rugby washup

[Ken Gargett]

congrats to the lions. thoroughly thrashed us tonight. i, for one, would like to offer apologies to all lions fans for our abject failure to even make the final test competitve. we were dire. first thing tomorrow, i am off to south australia, a non rugby state, and will be sans computer for a few days thankfully.

all that said, it is so frustrating as i truly believe that we had more than enough talent to win this series and if cooper had been picked, we'd have been two up. but, split milk...

deans must now go - the silver lining.

and i firmly believe i have seen more than enough that with either white or mckenzie in charge, some disipline, we are a serious shot at the world cup in 2015. can't wait.

[Smokin_Safari]

Just home (from US Ambassador's place & some very sweet SLRs), to see the score (holy f'n hell!) the margin of which should be driving some changes. Please no more $200 haircuts, tattoos, early morning fast food & Kiwis. I would entertain a Yaapie at the helm but a missing link would be first prize. Either way, ARU must put up some cash but more importantly some stricter code of conduct rules. And of course, allow the captain a say in the jersey awards.

It's been down hill since Gregan was appointed & its time to reclaim the heartland & grassroots again. Izzy is a bought athlete & would win a spot in Australia's curling team if he wanted it, but what about the hundreds of youngsters who deserve development? These are the future ball-tearers like Gill who have been failed by the code's leadership.

[Pilgrims]

I was clearly delighted by the score etc but have to agree with you guys that you have the athletes (Rugby athletes I mean, point taken about "bought" talent) to be a great side but need to settle some things down and get key people in key positions (O'connor world class player but not a 10 etc). You'll be there or thereabouts come World Cup time but need to makes changes soon.

Deans must now go as you're a potent attacking side and scoring tries but still loosing games - that gets very disheartening for everyone...

[shiva13]

we're just better. come on the lions

[Guest rob]

The writing was on the wall from the opening touch of the game.

Thank God for cigars and whisky is all I can say....

[Ken Gargett]

The writing was on the wall from the opening touch of the game.

Thank God for cigars and whisky is all I can say....

well, for me, way to ruin a great SLR DC!

well, we got thoroughly thrashed.

go back to that first moment. complete stuff up but i must say i was still settling in so missed who collided with genia. absurd. but so much worse when you go back to the very first kick off of the series. happened just near me so i remember it well. barnes collided with genia (and bumped a few others during his inglorious cameo). so presumably genia is to catch the longer kickoffs. that time, genia held on, just, and cleared so no more made of it. but this is schoolboy stuff. once appalling but twice in a series like this is extraordinary. they were so disorganised that they didn’t know who was to catch the kickoff?

do they not practice these things? if not, why not? and if they do, what the hell do they practice because they stuffed up both of them?

that something so simple was a mess from the start says everything about this team. and its truly appalling, inept, incompetent joke of a coach. surely now, the aru can see that the coach has no clothes.

this just screams of a team woefully underprepared - and thanks so much robbie, for stuffing up the reds lions match by robbing us of most of the reds team. i remain convinced a full strength reds outfit was a serious chance to knock them off. that worked so well. like every other disaster you’ve implemented. we were supposed to finish stronger, fitter. again, worked well. what wallaby fan was not desperate for the final whistle to stop the carnage. had it gone longer, it would have been 50 plus. all blacks must be quivering.

can anyone explain the decision to bring in mccalman? why on earth? what message does that send to anyone? a plodding journeyman is brought in out of the blue. smith i can understand but whether you think hooper or gill should have started, we drop a kid who has starred, who saved the 2nd test and who is the future of the wallabies. for a bloke who was shown up so badly in yet another of deans’ disasters – the world cup game against ireland (of course, that was the world cup where the moron coach picked one openside flanker in a squad of 30, 35? and that was one who was known to be injured. so not a single plan B. not a single suitable option.

and of course, thankfully no quade. not that he could have done much last night but i will forever believe that with him, we’d have been two zip up. but at least robbie will be able to sleep at nights, knowing he stuck to his guns. doesn’t matter that he trashed aussie rugby. at least quade didn’t play.

how stupid is this bloke.

i honestly believe that we have more than enough talent to have won this and to win the world cup in 2015. but if deans is still in control then we won't get out of the first round. what a shame that one man, a kiwi, trashed a series that comes around once every 12 years. he must surely be gone. thank god for the silver lining.

[frenchkiwi]

How many penalties conceded in the scrum? 12-15 points worth and a yellow? [9 penalties apparently] That was the game. After that, you're chasing a huge margin, throwing caution to the wind, and one small turnover is all it takes for a blowout. The tight 5 had all their energy sucked out of them by backpedalling and it showed in general play, particularly later in the game on kick chases. Strange how what most expected in the first test didn't come to fruition until the third. That's when the lions forwards finally brought the fire and went all in, and in the 2nd half, their backs finally risked running it back. A gold-plated scrum guarantee will do that to ya.

Unfortunately the Wallabies still don't quite have the front row and that ain't gonna change any time soon (particularly with rule changes next year - no playing with the hits then). Deans had it right when on being appointed he immediately tried to poach the kiwi Franks brothers across the Tasman. The next coach will inherit that problem as well as the Brat pack... Still, they did well in the first 2 tests and on the rare occasions when they did have the ball they did pretty well in the 3rd. WIth pocock and higginbotham back they will look a lot better.

Well done the Lions... Davies justified his appointment ahead of BOD, particularly with his left foot kicking and just about everything else. Roberts (and O'Brien Faletau) finally got them over that advantage line and gave them a platform to build off. Halfpenny ran the ball back more than he's ever done in a test match. But the damage was mostly done up front ... wallabies backs could only dream of that kind of platform in this series.

Interesting that the bookies reversed their first test position (Lions $1.70 favourites) and gave Wallabies $1.70 favourites...

All in all i think i enjoyed the 2001 series more, but only because the caliber of a few star players was slightly higher (S Quinnell, J Robinson, BOD, Gregan, Larkham, Roff, Eales et al). And possibly because defences weren't quite as tight back then, hard to remember. Great stuff.

[El Presidente]

Congrats to the Lions and all their supporters

It was great to have so many Lions supporters (20,000) in our country over the past month for what was an excellent series! The third test was simply a rugby lesson.

For us Aussies the highlight is still to come....the end of coach Robbie Deans who in 5 years at the helm has taken us nowhere technically, nowhere tactically, holds the second worst Wallaby coaching record in history while all at the same time managing to oversee a new culture of indiscipline/off field indiscretion/squad conflict...... it takes a special breed of incompetence to screw things up that bad

[asmith]

.... it takes a special breed of incompetence to screw things up that bad

This can be seen in the weekly cigar reviews

[Dara]

This can be seen in the weekly cigar reviews

That's not incompetence Smithy, it's just the effects of alcohol!

So Rob, what percentage of discount are you offering us dedicated Lions supporters to celebrate ??

[Fuzz]

That's not incompetence Smithy, it's just the effects of alcohol!

So Rob, what percentage of discount are you offering us dedicated Lions supporters to celebrate ??

200% mark ups!

[El Presidente]

So Rob, what percentage of discount are you offering us dedicated Lions supporters to celebrate ??

Every plugged cigar I can find!

[Pilgrims]

Rugby News and Views ‏@What_The_Ruck

4m

It is being reported that Wallabies coach Robbie Deans will be sacked today with former Reds boss Ewen McKenzie set to replace him

[Fuzz]

There is much celebration in the streets now that Deans is gone.

[Jeremy Festa]

Headline on ABC this morning! Link --> http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-08/deans-to-be-replaced-by-mckenzie-as-wallabies-coach/4806914

[Ken Gargett]

thank whatever divinity flicks your switch! what a relief. finally. though 6 years too late. what a total disaster it has been.

and as a qlder, may i say that we are happy to make the sacrifice and relinquish our coach to the greater good (actually, not all that happy but...). we've done it with the cricket and now the rugby.

sometimes it gets a bit tiring carrying the rest of australia but it is the cross we must bear.

[frenchkiwi]

sometimes it gets a bit tiring carrying the rest of australia but it is the cross we must bear.

ah yes, you're doing well, Ewen Mackenzie walking in the path carved out by John Connolly: front rowers coaching queensland, stade francais and the wallabies.

except that Ewen, of course, is a New South Welshman. maybe he will do better than Connolly then?

[Ken Gargett]

ah yes, you're doing well, Ewen Mackenzie walking in the path carved out by John Connolly: front rowers coaching queensland, stade francais and the wallabies.

except that Ewen, of course, is a New South Welshman. maybe he will do better than Connolly then?

actually mckenzie is a victorian who played a few seasons for nsw. just one of the reasons so many mexicans hate him (that and the fact that he got nsw to two super finals without winning one, still a great achievement, and then wins one with the glorious reds).

connolly had a terrific record around the globe. for many many years. might have been an old fashioned coach but it worked. don't forget that if not for jellyboots mortlock missing a very kickable penalty at the end of the 07 cup game, we'd have done the poms and the south africans would not have been a team that would have concerned him/us as much as did the poms. and of course, the french knocked the kiwis out again. so but for a few inches, he could easily have had a world cup. but then inches do matter. just ask the toxic hobbit. but for flatley hitting the post in 03, he'd have had one as well.

[frenchkiwi]

actually mckenzie is a victorian who played a few seasons for nsw. just one of the reasons so many mexicans hate him (that and the fact that he got nsw to two super finals without winning one, still a great achievement, and then wins one with the glorious reds).

connolly had a terrific record around the globe. for many many years. might have been an old fashioned coach but it worked. don't forget that if not for jellyboots mortlock missing a very kickable penalty at the end of the 07 cup game, we'd have done the poms and the south africans would not have been a team that would have concerned him/us as much as did the poms. and of course, the french knocked the kiwis out again. so but for a few inches, he could easily have had a world cup. but then inches do matter. just ask the toxic hobbit. but for flatley hitting the post in 03, he'd have had one as well.

come to think of it, Connolly's bane was a quarter final in which they were defeated by the worst ever team to reach a world cup final, and a terribly weak front row played its part just like on the weekend.

that still seems to be the difference between winning and losing in crunch games for the wallabies. Connolly definitely didn't seem to be a bad coach, but you can only work with the players you have... good luck to mckenzie, some of his best players are also dysfunctional little brats being separated like naughty kids at school. And he wants to bring cooper back to reunite the trio? hopefully he has grown up since last year and can chaperone his posse. Otherwise, Toomua Mogg et al will be brought in, less flashy, more reliable, a bit more boring to watch. I vote for the Alex Ferguson solution ... hire private minders for them all and keep em on the field.

[Ken Gargett]

come to think of it, Connolly's bane was a quarter final in which they were defeated by the worst ever team to reach a world cup final, and a terribly weak front row played its part just like on the weekend.

that still seems to be the difference between winning and losing in crunch games for the wallabies. Connolly definitely didn't seem to be a bad coach, but you can only work with the players you have... good luck to mckenzie, some of his best players are also dysfunctional little brats being separated like naughty kids at school. And he wants to bring cooper back to reunite the trio? hopefully he has grown up since last year and can chaperone his posse. Otherwise, Toomua Mogg et al will be brought in, less flashy, more reliable, a bit more boring to watch. I vote for the Alex Ferguson solution ... hire private minders for them all and keep em on the field.

i would think the other two of the trio have a bit more to worry about than quade. o'connor dumped by the rebels and struggling to find a super rugby team for next year. hardly a ringing endorsement. not about reuniting.

the most extraordinary thing to emerge from the last game was that a day or two before the game, two aussie players failed to make the bus to training. no prizes for guessing which two morons. and what did deans do? nothing. the atmosphere at the wallabies is so toxic that those morons know they can get away with anything because they are mates of deans. no longer.

i think - no0t certain - that tooma and cooper played together at school, along with pocock. so that might see a very different trio.

and i thought mogg was good, among a bunch of badly beaten backs. genia certainly tried incredibly hard but behind that mess, no chance.

whatever happens, the future looks immeasureably brighter than it did a few days ago.