I've just watched this game. Aust unlucky but Wright gave them a chance by taking the ball over the line. Shield the ball and have a lineout throw.

The best I've seen Lolesio play in a long time. The French TMO was a joke by not making calls over obvious missed knock-ons, yet happy to interject when there might have been foul play. More evidence that the high tackle laws don't apply to the Irish.

Watching back now.

Just got to McCarthy v Valetini skull Off

How - the fuck - is that not a card?

Tupou's break: should have given it to Williams straight away, running out to JAS and Jorgensen on the wing.

Sua'ali'i still has the league habit of turning a shoulder into an opponent after the ball has gone. Surprised he wasn't pinged

OMFG the clear knock on before Doris' try.

Fuck. Me. Dead.

53:00 Aki living his Kiwi roots - straight in at the side, followed at the turned over ruck by Kellaway straight off his feet but... winning... the penalty??

And then we are gifted three points after the referee shows no advantage but penalises ireland anyway. This is a farce

Well that was a weird match for me to watch, I never cheer for Oz but I was clearly cheering for them in this match.

I really dislike Ireland. I hate their smugness over not booing the kicker, of course they don't boo the kicker, they're too tired from booing and whistling everything else throughout the rest of the match.

Ref decisions in rugby are still a lottery. There was one TMO review when I had the sound off where I genuinely didn't know if it was the attacker or defender they were reviewing.

@NTA said in Ireland v Wallabies:

53:00 Aki living his Kiwi roots - straight in at the side, followed at the turned over ruck by Kellaway straight off his feet but... winning... the penalty??

I take back my previous post.

@Nepia said in Ireland v Wallabies:

I hate their smugness over not booing the kicker, of course they don't boo the kicker, they're too tired from booing and whistling everything else throughout the rest of the match.

Fuck don't they. Their knowledge of the Laws is worse than this Italian ref.

I'm 62 minutes in. Surely McReight is MOTM?

Fuck me even the ARs are gibbering idiots

As I get older, I've become more relaxed about referees. Having done it more and more, you understand mistakes are made.

But that was fucking appalling. World Rugby took the only Major Test match this weekend and gave it to second tier retards.

Fraser McReight: 22 tackles (0 misses), 4 defenders been, 27 metres carried, 4 turnovers.

Not MOTM

Ireland had 59% possession and 76% territory. A lot of turnovers each way.

Ireland missed 11 tackles (87% success) and we missed 14 (86%).

@Dodge said in Ireland v Wallabies:

I think the ref has had a good game, I have one minor complaint, Ireland have to be told several times at every break down to leave it, or hands off, or roll away. It’s frustrating and should be pinged quicker

Agree. In my view he probably should’ve penalised them a couple more times to send a message. Far more leeway given than you would want/expect.

@Steven-Harris said in Ireland v Wallabies:

I would love to have clarity why some teams are coached at the breakdown and others are just penalised without warning .
For me the Australians were given no favours by the official

It’s the biggest blight on the game in my view.

I do wonder with the tech and the fact we can have ref mic viewing that these modern day refs watch replays of themselves listening to everything they say and consciously thinking “I should’ve said that in that situation”

@NTA said in Ireland v Wallabies:

Fraser McReight: 22 tackles (0 misses), 4 defenders been, 27 metres carried, 4 turnovers.

Not MOTM

He’s a different player to what George Smith, Waugh or Pocock were. Almost like a better version of Hoiles (who was a very good player but behind greats).

His spot now cemented in the side.

@ACT-Crusader probably the closest thing we have to World's Best - and that particular back row is developing into something special.

@NTA I haven’t seen the game stats but from the armchair view, Valentini had another big game from his involvement.

@ACT-Crusader Wallabies have a good balanced loosie trio in Valetini, Wilson and McReight.

A balanced loose forward trio....imagine that.....

@KiwiMurph said in Ireland v Wallabies:

A balanced loose forward trio....imagine that.....

You can dream :winking_face_with_tongue:

Collected thoughts on the game:

Yes some refereeing decisions were fucking dartboard stuff both ways - and I include all the officials in that.

Sliding doors moments:

• Valetini's knock on is a knock on, we have a scrum - but no, we proceed, he gets done for a forearm, and it's a penalty instead.
• Irish knock on is actually called according to, you know: The Laws Of The Game, and maybe Doris doesn't slide over for a fairly easy try. Maybe in another universe there is a knock on called, and they fuck us at the scrum.

Generally immaterial to the result, but the referee's assessor would have filled about 5 fucking clipboards with comments on the ref, both ARs, and that cheese-eating surrender monkey in the box.

Ireland looked a bit flat to me. You saw how much by how they lifted when the bench came on. Their young flyhalf is a good distributor but I feel like he's still playing the game at the level of his experience and will need some more time against men to bring that up to speed.

I felt like we lost the game just based on territory and a few simple errors - Lolesio took 2 good marks then didn't find touch. Similarly I think we missed a few exit kicks that could have sent Ireland back upfield to lineout, where we could mount pressure on their throwers.

That said, we fucking whacked them. Fuck me I am proud of how this team has turned around its physicality and started punching holes in fluffybunnies - that was apparent across all 4 games. It is the long-overdue component of our game that sets the tone and allows us to compete at the top level.

How good is it going to be as a Tahs fan to have Bell and Kailea competing for the loosehead propping spot? Young, capable at scrum time, and absolute animals in open play.

I'll take that tour as a success, overall.

1. We hung in there against England and finished over the top of them.
2. We smacked Wales in a manner that was probably more convincing that I'd hoped.
3. We made some silly errors against Scotland and still finished 2 scores distant.
4. We made Ireland work for it.

Mainly we upped our physical and mental game and showed we're not going to be pussies next year when Owen Farrell shows up with a bunch of Irishmen, a few Scots with their domesticated imports, a couple of Poms and Jac Morgan.

Fuck you, Eddie Jones, you dickhead. Get in the fucking sea with Hamish McLennan.

Under no circumstances is there ANY excuse for racial slurs.

You've read waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much into that.

@NTA said in Ireland v Wallabies:

How good is it going to be as a Tahs fan to have Bell and Kailea competing for the loosehead propping spot? Young, capable at scrum time, and absolute animals in open play.

Was gonna say I was impressed by Kailea off the bench for Wallabies. Obviously Bell was a huge loss but Kailea handled himself really well against a top international team away from home.

Yeah a bit late to this but I was pretty happy with how we went. Plenty of heart and great to see a bit of accuracy in defence. When you get those chop tackles going it can really bring your poachers into the game, and sure enough McReight had a belter.

We just lack a bit of polish, especially in the backs. Noah Lolesio has improved heaps but his kicking is still a C when we need it to be at least a B+. And we probably needed to finish one of our counter-attack opportunities but Tom Wright was well contained.

That's our recipe for the Lions. Commitment and accuracy in defence, solid set piece and then a bit of magic from the backs every now and again when we get a half chance.

@NTA said in Ireland v Wallabies:

Collected thoughts on the game:

Yes some refereeing decisions were fucking dartboard stuff both ways - and I include all the officials in that.

Sliding doors moments:

• Valetini's knock on is a knock on, we have a scrum - but no, we proceed, he gets done for a forearm, and it's a penalty instead.
• Irish knock on is actually called according to, you know: The Laws Of The Game, and maybe Doris doesn't slide over for a fairly easy try. Maybe in another universe there is a knock on called, and they fuck us at the scrum.

Generally immaterial to the result, but the referee's assessor would have filled about 5 fucking clipboards with comments on the ref, both ARs, and that cheese-eating surrender monkey in the box.

Ireland looked a bit flat to me. You saw how much by how they lifted when the bench came on. Their young flyhalf is a good distributor but I feel like he's still playing the game at the level of his experience and will need some more time against men to bring that up to speed.

I felt like we lost the game just based on territory and a few simple errors - Lolesio took 2 good marks then didn't find touch. Similarly I think we missed a few exit kicks that could have sent Ireland back upfield to lineout, where we could mount pressure on their throwers.

That said, we fucking whacked them. Fuck me I am proud of how this team has turned around its physicality and started punching holes in fluffybunnies - that was apparent across all 4 games. It is the long-overdue component of our game that sets the tone and allows us to compete at the top level.

How good is it going to be as a Tahs fan to have Bell and Kailea competing for the loosehead propping spot? Young, capable at scrum time, and absolute animals in open play.

Thought if they had scored off the TT intercept that might have taken the game, unfortunately support didn’t quite get there

@Nevorian said in Ireland v Wallabies:

Thought if they had scored off the TT intercept that might have taken the game, unfortunately support didn’t quite get there

Shit option from Tupou - should have given it to Williams once through the line, and then followed him. They should have both drifted left a little and called Sua'ali'i and Jorgensen into the middle of the field.

Passing late and badly is never a good option. See it all the time with the leaguies at my club: they think the offload-in-contact is a hero move, rather than staying alive to support.