International Club Rugby Australia v Wales - Lang Park 9-6-12

[Caesar]

Really looking forward to this match, even though it's probable we'll get smashed. The Welsh are taking the fixture very seriously - their full-strength side has been training in Brisbane all week.

The Wallabies are struggling after the defeat to Scotland on Tuesday. Fortunately this team will be much stronger than that side, with the return or debut of 9 players including Adam Ashley-Cooper. James O’Connor, Kurtley Beale, Quade Cooper and skipper James Horwell are still out injured. Pocock will captain the side again. Barnes will take over kicking duties, with Harris relegated to the bench after his horror night on Tuesday.

The game should be interesting. A new look back line combined with drier conditions (showers forecast for Brisbane today, but that's all) should result in a more potent attack. Questions remain over our kicking abilities with Beale, Cooper and O'Conner all out and Harris damaged goods after the Scotland game.

A win is almost too much to hope for I think, but with most of our creative players out I am not too worried about what a loss means. Realistically, if our forward pack can hold its own at the ruck and in the scrum then I will be happy with the result. If not, I will be disappointed.

Australia:

Adam Ashley-Cooper, Cooper Vuna, Rob Horne, Pat McCabe, Digby Ioane, Berrick Barnes, Will Genia; Wycliff Palu, David Pocock (capt), Scott Higginbotham, Nathan Sharpe, Rob Simmons, Sekope Kepu, Tatafu Polota-Nau, Benn Robinson.

Bench: Stephen Moore, Ben Alexander, Dave Dennis, Michael Hooper, Nic White, Anthony Faingaa, Mike Harris.

Wales:

Leigh Halfpenny, Alex Cuthbert, Jonathan Davies, Scott Williams, George North, Rhys Priestland, Mike Phillips, Gethin Jenkins, Ken Owens, Adam Jones, Bradley Davies, Luke Charteris, Dan Lydiate, Sam Warburton (capt), Toby Faletau.

Bench: Matthew Rees, Paul James, Alun Wyn Jones, Ryan Jones, Lloyd Williams, James Hook, Ashley Beck.

 

[Santana]

Tomane is out hurt, Cooper Vuna is his replacement. ​

 

[Caesar]

Damn, I missed that. That's pretty upsetting. He was one of the better players on Tuesday night, I was really impressed with his debut.

How long's he out for, do you know?

 

[Santana]

6 weeks I think. May be back for the finals of the super rugby (if the Brumbies do get there - which they should).

 

[Lions1024]

7 out of the starting 15 come from a team that has been mentally fragile and quite frankly dismal isn't a very good sign. There's no doubting that they all have talent so hopefully they can overcome their Super 15 woes and really step up and perform.

 

[Luigi742]

should be a good game, but if Australia play anything like they did on Tuesday, they are going to get beaten badly.

CYRMU AM BYTH

 

[FlyingBurittoBro]

3-0 to the wallabies after 10 minutes. Wonder if we'll score any tries tonight.

 

[FlyingBurittoBro]

nice pick n drive try to the wallabies under the sticks

 

[Caesar]

Really impressed with our work at the breakdown. Wales are playing well and they have more points on the way, but we are so strong on the ball. It's great.

 

[FlyingBurittoBro]

10 - 3 wallabies at ht. much better looking side than the one that took on scotland. Wonder if phillips gets a sore back from having to reach down and pick up the ball all the time, he's the tallest scrum half I have ever seen.

 

[Caesar]

Just a great match. Really positive play from both teams. And good forward play too - I can't remember the last time that a Wallabies match has been a really good forwards contest.

 

[FlyingBurittoBro]

great try to genia. Not his first line break tonight but he learnt his lesson and chose not to kick this time. Barnes converts. 17 - 3 wallabies.

 

[Caesar]

The best part is that you still don't feel like Wales are by any means out of the match.

 

[Caesar]

20-9... a couple of infringements at the breakdown by the Wallabies gifting the Welsh free points on two occassions. Not really their fault though - Wales are looking very dangerous when attacking, putting on some nice pressure.

As I type, line break by Cuthbert to score Wales' first try. 20-16 with Halfpenny's conversion.

 

[FlyingBurittoBro]

s**t. Huge momentum swing in the last five minutes. 20-19. Hang in there boys.

 

[Caesar]

The sustained pressure is really starting to pay dividends for Wales. Come on. 15 minutes.

 

[Tairy Greene]

Apart from that linebreak where he tried to chip, this has been one of Genias best games in the Green & Gold, very composed out there. Our forwards have been unbelievable though, great to watch!

 

[Caesar]

Fantastic match. Scoreline doesn't do justice to how competitive it was. Top quality from both sides, forwards and backs. The way Test rugby should be.

Now if only we could play in the wet.

 

[Mint Condition]

Was a great game. We played so much better than I thought we would. Great at the breakdown and Genia and McCabe were fantastic. McCabe has improved so much since last year as a centre. I'm wondering whether a JOC/McCabe midfield might be the long term partnership. Horne didn't have the best of games.

Wales were pretty good too, and it's great to have them here for 3 tests. I thought they just made a few too many mistakes at really crucial times. They bombed one certain try and a few other very good opportunities, while we took more of ours. I think that was the difference in the end. I hope George North will be able to play the next 2 matches...he's going to be a superstar of the game.

 

[Caesar]

I much prefer McCabe playing centre rather than in the halves. He really is an amazing asset there, with his penetrating runs. He can play as a half, but it's not his greatest strength. Not really a brilliant tactician.

 

[S120]

Was busy almost shitting my pants and vomitting at will watching the Swans tonight so didn't get to watch live but jsut finished watching the replay then. Good performance from the Wallabies, very good in fact. There were a few periods where Wales wrested the momentum away from them but credit due, they're a good side who are capable of playing some very good rugby.

Great defence all night for the most part, very strong work at the breakdown and the back line looked smooth under Genia and Barnes.

Genia was MOTM pretty easily for me. Wonderful game from him and that try was some of the best footwork you could ever see at Test level. Barnes was very strong too, great kicking game and controlled the game really well when he had to.

Cooper Vuna must have missed upwards of 10 tackles tonight. Looked ok during his few runs but he is a defensive liability (not that we didn't know that already) and has to go. Hopefully Mitchell is ready to go soon. I'd get Shipperely in there failing that.

 

[Caesar]

Vuna does a decent enough job... if you're relying on wingers to defend then you've got bigger problems. Not in our best XV but a passable second stringer.

 

[S120]

That's not true about being in bigger trouble if you need your wingers to defend. It's not that simple. We need all our backs to be able to pressure and make one on one tackles when needed to and Vuna was pretty s**t with some of his efforts.

 

[Caesar]

If wingers are making pressure tackles then the opposition are all over you. I agree that a first stringer needs to be a bit better defensively than he showed tonight, but I don't think it's a major indictment of him as a player.

 

[S120]

I think Vuna's defensive deficiencies have been there for everyone to see. As such his defence has already been an indictment on him as a player. Was just more of the same tonight.