (Would be pleased to be given a link to some as none on ESPN) My own observations indicated very few were made by any of the Wallabies Back Row at the breakdown. There were a few Penalties Forced by preventing the England ball carriers from releasing the ball.
10. Significant Ruck Involvements by Backs:
Kuridrani - 17T - 14A/3D
Toomua - 14T - 12A/2D
Foley - 12T - 11A/1D
Folau - 10T - 10A/0D
DHP - 10T - 9A/1D
It's certainly worth taking Ruck Involvements into account with other key statistics when ranking players efforts and worth to the team.
I'll post the England team's numbers when available.
Posted this reply on G&GR last night on the Forum Match Thread.
Fair to say that it's drawn some interesting follow-up comments from the pro-Waratahs site.
If that's Skelton having a "pretty good game" then we've certainly lowered our standards of what we expect from a Wallaby Lock.Before everyone blames Skelton, the big lad actually had a pretty good game taking on the Vunipola brothers, who more or less walked through the rest of the forward pack.
55 minutes game time - his average in SR 2016.
Contribution:
+ 7 carries for ZERO m (0 Off Load/2 Passes)
+ 6 tackles
+ 3 Penalties conceded
+ Nil Line Out Wins (or did I miss one)
(Have corrected some stats with updated info. These are effectively Skelton's ONLY numbers for the match)
(I have no stats for X-Factor)
Talk him up as much as you like but he is incapable of playing 80 minutes, makes no useful contribution in the Line Out and shouldn't be in the squad.
He should be charged for stealing his Wallabies top-up from more worthy candidates.e.g. Adam Coleman or Rory Arnold.
Skelton still has some potential if he developed full match fitness and the total skills package necessary to be a Lock at Test level.
The Waratahs can continue to select whomever they wish.
But the Skelton Test experiment has failed.
Fardy ended up having to play lock and I don't remember our scrum or line out going that bad after that happened but I may be wrong?
If we could start Fardy at lock with Simmons then that would allow us to play a real number 8 (McCalman, Houston, holloway etc) with McMahon/pocock or pocock/hooper ?
So now has the penny dropped that Hooper clearly isn't up to Intl rugby, completely lost positionally having seagulled thru the first two tests ... only getting breakdown kudos from a stray foot, bowled over several times by forwards carrying, held up & choked by Farrell for a turnover ... and Liam Gill is off to France !
Reckon old George will get a call up for the Rugby Championship ...
Proudly Western Australian; Proudly supporting Western Australian rugby