[2014 Mid-Year Tests] Australia

[Tahman15]

Yeah, Beale is not good enough to play 10 at test level. He's a player that excels outwide, his form around 2010 was sublime, he was a joy to watch back then and I'm hoping he gets back to his best. It looks like he will be a utility on the bench which I personally is a good option. @Conrad Smith Andrew Mehterns is employed by the Tahs as a kicking coach so I'm not sure how much weight those comments have.

 

[Jaguares]

There are plenty of midfield backs, but only 2 specialist outside backs (Folau and Cummins)! Obviously there are others who can cover the wing/fullback - Ashley-Cooper, Beale, and Foley are the obvious ones, but Horne looks to be a wing option too (as he's been playing there for the Tahs), and perhaps McCabe is an option...

I would have called Robbie Coleman, he has done well this SR season but I think McKenzie is waiting for Henry Speight. IMO for McKenzie, Tomane and Speight are above Coleman, then he doesn't want to call a player considered as third choice. Another interesting player is Jason Woodward but I'm not sure if he's available to play for Wallabies and there are several players on the team with their characteristics as Bernard Foley and Kurtley Beale but I think he could play at winger.

Yeah, Beale is not good enough to play 10 at test level. He's a player that excels outwide, his form around 2010 was sublime, he was a joy to watch back then and I'm hoping he gets back to his best. It looks like he will be a utility on the bench which I personally is a good option. @Conrad Smith Andrew Mehterns is employed by the Tahs as a kicking coach so I'm not sure how much weight those comments have.

Doesn't matter, Bernard is a good player and he could be a great five eight for Wallabies IMO. Anyway, as a Reds supporter, Quade Cooper will always be my first pick.

 

[Darwin]

I would have called Robbie Coleman, he has done well this SR season but I think McKenzie is waiting for Henry Speight. IMO for McKenzie, Tomane and Speight are above Coleman, then he doesn't want to call a player considered as third choice. Another interesting player is Jason Woodward but I'm not sure if he's available to play for Wallabies and there are several players on the team with their characteristics as Bernard Foley and Kurtley Beale but I think he could play at winger.

Coleman has played well this year, but he isn't really a specialist wing either. He was originally a 10, but became a bit of a utility covering 10,12, and 15 - it only this year he has started playing on the wing. He certainly has some interesting skills as a wing (ala James O'Connor), but his lack of size would be a concern at test level....

Woodward is not available for a few more years as he is still a kiwi....

 

[Tahman15]

I would have called Robbie Coleman, he has done well this SR season but I think McKenzie is waiting for Henry Speight. IMO for McKenzie, Tomane and Speight are above Coleman, then he doesn't want to call a player considered as third choice. Another interesting player is Jason Woodward but I'm not sure if he's available to play for Wallabies and there are several players on the team with their characteristics as Bernard Foley and Kurtley Beale but I think he could play at winger.

Jason Woodward is a Kiwi, though I'm pretty sure he's pledged his allegiance to the Wallabies and he's got something like 12 months before he qualifies on the residency rule to play for Australia. This all said Hansen has had his eye on Woodward and he may tempted go back to New Zealand if the chance to play for the All Blacks is there. He's a very good player though.

 

[InsaneAsylum]

I think the starting 15 will consist of Bernard Foley at 10 and Toomua at 12 with Beale on the bench. Beale is extremely talented, can be erratic and isn't the greatest defender but he can play anywhere from 10-15 and can produce a spark when required. I have a feeling that's how he'll be used. We have to have good defenders at 12 and 13 which may be why Beale is listed as a 10.

Good to see Luke Jones being rewarded and also Tom English in the "training squad" although I think Mitch Inman was pretty stiff as well as Toby Smith. Inman's tackle ratio is sitting around 96% this season and Smith has done a great job keeping the Rebels scrum up and straight.

 

[Jaguares]

Coleman has played well this year, but he isn't really a specialist wing either. He was originally a 10, but became a bit of a utility covering 10,12, and 15 - it only this year he has started playing on the wing. He certainly has some interesting skills as a wing (ala James O'Connor), but his lack of size would be a concern at test level....

Woodward is not available for a few more years as he is still a kiwi....

Yeah but I'm not sure if the size is going to affect him so much. Robbie in Super Rugby is playing against the big boys of world rugby as Julian Savea or Nemani Nadolo, also at winger is not too important in defense as a 12 or 13 IMO. In Argentina we have a kid even more smaller than Coleman (Santiago Cordero - 1,76 m and 79 kgs) and he has done well at international level against Wales last year, proved interesting things. I think Coleman could be an alternative, but McKenzie has in mind to Speight and Tomane before him.

Jason Woodward is a Kiwi, though I'm pretty sure he's pledged his allegiance to the Wallabies and he's got something like 12 months before he qualifies on the residency rule to play for Australia. This all said Hansen has had his eye on Woodward and he may tempted go back to New Zealand if the chance to play for the All Blacks is there. He's a very good player though.

Yeah I know he's a kiwi for that reason I said: "I'm not sure if he's available". How long he will be able for Wallabies? He's a very interesting player.

 

[Big Ewis]

hey uhmm...I was wondering, like, do you little Australian bishes mind if we poach Matt Giteau and take him with us on the tour ???

 

[Draggs]

hey uhmm...I was wondering, like, do you little Australian bishes mind if we poach Matt Giteau and take him with us on the tour ???

Mathieu Giteau? Sounds French to me.

 

[Big Ewis]

Mathieu Giteau? Sounds French to me.

yes...sounds french to me too !...you want a sandwich ?! Let's have a sandwich.

 

[InsaneAsylum]

no, Baggete, Beret, Croissant and Jambon sound French, Matt Giteau is farken Aussie MATE!

 

[Tahman15]

You can have Ben Alexander in return for a good tight head if you want

 

[Big Ewis]

no, Baggete, Beret, Croissant and Jambon sound French, Matt Giteau is farken Aussie MATE!

nonsense, nonsense...he may've had a brief episode with that obscure Australia country some time ago, but quit living in the past. I think we should take him on tour with us against the Wallabies. Teach those guys a lesson in back-play...

You can have Ben Alexander in return for a good tight head if you want

no no, that would spoil the Wallabies. As the side seen largely as the underdogs in this series, Australia desperately needs to focus on what they know how to do best: play Rugby league within Rugby union. Powerful scrummagers would just look awkward and borderline sexually ambiguous there tbh...

But if we're talking market openly here, I'd like that Folau guy...Lealiffano and the one they call 'the Hamster' who plays on the wing. You guys doodle with them another year if you like, then we buy them out and shove em in the Top 14 and then poach em some time later...hopefully in time for the next time we play the Wallabies again.

Btw, to be (even more) serious, I know it's a classic issue to discuss, but briefly, what do you Aussies think is the problem with Wallaby props right now: a lack of know-how in scrummaging, or a lack of personnel ? I mean Europe takes a bunch of Aus/NZ coaches, what don't the Aussies get, I dunno, an English forwards coach, or a guy JUST for scrummaging or something along those lines ?

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

The Aussies are good sports if anything so they'll never be as unsportmanlike as to have a quality tight 5 to complement the backs.

 

[InsaneAsylum]

hahah some funny comments

in all seriousness yes it's strange, look at all other test nations and you'll find your fat and slow traditional pie eating strong man wearing the number 3 jersey. the type that lifts boulders for fun.
for some reason, we always seem to go down this "mobile prop" path time and time again and players like Ben Alexander are picked as a tight head. sure he can run faster than a lot of other tight heads but what good is it if we are giving away 9+ points per game in scrum penalties and losing him for 10 minutes anyway.

I wonder how many matches have the Wallabies been on the back foot due to being smashed in the scrums and/or having a prop binned. we really need to build our team on a solid tight 5 and i'm hoping skelton and luke jones are really given a fair go as I believe horwill and simmons have well and truly reached their potential. loose head and hooker aren't really problem areas, as long as tatafu can throw stright, but I think the inclusion of Nathan Charles is a good one and hopefully by 2015 we have developed a TH with world class potential. someone like Alo-Emile from the Rebels. we have depth in the backrow and in the backs. 9 and 10 are possibly troublesome positions though, with 9 once upon a time locked down by Genia, he's really lost it in the last year or 2. Speight will be a handy inclusion in the back 3.

 

[Tahman15]

Btw, to be (even more) serious, I know it's a classic issue to discuss, but briefly, what do you Aussies think is the problem with Wallaby props right now: a lack of know-how in scrummaging, or a lack of personnel ? I mean Europe takes a bunch of Aus/NZ coaches, what don't the Aussies get, I dunno, an English forwards coach, or a guy JUST for scrummaging or something along those lines ?

You can probably trace it all the way back to juniors. We're probably guilty of emphasising good running rugby and leaving the scrum. Right now in Super Rugby we've actually got quite a few props who have scrummaging well this year sadly their all looseheads. Kieran Longbottom who plays tighthead for the Force has had a very good year for the Force and was seen as being very unlucky not to get picked. Alexander has even been scrummaging relatively well this year (shock horror) though lots of people don't trust him in Wallabies jersey. TBH I'm quietly confident our scrum will be better this year with Ewan McKenzie and Andrew Blades now running the show.

PS: There's no way in hell your getting Izzy, it would probably start a full on war if you managed to poach him

 

[Big Ewis]

yeah I was sympathetic towards the idea of the Wallabies having a more mobile tight 3. I thought it was just a cool change in style, just something different. I liked the idea a side could just try their own thing, that there's more to a position than what we traditionally attribute to it...but no, it just doesn't work out for that position specifically (prop)...if your props give away penalties all the time, or even worse, and yes it's happened a bunch of time for the Aussies, penalty tries (so a full 7 points) - there just isn't anything they could possibly do that would compensate their deficiency in the scrum.
Plus I mean, don't these guys get nightmares from it ?! Getting smashed in the scrum every fcking test match, my dick would shrink overtime for sure. I'd most probably even start growing a vagina and lose all my facial hair in a year's time, I mean it's fairly plausible scientifically. The abuse these guys take...it's like prison for shht's sake.

And just imagine being the backs. You know your tight 5 is gonna get sexually abused again, and you're just standing there waiting for the dirty deed to be done, and then you've got to pick up the slack like crazy and score a few tries to make sure your team wins. It's just WEIRD it's been going for so long...

And no no no, we want Folau. Like I said, play with him a bit, watch him score individual tries again a little bit, go "wow" and put him as a wallpaper on your old Microsoft laptop for a few months and all, show your friends his latest awesome play on your crappy little cellphone, but then France needs him guys, you have to understand. What do you think, we're going to wait for him to have a full career with the Wallabies, playing for his nation ?! haha....fk that !!
So yeah, Folau, Hooper...you can keep Pocock's carcass for now though. We're cool with that.

 

[jessta]

who do you guys expect will make up the aussies first choice match day 23? It is gonna be incredibly interesting with so many versatile players... also who is gonna be skip and be goal kicker? im incredibly intrigued and in anticipation to see what link comes up with. I would pick this as my team (although there is no chance this team would really be picked.)

1. James Slipper
2. Stephen Moore (C)
3. Ben Alexander
4. Scott Fardy
5. James Horwill
6. Scott Higgenbotham
7. Micheal Hooper
8. Ben McCalman
9. Will Genia
10. Bernard Foley
11. Nick Cummins
12. Christian Leliafano (GK)
13. Adam Ashlee- Cooper
14. Kurtly Beale
15. Israel Falou

16. Tatfu Polota- Nau
17. Scott Sio
18. Sekope Kepu
19. Luke Jones
20. Wycliff Palu
21. Nic White
22. Matt Toomoa
23. Pat McCabe

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Agree'd mate, i'm busting to see the first team! totally guessing here but I think like would start with the following: 1. Slipper 2. Moore (C) 3. Alexander 4. Simmons 5. Skelton 6. Fardy 7. Hooper (VC) 8. McCalman 9. Genia 10. Foley (GK) 11. Cummins 12. Toomua 13. Kuridrani 14. Ashley-Cooper 15. Folau

I'm hoping link will rotate the locks and backrow so that you have a mix of simmons/horwill with each of skelton, jones and carter as their partner (experience + debutant). then the 8 Jersey will be rotated between McCalman, Palu and Higginbotham for each of the 3 tests. other changes to be made under necessity. may also see kepu starting ahead of alexander.

 

[Tahman15]

@InsaneAsylum I really like that team. Maybe give Horwill the first game but tell him if he doesn't play well Skeltons straight in. I'd probably prefer a front row of Sio and Slipper but as we know Slipper hasn't played much tighthead this year so maybe not plus Alexander has been suprisingly good at both the scrum and around the park. I was really hoping Lonbottom would get selected as he seems to be the best tighthead in Australia at the moment. The 9 jersey is hard, does Link go with the out of form but experienced Genia and hope Foley's goal kicking is up to it. Or will White get a crack and take the goal kicking. That said White's goal kicking isn't miles better than Foley's and Genia has been playing behind a struggling pack so I'd guess he's going with Genia. I'm actually suprisingly optimistic with this team and coach. Can't wait for the 7th, GO THE WALLABIES!!

 

[Big Ewis]

les Bleus flying out to Aussieland Tuesday night.
It's interesting because Talès and Michalak won't be available because are both playing the Top 14 final...so they'll be flying to Australia without a no.10 for a good chunk of time...peachy.