Well, shit I'm still steaming
Well, shit I'm still steaming.
I'm pissed, and the reason is that all of this was called in advance. Players picked out of position, poor game plan and dumb rugby - everything we feared about Foster's All Blacks. We had better players than Australia, but they were clearly better coached and it showed. Up for it? Not sure we were in the same way.
Positives
Cane was outstanding. If you wanted a leader look at that bastard. Worked his guts out. Defence was really solid. Some freakish tries (following interesting ref calls) to get there.
Um, I'm struggling after that
Negatives
Players out of position killed us. Jordie, Ardie, Goodhue in particular
Forwards were good without being dominant
Mo'unga chose a bad time to shit the bed.
Gameplan was terrible (what gameplan?), and the lack of rugby nous in fielding kicks had me yelling at the TV. Seriously, with the wind behind them, how the hell do you let a farking dropout from the 22 go over your head, and basically gift Aus 40 m and possession. My. Head. Exploded.
Lack of a dropgoal at the end. Have we learned nothing from SA a few years ago? Seriously? FFS people, get better
We did well living on scraps, offence looked great in the first 40. Rieko needs to learn how to put the ball down. Unlike @tim I'm OK with Frizzel; he just smashed into people all night.
Argh, I'm really annoyed. Win here was important. God knows we need to get up next week
@Machpants said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
@chimoaus said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
@KiwiMurph said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
There's a 4th Bledisloe after the 31st
7 November is the 4th Bledisloe.
Ok, so the Aussies could lose next week and if they win their 2 on home soil they get the Trophy 2-1
Yes. Drawn series, holder keeps it, but Ozzie have to win next 2 of three games. Thus a draw as good as a win for Oz, cos if they lost this they'd have to win the next three. Now they only have to win 2 of the next 3, same as us
If Fozzie loses the Bled after all this time I will expect nothing less than a full hari kari ritual and ushering in a new regime
@Machpants said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
@chimoaus said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
@KiwiMurph said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
There's a 4th Bledisloe after the 31st
7 November is the 4th Bledisloe.
Ok, so the Aussies could lose next week and if they win their 2 on home soil they get the Trophy 2-1
Yes. Drawn series, holder keeps it, but Ozzie have to win next 2 of three games. Thus a draw as good as a win for Oz, cos if they lost this they'd have to win the next three. Now they only have to win 2 of the next 3, same as us
Kind of gives the Aussies the freedom to have a real crack next weekend and play without fear of losing the Bled again. They can only grow in confidence from today. Could the Eden Park record be under threat?
@canefan said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
@junior said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
@akan004 said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
I thought the big work on after the semi was to improve our physicality. We looked even less physical than last year.
That and having a clear game plan would have made a big difference
Isn't "just run about a bit" a good gameplan?
Maybe in the Under 10s
@chimoaus don't think so. Abs were shitty in this game but our first bled last year was worse
@chimoaus said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
Kind of gives the Aussies the freedom to have a real crack next weekend and play without fear of losing the Bled again. They can only grow in confidence from today. Could the Eden Park record be under threat?
I'm thinking of starting a poll for Wallabies fans - which would you prefer?
Break Eden Park hoodoo and lose Bledisloe
or
Get beaten at EP but win Bledisloe
@voodoo The Aussies had 13 news players/combos and they played pretty well as a unit. 
@NTA said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
@chimoaus said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
Kind of gives the Aussies the freedom to have a real crack next weekend and play without fear of losing the Bled again. They can only grow in confidence from today. Could the Eden Park record be under threat?
I'm thinking of starting a poll for Wallabies fans - which would you prefer?
Break Eden Park hoodoo and lose Bledisloe
or
Get beaten at EP but win Bledisloe
You need a third option of winning at Eden Park and Winning the Bled Which would you prefer?
@chimoaus said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
@voodoo The Aussies had 13 news players/combos and they played pretty well as a unit.
Almost like they had a good kiwi ex chiefs coach behind them
@chimoaus said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
@Machpants said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
@chimoaus said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
@KiwiMurph said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
There's a 4th Bledisloe after the 31st
7 November is the 4th Bledisloe.
Ok, so the Aussies could lose next week and if they win their 2 on home soil they get the Trophy 2-1
Yes. Drawn series, holder keeps it, but Ozzie have to win next 2 of three games. Thus a draw as good as a win for Oz, cos if they lost this they'd have to win the next three. Now they only have to win 2 of the next 3, same as us
Kind of gives the Aussies the freedom to have a real crack next weekend and play without fear of losing the Bled again. They can only grow in confidence from today. Could the Eden Park record be under threat?
If we play like that again. Still waiting for the big performance for the new coach. Feels like same old story
@canefan said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
I long for the days when our team was stuffed full of GOATs in their positions and we could play like shit and still snaffle a win at the death
To all those who said:
‘Boring, I’m sick of the All Blacks winning all the time, I want to see a contest.‘
Well you’z fullas got your way.
Hand in your citizenships and get your no good arses on the next plane out of here!
@sparky thank christ we're still quarantining peopel coming over. Otherwise EP would be flooded with yellow.
Wellington - bet you with you'd come down to support and get in the ref's ear eh!
@nzzp said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
well, shit I'm still steaming.
I'm pissed, and the reason is that all of this was called in advance. Players picked out of position, poor game plan and.
Gameplan was terrible (what gameplan), and the lack of rugby nous in fielding kicks had me yelling at the TV. Seriously, with the wind behind them, how the hell do you let a farking dropout from the 22 go over your head, and basically gift Aus 40 m and possession. My. Head. Exploded.
The thing with kick receipts seemed to be they stood at the regulation distance from the kicker. Which meant they were sprinting forward to attempt to take it for the first half, and having it sail over their heads in the second
@ACT-Crusader said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
Good learning experience for the boys. Cane as a captain as well.
I’ve seen us play worst and lost. Video analysts will be working overtime this week because there’s plenty of footage for a lot of guys to show where improvements can be made.
Biggest improvement would be teaching Reiko how to score tries. If that try had been scored and we had gone into the break with a bigger lead I think we would have seen a whole different second half. But no doubt the wallabies are an exciting new team and will e beating us soon if we keep serving up more of the same
@Machpants said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
@nzzp said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
well, shit I'm still steaming.
I'm pissed, and the reason is that all of this was called in advance. Players picked out of position, poor game plan and.
Gameplan was terrible (what gameplan), and the lack of rugby nous in fielding kicks had me yelling at the TV. Seriously, with the wind behind them, how the hell do you let a farking dropout from the 22 go over your head, and basically gift Aus 40 m and possession. My. Head. Exploded.The thing with kicking receipts seemed to be they stood at the regulation distanced from the kicker. Which meant they were sprinting forward to attempt to take it for the first half, and having it sail over their heads in the second
shit, seeing the (usually high quality) DMac running or the ball at the last minute gave me the shits. Once I understnad, but for a whole goddamn game?
Yep, this is angry NZZP. Screw you Foster, I'm bringing pitchforks and burning torches out if we don't win convincingly in AUckland
@Nevorian and if Gus wasn't blind we win the match. Who gives a shit about ifs and buts.
@Derpus the foot in touch was a sliding doors moment, Ioanes brain fart, not so, half ends and we get 7 or we dont...no restart from a lineout, scrum, 22 or whatever.
As a Northland fan, I gotta say today I prefer winning ugly than drawing ugly!
@rotated said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
At this point I don't really care who it is, but can we just pick a centre combo and stick with it?
Been saying that for 3-4 years. The combination is as important as the players IMHO.
We don't just try different combinations, we play people out of position in what seems to be some weird game of musical chairs.
@Victor-Meldrew said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
We don't just try different combinations
many years ago we did have 20+ test matches in a row when we didnt have the same pair start before Nonu-Conrad became a fixture...
Maybe Ioane/Clarke can start on either wing, JB to FB and ALB-Goodhue in the mid-field
@Derpus said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
@Nevorian and if Gus wasn't blind we win the match. Who gives a shit about ifs and buts.
Nah - that try doesn't happen, whole course of the game changes. Never know what could happen from there.
@Tim I wouldn't look at Rugbypass for stats. ESPN stats are usually better.
Went in to the game and took my four year daughter. Was a great atmosphere and the extra minutes at the end just added to the experience. Will have to watch the game again this week as you miss so much at the game. Best part was some drunk lady distracted my daughter for most of the game so I actually got to watch most of it.
Couple of things on the game (though won't stand by them too closely until I've rewatched it).
Backs
DMac looked a lot better here than he did for the Chiefs. I'd still rather see one of the Barretts there but was good to see him get some form back.
Jordie is way to pedestrian for wing. There was one point early in the first half where he appeared to be trying to run through quick sand.
Will be interesting to watch Reiko. He appeared to fuck up by not passing to Jordie at one stage and hogged the ball instead. And dropping the ball like he did is embarrassing and effectively lost us the game. I really wish that he'd go back to being the worlds best winger.
Bridge is so impotent. Really doesn't seem to offer much. Though that was a sweet pass that lead to Smith's try.
R'Mo looked below test level standard. Looked indecisive at times and seemed to have no confidence in the end to demand they set up for a droppie. Might be a while before he finds his feet at test level.
Ardie was no where near a test standard 8. I've got no idea why Foster (other than Foster is a fuckwit) picks two sevens in his starting trio and asks one of them to play like a big bopper 8. Sevens work best when they have constant interactions in the game.
Cane was awesome and hit attackers like a truck. Though his first game as captain had a real 2020 Chiefs feel to it.
I thought Frizell went OK. He tackled well and it's not his fault the loose forward mix is out.
Moody tackled well and Ofa hit hard but fell off a few tackles. Cody appeared to carry on his average 2019 form.
Rennie 'out coached' Foster. The OZ first half was excellent as they more often than not would have been playing into the swirling breeze. I think a stat popped up at halftime that OZ had 70% possession and territory which is clever rugby in those conditions.
Not much to say about the Wallabies other than well done and they probably deserved to win the game. I think an area they can make good improvement in is their accuracy at the breakdown. The amount of times the AB's managed to get a turnover or penalty after a Wallaby went flying/crashing over the ruck instead of actually clearing out was hilarious. Lucky for the AB's too as it meant the Wallabies couldn't build enough pressure.
Looking forward to catching this on TV and revising my opinions.
@taniwharugby said in Bledisloe One: Wellington, October 11:
many years ago we did have 20+ test matches in a row when we didnt have the same pair start before Nonu-Conrad became a fixture...
Yeah and we ended up playing the best 15 in the world at 13. Went well.
Constant buggering around was a crap idea then, crap idea now.
Sparky's blame game
1.NZR for choosing Ian Foster as Head Coach. There were other better options available: Razor, Jamie Joseph, Dave Rennie. They went with Foster as a "job for the boys" pick. Today our team was comprehensively outcoached.
-
Ian Foster for creating a safety-first culture within the ABs. The All Blacks should be expected to win every match. Foster set up his team not to lose.
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Foster, Fox and Plumtree for selecting a number of players who were tried and found wanting in the last World Cup cycle. Young talent like Hoskins Sotutu, Caleb Clarke and Will Jordan should have started. No more selecting a team of your pals, select a team to win.
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Reiko Ioane. Know your history and learn from this. Showboating is not part of the All Blacks game. Could have been a great try. Go watch the tapes of Grant Batty, Bryan Williams, John Kirwan, Jonah Lomu and Doug Howlett scoring tries. Put the ball down with two hands carefully, then jog back to the middle.
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Richie Mo'unga. Know you history and learn from this. We lost in Cardiff in 07 and drew against the Lions in 2017 because the First Fives on the field (Luke McAlister and Aaron Cruden) were too shy to call thw drop call at the end. Spend a hour a week practising this call and its execution. We expect the ABs to win.
@Toddy Your analysis matches my armchair analysis. Might save you the time watching it 
now that I've read things...
I don't think we'll see mass changes for next week.
Goodhue mightn't be a 12, but he was massive on D. He gives RM someone to hit it up - if the opposition have to keep a couple of defenders in close to counter that, it could create space for RIoane.
I'd keep RIoane in for another week, he just looks lethal on attack, give him half a gap and hes gone and hard to put down. One bad read on D, and I've been waiting ages for him to fuck up a try in the manner he did (at least it wasn't a RWC final or something more significant than Game 1 of 4) ALB to stay on bench.
Forwards all deserve another go, however if we're about building, I would swap in Akira for Frizzell, no real reason to, I think letting Sotutu build his way into being an AB is a better idea than just starting him for the sake of it. We still need some experience in our loosies so Savea stays.
Get Dmac the f**k outta here - poor in SRA, too small unfortunately, too many mistakes.
Bridge to 14, Clarke to 11. or the other way around who cares. Once upon a time our 14 was the big bopper and 11 was the skinny white guy.
Maybe Aumua in for Coles (he didn't bring much in the last 20)
Weber in for TJP, Beaudy on the bench (or Dmac if Achilles not 100%)
Aussies looked better for not having some of the douchebags of recent years, Stephen Moore etc. Less stupid off the ball stuff, actually got on with playing properly. Nick White always seems to go great against us, so someone snot him early would ya?
Christ Foster has a job on his hands to keep his job if the AB's don't show some improvement in next 12mths. Its Game 1 of 20 that he needs to prove himself. The NZRU would also have in the back of their minds it only took the Boks 18months to right their ship, so if Razor was to take over in 2022 he'd be good to go.
Interesting times for NZ Rugby...
I am going to defend RM a little here. It wasn't him who couldn't take the high ball in the swirling wind, it wasn't him who couldn't place the ball properly at try time and it wasn't him that conceded a try through a bad read on defence. That penalty where he failed to find touch was poor, but RM is prone to that. He is not alone there, even Carter managed to do that on a regular basis.
Those that say he can't operate behind anything other than a dominant pack are living in the past. The Crusader pack has not been dominant recently and he has still managed to win games for them. I am hoping it's a matter of time until things click for him at test level.
AB woes go deeper than RM. They stem from the inability to master the rush defence. It's been years since the BIL showed how to beat the ABs and we have yet to find a way to consistently counter it.