Test Rugby Wallabies Rugby World Cup discussion

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Jascave said:
And whoever is the makeshift 3rd hooker have to get the line outs throws spot on.
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You could even get a situation where a prop plays at hooker in the scrum and someone else, say Pocock or Hooper throws in the lineouts. I don't think the hooker has to do it.
 
Maester said:
Douglas is 26. He's in his prime. The issue is that he hasn't played any rugby and got picked after an average 30 minute stint against the All Blacks, while Horwill has been pretty good in multiple recent tests.

And Douglas is coming back to play for the Reds for the next couple of years. A big motivating factor was to be close to family. Word is he paid a significant amount to Leinster to get a release. So he came back as much if not more than the ARU brought him back.
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More the other ones. Douglas I'm okay with, not so much Giteau, Smith, etc
 
Maester said:
Hanson is okay and would be my pick. The Reds scrum went well this year with him in it and he's decent around the park. The other option would be Tolu Latu, who has more size, but his discipline can be costly. I wouldn't really mind who got picked to be honest, but I'd have thought a 3rd hooker is necessary. It'll be interesting to see which prop is the designated 3rd hooker and how confident they feel about playing there if required.
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Hanson is undersized it won't work in test football period. I get what you are saying but the options are thin
 

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Decision to go with two hookers is diabolical. If TPN or Moore gets concussed or a minor injury against Fiji, they won't play again in the World Cup.
 
Lions1024 said:
Faingaa is undersized and was close to our best on the spring tour. Your arguments are full of s**t.
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Yet he would get monstered against SA, NZ and for that matter England. Undersized hookers don't work consistently.
 
Lions1024 said:
Decision to go with two hookers is diabolical. If TPN or Moore gets concussed or a minor injury against Fiji, they won't play again in the World Cup.
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Just thinking about it further, if that happened he could always bring in another hooker for one of the wingers.

He could even do it right at the start of the tournament before any injury. He did say his thinking with the squad was to have 2 full 15's so that they could properly go at each other in training. Once the tournament starts that might not be so important.
 
I'm going to put it out there. I've lost a bit of faith in Cheika. He's taken some seriously big risks for little gain. I doubt Tomane/Speight and McMahon will play any games during the WC. What's the point of taking them? Especially in the place of a third hooker. It's RWC2007 all over again when Deans took 1 specialist openside and we all know what happened.

Hooker has been one area where we've had a lot of injuries in the past decade or so. TPN plays a gamestyle that is prone to head injuries. I just can't justify not taking Hanson or any other hooker to the WC. It's an unnecessary risk.
 
robbieando said:
But lpno1 said everything under Cheika would be alright, no decisions to be questioned. All Link's fault.
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I don't have a problem with squad, wouldn't personally have Genia but every other selection I'm happy with. Good job Cheika.
 
Maester said:
Just thinking about it further, if that happened he could always bring in another hooker for one of the wingers.

He could even do it right at the start of the tournament before any injury. He did say his thinking with the squad was to have 2 full 15's so that they could properly go at each other in training. Once the tournament starts that might not be so important.
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Might want to check on that. My understanding is that once the squad has been submitted to the IRB (World Rugby these days), a player can only be replaced in the case of a genuine injury (medical clearance required). That said player has to leave the squad immediately and fly back to Australia.
 
Extended Wallabies Squad for USA Eagles Test at Soldier Field, Chicago on September 5

Sam Carter, David Dennis, Tetera Faulkner, James Hanson, Scott Higginbotham, James Horwill, Samu Kerevi, Christian Lealiifano, Taqele Naiyaravoro, Nic White
 
Lions1024 said:
Might want to check on that. My understanding is that once the squad has been submitted to the IRB (World Rugby these days), a player can only be replaced in the case of a genuine injury (medical clearance required). That said player has to leave the squad immediately and fly back to Australia.
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Yeah I didn't realise that. I think the rule is a bit unnecessarily restrictive, but it is what it is. It'll be interesting to see what Cheika says about this. One of the props must surely have been spending a bit of time at hooker in training.
 

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S120 said:
Such as?
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Only two hookers with TPN's history that's incredibly foolish.

Douglas over Horwill (who was our best lock in the Rugby Championship)

We've clearly taken one too many wingers.

Only two scrumhalves - I could live with that risk but I feel a little uneasy leaving out White.
 
Team named to play USA this weekend. Pretty much an experimentation exercise and getting some fringe players so time on the field:

1. James Slipper - Captain - (67 Tests)
2. Tatafu Polota-Nau (53 Tests)
3. Greg Holmes (17 Tests)
4. Kane Douglas (15 Tests)
5. Rob Simmons (52 Tests)
6. Ben McCalman - Vice-Captain - (40 Tests)
7. Sean McMahon (3 Tests)
8. Wycliff Palu (55 Tests)
9. Nick Phipps (31 Tests)
10. Bernard Foley (17 Tests)
11. Rob Horne (26 Tests)
12. Matt Giteau - VC - (95 Tests)
13. Henry Speight (3 Tests)
14. Joe Tomane (15 Tests)
15. Kurtley Beale (52 Tests)

16. James Hanson (9 Tests)
17. Scott Sio (9 Tests)
18. Toby Smith (uncapped)
19. Dean Mumm (36 Tests)
20. Sam Carter (11 Tests)
21. Quade Cooper (56 Tests)
22. Will Genia (59 Tests)
23. Taqele Naiyaravoro (Uncapped)

Kepu, Moore, Skelton, Hooper, Pocock, Fardy, Ashley-Cooper, Folau, Kuridrani, Toomua all rested.

Keen to see Speight at 13, McMahon at international level again, Douglas for close to 80 mins. The rest should just be domination of USA.
 
Yeah I'm most excited to see Speight at 13.

USA aren't as bad as you think. They have a legitimately strong back row, good back 3, solid locks. Bit weak up front (but not as bad as a couple of years ago), and halves and centres are okay - bit hot or cold. I'd be surprised if we won by 50+ and think it'll be more like 30. Not close but not completely uncompetitive. Against the All Blacks last year they'd had 1 week to prepare. This time they've had a couple of months. Plus we're not as good as the All Blacks.

What's disappointing is apparently the ticket sales aren't very good. 20-25k sold in a 60k stadium. The ARU won't be getting any financial windfall from it.
 
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I really want to see Joe Tomane play well this morning. I genuinely think he has a chance to end up on one of the wings in the starting XV later in this tournament. Mitchell and AAC have the inside running rightfully for the wing spots but Tomane has only shown good form at test level in his career. He's capable of doing it I think. I don't have the same trust in Speight at this stage, I hope he shows something at 13 today.

I also want to see Holmes and Slipper dominate USA's scrum as they should.

On the USA's side, seeing Greg Peterson play for them is a bit of a trip. I played school footy against him only like 6 years ago. I'll be interested to see how he goes against the Wallabies, I never thought he was good enough to go near making test rugby for Australia
 
Well we saw the scrum dominance, but I don't think Tomane or Speight have played themselves into the starting team.

Pretty disappointing first half, though the Eagles did play well after the yellow card period. 2nd half they were terrible and we were a lot better. Foley had his best game in a while. And Genia looked a lot better than Phipps other than his stupid box kicks when we had momentum in attack. He really needs to stop doing that. I thought Palu was pretty anonymous. McMahon was very good, Mumm was also good when he came on.

If you could give the US a decent scrum and maul they'd be a top 10 team. Better coaches alone would make a huge difference to them. They have a few players with some X Factor and I thought their 10 was pretty impressive behind a struggling tight 5.
 
Their tenacity and intent in defence is certainly worthy of a top 10 test team. I was very impressed with how eager in defence they were.

Palu was bad, Phipps is continuing to play himself out of the starting halfback spot, Speight continues to not impress me and Tomane was...OK. The problem with Speight to me is he just doesn't seem as assertive or aggressive enough to play at test level. Particularly at 13, though his spot really is wing. He just doesn't seem to power through contact or demand the ball. Might just be perception but anyway, I'd stick with Mitchell and AAC right now.

Thought our best three were McMahon, Polota-Nau and Giteau. McMahon very visible all over the field in a Hooper kind of way, TPN was great in the scrum and lineout and was all over the field making hits in defence and taking big runs. Giteau's defence and attack kept us straight and organised often and Foley did OK too. His kicking was terrific.
 
The only thing with TPN is his tackling technique! Half the time he goes in for a tackle I expect him to be lying concussed on the ground once the ruck clears. I'd hate to run at him too...always looks like he attacks players knees with his head. We need him and Moore to not get injured!

In other news our world cup pool may have just got a little easier - Leigh Halfpenny and Rhys Webb went off in Wales' match against Italy overnight with suspected tournament ending injuries. Halfpenny in particular would be a huge loss.
 
Maester said:
The only thing with TPN is his tackling technique! Half the time he goes in for a tackle I expect him to be lying concussed on the ground once the ruck clears. I'd hate to run at him too...always looks like he attacks players knees with his head. We need him and Moore to not get injured!

In other news our world cup pool may have just got a little easier - Leigh Halfpenny and Rhys Webb went off in Wales' match against Italy overnight with suspected tournament ending injuries. Halfpenny in particular would be a huge loss.
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Yeh we're walking a fine line with our hookers. If they stay fit for the entire tournament, you beauty because when they both play well, they're each in the top handful of hookers in the game. But if they get hurt (and as you say, TPN is pretty vulnerable to head knocks), we're in enormous trouble.

Wales didn't even name Mike Phillips in their initial squad so you'd think he'll be in straight away. Pretty good replacement really. But Halfpenny is a huge loss if he is ruled out of the entire tournament. He's their best player and we saw first hand how valuable he is on the Lions tour a couple of years ago.
 
Team for Fiji match to be named tonight. What do you guys think we'll see?

I reckon it'll be something like:

1. Sio
2. Moore
3. Kepu
4. Douglas
5. Simmons
6. Fardy
7. Hooper
8. Pocock
9. Genia
10. Foley
11. Mitchell
12. Giteau
13. Kuridrani
14. AAC
15. Folau

16. TPN
17. Holmes
18. Slipper
19. Skelton
20. McCalman
21. Phipps
22. Toomua
23. Beale

If it's a 6-2 split on the bench, probably drop Toomua and McMahon in.
 
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