[2014 EOYT] France vs Australia

[Every Time Ref]

Ha, fair enough. I'll take your point and reserve judgement on him until he plays under a sensible coaching setup, fingers crossed ...

I'm still going to see a prop in a thirteen shirt every time I look at him though. It's like he put on both props' shirts, one of them ripped and now you can see both numbers on his back.

 

[Jbobo]

oh, really ?? You're saying a French int'l player looks good when he plays for his club, but not for country ?? nooooooooooooooooo



oh, and here: you're saying a PSA-era France game was somehow 'unmemorable' ???? nooooooooooooooooo.......you're just fkn with me !!

He's right though. Basteraud is a poor international player

 

[Big Ewis]

Ha, fair enough. I'll take your point and reserve judgement on him until he plays under a sensible coaching setup, fingers crossed ...

I'm still going to see a prop in a thirteen shirt every time I look at him though. It's like he put on both props' shirts, one of them ripped and now you can see both numbers on his back.

ah.........a sustainable notion. Goddamn it, I thought for sure I'd put that conversation to sleep...ok here's a worthy retort: he's done that but...represents the entity between 1 and 3, i.e. the heart of it, the center. Therefor, he plays center.
(good for you Ewis, good for you !!!!)

No but seriously Every Rhyme Steff, take it from a humble ego maniacal intellectual phenom like myself...what you see in a Bleus jersey isn't what is. I understand that may somehow not be clear for people outside France, but for anyone who watches the Top 14 and every France game, it's beyond obvious.
For merely Bastareaud's case alone, think: he exploded onto the int'l scene in 2010 and scored tries for a Grand Slam winning France which was on a positive dynamic. Lièvremont wasn't magnificent by any stretch of the imagination, but we were still France back then. He's at least 3 times the player he was back then today and often looks like a really fat guy hitting the defense and falling to the ground in bleus.
Interestingly he was actually quite good in Australia in Test 2 (was still in France during Test 1). People here say in Test 3 too, I don't know, didn't even watch it

No doubt for me we should play him Saturday, and the team comes out tomorrow morning !

 

[Jaguares]

Basta is actually a very good defender. I don't know who would stop Kuridrani at the moment. I said he might struggle v wales and he shut me up, maybe they should bring in Fritz ?

You told me that Kuridrani would be crushed by Roberts & North

 

[TheSaffycen]

I said he was smaller. Didn't matter though, he was much better than any other centres.

 

[Darwin]

Surely now is the time for Australia to unleash Speight, perhaps even ahead of Ashley-Cooper rather than Tomane.

 

[Jbobo]

You told me that Kuridrani would be crushed by Roberts & North

I said he was smaller. Didn't matter though, he was much better than any other centres.

Actually, i thought both North and Roberts were just as effective as him last weekend.

Roberts in particular. He was the best Centre on the field on the day for me.


Looking forward to seeing how France go against Australia, hard to call how they will manage Kuridrani, Folau and co.

 

[Jaguares]

Wallabies team named:

1. James Slipper (Queensland Reds- 60 Tests)
2. Saia Fainga’a (Queensland Reds â€" 33 Tests)
3. Sekope Kepu (NSW Waratahs â€" 49 Tests)
4. James Horwill (Queensland Reds â€" 57 Tests)
5. Rob Simmons (Queensland Reds â€" 47 Tests)
6. Sean McMahon (Melbourne Rebels â€" 1 Test)
7. Michael Hooper (c - NSW Waratahs â€" 39 Tests)
8. Ben McCalman (Western Force â€" 35 Tests)
9. Nick Phipps (NSW Waratahs â€" 25 Tests)
10. Bernard Foley (NSW Waratahs â€" 15 Tests)
11. Joe Tomane (ACT Brumbies â€" 13 Tests)
12. Christian Leali’ifano (ACT Brumbies â€" 15 Tests)
13. Tevita Kuridrani (ACT Brumbies â€" 18 Tests)
14. Adam Ashley-Cooper (NSW Waratahs â€" 101 Tests)
15. Israel Folau (NSW Waratahs â€" 26 Tests)

Reserves:

16. James Hanson
17. Benn Robinson
18. Ben Alexander
19. Will Skelton
20. Matt Hodgson
21. Will Genia
22. Quade Cooper
23. Rob Horne

 

[RoosTah]

Gone with more or less the same side then. Good to see Horwill elevated - Carter has been useless. Wonder what the go with Speight is though... I like AAC, but Speight has been immense all year until injury.

 

[squirrel]

Agree @sanzar, AAC would be my reserve outside back.

 

[goodNumber10]

Speight was frankly awful against the Barbarians i think he's still unfit from the hammy problem; conversely Ashley Cooper has been brilliant all season in a team getting handed it's ar*e he has been one of the best Wallabies.

It would be a bit unfair to sit him on the bench when he has led by example and never once let his standards drop.

 

[RoosTah]

Speight was frankly awful against the Barbarians i think he's still unfit from the hammy problem; conversely Ashley Cooper has been brilliant all season in a team getting handed it's ar*e he has been one of the best Wallabies.

It would be a bit unfair to sit him on the bench when he has led by example and never once let his standards drop.

He's Mr consistent for sure, but whilst Speight was a little off still after all his time out, the guy does just have that extra gear and more power... I'd at least like to see him on the bench.

 

[squirrel]

Disagree with GN10, AAC is not a test winger these days and it would be nuts to drop Kuridrani to make way for him at centre. He could still show leadership from the bench by showing the youngsters no one is bigger than the team and you have to work hard and support the team no matter where you are in the ranks.

 

[racingmetro92]

Same XV than last week : Menini-Guirado-Mas-Pape-Maestri-Dusautoir-Le Roux-Chouly-Tillous Borde-Lopez-Thomas-Fofana-Dumoulin-Huget-Spedding

 

[gaston le gaff]

France stay unchanged v Australia bench to be named later thought there might have been a couple of changes maybe PSA has found his WC team (this is a joke)!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[French TommyGun]

Le XV de France pour affronter l'Australie:

Spedding - Huget, Fofana, Dumoulin, Thomas - (o) Lopez, (m) Tillous-Borde - Dusautoir (cap), Chouly, Le Roux - Maestri, Papé - Mas, Guirado, Menini

Remplaçants (définis vendredi) : A choisir parmi Kayser, Atonio, Chiocci, Flanquart, Vahaamahina, Nyanga, Ollivon , Kockott, Tales, Bastareaud, Mermoz, Médard

 

[Bean]

RIP Wallabies.

My prediction: France 48 - Wallabies 9.

 

[French TommyGun]

RIP Wallabies.

My prediction: France 48 - Wallabies 9.

You know what Bean? You and I will get along juuuuuust fine

 

[Darwin]

Speight was frankly awful against the Barbarians i think he's still unfit from the hammy problem; conversely Ashley Cooper has been brilliant all season in a team getting handed it's ar*e he has been one of the best Wallabies.

It would be a bit unfair to sit him on the bench when he has led by example and never once let his standards drop.

I don't think Speight was that bad against the Barbarians. He was a little rusty having not played rugby for a some time, but he didn't make any major errors that I can recall. Speight has been by some margin the best Australian wing at Super Rugby level for the last few years - one average match versus the Barbarians shouldn't really count against him. Ashley-Cooper can do a solid job on the wing at test level (but is much better at centre), but he's not exactly a major threat to the opposition, and his lack of pace was an issue more than once versus Wales.

If Speight isn't 100% fit (as you suggest may be the case) I can certainly understand why they aren't playing him, but if he is fully fit he would be the first wing I would pick (with Tomane and AAC fighting for the other wing spot).

 

[goodNumber10]

RIP Wallabies.

My prediction: France 48 - Wallabies 9.

strong prediction. Right up there with your prediction the all Blacks would score 67 tries against England.