2014 Super Rugby: Brumbies v Force (Round 19)

[Jaguares]

1. Scott Sio
2. Josh Mann-Rea
3. Ben Alexander
4. Sam Carter
5. Leon Power
6. Scott Fardy
7. Jarrad Butler
8. Ben Mowen (c)
9. Nic White
10. Matt Toomua
11. Clyde Rathbone
12. Christian Lealiifano
13. Tevita Kuridrani
14. Henry Speight
15. Jesse Mogg

1. Pek Cowan
2. Nathan Charles
3. Kieran Longbottom
4. Sam Wykes
5. Wilhelm Steenkamp
6. Brynard Stander
7. Matt Hodgson (c)
8. Ben McCalman
9. Ian Prior
10. Zack Holmes
11. Nick Cummins
12. Chris Tuatara-Morrison
13. Solomoni Rasolea
14. Dane Haylett-Petty
15. Jayden Hayward

 

[Darwin]

One of the key matches of the weekend. The winner goes through to the playoffs, with the loser likely to be out unless they pick up 2 bonus points (and even then they aren't guaranteed a spot). I'm picking the Brumbies to win at home, though don't really mind as long as it isn't a draw (or the losing side picks up two bonus points...).

 

[Jaguares]

Brumbies:

1. Scott Sio , 2. Josh Mann-Rea , 3. Ben Alexander , 4. Sam Carter , 5. Leon Power , 6. Scott Fardy , 7. Jarrad Butler , 8. Ben Mowen (c) , 9. Nic White , 10. Matt Toomua , 11. Clyde Rathbone , 12. Christian Lealiifano , 13. Tevita Kuridrani , 14. Henry Speight , 15. Jesse Mogg

Replacements : 16. Ruaidhri Murphy , 17. Ruan Smith , 18. JP Smith , 19. Fotu Auelua , 20. Tom McVerry , 21. Michael Dowsett , 22. Joe Tomane , 23. Pat McCabe

Western Force

1. Pek Cowan,2. Nathan Charles,3. Kieran Longbottom,4. Sam Wykes,5. Wilhelm Steenkamp ,6. Brynard Stander,7. Matt Hodgson (c),8. Ben McCalman,9. Ian Prior,10. Zack Holmes,11. Nick Cummins ,12. Chris Tuatara-Morrison,13. Solomoni Rasolea,14. Dane Haylett-Petty,15. Jayden Hayward

Replacements : 16. Heath Tessmann,17. Tetera Faulkner ,18. Oliver Hoskins,19. Adam Coleman,20. Chris Alcock,21. Alby Mathewson,22. Luke Burton,23. Dillyn Leyds/Sias Ebersohn

 

[Darwin]

Go the Brumbies!

Toomua has been very impressive so far....

 

[Icemn]

Toomua has been very impressive so far....

he has always impressed me...

 

[Darwin]

Come-on Brumbies... don't let the Force get any closer....

EDIT: YES! Another Brumbies try. Highlanders in the playoffs for the 1st time in 12 years

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

Good luck to whichever team travel to Canberra to take on the Brumbies next week... Looking like the Chiefs at this point. I'd much rather travel to Durban, or even Christchurch (as an NZ team)!

 

[Darwin]

Good luck to whichever team travel to Canberra to take on the Brumbies next week... Looking like the Chiefs at this point. I'd much rather travel to Durban, or even Christchurch (as an NZ team)!

If the Highlanders win the Brumbies could be travelling to Dunedin (or Christchurch) next week...

As you say a more realistic scenario would be the Chiefs travelling to Canberra, and the Highlanders heading to Durban or Christchurch (personally I prefer if we played the Sharks - we did pretty well against them last time!).

 

[Gena_ZA]

Brumbies played really well and deserves a spot in the play-offs.
Wonder if some Force supporters here will now label the Brumbies as crooks and corrupt as well...

 

[Jaguares]

I feel very sorry for the Force. They made a good season and deserved to go to the playoffs

 

[Big Ewis]

hey guys, sorry I'm late for my SR posts but, I just finished watchin this one, and I saw a little bit of that Speight guy before and he totally outplayed the Badger with ease this time. The guy is big, breaks tackles, very good in contact, good pace, good passing (that great offload to Toomua here) and just a very good sense and feel of/for Rugby in general. I'd easily pick him over Cummins in particular, at least based on what I've seen. He's a Wallaby by August, isn't he ?...even the commentators were emphasizing how he really should be picked.

 

[RoosTah]

Yeah, Ewen McKenzie has been wanting to pick him for ages. Pretty well the form wing in Aus for two years running.

 

[Big Ewis]

Yeah, Ewen McKenzie has been wanting to pick him for ages. Pretty well the form wing in Aus for two years running.

hi sanzar, again, many apologies for my lateness, I'm really sorry, but if you say he's been running for 2 years in Aus then I think he's proven he's got really good stamina and should be a very good pick for the winger position. And Ewen McKenzie should pick him then if he is a massive fan of his afro as you seem to be saying he is. I personally believe Nick Cummins is a good winger, but I don't know if he's got that insane stamina you talked about, and he's big for a winger but I think Speight adds an entire dimension on his own, even though Cummins' hairstyle is objectively superior. But I mean, Nick Cummins moving to Thailand is just the right move at the right time for the Wallabies who can finally pick that Speight person. I'm sorry if this message came a bit late, I apologize for that.

 

[RoosTah]

Bahaha I can never quite work out if you're taking the **** BigEwis - you're under no obligation to keep abreast of all the movements in Australian and Super Rugby, so I don't think any apology is necessary.

But yes, Cummins is a very solid winger, but he's got nothing like Speight's dynamism, speed and power. In fact Speight reminds me a little of Tuqiri when he first came to Rugby - the guy was probably in the top three wingers in the world for a couple years - powerful, fast, agile and with brilliant instincts in both attack and defence (always remember seeing one of the best tackles ever in a Rugby match formed by Tuqiri - he threw his entire body at a Sharks winger, hurling him well into touch when he was meters infield in a try scoring opportunity).

It's just a shame that Speight hasn't been eligible and won't be until well into the RC - they guy would be handy up against the ABs.

 

[Darwin]

Yeah, Ewen McKenzie has been wanting to pick him for ages. Pretty well the form wing in Aus for two years running.

I agree - Speight has been the best 'Aussie' wing at Super Rugby level for several years now. I'm not quite sure how NZ let him get away - we were close to successfully poaching him from Fiji before Australia came in with the counter-poach

He will certainly add some fire-power to the Wallabies outside backs once he becomes available....

 

[RoosTah]

Not that the Wallabies are desperate for outside backs right now, but we're shaping up to have some solid firepower come 2015. O'Connor coming back, Speight in, and Karmichael Hunt supposedly on the verge of being signed by the Reds. Now all we need to do is get Jarryd Hayne, Greg Inglis and Jonathan Thurston to come to Union .

Then we could have a backline of:

9. Genia
10. Thurston (all the skills of Cooper, only better and can tackle)
11. Speight
12. Beale
13. Inglis
14. Hayne
15. Folau

Would be pretty awesome .

 

[austingtir]

Genia is hellishly overrated. Ewen wont even pick him anymore.

 

[Darwin]

Genia is hellishly overrated. Ewen wont even pick him anymore.

At his best Genia is a world class halfback. For a couple of years (2010-2011ish) he was the premier halfback in world rugby in my opinion. I don't know what has happened but he hasn't looked the same player since. He seems to have lost confidence in his running game and become obsessed with box-kicking. If he gets back to his best he will clearly still be the best 9 in Australia IMO, so there is no reason why we won't see him back in the Wallabies jersey once he returns from injury...

 

[RoosTah]

At his best Genia is a world class halfback. For a couple of years (2010-2011ish) he was the premier halfback in world rugby in my opinion. I don't know what has happened but he hasn't looked the same player since. He seems to have lost confidence in his running game and become obsessed with box-kicking. If he gets back to his best he will clearly still be the best 9 in Australia IMO, so there is no reason why we won't see him back in the Wallabies jersey once he returns from injury...

To be honest I thought he was great on the end of year tour, but he's been awful for the Reds this year. To be fair though, the Reds have been awful all round and I think a lot of this is due to their poor coaching.

 

[Big Ewis]

Bahaha I can never quite work out if you're taking the **** BigEwis - you're under no obligation to keep abreast of all the movements in Australian and Super Rugby, so I don't think any apology is necessary.

But yes, Cummins is a very solid winger, but he's got nothing like Speight's dynamism, speed and power. In fact Speight reminds me a little of Tuqiri when he first came to Rugby - the guy was probably in the top three wingers in the world for a couple years - powerful, fast, agile and with brilliant instincts in both attack and defence (always remember seeing one of the best tackles ever in a Rugby match formed by Tuqiri - he threw his entire body at a Sharks winger, hurling him well into touch when he was meters infield in a try scoring opportunity).

It's just a shame that Speight hasn't been eligible and won't be until well into the RC - they guy would be handy up against the ABs.

hi sanzar, sorry I couldn't reply in a more timely fashion, I swear I didn't do it on purpose, it's just I was probably sleeping and dreaming of random things while you typed that message. No no, I don't take ******, it's just language barrier and an unknown form of declined autism I possibly have.
I agree with the things you're saying about the badger and the afro person. The latter just brings an extra dimension, agreed. What tremendous dynamicity.