What you thought - Wallabies vs Italy
November 13, 2008 - 6:07pm
Story by: ARU
The Men of Gold mailbag was a real mixed-bag this weekend with some laying in to the Wallabies for their performance against Italy and others looking on the bright side.
As usual we received emails from across the globe with one note worthy submission coming from none other than Stephen Barber, Chairman of the Indonesian Rugby Football Union:
“To the 'Men of Gold',
It was wonderful to see a Young Wallaby team grit its teeth and hang on for a tough win, against all ever-improving Italian team (let's not forget the strength of their performances in the 6 Nations over recent years).
The Wallabies are rebuilding and the team has a goal that we all know about in 2011, so good luck to Robbie Deans & his fellow Coaches as they continue to mould a 'team' of youthful exuberance & experienced old-heads for the remaining matches on this tour plus the years to come.
Best wishes,
Stephen Barber
IRFU Chairman”
Our Letter of the Week goes to Graeme Romans who summed up the match pretty well with:
“The best performance came from the forwards, who especially impressed at scrum time. Young Ben Alexander and Matt Dunning both stepped up, with Ben's performance unexpectedly powerful given his youth and lack of game time. Robbie's faith was fully justified.
The backs were not so impressive with tactical kicking again not very effective and ball running still too ridden with errors. Again the stand-ins impressed with both wingers Lachie Turner and Digby Ioane looking potentially dangerous in attack and secure in defence.
Timana Tahu was effective with the ball but the Italian try did come thru' his channel (though the timing of the pass made his job difficult).
Still, there was an improved cohesion and the preponderance of long arm penalties made the Italian scoreboard look better than their attack deserved. Adam Ashley Cooper always has me 'sitting up' but I'd like to see him run the ball back with support. Where is the attacking zeal ?
If there's nothing on kick it, but keeping possession and running hard with someone on your shoulder still wins games ! I'm looking forward to Saturday.”
To the other end of the spectrum was Garry Edwards who is “a strong supporter of Rugby Union” and “has played many a game for not only school but also district and at state level.”
Garry believes in “blooding” young players but he “also expects the senior players to rise to the occasion and perform to the best of their ability. They are representative of their country and have a moral responsibility.”
On this occasion Garry felt that most definitely wasn’t the case. The best thing, Garry added, was there wasn't any "evidence of chemical spills on the cranium.”
Imagine if the Wallabies had lost !
In less stinging territory was A Seah:
“This match certainly wasn't as great to watch as some other Tests, but Quade Cooper's try was a highlight. I no longer doubt the talent this Red's player has! It was a huge shame to see Berrick Barnes come off so early, seeing as this was his first start at 10 to show what he could do.
A win is a win, no matter what the spectacle - this statement certainly applies to the Wallabies' win over Italy yesterday, but I expect the Wallabies will be even better when they take on England next. As a huge Wallabies supporter I want to say congratulations, and hopefully you can taste success on the rest of the tour.”
Nick wasn’t happy with the TV coverage and Ross Coggan was succinct: “Simple, the forwards are too soft and not controlling. Cheers Ross, Rugby Tragic.”
Mike James from Bendigo looked on the positive side and also encouraged the Wallabies not to stand back if things heat up.
Amit Raj thought bringing on Quade Cooper was: “Pretty much a master stroke by Dingo Deans. I am sure against England, Wallabies will be a way better side…”
While Blinky Bill couldn’t find the free to air coverage and had to read the match report on the web. But he still made some telling remarks:
“After seeing we won 30-20 (not such a bad result I thought), the reports indicated that we were lucky to get away with a win. It had me wondering how come when the AB's come home with a 5 point win that they were the superior team & yet when the Wallabies do the same thing but with a 10 point advantage we "were lucky"?
My main interest was in how we went up front in the engine room against the much acclaimed Azzurri forward pack. Here's about the best I could find at 5am "The Wallabies forwards, who many felt would be shaded by the more experienced Italians, were more than holding their own in the admittedly scrappy scrums and line outs." (from the www.rugby.com.au match report.)
Now that doesn’t sound too bad at all to me. I mean either the Italian forwards are good or they are not. So which is it?
I am wondering though about Timana Tahu. Talented no doubt but is he injury prone or what? And the hammy again!!! Unless this guy manages to stay on the paddock he will never get a chance to experience & learn the game at the top level.
Cheers all and enjoy the Rugby.”
Don’t you have Channel Ten in Bellingen ? Tune in against England Blinky Bill, we appreciate your comments !
Doug Mackintosh gave an excellent in depth technical assessment that we’ll no doubt forward on to our High Performance Unit. Here’s just a taster:
“The game can be as involved as a chess game with all sorts of variations of the repetitive standard, but depth to move and elusive runners with evasive skills are what the crowds hunger for and rise to their collective feet, when we all feel that the try is on!!”
Hannah Rose is still showing her strong Force support but she appreciated the efforts of some other Wallabies as well:
“Quade Cooper and Ben Alexander = fantastic!
Quade's last minute try was fantastic, giving us a win !! - and Ben Alexander couldn't have had a better game. I think Richard Brown is playing extremely well, although I'd like to see more Force players in the team :)”
As would everybody in WA !
Suli Gluszenko missed the game but wrote in to say: “I hear it was a hard-fought win so I'm glad I didn't see it as I would've been anxious and disappointed that they were fighting-hard against Italy for goodness sake.”
RoryMcQuinn had a few qualms with our Match Report :
“Incredible nerve to bring on (Sekope) Kepu!!!
Jeez -to borrow from (Simon) Katich the cricketer – you don’t know much about the game do you? We’d just lost a tighthead, again because (Ben) Alexander couldn’t keep his prop straight and allowed him to bore in as he’d done all game???
Kepu came on and the scrum was solid – enough said. When you guys get all the fluff outta your eyes and look at the game pragmatically instead of as if your careers depended on it then Alexander has a scrumming shocker but full credit to the positive spin put on things! I suppose you guys thought Waugh was effective too?”
Phil gave 150%, as he always does, and it was Sekope’s first Test !
And in regard to Ben Alexander, in just his third Test, Robbie Deans himself, was pretty impressed.
Len summed things up with:
“Defence again of very high standard, and forwards are on track. The backs need some further drills but the raw material is there.
Robbie Deans has to graft a team from the youngsters to have any show at the next World Cup.”
And Duane got to the point:
“A disappointing game from the Wallabies but credit to Italy for making a fist of it. We are still poor tourists to Europe, unlike the All Blacks and Boks.
Positives:
Barnes looked great until limping off
Better game from Tahu
Great job from front row … though don’t expect an objective view from the Poms
Cooper shows spark
Alexander – great debut
Negatives:
Ordinary job from back row
Waugh not at his usual standard
Ashley-Cooper – why can’t he keep the ball in hand rather than do lousy bombs? Deans, pls have a word (or try a more attacking full back)
Too many drop balls (daylight a problem?) – just keep possession and build pressure; use pick n drive if necessary.
Mortlock – off colour; maybe tired
Hoping for better next week.
Duane”
And our final word this week goes to Joshua Roose from Hawthorn in Victoria who wrote in an email titled “Our Key Weakness”:
“I can’t stand a whinging Pom as much as the next man. However in relation to the Australian scrum, their criticism is valid. Australian Rugby has always been more concerned with running Rugby and manoeuvrability at the expense of being able to compete in the close tight physical contests at the scrum, ruck and maul. We may be able to get away with it against 2nd string international teams but against South Africa, New Zealand, England (and almost Italy), we have proven inadequate time and again at the set pieces where commitment and strength are required. It is essential for Australia to break free of the idea that scrums are an inconvenience to be battled through and understand that they are a key way to assert physical and psychological dominance over opposition forward packs.
In relation to the ruck, Australia has been saved by world class loose forwards – namely George Smith and Phil Waugh. Our weaknesses in size, strength and aggression are highlighted by our inability to retain possession up the guts of the field (think the Hong Kong Test against the All Blacks). I would argue Australian Rugby needs to develop a culture that looks beyond glamour backlines and idealises tough, physical and skilful forward play that physically dominates other countries. I can only hope that Robbie Deans brings this in to the Wallaby culture because in an age of incredibly powerful, strong forwards Australia will not move beyond the status of runner up to the Blacks and Boks.’
Who said people in Victoria don’t love their Rugby ? We’ll watch the scrums with interest this Saturday.
And remember the match will be shown exclusively on Channel Ten at 1am Sunday morning November 16th (local times) across Australia : live in to Sydney and Melbourne and delayed into Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide.
There is no pay TV coverage of the match.
Enjoy the game. Go the Wallabies !
Yours in Rugby,
Men of Gold
