McSharkie said:
Clearly it was the best Test I have seen since the one where Ricky Stuart ran 85 mtrs before giving it to big Mal for the victory.
Why was this so?
1. Morley, the cheap shot merchant being sent off inspired the Poms to lift from the very first tackle.
2. The strength and resolve of the Aussie side to come back in the last 5 minutes.
3. The close scoreline had me biting my nails right up to the very last tackle.
4. Brett Kimmorley played well enough to have justified his spot in the Australian side. He did throw the inside ball too often but his fisrt half was sound and that pass to Gower was exceptional.
Why wasn't this test better than the one back in the 90's?
1. The Poms were offside all night.
2. The ref allowed the Poms to lie all over the man playing the ball which stifled our attack yet still managed to penalise us for far lesser infringements. No doubt employed by David Waite to hamper the Kimmorley/Anderson's flat style.
3. The cheap shots from the pommy hooker were shocking, I can't believe Crocker was binned for retaliating while this guy was allowed to job guys on the ground with their arms pinned.
4. The missed tackles (Bailey's miss on Senior being the most prominant) and dropped ball rate from the Aussie's was pretty bad and improvement is certainly needed in the completion rate area.
5. Gus Gould.
Other than that I really enjoyed the match, a real nail biter. I was sitting in my lounge room by myself screaming at the TV. Seeing Chris Anderson shaking the hands of the Aussie players after the game really brought a smile to my face. He still has plenty of passion left in him.
Well said McSharkie and I wholeheartedly agree. Morley's send off really fired up the Poms and I think we would have had an easier time against 13 men. They played with far more passion and intensity than they probably would have without the catalyst of that send off.
Other posters have commented about Kimmorley playing the inside ball too often. As McSharkie said, the referee didn't police the ten metres when Australia were in possession and allowed the Poms to slow the play the ball. I lost count of the number of times that Noddy received the ball, only to have English players almost up in the attacking line with him. It makes it pretty tough to spin the ball out wide, but when we were able to, the breaks came. And that pass to Gower - what a beauty!
Although Bails would be happy to get a Test try, his performance was pretty ordinary and he is not an international standard centre. Way too slow and totally outclassed by Senior. Mason also did nothing and has disappointed in every international. Hegarty seemed to go AWOL and both he and Crocker also looked way out of their depth.
Of the players that I though did go well:
Wing was the stand out for me. Look dangerous every time he got the ball;
Lockyer cleaned a lot of defensive errors and was there looking for work in attack. Good captain's knock but doesn't seem to have the stamp of authority that the likes of Meninga, Lewis and Johns have;
Webcke made yards every time he got the ball and did a mountain of work in defence. Let down by a couple of dropped balls at crucial times; and
Kimmorley had a pretty solid game and made some good one on one tackles against much bigger opposition. Busy in both attack and defence and that pass to Gower will be remembered for quite some time. The Pommy defence just stood and watched open mouthes as Gower strolled through the hole in their defence.
I also agree about Gus. He is a tosser, but he did say a couple of things that I agreed with, about the refereeing being very poor and allowing the Poms to stay in the game with the offsides and delaying the play the ball. The thing I found most amusing though was his comments about Morley. That the guy is such a thug that he needs to be constantly reminded to lead with his shoulder in tackles and not go for the head shot.
But all in all, two great comebacks from the Aussie boys and a well deserved win. It's good to go 1-0 up in the series when we've traditionally lost the first one too.
