Test Rugby Wallabies Rugby World Cup discussion

Jun 19, 2011
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Who are the leading candidates for RWC spots atm? Who are your picks for the XV at the moment?

My squad of 30 that I'd be picking for the RWC at this stage. Particularly the matchday 23. Tevita Kuridrani and Quade Cooper are injured atm but I've gone with them anyway. Kane Douglas (who is rumoured to possibly be on the way back for the RWC) as not eligible at this stage.

1. James Slipper
2. Stephen Moore
3. Sekope Kepu
4. Rob Simmons
5. Sam Carter
6. Scott Fardy
7. David Pocock
8. Ben McCalman
9. Nick Phipps
10. Quade Cooper
11. Nick Cummins
12. Matt Toomua
13. Tevita Kuridrani
14. Henry Speight
15. Israel Folau

16. Tatafu Polota-Nau
17. Scott Sio
18. Ben Alexander
19. Will Skelton
20. Michael Hooper
21. Will Genia
22. Kurtley Beale
23. Adam Ashley-Cooper

24. Benn Robinson
25. Saia Fainga'a
26. Luke Jones
27. Scott Higginbotham
28. James O'Connor
29. Christian Leali'ifano
30. Rob Horne

I'm probably forgetting someone or two but have at it. Willing to discuss any and every selection.
 
1. James Slipper
2. Stephen Moore
3. Sekope Kepu
4. Rob Simmons
5. Sam Carter
6. Scott Higginbotham
7. David Pocock
8. Ben McCalman
9. Nick Phipps
10. Bernard Foley
11. Nick Cummins
12. Kyle Godwin
13. Israel Folau
14. Henry Speight
15. James O'Connor

16. Tatafu Polota-Nau
17. Scott Sio
18. Ben Alexander
19. Will Skelton
20. Michael Hooper
21. Luke Burgess
22. Kurtley Beale
23. Adam Ashley-Cooper

Just outside : Quade cooper (no form + injury), Rob Horne, Paddy Ryan.
 

chibimatty

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Have to admit, even as a paid-up 10-year Force member, I would find it hard to put Godwin in the team on current form. I also think our backs have done so little that Cummins would be iffy also. I am, however, waiting to see how Hodgson plays when he comes back
 

chibimatty

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Truth be told, I'm not a fan of Toomua at centre either, I do like him as a fly-half though, though not necessarily over Foley. We've been playing Godwin out-of-position this season at outside-centre, so I wonder if that's been a directive from Cheika for his Wallaby plans.

This Richard Graham thing is a real worry, there's too many Wallabies in that Reds organisation floundering under him this season and it's damaging the national team. I mean let's face it, Will Genia should be the No 1 scrum-half in world rugby, not struggling to make the Wallaby squad. It's a problem, and I think it's exacerbated by the fact that the Force are out-of-sorts this season too, we're not contributing to the Wallabies' chances by our lacklustre performance and complete lack of structure/gameplan.
 
Genia's problem is that ever since his ACL he has been rubbish, has lost 2 yards of pace.

As for Godwin, my belief is we have to go out there to WIN the WC. Toomua won't lose you a WC, but he sure won't win you it. He is just vanilla.
 
Jun 19, 2011
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Toomua won't lose you a WC, but he sure won't win you it. He is just vanilla.

He's got to be close to the best defender of any 10/12 in the world though. And his playmaking on the European tour against England, Ireland, Wales wasn't that bad at all IMO. Put him outside an actual 10 like Cooper or Foley with a litany of attacking weapons outside him (Folau, Cummins, Kuridrani, Speight, whoever) and I think that combo would work well.
 
He's got to be close to the best defender of any 10/12 in the world though. And his playmaking on the European tour against England, Ireland, Wales wasn't that bad at all IMO. Put him outside an actual 10 like Cooper or Foley with a litany of attacking weapons outside him (Folau, Cummins, Kuridrani, Speight, whoever) and I think that combo would work well.

That is the point, he aint winning you a WC. We don't need 'defensive centres'. Please don't tell me Godwin can't defend either, in fact he is probably just behind Toomua at most and he has more ability as a centre. I just don't see it with Toomua, what is our plan, to keep the loss under 10? I'd rather go out there to win. If that means we lose in the quarters attacking so be it. I'd rather give ourselves a chance of beating the top 2 sides.
 

chibimatty

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Godwin was a very solid defender last year and the year before. As a matter of fact, the centre-pair's defence were the backbone of our victories last year.
 
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chibimatty

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This year however, we've had holes all through our defensive channels, Godwin unfortunately has been a culprit as much as anyone else. What I would like to see is for him and the rest of the team to hit some sort of form, our seasons over, but we can still contribute to the national team, and there's still a lot of talent at the Force.

I would like to see Adam Coleman looked at by the Wallaby coaching staff, and I think an NRC spot should be offered to Matt Giteau and Keiran Longbottom to keep them eliglible for the world cup
 

chibimatty

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Yeah, would you believe? The thing is, he has been consistently good at Toulon since he got there, possibly the best non-Super Rugby back in the world. The other thing which has surprised me has been the complete lack of trouble he has gotten himself into. He has instead, matured remarkably become one of the team-leaders. He prospered under the tutelage of Victor Matfield and Jonny Wilkinson.

My only sticking point would be to see how that translates to the Australian game and more importantly/specifically for Giteau, how that translates to the Australian environment, which is why I'd like to see him running around in the NRC first.

Also note, that Giteau was good at both the Force and the Brumbies, his problems occurred at national level under Robbie Deans
 
Actually he's only 32, so he can be an option for a world cup this year. If it was next year, then no chance.

Old, inconsistent and nothing better than Toomua. Easy to be a world beater in France against 2nd stringers in the strongest side. Then you want to pick him in a Wallabies side who are 4th or 5th maybe
 
You really don't get how strong the French Top 14 is now do you?

Ask yourself this: is it as good as the Super 15? No!

Then you have the fact he hasn't played at the top level for years
 

chibimatty

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Old, inconsistent and nothing better than Toomua. Easy to be a world beater in France against 2nd stringers in the strongest side. Then you want to pick him in a Wallabies side who are 4th or 5th maybe

Nope, I don't want to pick him, I want to see how he adapts to the Australian game, and see if he's worth picking. He's also a completely different player to Matt Toomua; he brings very different attributes, which are all worth looking at in a world cup year.
 
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Ask yourself this: is it as good as the Super 15? No!

No, I would say its better but I'm not biased like you. I have been to games in France and Australia this year and I also have no dog in this fight at a national level. But to think that the Top 14 is second string is laughable.

Then you have the fact he hasn't played at the top level for years

That's not his fault the ARU still have their stupid selection policy in place.

If its good enough for the SARU to pick from the Top 14 then its good enough for the ARU as well, but delusions of grandeur keep holding Australian Rugby back I suppose.
 
No, I would say its better but I'm not biased like you. I have been to games in France and Australia this year and I also have no dog in this fight at a national level. But to think that the Top 14 is second string is laughable.

That's not his fault the ARU still have their stupid selection policy in place.

If its good enough for the SARU to pick from the Top 14 then its good enough for the ARU as well, but delusions of grandeur keep holding Australian Rugby back I suppose.

Oh please, there is a reason most of them have a good retirement package in France or Japan. Yes there are some good things with the comp, but it is nowhere near the top sides in the S15. Gitaeu CHOSE to go over there, he didn't have to. Our national players play in Australia, period. Plus he isn't that good anyway, in fact he would have 1 good game everyone would sing his praises and then do nothing for 6 games as per usual regardless of what position he plays. His defence is less than stellar and his attack is okay without being great and he is 32 years old! Too old!
 

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I wouldn't want to see a 2nd row combination of Simmons and Carter. One of them is fine, but the other should be more dynamic around the field IMO. At this stage I'd have Luke Jones in the team, but think Coleman, Skelton and even Timani and Arnold have the ability to play themselves into it. Definitely the most open position at the moment.
 

chibimatty

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I wouldn't want to see a 2nd row combination of Simmons and Carter. One of them is fine, but the other should be more dynamic around the field IMO. At this stage I'd have Luke Jones in the team, but think Coleman, Skelton and even Timani and Arnold have the ability to play themselves into it. Definitely the most open position at the moment.

Yeah, I'd love to see Skelton develop a bit more aerobic fitness, Coleman could be something special too, but we're gonna have to put some better performances together here at the Force for him to be noticed.

More importantly though, whomever locks for the Wallabies, needs to be drilled in the art of scrummaging.
 
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Skelton's fitness isn't even so much the worry for me. He can have a marked impact upon a game with his size, offloading and ball carrying in 55 minutes (although obviously it's ideal for him to be able to play longer). My real concern with starting him is his scrummaging. His body position on the Spring Tour was atrocious. He gave no support whatsoever to his prop and continually folded up like an umbrella. He's been good so far in the Super comp but I'm still wary until I see him do it in Test rugby.

I like Luke Jones a lot but I feel like he's a tad undersized for a Test lock. Just a little too skinny atm IMO. He's definitely in my squad and I'd be happy to see him play 6 if Fardy is hurt or come off the bench at lock.

I do like Rory Arnold and Adam Coleman. I think they could both be future prospects of some quality. I'm just so annoyed Hugh Pyle and Kane Douglas aren't both playing in Australia right now.
 
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Worth noting as well, the 51 man squad that came together recently for the first Wallabies meeting.

Brumbies: Ben Alexander, Sam Carter, Scott Fardy, Tevita Kuridrani, Christian Lealiifano, Steve Moore, David Pocock, Scott Sio, Henry Speight, Joe Tomane, Matt Toomua, Nic White

Force: Nathan Charles, Pekahou Cowan, Nick Cummins, Tetera Faulkner, Kyle Godwin, Matt Hodgson, Ben McCalman

Reds: Quade Cooper, Saia Faingaa, Nick Frisby, Will Genia, Liam Gill, James Hanson, James Horwil, James O’Connor, Jake Schatz, Rob Simmons, James Slipper

Rebels: Tom English, Scott Higginbotham, Luke Jones, Sean McMahon, Cadeyrn Neville

Waratahs: Adam Ashley-Cooper, Kurtley Beale, Peter Betham, David Dennis, Israel Folau, Bernard Foley, Michael Hooper, Rob Horne, Sekope Kepu, Wycliff Palu, Nick Phipps, Tatafu Polota-nau, Benn Robinson, Paddy Ryan, Will Skelton
 
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