RugbyRebels

We'll be slow out of the blocks 0-7 then a bit of parity 3-10 then dozy before half time 6-17 second half will be more parity before our replacements aren't able to match theirs 9-22, 12-29 then we'll score in garbage time to make it seem respectable. 19-29

Good start

Normal service resumes

100 metres vs 7
that won't cut it

Good Lord! We scored!

So the Aus prop goes down on his kness, then collapses and that equals pen aus?

Wales give up a try in injury time. What a surprise

Our new playmaker at 12 has zero metres from zeros runs

Is there something wrong with Hoopers face or is he just ugly?

That went dead.

no way that was a try

Fine margins that. Don't think too many would've complained if it wasn't given, but it's a try.

bruce wrote:Is there something wrong with Hoopers face or is he just ugly?

Little known fact...

Hooper was the stunt double for Rocky Dennis' character in the film 'Mask'. He didn't need any make up apparently.

Well beaten really. You only have to look at Ireland to see what a well-coached & drilled international side look like.

Gatland is well-beyond his sell-by-date & we’re lagging behind the best nations due to his stubborness & lack of invention.

I don't know at least we were trying to do new things. A little rusty in comparison to Australia but that's to be expected. A lot of errors where they were trying to force it. Any news on Foxy?

I’m not too disheartened. Yes we lost but I was expecting that and we could have played Roberts et al and still lost learning nothing.

Key points for me:

I like the have a go attitude. Let’s not lose that.

Equally, I want us to play territory a bit better. At times we tried far too much in our own half.

Equally some of the miracle ball attempts were a bit daft.

Exit strategy needs to be better. With a footballing IC we should have plenty of options to clear our lines.

We need a big ball carrier in the backs. Faletau standing out is fine for some plays but we need another option. North will do nicely in that respect.

I think this game style is perfect for Tipuric. Harsh on Navidi who went well today, but Tips is class.

Steff Evans looked at home. Didn’t get away much but looked dangerous.

Williams at IC had some nice touches. Deserves more time there to see if it works.

Handling needs to improve a lot of we are going to play this wider game.

And a couple of the tries we let on were far too easy. Beales try was a touch of class. But the first two were far too easy for the Wallabies.

Sandydragon wrote:And a couple of the tries we let on were far too easy. Beales try was a touch of class. But the first two were far too easy for the Wallabies.

Possibly should have been disallowed for a high tackle. OK it didn't connect fully but still a high swinging arm.

Beale knocked on for his try.

That said, Amos' grounding was a bit suspect too.

Same old same old.

Team surrenders try in injury time at end of first half.
Team gives up bizarre try against the run of play.
Team scores meaningless try in garbage time.

You don't need to be told that team is Wales, because it always is.

Sandydragon wrote:I’m not too disheartened. Yes we lost but I was expecting that and we could have played Roberts et al and still lost learning nothing.

Key points for me:

I like the have a go attitude. Let’s not lose that.

Equally, I want us to play territory a bit better. At times we tried far too much in our own half.

Equally some of the miracle ball attempts were a bit daft.

Exit strategy needs to be better. With a footballing IC we should have plenty of options to clear our lines.

We need a big ball carrier in the backs. Faletau standing out is fine for some plays but we need another option. North will do nicely in that respect.

I think this game style is perfect for Tipuric. Harsh on Navidi who went well today, but Tips is class.

Steff Evans looked at home. Didn’t get away much but looked dangerous.

Williams at IC had some nice touches. Deserves more time there to see if it works.

Handling needs to improve a lot of we are going to play this wider game.

I was going to post some comments but Sandydragon has covered them all, especially "we could have played Roberts et al and still lost learning nothing."

.

Yeah, given everything I'm pretty pleased with that. We never looked like winning, but we never looked like getting the thrashing many of us (me included) expected, either. We DID look different, it didn't actually work most of the time but that's to be expected on a first hit-out. I suspect had we scheduled sensibly and played Georgia first, we'd be talking about an encouraging win by a handsome margin. As it is, we played a top side who are on a roll, and we gave them a half decent match.

LOADS to work on, yes. Our kick-off reception and exits are comically awful, and I lost count of how many times we lost composure and tried one pass too many. Although I thought Owen W did very little wrong, I saw nothing of the supposed "playmaker" about him today. The back row punched above their weight but still looked far too fragile on occasions.

But most of the new caps acquitted themselves well, I think. I was nervous that Evans might struggle with the step-up, but that looked like his 10th cap to me. I owe Josh Navidi an apology as I doubted his inclusion, but he did absolutely fine. I said yesterday that I'd be happy with a respectable scoreline, a couple of decent debuts, genuine signs of new thinking, and no injuries. Foxy looks like he may have spoiled that, but otherwise, I got what most of what I asked for. Shame we couldn't have played SA today, though...

Put another way, we made far more offloads yesterday , most of which were sensible, than we have done in a season before now. You can’t change systems overnight and have it work and I’m not convinced that the back row balance was right. Shingles and Navidi did better than I thought they would, it when Tipuric, Warburton and Moriarty return they surely have to be in the squad.

Another positive was that we kicked far less often and aimlessly to the Aussie back three. I’m a bit concerned that we tried to play too much in our own half, but at least we didn’t kick everything away.

Buggaluggs wrote:no way that was a try

Neither was the welsh try 10 seconds before the end,he was in touch before he grounded the ball.

Wiljoy wrote:

Buggaluggs wrote:no way that was a try

Neither was the welsh try 10 seconds before the end,he was in touch before he grounded the ball.

I’m pretty sure his feet didn’t touch the ground before the ball did. I do agree it was a 50/50 call by the TMO regarding the grounding.