Ah i was waiting for this one to appear and oddly enough i knew it would be you to bring it up,yes they scored on the flank and yes Meli was infield,but watch the replay,Wilkin shoots out,Jones goes up and in if Meli stays on the wing there is a gap you can drive a bus through,what do you want him to do in that situation ? Its more a case of poor numbering up and awareness from Briers at the ptb.

I do see your point, but these boys just got bigger and bigger, if not in terms of height then muscle. I have always been very unimpressed with the actually "rugby" skills of these two players, Isreal especially. They are just bigger and faster than everyone else. Saying that Inglis has actually matured into an actually rugby player than just an athlete in the last couple of years and he seems to be (strangely) not making the same impact because of it.

But going back to Hall, some players do just seem to fall away. Remember how good Stuart Reardon looked when he was 20.

Or Jamie Langley. Who looked a cast iron certainty for international level within weeks of his debut.

I think Hall's problem is poor coaching. He just never learned to defend.

The curse of Agar ...

It just goes to show - one bad choice of coach can set a club back the best part of five years.

Given that we don't have anywhere near the pool of athletic talent available to the Aussies we simply cannot afford to screw up those kids who genuinely do possess ability. Even the top sides find it hard to develop more than two or three above average quality players in the same number of seasons. But they are essential to any side with trophy aspirations. Which means a poor coach who sees out most of a three year contract can do an awful lot of damage.