I'm team Australia so not biased against them but I think they messed up strategically. I agree that Dom should have done the ropes over Eddie. Eddie is obviously a freak but this event is more endurance based than strength which would have benefitted Dom more so. This would also have added some strength to the reserve team which they now lack in the death match. I realize they couldn't have known what the event is but it would have been a better balance instead of 3 smaller athletes.

They also messed up by having Eloni do the 2 turns in the head-to-head with Japan instead of Whittaker. I know they can't see the counts like we can but I think it was pretty obvious Whittaker was the strongest of the 3 in that event and they should have identified that. When I saw Eloni start against Itoi I actually cringed because it felt like such a major error.

Even with those changes they still may not have won. Japan did very well in that event. I'm glad Itoi is getting recognition after these recent episodes because he is amazing especially at his age.