Tri-Nations Wallabies vs All Blacks Sat 7th August: Sky Sports 2 8.30am

Judgement Day

The All Blacks team for the Christchurch test is already announced and the only major change is Piri Weepu in for Jimmy Cowan who was injured in the Melbourne match. Sadly Israel Dagg is replaced on the bench by Benson Stanley.

Full report here: http://www.scrum.com/bledisloecup/rugby/story/120697.html

New Zealand: M Muliaina, C Jane, C Smith, M Nonu, J Rokocoko, D Carter, P Weepu, T Woodcock, K Mealamu, O Franks, Brad T, T Donnelly, J Kaino , R McCaw, K Read.

Replacements: C Flynn, B Franks, S Whitelock, V Vito, A Mathewson, A Cruden, B Stanley.

The Aussies team not announced yet - perhaps they are drawing straws to see who will be sent out to the slaughter.

I reckon NZ will seal the deal with a BP win. Its tough to see the Aussies turning around a 7-try rout in their own backyard in a country they havent won in for, what, 7 years?

Ciaran-Irl

I don't know much about Mathewson. He any good?

handsomecake

Ciaran-Irl wrote: »

I don't know much about Mathewson. He any good?

yes .he(and tyson keats) is one of the reasons weepu shifted to 10 for some games in the super 14 2009.in 2010 he left wellington to play for the blues,likes to run with ball in hand ,attack the fringes and was a harsh omission from the original squad along with Kahn Fotuali’i .in some quarters it was felt neither cowan or weepu should have been picked.some players seem to improve in the black shirt though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaZzDklcO7o

Judgement Day

Wallabies to smarten up in Christchurch
August 04, 2010 - 2:24pm
Story by: AAP

http://www.rugby.com.au/news/aap/s-679094_wallabies_to_smarten_up_in_christchurch,141173.html/section/21893

Adam Ashley-Cooper: "We lacked discipline"
The Qantas Wallabies have vowed to smarten up as they try to avoid more humiliation at the hands of the All Blacks in Saturday's Bledisloe Cup return bout in Christchurch.

As if being without almost half their first-choice line-up due to injury or suspension wasn't challenging enough, the Wallabies proved their own worst enemies in last Saturday's 49-28 shellacking in Melbourne.

General-play kicks sailed out on the full, another failed to even reach touch from a penalty, referee's orders fell on deaf ears and, to top off the shambolic display, winger Drew Mitchell became the first Australian player in 23 years to be sent off in a Test match.

"It was stupid on my behalf," Mitchell said of his second yellow-card offence, a brain-snap decision to illegally intervene when All Blacks centre Conrad Smith contemplated a quick lineout throw-in.

"We contributed to our own demise," frustrated coach Robbie Deans noted again as he considered making personnel changes on Wednesday.

"I'm not going to talk up last week's performance because, from an outcome perspective, it was ugly."

The All Blacks punished the Wallabies for their every sin, running in seven tries to stand on the brink of retaining the Bledisloe Cup for an eighth straight year as well as securing the Bundaberg Red Tri-Nations trophy, this weekend.

Utility back Adam Ashley-Cooper, who will be shifted from fullback to outside centre when Deans names his team on Thursday, said the Wallabies must smarten up their act to have any hope of avoiding a record ninth consecutive loss to their trans-Tasman neighbours.

"In stages we lacked discipline," Ashley-Cooper said. "And obviously we cannot allow any of that to creep into our game.

"The referees have shown that they've tightened up their game and we can't allow the ref to control too much."

Stunningly, given Australia's long losing run against New Zealand, Ashley-Cooper conceded the Wallabies paid the price for under-estimating the potency of the All Blacks.

"I'm not sure if it was flatness or more concentration and some times a bit of complacency," he said.

"But you can't afford to lapse against the All Blacks. You've just got to be switched on for the whole 80. If you just switch off for one moment, give the All Blacks that one inch, they're a good enough side to take it."

Deans, preparing the Wallabies for a Test in his home town for the first time, is expecting no let-up from their relentless rivals.

"I would suggest they would be very keen to further humiliate," he said.

"Dan Carter talked through the week about keeping the foot on the throat."

There is hope for the Wallabies, though.

"I mean, no-one's played the All Blacks yet with 15 men so we're looking forward to it. Hopefully it will be this weekend," said Deans, mindful that the Springboks also had a player sent off in each of their two Tri-Nations losses to the world's top-ranked team.

All Blacks assistant coach Wayne Smith on Wednesday indicated there'd be no chance of complacency from the hosts, claiming the Wallabies remained one of the most intelligent teams in the world and well capable of reversing their fortunes quickly.

"Pressure can make you numb and dumb at times if it's smothering and we've all seen great teams, smart teams, succumb to that at times," Smith said.

"But it doesn't last. It's a learning experience. I think they're a smart team. They've got smart management, smart players, probably academic players a lot of them.

"So that (intelligence) still exists."

---

It will take more than 15 Aussies to stop the boys - perhaps they should be allowed to have their bench start too!



THE MEN IN BLACK!

redroar1942

Why is Henry persisting with Cruden on the bench? He cant kick from hand,tackle or run a backline. Is a great broken field runner but if anything happened to Carter they'd be buggered. He's not going to get anything more then a few token minutes of game time. Seems like a waste of a bench spot to me.

subfreq

God almighty I feel like I write the same schizophrenic prediction before every Wallaby game these days.

Always about controlling the little things and getting over a bit of a mental hoodoo and then this team will click. One in four they do just that and then it's back to a complete melt down.

That is not to say that NZ didn't force them to make so many errors last week through excellent play because they did but it doesn't explain for the total abandonment of standards that we saw.

It's good to see PAddy O'Brien dropped the touch judge who called the first yellow card on Drew Mitchell. He has said publicly that it was a wrong call and not a card offense. I have a feeling the refs will have to ease off a bit for the rest of the tournament as we are yet to watch 15 on 15.

This has to be an NZ win but as always I still believe that the Wallabies can at the very least make this competitive by tightening up their own game. I'll be confused if Brown starts but it looks like he will.

thomond2006

Shame that the Tri Nations is over as a contest already again, can't blame the ABs I suppose.

All Blacks to layeth the smackdown again this weekend.

Judgement Day

Aussie squad announced:

Australia: K Beale, J O'Connor, A Ashley-Cooper, A Faingaa, D Mitchell, M Giteau, W Genia, B Robinson, S Faingaa, S Ma'afu, D Mumm, N Sharpe, R Elsom (capt), D Pocock, R Brown

Replacements: S Moore, J Slipper, R Simmons, M Hodgson, L Burgess, B Barnes , C Shepherd

Some minor rearrangement of the deck chairs and let the band play on.

http://www.scrum.com/trinations2010/rugby/story/120883.html

THE FUTURE LOOKS BLACK for the Aussies!

thomond2006

Way better centre partnership for Oz.

They're still going to get hammered though.

Judgement Day

thomond2006 wrote: »

Way better centre partnership for Oz.

They're still going to get hammered though.

Fingers crossed.

The Aussie media are already paving the way for the inevitable defeat by attacking the match referee South African Johnathan Kaplan here: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sport/wallabies-facing-a-problem-referee/story-e6frg7mf-1225901340590

Judgement Day

Now the Aussies are talking themselves up - just the way I like it.

http://www.scrum.com/trinations2010/rugby/story/120939.html

Wallabies reject hoodoo claims
Scrum.com
August 6, 2010

The Wallabies have rejected the notion that the All Blacks hold a hoodoo-like advantage over them, claiming that the end of their eight-game Bledisloe Cup losing-streak is nigh.

Australia's latest attempt to beat their trans-Tasman rivals arrives in Christchurch on Saturday night, where the Wallabies will look to bounce back from a 49-28 hiding in Melbourne last weekend.

But Australia were handicapped in that match by Drew Mitchell's sending off early in the second half, which has since been deemed incorrect by IRB due to the unfair award of a yellow card in the first half, and the Wallabies' gallant effort with 14 men has convinced them they are capable of matching the All Blacks.

Adam Ashley-Cooper has started in all eight consecutive losses to the All Blacks - a streak that will match the all-time record if it is extended to nine - but he shot down the idea that the Wallabies were a beaten side before they even step onto the pitch.

"It's not a mental block. We believe we can beat this New Zealand team," Ashley-Cooper said. "Obviously my last eight encounters haven't been so successful but it's not a hoodoo for us, it just presents a bigger challenge and one that Australians embrace and enjoy."

If the Australians indeed get past the mental hurdle, there is still the matter of beating the All Blacks in terms of ability and power. He said coach Robbie Deans has given them the means of doing just that in Christchurch.

"I would say that New Zealand have performed out of their skin and are playing the best rugby they have over the last couple of years," he said. "This week (Deans) has given us a licence to be very aggressive. And that's important, to bring that intensity. If we're aggressive and focused for the whole 80 and hold onto the ball, that will put us in a good position to get a result."

New Zealander Deans admitted the All Blacks thrived on a scenario where they held the wood over their opposition.

Deans said: "Success breeds success, there's no doubt about that. That's why there's a number of nations around the world that have never beaten the All Blacks. They use that to their own advantage and they get the benefit of that in a number of ways."

Scrum-half Will Genia agreed with Ashley-Cooper that Australia at least believe they can upset the All Blacks, citing their rallying performance after Mitchell's sending off as a turning point of sorts.

''Yes, the All Blacks are beatable,'' Genia told the Sydney Morning Herald. ''I say that purely from the fact that we showed it when we had 14 players on the field in Melbourne during the second half. We can beat them. We know we're a good enough side to score points and keep the All Blacks out of it. And we can do it. It's just all about consistency for 80 minutes. And in the end, if you don't think you can win, you shouldn't be here at all.''

Wallabies captain Rocky Elsom has identified the All Blacks' tendency to get their bodies into positions - by legal means or other - that slow down Genia's release of the ball from the breakdown as a key area in Saturday's match.

"You've got to move those bodies as best you can, whether they're on our side or attacking the ball, you have to clear that space for Willie (Genia)," Elsom told NZPA. "That was definitely an issue for us, bodies around the ruck. Anything that takes the sting out of your attack is not going to help. This tournament (Tri-Nations) has three very different packs but whichever pack gets on top goes a long way towards winning the match.



Piri Weepu to score a try @ 9/2 is looking good and the All Blacks to win by more than 24 @ 2/1.

IT'S GOING TO BE ANOTHER BLACK DAY IN GOD'S OWN COUNTRY!

subfreq

Just worried that our two big defensive weaknesses are in the most crucial positions of number 8 and full back. Brown and Beale normally top missed tackle stats.

Looks like the weather could even throw snow up so it probably wont be the open running thriller of last week.

Giteau would want to seriously have been re-tuning his radar as well this week as it could come down to kicks. Hard to see how even on form he could out kick Carter on his home turf.

I am fascinated to see how NZ adapt their game to atrocious conditions.

Predict a brave and battling Wallabies will possibly lead at half time but are eventually overturned.

toomevara

Tomorrow is going to be ugly for the wallabies I fear. They're in serious trouble as indeed is the game of union....bad times for RU in Oz.

subfreq

subfreq wrote: »

Predict a brave and battling Wallabies will possibly lead at half time but are eventually overturned.

Yea same. Pretty much like last years match in Auckland. Would be great to have an upset and not have the tri-nations settled at the halfway mark.

thomond2006

toomevara wrote: »

Tomorrow is going to be ugly for the wallabies I fear. They're in serious trouble as indeed is the game of union....bad times for RU in Oz.

Article on this very subject by Peter Bills:
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/peter-bills/peter-bills-poor-state-of-the-union-cause-for-aussie-concern-2284922.html

Peter Bills: Poor state of the Union cause for Aussie concern

By Peter Bills
Thursday August 05 2010

WITHOUT wishing to put too fine a point on it – something the Aussies never like doing – a brutal fact has to be recorded: Australian rugby is in the soup.

It has nothing to do with last weekend’s defeat for the Wallabies at the hands of the all-conquering All Blacks. Fact is, they are likely to get another belting when they meet again in the Tri Nations/Bledisloe Cup match in Christchurch on Saturday.

If the Wallabies lose this weekend, it will be a ninth successive loss to the All Blacks, their fiercest rivals. Yet not even that stark, sorry statistic represents the depth of Australian rugby’s travails.

A marketing survey recently released in Sydney revealed that Australian Rugby Union’s (ARU) share of the sporting market has nearly halved in six years despite spending an alarming AUS$23m on the game. It has slipped to a perilous 13.7pc of the sporting interest market and is only the fourth most watched sport in the country.

This derisory figure has a disturbing corollary. When Rugby Union turned professional in 1995, the game in Australia commanded 22pc of the nation’s sporting audience. There was even talk of it overtaking Rugby League, a hitherto unimagined feat.

HOLLOW

Today, such talk has been rendered hollow. As one of Australia’s leading marketing men, Steve Allen, managing director of media planning company Fusion Strategy in Sydney, said: “As a sport, Rugby Union is going nowhere. It’s like a big yawn for most people.”

That view was confirmed when Australia’s ‘7’ TV network didn’t even bother to renew its television rights deal beyond the end of this season. Allen added: “It has done nothing for them.”

So Rugby Union in Australia has retreated to its core support base, the private schools and exclusive clubs, the likes of Eastwood, Sydney University and Randwick in the wealthy Eastern Suburbs, where a waterfront view apartment can cost you $3m and fish and chips in a swish, bistro-type restaurant almost as much.

Does this matter too much? Well yes, actually. For the blunt fact is, Rugby Union in Australia is under assault from all sides. AFL has a huge power base in the state of Victoria from which it has spread its sporting tentacles. Rugby League, once thought to be on a slippery slope, has been revived spectacularly. It might still be a game of mind-numbing boredom, but thousands still follow it with an almost religious zeal.
What is more, these sporting codes have the financial clout to lead invading armies into Union’s supposed territory. They flood the schools with their messages, their free kit and other assorted detritus of their games. They send the star names of their game into classrooms to beguile and entice youngsters to their code. Little old Rugby Union can offer few such enticements.

Even more disturbingly, Union has been dealt a tough lesson by its traditionally strongest support base: the Sydney business world. In recent years, Test matches involving the Wallabies have been played at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games stadium, way out in the suburbs at Homebush.

It is a long slog from the city by train or car and the wealthy business community, who hold the dollars that the Australian Rugby Union so desperately crave, has made it clear it doesn’t like the venue. Especially on a wet Saturday night.

So, this being professional Rugby Union, when the sponsors say jump, rugby says ‘how high’? In this case, to the extent of agreeing that most future Test matches played against the likes of Ireland, England, Wales and France will be staged at the Sydney Football Stadium (SFS), a stone’s throw from Paddington, one of the close-in city suburbs.

Now the SFS doesn’t boast anything like the capacity of the Olympic Stadium, or ANZ Stadium as it is now known. But it is so much closer to real rugby areas and the city, and, in this game, the men who hold the financial accounts hold sway.

It is a revealing climb-down on the part of the embattled ARU, even though Tri Nations Tests will continue to be held at the ANZ when in Sydney. They know they have no choice. And their CEO John O’Neill admits that he faces a hand of cards invariably stacked against him and his organisation.

“We are back to where we were 15 years ago when the code had just turned professional,” he said.

It would be over-egging the issue to say that Rugby Union in Australia is on borrowed time. The national team still has some fine players and others are pressing to follow their path into the coveted Wallabies fold.

But at a time when the IRB likes to boast of the exponential spread of its game around the world, the fact is one of its supposed bastions is crumbling. And that ought to concern us all.

- Peter Bills

amacachi

Well this should be fun. Anyone know what the Romans used to eat when Christians were thrown to the lions? Just want to make the whole experience as authentic as possible. :pac:

EDIT:

Rugby League, once thought to be on a slippery slope, has been revived spectacularly. It might still be a game of mind-numbing boredom

Funny how someone on the opposite side of the world has managed to sum up the ARU's problem right there.

Judgement Day

Aussies look beaten before they start!

amacachi

It begins...

B0X

Jaypers the Wallabies looking poor at the start.

handsomecake

if anyone ever questions the new rules show them the six minutes that have just transpired,un-be-lievable.7 nil all blacks.muliaina cracker.ball not kicked in six minutes

amacachi

Hilarious stuff.

handsomecake

christ what a game.the north is light years behind this stuff

B0X

handsomecake wrote: »

the north is light years behind this stuff

Please don't start that crap.

efb

Great intercept by the aussies!

amacachi

B0X wrote: »

Please don't start that crap.

Well it is. Though if someone put together a team who don't fumble the ball they'd beat either of these teams.

thomond2006

Try Conrad Smith.

amacachi

The commentators were "hmmm"ing there!? It was a perfect grounding!

NZ 14-7

Judgement Day

B0X wrote: »

Please don't start that crap.

Why, when it's true. Great Conrad Smith try. Every time the ABs have the ball in hand a score looks on. 14-7.

thomond2006

lol at the bitter Aus commentator:

"Well that's just a penalty straight way....McCaw....against him!"

:D

Go ABs, I want to hear these biased people suffer.

Edit: lol, another one: "Ben Franks: The Richie McCaw of front rowers"

thomond2006

That's a shocker from Drew Mitchell.

amacachi

NZ 17-10 HT.

thomond2006

Aus not doing too bad, their few errors have cost them though.

They are certainly doing better than I thought.

Great, half-time analysis by the same biased trolls.

Judgement Day

Aussies have done well to hold the ABs to a 7 point lead at HT but it's a game of two halves and Richie had a few words with Jonathan Kaplan as they came off the pitch.

C'MON THE BLACKS!

Judgement Day

Judgement Day wrote: »

Richie had a few words with Jonathan Kaplan as they came off the pitch.

Bit cheeky seeing as how NZ have been lying all over the breakdown

amacachi

Deleted User wrote: »

Bit cheeky seeing as how NZ have been lying all over the breakdown

Not like them.

thomond2006

Another dubious forward pass decision against Australia.

B0X

Kaplan is shocking.

Woodcock should have walked. Danny care did the same thing to Horan and was off straight away

amacachi

That was bloody nasty.

thomond2006

That should have been a yellow, blatant cheap shot on Saia Faingaa.

thomond2006

17-10 to NZ with 25 minutes to go.

Aus 5 metre scrum.

Edit: and the ABs hold out and win a penalty.

Judgement Day

God, it has dissolved into a horrible mess this half!

amacachi

25 minutes this half with no score plus whatever towards the end of the first half. That should please the people who don't like high-scoring matches.

thomond2006

Mitchell makes 50-60 metres with a superb break, beating 3/4 defenders but Aus butcher it again in the next phase with **** back play.

Weepu to make a long penalty attempt. Missed.

Kaplan is hammering the Wallabies, he called Pocock a supporting tackler when he clearly entered the breakdown after the tackle was made.

toomevara

thomond2006 wrote: »

Weepu to make a long penalty attempt. Missed.

Kaplan is hammering the Wallabies, he called Pocock a supporting tackler when he clearly entered the breakdown after the tackle was made.

Strange how those black jerseys seem to render a player invisible to a referee, maybe we should all start wearing them. Pity the wallabies are lacking in precision today, particularly the backline. Were they a little bit more accurate they'd have won this game, but a great performance from some key men. rattled the AB's. Now that the blacks are out to 10 I can see 'em kicking on...

thomond2006

NZ 20 - 10 Australia, Carter penalty.

10 minutes to go.

Aus commentators coping out here, blaming the ref. They really are pathetic. Kaplan has been harsh but Australia had their chances but ****ed up repeatedly with passes going to ground.

ironingbored

It's impossible to beat the AB's with 14 men; it's extremely difficult to beat them with 15 and very unlikely to beat them with 16.

thomond2006

20 - 10 FT

Judgement Day

All over 20-10 far from champagne rugby but a win is a win - both sides looked tired. The All Blacks won again even against 15 men. I thought the Aussie commentary was priceless.:D

AUSSIES BLACKBALLED AGAIN!

PhatPiggins

toomevara wrote: »

Strange how those black jerseys seem to render a player invisible to a referee, maybe we should all start wearing them. Pity the wallabies are lacking in precision today, particularly the backline. Were they a little bit more accurate they'd have won this game, but a great performance from some key men. rattled the AB's. Now that the blacks are out to 10 I can see 'em kicking on...

McCaw cant get bined no matter what he does, its getting beyond pathetic at this stage. How many penalties was it after the team warning from Woodcocks penalty(defo yellow btw) 5 at least.

AB's good but not as good as we've been lead to believe.