World Cup defense fail

[Philip_Smith007]

I felt the whole game was slow motion- Not a good advert for the game and the crowd mustve been bored stupid.
While you can't take away the Aussie win- fair and square- The one thing that bugged the absolute hell out of me was the slowing down of the play, often, by both sides- But aussie far worse and benefitted them far more:?

Wrestling was on show, Pom commentator mentioned WWF (wwe for over 10 years now) twice.

 

[God-King Dean]

We will accept your oaths of fealty on the morrow.

 

[mean_maori_mean]

The bottom two questions are just excuses, ways to dismiss losses or talk up chances.

We added Cleary to the coaching staff to compliment Kearney. It was only ever going to be "hit it up, then bomb" so it made Australia's job a lot easier on defense. Also didn't help that we muffed our first 2-3 shots on their try line where a try could've potentially put them under pressure during the game. Took Australia until the 19th minute to break the 2-all deadlock, but NZ at no point really put pressure on.

Truth is though, Australia wanted to fix what happened in 2008 and it was the last chance for most of the players to do so. They didn't score soft tries like the Kiwis have conceded in the past, and in general play our defense was fairly good. They were just switched on and had an extra level the Kiwis couldn't match.

We didnt add Cleary to compliment Kearney.
Tony Iro added him because its mate IMO

Cleary and Iro love Locke and Taylor.

Agree Sam Moa was an easy choice over Kasiano.

Australia just suffocated New Zealand out of the game - we missed Mannering/Smith type in the middle.

 

[SilentOne]

After watching Taylor's terrible performance, I'm glad he'll be playing for Penrith next year. Seriously average, I can't understand the fascination with him as a player.

 

[jaseg]

Gambling on RTS who clearly could not have been right with no backs cover on the bench was stupid. Picking Locke over Hoffman at fullback was also. Third selection blunder was in the forwards - where was Sam Moa? Kasiano didn't deserve to be there after the England game. Taylor starting was a bit weird as well. Pritchard was a huge loss (both directly in terms of his play and indirectly - SBW pressured to do more, Mannering shifted left instead of playing in the centre). Ref was pretty good, as far as refs go.

Australia did what they (and QLD) do best; pushed and bent the rules as much as possible - and got a massive advantage from being better at the 'dark arts' than their opposition. After that, it was just a matter of time before their kicking game and dangerous backs paid dividends, particularly with our defensive structure at times seemingly forgotten. We REALLY needed to roll over their forwards, but failed miserably. Foran & Johnson had bad games, as did SBW (although to be fair he was getting worse probably because the pressure was on and he kept having to try ANYTHING due to a lack of... well anything quality from anyone else on the team). And Locke just never supports the ball runner, it gets really annoying. I'm so glad we have a new fullback at the Warriors next year.

 

[Cold Roses]

we missed Mannering/Smith type in the middle.

Eastwood. Can't remember him ever letting the Kiwis down.

After watching Taylor's terrible performance, I'm glad he'll be playing for Penrith next year. Seriously average, I can't understand the fascination with him as a player.

See, I don't think he was terrible, just as you said, average. He's not a test player. He doesn't offer anything out of the ordinary. Workhorse style players are fine for the week in/week out grind of the nRL, but in a test match you need someone oh can offer something a bit special.

 

[Cold Roses]

Picking Locke over Hoffman at fullback was also.

And Locke just never supports the ball runner, it gets really annoying.

Hoffmans big advantage over Locke is that he attacks the ball and has great timing in doing so. Locke plants himself under the high ball waiting for it, and looks like he's about to shit his pants in the process. If he does manage to catch it, he's starting flat footed.

Hoffman has a weaker passing game but to my mind he actually creates opportunities. I thought Hoffman Whare and RTS were all combining well earlier in the tournament.

 

[Tone83]

I don't get people complaining about Kasiano, of all the nobody losers on your team why pick on one of the few dangerous star players? Some people need to get their eyes checked seriously, just no idea.

And agree eastwood should be automatic every time.

NZ are as bad at recognising talent as NSW seriously.

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

Everyone complaining about Kasiano's selection after last week, but he was probably our best prop. The issue there was Bromwich and JWH were both hopeless.

 

[mean_maori_mean]

Everyone complaining about Kasiano's selection after last week, but he was probably our best prop. The issue there was Bromwich and JWH were both hopeless.

There were ineffective not hopeless
We got dominated in the ruck - we needed that ruthless 13 in there and even a bench hooker.

But back on Kasiano - he should of never been picked.
We knew the linespeed was going to be crazy and borderline illegla.

Sam Moa with his quick steps would of been better than kasiano its a no brainer.
And Eastwood would of provided a bigger prescence.

 

[Rich102]

Australia were all class.
Going through the whole tournament without a try scored against them - that's pride in yourself.

 

[Philip_Smith007]

Australia were all class.
Going through the whole tournament without a try scored against them - that's pride in yourself.

Ahh.... After the English scored four against them... yes.

 

[Philip_Smith007]

Another random thought that comes to me is that all the tournaments we have beat Aussie in recently we have played them at least once. This was our first meeting since ANZAC test.

 

[Green River Eel]

SBW missing in action AGAIN, how he got the best player in the world award is beyond me, there is a whole team of Aussies better than the over rated sbw, throwing one or two good passes in the second half of a game and putting on a big hit does not make you the best player in the game.
Gallen offers his team 10 times what SBW does, as do most of the Aussie forwards.
Kiwis where never going to have the creativity in them to roll Aus, their halves are no where near the Aussies, Kasiano is fat, lazy and mistake ridden, the Kiwi backs have some pretty huge defensive issues, and the Aussies where up for this game.
30-40 points is a pretty good and fair indication of the gap between the two teams.

 

[jaseg]

Gallen offers his team 10 times what SBW does, as do most of the Aussie forwards.

Complete crap. Gallen I'd agree with, but most of the Aussie forwards? There's a joke.

Kearney simply got it very wrong. Dunno who would replace him, but I think it might be time to at least have a look at alternatives anyway... let's be honest though; he's probably safe.

 

[Wheeled Warrior]

Cleary better not get the gig FFS, Maybe Bluey LOL

Shit we are screwed when it comes to coaches come to think of it

 

[Rich102]

Ahh.... After the English scored four against them... yes.

 

[Skinner]

It's ok Rich.......it's just a moment that we all have in our advancing years :sarcasm:

 

[Micistm]

Had the Poms made the final, in hindsight, it would've been the better final and a better game to show off the code

 

[Auckland4ever]

The major difference between the Kangaroos and us is that, while they might start of conservative, they have no fear of doing the unorthadox. A number of their tries in the final were virtually undefendable and they were on the back of unorthadox plays by individuals who got great support from those around them. I read an interview with SK about the Kiwi's gameplan a few weeks back and he said that he knew for sure that we wouldn't beat Australia if we made mistakes. Whilst that may be true, I think that's a negative mindset to have going into a game. It should be a given that you don't want to make mistakes. However, to beat the Kangaroos when they're at their best, you have to be creative and be prepared to take risks and try things that are unorthadox. We weren't actually particularly bad in that test, I thought. The Kangaroos were just on another level.