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The Rugby Championship 2023
5 reasons why Australia sucks
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<blockquote data-quote="Darwin" data-source="post: 526951" data-attributes="member: 24910"><p>While it is fashionable to blame Cooper for Australia's woes, the stats certainly don't back this up! Personally I'm not a big fan of Cooper, but Australia performs much better when he is in the team. Indeed they have <a href="http://www.espnscrum.com/statsguru/rugby/player/85482.html?class=1;template=results;type=player" target="_blank">won 70% of the matches</a> he has played in, far exceeding Australia's overall win percentage during that period (<a href="http://stats.espnscrum.com/statsguru/rugby/stats/index.html?class=1;filter=advanced;orderby=won;spanmin1=01+Nov+2008;spanval1=span;team=6;template=results;type=team" target="_blank">59%</a>). In fact, in the 17 matches during this period that Cooper didn't play in Australia won only 6/17 (35%!). So to summarize: </p><p>Cooper plays - win 70% of games.</p><p>Cooper doesn't play - win 35% of games.</p><p></p><p>That is pretty compelling evidence that Quade Cooper is important to Australia's success!</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I agree entirely with this. I feel McCabe was very unfairly criticized last season, and is continuing to grow as a player as a midfield back. The days of a creative 12 are gone (at least at the moment) - nearly every international team now has a hard running 12 to get over the advantage line. McCabe runs great angles, and is a superb physical defender (I maintain he is the best defensive 12 in world rugby) - I think he is clearly Australia's best option at 12 at the moment, and will continue to improve as he gets more experienced.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Agree with most of this too. Like many I don't understand Australia's selectors fascination with Horne - he seems a solid Super Rugby player, but that is about it. </p><p></p><p>Dennis is very under-rated in my opinion, and exactly what Australia need in the 6 jersey. He gets criticized for being invisible, but that is because he is busy doing the 'dirty work' like cleaning out rucks, and pushing in mauls (rather than standing on the wing like Higginbotham!). I think he is starting to develop nicely in the Aussie 6 jersey, and we have started to see him use his running game a lot more in recent weeks.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Like Shaggy, I have to disagree on this point. Everyone isn't better than Australia. New Zealand very clearly is, but Australia are still ranked number 2 in a the world for a good reason! The have a winning record over all of the top teams barring New Zealand in the Deans' era (assuming we don't consider Scotland and Samoa 'top teams'!), and have an incredibly recent record over South Africa (won the last 5 in a row I think?). So while Australia may not be that good at the moment, apart from New Zealand no other team really is!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Darwin, post: 526951, member: 24910"] While it is fashionable to blame Cooper for Australia's woes, the stats certainly don't back this up! Personally I'm not a big fan of Cooper, but Australia performs much better when he is in the team. Indeed they have [URL="http://www.espnscrum.com/statsguru/rugby/player/85482.html?class=1;template=results;type=player"]won 70% of the matches[/URL] he has played in, far exceeding Australia's overall win percentage during that period ([URL="http://stats.espnscrum.com/statsguru/rugby/stats/index.html?class=1;filter=advanced;orderby=won;spanmin1=01+Nov+2008;spanval1=span;team=6;template=results;type=team"]59%[/URL]). In fact, in the 17 matches during this period that Cooper didn't play in Australia won only 6/17 (35%!). So to summarize: Cooper plays - win 70% of games. Cooper doesn't play - win 35% of games. That is pretty compelling evidence that Quade Cooper is important to Australia's success! I agree entirely with this. I feel McCabe was very unfairly criticized last season, and is continuing to grow as a player as a midfield back. The days of a creative 12 are gone (at least at the moment) - nearly every international team now has a hard running 12 to get over the advantage line. McCabe runs great angles, and is a superb physical defender (I maintain he is the best defensive 12 in world rugby) - I think he is clearly Australia's best option at 12 at the moment, and will continue to improve as he gets more experienced. Agree with most of this too. Like many I don't understand Australia's selectors fascination with Horne - he seems a solid Super Rugby player, but that is about it. Dennis is very under-rated in my opinion, and exactly what Australia need in the 6 jersey. He gets criticized for being invisible, but that is because he is busy doing the 'dirty work' like cleaning out rucks, and pushing in mauls (rather than standing on the wing like Higginbotham!). I think he is starting to develop nicely in the Aussie 6 jersey, and we have started to see him use his running game a lot more in recent weeks. Like Shaggy, I have to disagree on this point. Everyone isn't better than Australia. New Zealand very clearly is, but Australia are still ranked number 2 in a the world for a good reason! The have a winning record over all of the top teams barring New Zealand in the Deans' era (assuming we don't consider Scotland and Samoa 'top teams'!), and have an incredibly recent record over South Africa (won the last 5 in a row I think?). So while Australia may not be that good at the moment, apart from New Zealand no other team really is! [/QUOTE]
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