'12 | VB Test | Fri | NZ 12-20 AUS | Eden Park

[Usain Bolt]

That was a quite a cool scene seeing Brisbane's depth there. They all took a photo together too. Beale in his training jacket... :lol:

and Gillett as well:lol:. Saw DCE and Hoffman playing some game if chip n chase in the background

 

[clarency]

Refereeing was acceptable. STFU.

I wouldn't want to see a 3 match series... right now it would just be 3-0 every year and would lose interest pretty quickly.

New Zealand do pretty well for a country 5 times smaller with only one pro league team in it.

 

[franklin2323]

Benji was terrible. They really missed Foran. Foran/Johnson should be the 1/2's. It was a good game as the kiwis get older they will put in more quality like that. Good for international footy.

 

[Mr Angry]

Personally think you are all been harsh in the end.

Australia is a great team and very hard to beat.

Without question the best defensive unit.

Very rarely do they let the opposition play football. They strangle better than any other for 80 mins

They then just keep coming at you with class plays and players.

Kiwis played as well as they were allowed to.

For an Anzac test, I thought they came to play.

 

[kia ora storm]

Here's my two cents...

Kearney - needs to go. He had no game plan for his players and no attacking structure. How hard is it t get the players to learn a couple of set moves in the limited time he had with them ??.

Bromwich, Nightingale, McKendry, Luke - were good for the Kiwis, McKendry is underated at test level. Does the hard yards and makes metres.

Johnson and Marshall - will gel with more tests together. Johnson looks a gun player in years to come.

Aussie - Hannant, Inglis, Thurston, Smith were the best. Why pick DCE on the bench when you are not going to play him ??. Would have been better to bring in a utility with size who can play more positions.

 

[JoeD]

Originally Posted by Manu Vatuvei
Matulino had his worst game in ages

Uncharacteristic drop ball and penalty but while he and mckendry were on the first 20 the kiwis dominated. I don't think that was coincidence.

 

[Rod]

TBH all the bluster about us smashing Tamou mostly came from the media, none of our players said we would smash him.

In fact not worrying about Tamou and actually playing the game is one of the reasons I was pleased about last night. We seemed to play smarter than we have done in the past. Hardly any pushed passes (bar that deadshit Blair's ridiculous pass to Bromwich), panic or stupid penalties. The thing we are still most guilty of is flying aimlessly out of the line and then getting done (eg. Inglis on SKD for the second try).

The ref was diabolical, both ways. Although I think the calls that went Australia's way resulted in points more than ours (Fien penalty, Thurston not penalised for passing off the ground, not giving us six again after Lewis chargedown etc). I would feel more comfortable with a decent Australasian ref TBH.

Our chance was when we 14-12 down and Hoffman/Nightingale made that nice break. That was when Marshall needed to step up and but he was way too quiet last night, Johnson was way more involved than him which shouldn't happen. Bromwich, Glenn and Hoffman all had very good games as well for guys with little to no experience.

Congrats to the Aussies though, you guys know how to close out a game.

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

I can understand why people think he played well, but isn't there some correlation between Luke taking 25,000 runs and the halves having quiet games?

 

[Noa]

To start with a negative, the NZ kicking game was atrocious, and was just about the key reason for them losing the Test.

Marshall must take much of the blame for this, as he is captain of the side and their chief playmaker. Against such a rigid defense as Australia, their only option is to try to keep them in their own portion of the footy field through kicks, and they failed miserably. Johnson chimed in with a couple of kicks and, considering it was his first test, performed well.

I'll be interested what New Zealanders think of how Kieran Foran will fit into the side when he is fit. Surely his toughness as a playmaker can combine with the flair of Marshall and Johnson in some capacity.

Otherwise it was a fairly good contest. The Australian forwards were able to outlast the counterparts, which funnily enough is where James Tamou would have helped a great deal. He could have started for NZ and played a lot of minutes, as he does for the Cowboys. Perhaps I shouldn't go down that road.

Luke Lewis was fantastic for Aus, and was my MOM. But Thurston, Smith and Hannant were terrific also. In the face of some very good defense from the Kiwis the combinations provided enough to get the job done. I wish though that they good rid themselves of some of the cynical plays like fake contesting of bombs from their game. These tactics are prominent in the NRL but are so unattractive come rep games.

All in all a good quality game and worthy of a contest between the nations.

Thats Benji Marshall and sums up why he isnt a great player.

If I was the Kiwi coach Johnson and Foran would be my halves, so much better balanced.

 

[Kong]

I can understand why people think he played well, but isn't there some correlation between Luke taking 25,000 runs and the halves having quiet games?

He was running at a constantly offside Gallen.

 

[Fast Eddie]

All I know is that either Luke Lewis has ridiculously good line speed or he was offside a ton.

 

[Fast Eddie]

I wouldn't want to see a 3 match series... right now it would just be 3-0 every year

:crazy::lol:

 

[chrisD]

C.Smith was below average until he scored the match winner. Foran 7, Benji 6 and f**k Fien off for Johnson would be the Kiwis best team. Hannant dominant, Hodges lethal, Pritchard missing and J.Smith excellent.

 

[Fast Eddie]

Pritchard missing, what game were you watching? He got involved plenty, certainly more than he does for the Bulldogs.

 

[Grapple]

Also, his passing was pretty damn impressive last night for a big man.

 

[joseph1]

I for one thought Benji was off last night. If he'd played well I think the kiwis win that game. Very little between the sides, but JT owned Marshall in the 6

 

[Dr Crane]

Refereeing was acceptable. STFU.

you must be that touch judge.

 

[chrisD]

If Pritchard's role is to point, back slap and run decoys then yeah he had a great game. Manu was far more destructive running the ball on that side.

 

[beave]

Please tell me I wasn't the only one shaking my head at Rabs banging on about how the stadium was close to capacity????

At one point he said it they went to the reverse shot and it was plain to see that the main side was only about 1/3 full, surely someone in the commentary box could have nudged him mid sentence and pointed to the internal tvs that would have been showing the same feed so he could have self corrected?

I swear the old fruit is losing it sometimes.

 

[Grapple]

Please tell me I wasn't the only one shaking my head at Rabs banging on about how the stadium was close to capacity????

At one point he said it they went to the reverse shot and it was plain to see that the main side was only about 1/3 full, surely someone in the commentary box could have nudged him mid sentence and pointed to the internal tvs that would have been showing the same feed so could have self corrected?

I swear the old fruit is losing it sometimes.

You probably missed the point where he corrected himself and admitted he didn't know the actual capacity. He's still a mile better than the NZ commentators. Consider yourself lucky.