pengwin

"To me, this was the best performance by the All Blacks since 1997."

I don't like Spiro, nor his passion for the Wallabies. Is he not a kiwi? But he
does live and breath the game from a media point of view, and this is a big
statement... even for him.

Full Article:
http://rugbyheaven.smh.com.au/articles/2003/07/21/1058639723686.html

cm

I think Spiro has completely lost the plot. Further on in the article he
writes:
"My theory is that the All Blacks are very much like the Spartans. If you
play a predictable game against them, they will defeat you. The Springboks
tend to play unsurprising rugby. The Athenians defeated the Spartans by not
following the traditional rules of war. This bewildered the Spartans and led
to their defeat. The Wallabies, especially when Rod Macqueen was the coach,
emulated the Athenians. The All Blacks found it hard to cope with Macqueen's
clever, new tactics.

"Can Eddie Jones devise an Athenian-style game plan which will surprise the
All Blacks?"

It's always tempting to draw comparisons between sport and war, and I love
an historical ****ogy as much as the next person (maybe even more than the
next person) but my rapidly fading memories of high school ancient history
tell me Spiro will find, upon further research, that the Spartans beat the
Athenians with their traditional tactics in most of the decisive battles of
the Peloponnesian Wars.

The real differences that I see between the Macqueen's Wallabies, Jones'
Wallabies and the All Blacks of last weekend are those of skill and speed.
The All Blacks were able to play expansive, fast rugby with a high level of
skill. Macqueen's Wallabies were the same. Jones' blokes just aren't up to
that level judging by recent performances and without players of the
callibre of Eales and Horan to name but two, don't look as if they will get
there anytime soon.

That is not to say today's Wallabies are hopeless, just not as good. If the
only hope of the Wallabies is to find a surprising game plan then I think
they are out of luck. Their best chance of a win on the weekend is to get
the basic things right and play with a hell of a lot of guts in defense.
From there the attacking innovation can follow but there is not much point
worrying about it until you are controlling the majority of the possession.

To some extent I feel that this on-going media driven belief that an
"exciting signing" from league or some new ambush tactic is going to
maintain the Wallabies standing in World Rugby is the limiting factor in how
much success we will see in the future.

Sorry, I seem to have done a Spiro and wandered away from the point I was
trying to make, if indeed I had a point to make in the first place.

Cheers,

maso

cm

I think Spiro has completely lost the plot. Further on in the article he
writes:
"My theory is that the All Blacks are very much like the Spartans. If you
play a predictable game against them, they will defeat you. The Springboks
tend to play unsurprising rugby. The Athenians defeated the Spartans by not
following the traditional rules of war. This bewildered the Spartans and led
to their defeat. The Wallabies, especially when Rod Macqueen was the coach,
emulated the Athenians. The All Blacks found it hard to cope with Macqueen's
clever, new tactics.

"Can Eddie Jones devise an Athenian-style game plan which will surprise the
All Blacks?"

It's always tempting to draw comparisons between sport and war, and I love
an historical ****ogy as much as the next person (maybe even more than the
next person) but my rapidly fading memories of high school ancient history
tell me Spiro will find, upon further research, that the Spartans beat the
Athenians with their traditional tactics in most of the decisive battles of
the Peloponnesian Wars.

The real differences that I see between the Macqueen's Wallabies, Jones'
Wallabies and the All Blacks of last weekend are those of skill and speed.
The All Blacks were able to play expansive, fast rugby with a high level of
skill. Macqueen's Wallabies were the same. Jones' blokes just aren't up to
that level judging by recent performances and without players of the
callibre of Eales and Horan to name but two, don't look as if they will get
there anytime soon.

That is not to say today's Wallabies are hopeless, just not as good. If the
only hope of the Wallabies is to find a surprising game plan then I think
they are out of luck. Their best chance of a win on the weekend is to get
the basic things right and play with a hell of a lot of guts in defense.
From there the attacking innovation can follow but there is not much point
worrying about it until you are controlling the majority of the possession.

To some extent I feel that this on-going media driven belief that an
"exciting signing" from league or some new ambush tactic is going to
maintain the Wallabies standing in World Rugby is the limiting factor in how
much success we will see in the future.

Sorry, I seem to have done a Spiro and wandered away from the point I was
trying to make, if indeed I had a point to make in the first place.

Cheers,

maso