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Exeter Chiefs join Aviva Premiership Rugby and become the 19th different club to play Premiership rugby following their promotion from the Championship last season, and contest their first ever game in England’s top division.

The Wallabies attack hasn’t exactly set the world on fire in 2010 – so what can be improved?

In this video I’ve looked at a short sequence of phases in the 3rd minute of Bledisloe 2 to show what I think needs to be improved.  Whilst there are other issues, the themes shown in this video are the most recurrent for me and have been repeated game after game this season.

In summary the issues are:

• One out runners with little support;
• Playing with too much depth with the ball runner receiving the ball too far away from the contact line;
• Players not committing defenders before they pass;
• Attackers not realigning quickly enough which is creating slow ball – in my opinion it’s not the halfback creating slow ball in the majority of cases;
• A lack of organisation that results from a lack of any sort of attacking structure;
• A lack of innovation.

 There’s no rocket science here – just paying attention to the basics.

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The Wallabies attack hasn’t exactly set the world on fire in 2010 – so what can be improved?

In this video I’ve looked at a short sequence of phases in the 3rd minute of Bledisloe 2 to show what I think needs to be improved.  Whilst there are other issues, the themes shown in this video are the most recurrent for me and have been repeated game after game this season.

In summary the issues are:

• One out runners with little support;
• Playing with too much depth with the ball runner receiving the ball too far away from the contact line;
• Players not committing defenders before they pass;
• Attackers not realigning quickly enough which is creating slow ball – in my opinion it’s not the halfback creating slow ball in the majority of cases;
• A lack of organisation that results from a lack of any sort of attacking structure;
• A lack of innovation.

 There’s no rocket science here – just paying attention to the basics.

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"Actually" fast Beale gets away from Carter and Jane to score

When I sat down to write these, I made a conscious decision to approach them more positively than Lance Free did last week. As the game wore on, that proved very difficult. All in all in was another wallaby performance that was well below were it should be.

No, not below what we have been conditioned to expect, but below what it SHOULD be. There were a few bright spots, some performances that were up to standard, but until there is more players putting in, we will continue to see the Bledisloe living on the wrong side of the Tasman.

It was good to see Dingo use the bench when the players on the field weren’t doing the job, though no backs were replaced.

All in all, a below average, though that average is dropping with every outing, performance that only rated a 4 for the team. We got the result we deserved.

Reserves that got a run

10 – A legendary performance to go down in the history books
9 – Outstanding performance: Man of the match shoo-in
8 – Excellent all round game
7 – Good game with a few sparkles
6 – Solid performance
5 – Average – ho hum
4 – Below par
3 – Had a bad game
2 – Tell your story walking pal
1 – A complete joke

 The big talking point in the Wallaby team named to play the All Blacks this weekend is the move by Matt Giteau back to five eighth.

Robbie Deans decided to use him as the playmaker instead of leaving him at inside centre. Giteau replaces the suspended Quade Cooper.

As expected, Berrick Barnes comes into the run-on team in the centres although there was speculation that he’d replace Cooper in the No 10 role. 

Saturday night will be the first time that Gits and Sookface have been combined since the final game of last year’s Tri Nations Series against the All Blacks in Wellington.

Squeeky Moore is also recalled to the starting side with Saia Faingaa heading back to the bench.

He’ll be comforted by the fact that he’ll be sitting with his brother Anthony, who has been selected for his first test (if he gets on).

Matt Hodgson returns after injury and replaces Ben McCalman in the reserves.

The night will be a special one for lock Nathan Sharpe as he ties the Australian record held by former skipper John Eales for the most caps earned by a Wallabies second rower.

Sharpe, who made his debut against France in Melbourne eight years ago, will be lining up in his 84^th Test

Wallabies 

15. Adam Ashley Cooper        (Brumbies)

14. James O’Connor               (Western Force)

13. Rob Horne                         (NSW Waratahs)

12. Berrick Barnes                  (NSW Waratahs)

11. Drew Mitchell                    (NSW Waratahs)

10. Matt Giteau                       (Brumbies)

9. Will Genia                            (Queensland Reds)

8. Richard Brown                    (Western Force)

7. David Pocock                      (Western Force)

6. Rocky Elsom                       (Brumbies, captain)

5. Nathan Sharpe                    (Western Force)

4. Dean Mumm                       (NSW Waratahs)

3. Salesi Ma’afu                      (Brumbies)

2. Stephen Moore                   (Brumbies)

1. Benn Robinson                   (NSW Waratahs)

Run on reserves:

16. Saia Faingaa                     (Queensland Reds)

17. James Slipper                   (Queensland Reds)

18. Rob Simmons                   (Queensland Reds)

19. Matt Hodgson                    (Western Force)

20. Luke Burgess                    (NSW Waratahs)

21. Anthony Faingaa               (Queensland Reds)

22. Kurtley Beale                     (NSW Waratahs)

The Eastern Province Kings kicked off their first game at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in the 2010 Currie Cup First Division to the perfect start following their last-minute 26-25 victory over the Griffons on Friday night.

WARNING!!! If the pain from yesterday’s video on lost possession hasn’t subsided, don’t watch the video because although it’s not quite as painful, it’s shows plenty of ”basic” mistakes the Wallabies need to eliminate.

In the first four tests of the season the Wallabies have kicked the ball 82 times – that’s around 40% of the times they’ve started a possession sequence.

In the first game of the Tri Nations last weekend New Zealand kicked 44% of the times they started a possession sequence and South Africa 53%.

Click on “Read More” to see the video and further anlysis of the teams kicking performances so far in 2010.

As part of our statistical analysis we measure the effectiveness of kicks based on the outcome so a Kick (-) is a kick that:

• Gained no ground; or 
• Gave possession back to the opposition without a contest; or
• Opened an opportunity for the opposition to counter or kick the ball back and gain more ground than the original kick; or
• Wasted an opportunity to attack with ball in hand.

For example a box kick that goes too far and gives the catcher time to take and then shift the ball before the chasers can get there is a Kick (-), whereas the same kick that gives time for the chasers to arrive and contest possession is a Kick (+), unless of course there was an overlap in attack and the ball should of been passed instead of being kicked.

It’s a subjective thing but those are the sort of guidelines we work with. Other kicks like the Kurtley Beale grubber against Ireland are not contentious and are clearly a Kick (-). If a kick was the right option but it was poorly executed it will also earn a Kick (-).

As you can see from the graph the Wallabies kicking was worst in the game against Fiji but that was to be expected, being the first game of the season.  The game against England in Perth was the Wallabies best kicking performance but then dropped back against against England in Sydney and then Ireland. 

Our season rating for the Wallabies so far is 72% (+).  In the first game of the Tri Nations last weekend we rated New Zealand at 68% (+) and South Africa at 63% (+) so the Wallabies performance hasn’t been too bad, albeit against lesser opposition. 

Where the Wallabies do need to improve is in cutting down some of the simple mistakes they’ve been making as you’ll see in the following video.