Sunday, September 04, 2005
Wallabies slump to 5th loss on trot
No one really expected anything different. The biggest surprise was the Wallabies lost to ABs by just 10.

The Wallaby side has been decimated by injury and is nothing without...
Larkham, Gitteau, Mortlock, Latham, Sailor, Flatley, Paul, Vickerman and Lyons.

Or, maybe it is. Old hands have been wanting to see Rogers at five eighth for some time and both Mitchell and Gerrard looked great when running directly at the ABs, who fell off tackling them on many occaisions. Both players must look at their defensive positional play though.

Alas, I missed the second half (Brisbane's RiverFire fireworks), but it seems most punters were happy with the ref, this time. For once he was not the focus of after match-discussion on why one team lost. (Though even in the first half there was still far too much flopping over to kill the ball (by both teams) - all done in the name of 'rucking', though no binding was ever evident.)

My take on this year's tri-nations (up to last night) was summed up in two earlier posts "The trouble with modern game" and "My crisis with Rugby Union Football". I also read this on ABC News ("Wallabies, All Blacks admit cheating in rucks") which backs up my point - coaches are admitting to telling their players to cheat in a game.

Being a rugby union coach (albeit for lowly Under 7s), you do all you can to teach them about sportsmanship. What do you say next year, when they are older, "OK lads, when the refs not looking, go offside" or "If it looks like they're going to get the ball back, stick your hand in and stop it."

Humm.

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