its on Channel 7 or Fox Sport 2

its been kicked off 8:05pm

This is true.

bit of a wierd game... not much continuity in the first half, espcially from the wallabies. The second half had england with alot of big phases but with no effect or spark. Couple entertaining tries and a s***load of penalties and knock ons.

Looking to next weeks match for less stoppages from slippery ball and more entertaining phase links.

This is a big turn around... its great to see the wallabies get up again after such a long time losing.

Played well and hard, room for improvement but i'm happy.

Scrums were terrible, defense looked excellent but wasn't really challenged all that much. Highlight for me was the performace of the Australian loose forwards who could be the key to Australia doing well this season.

This is a big turn around... its great to see the wallabies get up again after such a long time losing.

Played well and hard, room for improvement but i'm happy.

oh man im so happy with the improvement in the forwards. We have had such a strong backline (espcially with all the options in the wings/fullback) that the weakness in the forwards was blatently obvious but eddie just let it slide. MASSIVE turn around. We won lineouts against, good turn-arounds at the break down and generally good hard play. Cant wait to see them improve.

PLUS, rodzilla is a f***ing champion. At schoolboy level rodzilla was 150KG. Now hes 130, shaped up for the wallabies. Can you imagine having to tackle that f***ing guy in open rugby at school. :(

Scrums were terrible, defense looked excellent but wasn't really challenged all that much. Highlight for me was the performace of the Australian loose forwards who could be the key to Australia doing well this season.

No way. The biggest deciding factor will be the front three without a doubt. Its up to rodzilla to save the team. We are quite strong in the loose forwards. Having a player as consistantly strong as phil waugh on the bench is a sign of how deep we are there. The tight 5 are definately the make or break part IMO.

As for scrums... they werent that bad. We were not getting pushed off the ball at any stage in the game. The fact that they were collapsing was largely the effect of the soggy ground and generally shenanigans by the props.

last edited by qmass at 22:27:21 11/Jun/06

Yeah our tight 5 will probably hold their own this season unlike the past few years, but I think it's our edge in the loose forwards that will translate to wins.

Yeah our tight 5 will probably hold their own this season unlike the past few years, but I think it's our edge in the loose forwards that will translate to wins.

At the risk of spamming im quoting out again. I agree with you for sure. I f***ing love seeing phil and george on the field together. They are like a pair of bulldogs. I was so dissapointed that they werent both put into the run-on with rocky elsom in number 8. I cant really think of any other international team that has helped pioneer that bastard pilfering those two do at the breakdown. (especially smith, phil waugh is better at running in and locking down the 5/8 generally)

As for scrums... they werent that bad. We were not getting pushed off the ball at any stage in the game. The fact that they were collapsing was largely the effect of the soggy ground and generally shenanigans by the props.

I'm not so sure about that. When the Aussie scrum stayed up the front row popped up a lot (i.e. ended up with their backs arched in the wrong direction). That effectively stopped the Australian push and weight advantage. That comes down to front row technique and experience and all the Australians could do for a period was bring it down or just try and hold.

At the risk of spamming im quoting out again. I agree with you for sure. I f***ing love seeing phil and george on the field together. They are like a pair of bulldogs. I was so dissapointed that they werent both put into the run-on with rocky elsom in number 8. I cant really think of any other international team that has helped pioneer that bastard pilfering those two do at the breakdown. (especially smith, phil waugh is better at running in and locking down the 5/8 generally)

Couldn't agree with you more. I always thought those two should be on the field even before Australia started doing that. The sheer tackling and ball winning ability of those two negates the size we lose by not having a big blind side flanker.

Damn cool game. Look forward to the next one.

I'm not so sure about that. When the Aussie scrum stayed up the front row popped up a lot (i.e. ended up with their backs arched in the wrong direction). That effectively stopped the Australian push and weight advantage. That comes down to front row technique and experience and all the Australians could do for a period was bring it down or just try and hold.

Fair enough. I stopped playing prop in under10s when I grew taller and I didnt play forwards after grade 8 since its f***ing cruisy sitting in the outside center/wing compared to playing number 8 which was my last position having moved through the second row. :P Man I miss playing rugby. I broke my wrist in a trial game in my last year of school and ive been too lazy to play club.

Front row efforts were interesting, the aussies had all the confidence after the first hit, it got pulled up and they struggled from then on.. it was like they couldnt believe they did so well and settled for collapsing from then on...

if we can hold onto the ball as well as england did we'll be quite a reckoning in the tri nations.. They put together 22 phases against the likes of george smith and heenan and elsom trying to steal all on the aussie 22.. granted they don't have the attacking weapons to do anything with the pocession but the ability to continually recycle the ball in those circumstances is pretty frickin impressive...

my take on the phil waugh smith combo.. they just don;t provide enough impact running options in close.. as we saw later in the match waugh went on impressive runs, lead to one try but smith was tired at that stage so he was really just filling that role.. heenan and elsom and sharpe are whats needed in terms of inclose inside balls around the ruck

As for the backline.. really want to see staniforth get a run.. he is the most deserving of the s14 players australia had running around this year.. GIVE HIM A GO since peter hewitt basically undid himself of a run in the last 2 games of the tahs season...

orsm.
Australia's defence was f***ing awesome. England went through 20 phases at one stage and didn't get close to scoring.
Rodney is a legend. I thought it was good to see Jeremy Paul come on to replace Tai McIsaac. Also George Smith for man of the match. Gregan's try save was pretty great as well.

Front row efforts were interesting, the aussies had all the confidence after the first hit, it got pulled up and they struggled from then on.. it was like they couldnt believe they did so well and settled for collapsing from then on...

were you watching the same game? We got smashed in the srums early on the loosehead side then got better as the game went on, with the highlight of Homes forcing White to collapse and winning a penalty.

Smith and Waugh should definately not be in the same run on side, anyone that says otherwise doesn't have a clue what they're talking about and clearly haven't witnessed our problems in the past few years.

Reason they made 22 phases was because it was all one out and the aussies weren't committing to the breakdown, hence our 14 man defensive line all night.

Smith and Waugh should definately not be in the same run on side, anyone that says otherwise doesn't have a clue what they're talking about and clearly haven't witnessed our problems in the past few years.

The last few year they've kept us in the hunt! They are the two of the best ball winners in the game and have patrolled the field like champions. Yes we've lacked size in the pack at times but those two have been able to negate that to an extent by bringing down rolling mauls better than anyone else and getting through a mountain of tackling. Balancing their lack of size with a massive front row that will hopefully deal with scrumaging a lot better as they get experienced should also help. Solidify the front row and many of the problems will disappear (especailly if Rocky continues to play well).

the past few years the problems in the forwards havnt been from light breakaways. They have never put smith and waugh in the same team. Its been the front row... by far that has caused the problems. With an all new front row and more size the small breakaways shouldnt hurt. rodzilla is a one man tight 5 anyway.