I spent too much of my time yelling at the refs during the second half. Wales got a try off a forward pass and one thanks to the touch judge not noticing when someone was in touch with the ball. However, Wales did not deserve to win (probably their weakest performance of the tournament) so the result was fair. Australia looked better for the most part despite losing a fullback and fly half within the first 20 mins of the game and within 10 mins of each other.
ACC bombing a try (a tad unfair as it was a great cover tackle) is a good illustration of his year. Over at RH one of the guys said he's been consistent and that's true. The problem is his level has been average from pretty much the start of the Super season. He probably had one of his better games without really doing anything great. Horne looked far more dynamic off the bench for a player who has had so much time off.
Out of the entire back line over the whole world cup O'Connor can hold his head high as he has looked the best of them, though tonight he let too many balls go over his head. Barnes did well with limited time and so did Horne. Ioane's injury saw him a bit patchy when he came back. Mitchell looked to be heading the right direction before he was injured. Beale kicked far too much possession away and played more like an individual than part of a team. ACC as I said was average. McCabe is not an inside centre and as a Brumbies supporter I want to like him, but I'm still on the fence. Fainga has been a far better bench player coming on late in the game to bolster the mid-field defence. Cooper never look like he recovered from the Reds Super win until the first 20 minutes of this last game. Genia has struggled behind a faltering forward pack and it is worrying how often he runs off and gets isolated resulting in a turn over...the memory of it at Twicks still burns brightly in my mind.
Onto the forwards: Samo has been good at No. 8, but not to the level of a fully fit Palu. Pocock is a truly international forward, but needs the others to help him more. Elsom - he played no Super rugby so his average form shouldn't be a surprise, rapidly fading star. Sharpe has had a pretty good season and the lineout has looked better with him. Vickerman has tried, but he need more rugby under his belt. Kepu and Alexander have given out penalties, but offer more on the park over Ma'afu and Slipper. What if concerning Robinson and Ireland will be asked for some time to come. Moore is probably the only other forward (Pocock the other) that the NH teams would put into their sides if they could.
Now the bench., which I'm going to be surprising mostly positive about. Burgess in his limited time looked more in touch than Genia did and did more challenging of the line (and not turning the ball over) instead of just funnelling off to the backs. Mitchell looked good, but injury and Dean's preference for Ioane would have probably kept him from making any impact against SA or NZ. Horne looked far more of a challenge to defences than either McCabe, Fainga or AAC in his short game time. Barnes spent too much time on the bench. The forwards: Slipper and Polato-Nau I still have question marks over, S. Fainga isn't great but he is probably the next best hooker and I still think Ma'afu should be ahead of Slipper. Higginbotham's form looked superior to Elsoms and probably deserve more starts. Simmons I'm on the fence about. McCalman was on a hiding to nothing at open side flanker and he failed to make a significant impression at no. 8.
For the tournament I'd give the Wallabies 5 or 6 out of 10. I didn't expect them to win, but I thought they would have given a better account for themselves than they did.
Still a short tour of the NH to come, it will be interesting to see who is fit to make the journey.
They're going to be a hell of a team in a few years with a bit more experience under their collective belts; I'm already looking forward to seeing them here next year.
