Is Robbie Deans Ruining Australia's World Cup?

[dan-the-man]

Watching the Reds, the Western Force and even the Rebels in this years Super 15 got me saying "Even though the All Blacks will win the WC, I'm gonna support Aus because I simply am in love with how these guys play rugby". I was so keen to see the best of Australia come together to form a team that would be the epitome of running rugby.

In the last couple of WC games, Robbie Deans' selections have really made my unprecedented enthusiasm dwindle greatly.

First, some questions: Is Beau Robinson injured? Him being injured is the only reason I see fit for McCalman and Palu getting preference over him.

Are Peter Hynes and Lachie Turner also still injured?

Skope Kepu, Tatafu Polota-Nau and Salesi Ma'afu are an absolute cancer in the Australian set up. Get them out of there.

And is Deans kidding me with Dan Vickerman? Realy?

How the hell does McCalman start over Higginbotham, Samo and Beau Robinson?
And now the backs. First off, is McCabe really good enough to be Autralias first-choice centre? O'Connor should be wearing the 12 jersey. Don't play him on the wing away from all the action!

Guys like Barnes, Horne and Anthony Faingaa making the squad is ridiculous. I don't think Horne or Faingaa are bad (I can't say the same for Barnes), but come on! Let's look at it this way: Your alotment as a coach is 30 players. Out of these 30, usually, 17 are forwards (sometimes even 18). So you have 13 backs that can make the side. Out of these 13, you need 3 scrumhalves. This leaves us with 10. Then you put in your guarantees like Quadey, Ioane, Mitchell ,O'Connor, Ashley-Cooper and Beale. This leaves us with 4 places left. Tehn of course McCabe deserves to be at least in the squad, which leaves us with 3. Out of the massive abundance of backline talent in Australia, are you seriously telling me the next 3 best are Barnes, Fainga'a and Horne? Surely Hynes isn't still injured? And Turner? If those two aren''t injured, then that renders the selection of Barnes, Fainga'a and Horne even more outragious. But even if they are, there are so many other backs that were incredible this season. Guys like Luke Morahan, Rod Davies, James Stannard, Ben Lucas, Mark Gerrard...even Stirling Mortlock has looked awesome this year! My point is, how the hell can Barnes, Fainga'a and Horne fit into the squad?

Aus 22 without injuries: 1. Ben Robinson 2. Stephen Moore 3. Ben Alexander (I'd tell him to start holding his bind or else I'll shoot him) 4. Horwill (C) 5. Sharpe 6. Elsom 7. Pocock 8. Higginbotham 9. Genia 10 Cooper 11. Mitchell 12. O'Connor 13. Ioane 14. Hynes 15. Beale
16. Hanson 17. Daley 18. Samo 19. Beau Robinson 20. Burgess 21. McCabe 22. Ashley-Cooper

Aus 22 with what I think are the current injuries (I'll give Deans the benefit of the doubt and assume that Hynes and Turner are injured) 1. Daley 2. Moore 3. Alexander 4. Horwill (C) 5. Sharpe 6. Elsom 7. Pocock 8. Higginbotham 9. Genia 10. Cooper 11. Rod Davies 12. O'Connor 13. Ashley-Cooper 14. Ioane 15. Beale
16. Hanson 17. Slipper 18. Samo 19. Beau Robinson 20. Burgess 21. McCabe 22.Morahan

 

[Dizzy]

I agree with you apart from the backing aussie part.. And even though all this sh** Deans is doing to the Wallabies, his poor track record and everything, The ARU are still keen to sign him on for longer. It's a damn mindboggling episode.

 

[Rhyer]

Ioane is a left wing and Mitchell is a right wing, it matters, AAC is one of the best centres going.

 

[Darwin]

Hmmm, I don't really know where to start...

-Hynes is still out injured - indeed there are fears he may never play again.
-I agree Beau Robinson should have been in the squad at the start ahead of Palu
-Lachie Turner is fit - indeed he is in the squad now that Mitchell has been ruled out
-I agree Ma'afu is poor (they should have taken Daley IMO), but to suggest Kepu and Polota-Nau are a cancer in the Australian setup is bizzare. Kepu is not the best prop in the world, but he is certainly in the best 4 props in Australia. Polota-Nau is a brilliant player; if he hadn't had so many injury worries this year he probably would be starting ahead of Moore.
-Initially I wasn't convinced on Vickermann, but he has played pretty well for Australia (I'd still prefer Simmons in the starting lineup)
-I think McCabe deserves to be Australia's first choice 12 - his style of play perfectly complements Quade Coopers. As I've mentioned many times Quade Cooper does not play well with another playmaker outside him, as he wants to be the sole playmaker - he is at his best when he has a strong running 'bail-out' option at 12 (e.g. Faingaa, McCabe). The fact that McCabe is probably the best defensive 12 in world rugby seems to be ignored by many people too. O'Connor is at his best when he has room to move in any case (especially on the counter attack).
-Do you really think Rod Davies should be starting on the wing? I take it you didn't watch the Australia v Samoa match

 

[madflyhalf]

Kepu has been by far the best scrummager prop after Benn Robinson

Dan Vickerman has been (during 3N Series) one of the most involved forward in Aus pack, much better than Simmons and even Sharpe; high workrate

Hynes is still injuried

Lachie Turner has not been included, I think that Deans' looking for diffrent kind of wingers (quicker than faster and more involved in midfield; only one purely fast wing: Mitchell; all the others do better work with their feet)

Ioane has been the IN FORM wing of Super XV, and almost scored in every test he appeared, he fully deserves to be there, and nowhere but on left wing spot.

Morahan isn't ready yet, but IMO it's only matter of time.

Rod Davies lacks of physicality, but he's still young, we could see him back in the future wallabies.

Quite agree with McCalman ahead of Higgers. Not for Samo.
If McCalman is not so solid in the tight, he uses to be more involved in BD than Higginbotham. Higginbotham is a kind of flanker that too often seagulls away from BD, bad support runs and sometimes he overruns the ball carrier.
Elsom and Samo are tighter in their game.

That's why they uses to start instead of him... Wallabies need their forward to lift their workrate and phyisicality.

Higginbotham at test level also has been a huge disappointment at n.8, but it's not his real position.

I don't know why Beau Robinson weren't selected in the final 30, seems that Dingo is in love with Hodgson, but as we were able to see after Samoa match (july), Beau Robinson is still a very... mmm... cahotic player. Much involved, but too often in a wrong way, messy.
It means this kind of openside flanker tends to concede too many penalties.

This is not good in a RWC.

Ant Fainga'a played well in S15, he deserved his chance, though IMO he blew it up. Still a great defender.

Berrick Barnes should be now in the starting XV, ahead of Cooper, waiting for him to fix his brain (not too much, just a little).

IMO JOC is good at wing, you can't pair JOC and QC together at 10-12, too similar, JOC is one of the most amazing players when it comes to counter-attack and in broken play as well. He cuts defence like a knife, he's extremely good at 14


The only concerns about Deans selection, IMO, were on McCalman ahead of a pure openside (Hodgson, Robinson whoever); Palu, even if not fit yet, and too fragile.
All the other players were good at that moment. Rob Horne as well, he's gonna be the future for the WB at centre for a while, for 2 matches (1) he's in the squad for a good reason.

Remember that from next year Deans will be without Giteau (10-12) and Burgess (9).

The problem is not the selection, these are all good players.
The problem, instead, IMO is in the motivation and performances required at this level. I don't know whether it's coach or players fault, but sometimes they're not good enough.
It seems they're not motivated, it seems they're not delivering the performance...

But when they do it... god this is really the best team to watch. And the second strongest team in world rugby

 

[UilamOsa]

[h=2]Is Robbie Deans Ruining Australia's World Cup?[/h]

Yes.

Sign him for another 4 years after his 2 years is up. Then you can have Mark Hammett as well.

The Blues will take on Ewen after Pat Lam wins his initial S15 ***le.

 

[Wally]

I just don't know how the ARU can justify resigning before the world cup even began. If we bow out at the quarters he will have one of the worst records of any Wallaby coach, even if we did win a next to meaningless Tri Nations tournament.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

But then with the players Dean's brought in to the squad, and with Argentina joining the 4-Nations (and probably taking a few years to find their feet) his successor is likely to have a rather good record

 

[Gavin]

Simple answer.... NO.... Deans is prepare Australian rugby for the future. If they don't think the World Cup this year, they'll be favorites for it next time it comes round. What Deans is creating is a rugby culture which has been lacking in Australia since 1998-2002. What people are also not considering is what he has done for club rugby, it may not be shown but I'll put money on that he is having a great effect.

 

[dan-the-man]

@ mad flyhalf and darwin 23,

Vickerman concedes too many penalties, and a combination of Horwill/Sharpe would be one mother f... of a line-out! Not to mention how they also have a 6, 7 and 8 who also jump. And, there's no denying that Vickerman was a purely reputation-based selection, which I am against.

And Darwin, you defend Kepu and Polota-Nau....did you watch the Aus vs Ireland game? Almost every scrum resulted in a penalty to Ireland!

I think it's just plain silly to suggest that Quadey will start playing badly if you put another playmaker at 12. That is moronic. He can still do what he does best, the only difference is that when he offloads to his 12 it will be someone that can also make something happen. I love McCabe, but O'Connor will be much better when he's closer to the action and getting more ball. His abundant skill is being wasted on the wing, as there are some games in which he hardly touches the ball!

I don't think Davies is the best thing ever, but I think he has much more potential than Horne or Fainga'a.

Berrick Barnes is a joke. All he does is kicks, he passes like an under - 9, and doesn't tackle. He is so talentless it's unbelievable. I would much rather see guys like Morahan and Davies get a crack. Or, if you want to be safe and have another number 10, James Stannard is as good a flyhalf as he is a scrumhalf, and he played incredibly well for the Force this season. I'd rather have him any day of the week then Barnes

 

[Darwin]

And Darwin, you defend Kepu and Polota-Nau....did you watch the Aus vs Ireland game? Almost every scrum resulted in a penalty to Ireland!

Wow, so Australia got beaten in the scrum in a game.... it is not as though that hasn't happened nearly every match for the last 10 years! The fact that the Aussie scrum has actually been competitive at times in recent years is very much down to the inclusion of players like Polota-Nau and Kepu, who are both much stronger scrummagers than the average Aussie front-rowers (indeed if you had watched the Tahs play all year you would have noticed that their scrum was strong whenever Polota-Nau was playing, but poor whenever he was out). Out of curiosity, can you name 4 Australian props that are stronger scrummagers than Kepu (or 3 hookers that are stronger scrumaggers than Polota-Nau)?

I think it's just plain silly to suggest that Quadey will start playing badly if you put another playmaker at 12. That is moronic. He can still do what he does best, the only difference is that when he offloads to his 12 it will be someone that can also make something happen. I love McCabe, but O'Connor will be much better when he's closer to the action and getting more ball. His abundant skill is being wasted on the wing, as there are some games in which he hardly touches the ball!

Have you watched Quade Cooper play over recent years? How many strong games has he had with another playmaker at 12? I'm not just 'guessing' that he doesn't perform as well with another playmaker outside him, I have simply watched him play over the last couple of years and observed the fact the he plays better with a direct runner, rather than a playmaker, in the 12 jersey. Interesting Robbie Deans has come to the same conclusion. That is how I judge players - I watch them play, then make an assessment on how they play. Perhaps you should give that a try. I don't think it is a coincidence that Cooper's career took off when Berrick Barnes moved away, and the Reds got a more direct runner in the 12 jersey. I'm sure he is capable of playing well with a playmaker at 12, but over recent years he has looked much better with a much more direct runner outside him.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Aus 22 without injuries: 1. Ben Robinson 2. Stephen Moore 3. Ben Alexander (I'd tell him to start holding his bind or else I'll shoot him) 4. Horwill (C) 5. Sharpe 6. Elsom 7. Pocock 8. Higginbotham 9. Genia 10 Cooper 11. Mitchell 12. O'Connor 13. Ioane 14. Hynes 15. Beale
16. Hanson 17. Daley 18. Samo 19. Beau Robinson 20. Burgess 21. McCabe 22. Ashley-Cooper

rather Ioane on the wing with AAC at 13 and Hynes on the bench.

 

[dan-the-man]

Wow, so Australia got beaten in the scrum in a game.... it is not as though that hasn't happened nearly every match for the last 10 years! The fact that the Aussie scrum has actually been competitive at times in recent years is very much down to the inclusion of players like Polota-Nau and Kepu, who are both much stronger scrummagers than the average Aussie front-rowers (indeed if you had watched the Tahs play all year you would have noticed that their scrum was strong whenever Polota-Nau was playing, but poor whenever he was out). Out of curiosity, can you name 4 Australian props that are stronger scrummagers than Kepu (or 3 hookers that are stronger scrumaggers than Polota-Nau)?


Have you watched Quade Cooper play over recent years? How many strong games has he had with another playmaker at 12? I'm not just 'guessing' that he doesn't perform as well with another playmaker outside him, I have simply watched him play over the last couple of years and observed the fact the he plays better with a direct runner, rather than a playmaker, in the 12 jersey. Interesting Robbie Deans has come to the same conclusion. That is how I judge players - I watch them play, then make an assessment on how they play. Perhaps you should give that a try. I don't think it is a coincidence that Cooper's career took off when Berrick Barnes moved away, and the Reds got a more direct runner in the 12 jersey. I'm sure he is capable of playing well with a playmaker at 12, but over recent years he has looked much better with a much more direct runner outside him.

Actually, Quade's career took off when Barnes went away because the Reds had Quade at 12. The point is, Cooper at 10/O'Connor at 12 is yet to be tested. I believe that it would work, and work extremely well. Deans should have at least given it a chance by now

 

[Sam Owen]

I dont think he is, hes got a reputation to uphold. The Crusaders put him on the pedestal as a hot property coach. The Wallabies at the time were playing under their usual high standards and it didnt matter what coach they got, they still were struggling and became desperate and thats when they sent out a S.O.S to Robbie Deans.

Robbie had the support of many of the top Wallabies and since his time the Wallabies have now improved. There is no doubt the Wallabies have come a long way since their last coach, the one thing that Ive noticed is that, now the Wallabies are back to normal, many of the Australians feel that Deans should go, like a use and abuse type thing.

Bottom line, no, he aint ruining the Wallabies. We just forgot about what the Wallies were like before Deans. Yeah players like Cooper, Genia, Beale had not found their feet back then but now they have and they're playing good ruggaz just like the Crusaders use to. You take the Wallabies jacket off Deans, the Wallabies polo shirt, look into his heart and its wearing an All Black jersey but theres no way he'd stab the back of those who he's trying to help.

 

[TNT88]

Hynes - Injured
Turner - Out of form for ages now.
Daley starting as prop? Not a chance. Kepu is one of our best scrumigers. James Slipper is ahead of Daley as well.
People rip on McCalman for no good reason. He isn't a superstar, but he works hard. Thats about it. I'm not endorsing him making the starting team, but he is worthy of making the squad.

Higgenbotham has had chances and looked no better or worse than McCalman. (I'm not talking about coming off the bench in the 75th minute, i'm talking about when he starts the game). Samo and Palu are out best #8's. They need to be there. Palu is now injured so either McCalman or Higgenbotham will get that bench spot. Beau Robinson hasn't had much test experience He looks great in S15, but so does every other backrower in the squad.

As for the backs. Barnes is by far our best 12, don't know what you are on about. O'Connor's position in this squad is one the wing. Rod Davis clearly isn't a test player yet.

The team for this week picks itself.

1. Kepu
2. Moore
3. Alexander
4. Horwill
5. Vickerman
6. Elsom
7. Pocock
8. Samo
9. Genia
10. Cooper
11. Ioane
12. Barnes
13. AAC
14. O'Connor
15. Beale


People need to understand that the Wallabies are not the Reds. They had one good season in the super15. We can't play their style either, because it is test rugby. We need a totally different focus and Robbie Deans realized that pretty quickly after our first few losses this season.

 

[TNT88]

Have you watched Quade Cooper play over recent years? How many strong games has he had with another playmaker at 12? I'm not just 'guessing' that he doesn't perform as well with another playmaker outside him, I have simply watched him play over the last couple of years and observed the fact the he plays better with a direct runner, rather than a playmaker, in the 12 jersey.

Good point. I'm sure it is giving the selectors a headache at the moment.

Personally, I reckon the plan all along has been to slot Barnes in at 12 when he gets back. But without a decent trial it is a risky move for the reasons you list above.

If it does rain on the weekend, we can probably get away with Barnes there, and we need world class kickers to counter SA in the rain. Anyway time will tell.

 

[Tomsey]

Watching the Reds, the Western Force and even the Rebels in this years Super 15 got me saying "Even though the All Blacks will win the WC, I'm gonna support Aus because I simply am in love with how these guys play rugby". I was so keen to see the best of Australia come together to form a team that would be the epitome of running rugby.

In the last couple of WC games, Robbie Deans' selections have really made my unprecedented enthusiasm dwindle greatly.

First, some questions: Is Beau Robinson injured? Him being injured is the only reason I see fit for McCalman and Palu getting preference over him.

Are Peter Hynes and Lachie Turner also still injured?

Skope Kepu, Tatafu Polota-Nau and Salesi Ma'afu are an absolute cancer in the Australian set up. Get them out of there.

And is Deans kidding me with Dan Vickerman? Realy?

How the hell does McCalman start over Higginbotham, Samo and Beau Robinson?
And now the backs. First off, is McCabe really good enough to be Autralias first-choice centre? O'Connor should be wearing the 12 jersey. Don't play him on the wing away from all the action!

Guys like Barnes, Horne and Anthony Faingaa making the squad is ridiculous. I don't think Horne or Faingaa are bad (I can't say the same for Barnes), but come on! Let's look at it this way: Your alotment as a coach is 30 players. Out of these 30, usually, 17 are forwards (sometimes even 18). So you have 13 backs that can make the side. Out of these 13, you need 3 scrumhalves. This leaves us with 10. Then you put in your guarantees like Quadey, Ioane, Mitchell ,O'Connor, Ashley-Cooper and Beale. This leaves us with 4 places left. Tehn of course McCabe deserves to be at least in the squad, which leaves us with 3. Out of the massive abundance of backline talent in Australia, are you seriously telling me the next 3 best are Barnes, Fainga'a and Horne? Surely Hynes isn't still injured? And Turner? If those two aren''t injured, then that renders the selection of Barnes, Fainga'a and Horne even more outragious. But even if they are, there are so many other backs that were incredible this season. Guys like Luke Morahan, Rod Davies, James Stannard, Ben Lucas, Mark Gerrard...even Stirling Mortlock has looked awesome this year! My point is, how the hell can Barnes, Fainga'a and Horne fit into the squad?

Aus 22 without injuries: 1. Ben Robinson 2. Stephen Moore 3. Ben Alexander (I'd tell him to start holding his bind or else I'll shoot him) 4. Horwill (C) 5. Sharpe 6. Elsom 7. Pocock 8. Higginbotham 9. Genia 10 Cooper 11. Mitchell 12. O'Connor 13. Ioane 14. Hynes 15. Beale
16. Hanson 17. Daley 18. Samo 19. Beau Robinson 20. Burgess 21. McCabe 22. Ashley-Cooper

Aus 22 with what I think are the current injuries (I'll give Deans the benefit of the doubt and assume that Hynes and Turner are injured) 1. Daley 2. Moore 3. Alexander 4. Horwill (C) 5. Sharpe 6. Elsom 7. Pocock 8. Higginbotham 9. Genia 10. Cooper 11. Rod Davies 12. O'Connor 13. Ashley-Cooper 14. Ioane 15. Beale
16. Hanson 17. Slipper 18. Samo 19. Beau Robinson 20. Burgess 21. McCabe 22.Morahan

Some of you guys really need to start thinking before you shoot your mouth off and embarrass yourselves. For starters, dan-the-man, logic is an endangered species in your post. You claim that Robbie Deans is sabotaging Australia with his selections and when you try to demonstrate you end up proving yourself to be spectacularly wrong and stupid. Allow me to demonstrate.
You say that Beau Robinson should be playing (I assume you mean at 7 for the injured David Pocock instead of Ben McCalman). While I agree he may be a better openside flanker than McCalman, he is not a better blindside flanker, nor a better number 8, nor can he play lock, nor can he jump in lineouts and he isn't very big. In a thirty man squad the most important thing is to have good versatile rugby players and Beau is not one of those. Robbie Deans realises this and that's why Beau is not in the squad.
If you still don't believe me then consider why Graham Henry also only has one openside flanker in his All Blacks Squad (he used Adam Thompson at 7 when McCaw was injured).
You then go on to say that Deans is stupid for including the likes of Skope Kepu, Tatafu Polota-Nau, Salesi Ma'afu, Berrick Barnes, Anthony Fainga'a, Rob Horne and Pat McCabe. Instead you would play Hynes (who is likely to be retiring from rugby because he can't walk) James Hanson, Ben Daley, Rod Davies, James Stanard, Ben Lucas, Luke Morahan etc. Whilst I agree that most of your replacements are somewhat talented rugby players you are again MISSING THE BIG PICTURE. ie. THEY ARE ALL SMALL AND LACK VERSATILITY. A front row of Daley, Hanson, and Robinson for example would give away at least 30 kg to any other international front row and would hence get pummelled into the ground. Kepu, Polota-Nau and Kepu on the other hand, not so light. The same applies to Davies, Lucas, Stanard and Morahan. I very much doubt that any of them could stop Alesana Tuilagi from scoring if they were the last line of defense (in Rod Davies case I know for sure). I'd give McCabe, Fainga'a, Horne or Barnes much more of a chance. This is also the reason that O'Connor isn't playing 12. Sure he has the skills but he only weighs 90kg. After 60 minutes of Sonny Bill Williams, Ma'a Nonu and Jerome Kaino running at him he would be injured or dead, simple as that. Also versatility comes into play again. Fainga'a can cover both centres and wing in a pinch. Davies can play wing. Barnes can play 10,12 or 15 comfortably. Morahan can play wing. Should I go on...
You then say that you can't understand why Dan Vickerman is involved in the squad. Firstly he as skilful as any other lock in Australia in the loose and in the lineout. Secondly (as if the first point isn't enough to include him anyway) he is very experienced (another thing which you have overlooked in all your team selections -big picture again) and thirdly he is a cu*t. The third point is probably the most important. I don't expect you to understand team dynamics because after reading your post it is quite evident that you have never played rugby before, but successful rugby teams always have a player who can get in oppositions face and unsettle them. In 1999 we had Owen Finegan, in 1991 it was Tony Daly. Pretty sure we won world cups those years and as Australia hasn't had such a player for some time we haven't won one for a while. Vickerman is that man and if we are to win this world cup he needs to be in the team.

 

[Tomsey]

I just don't know how the ARU can justify resigning before the world cup even began. If we bow out at the quarters he will have one of the worst records of any Wallaby coach, even if we did win a next to meaningless Tri Nations tournament.

Because his job description was to rebuild the Wallabies when he came in after the shambles that was the 2007 World Cup Campaign and that job is only half done. He has uncovered and blooded a lot of new talent but he has not had the time to shape them into the great team that they can be. It would be idiotic to sack him after this World Cup when this World Cup is too early for the Wallabies to have a realistic chance of winning anyway. Right now they are too young and inexperienced. I predict the 2015 World Cup will happen at just the right time and I predict that Deans will still be the coach. All he will need to do is to show progress after the Lions tests in 2013 and they will resign him.

 

[Icemn]

Watching the Reds, the Western Force and even the Rebels in this years Super 15 got me saying "Even though the All Blacks will win the WC, I'm gonna support Aus because I simply am in love with how these guys play rugby". I was so keen to see the best of Australia come together to form a team that would be the epitome of running rugby.

In the last couple of WC games, Robbie Deans' selections have really made my unprecedented enthusiasm dwindle greatly.

First, some questions: Is Beau Robinson injured? Him being injured is the only reason I see fit for McCalman and Palu getting preference over him.

Are Peter Hynes and Lachie Turner also still injured?

Skope Kepu, Tatafu Polota-Nau and Salesi Ma'afu are an absolute cancer in the Australian set up. Get them out of there.

And is Deans kidding me with Dan Vickerman? Realy?

How the hell does McCalman start over Higginbotham, Samo and Beau Robinson?
And now the backs. First off, is McCabe really good enough to be Autralias first-choice centre? O'Connor should be wearing the 12 jersey. Don't play him on the wing away from all the action!

Guys like Barnes, Horne and Anthony Faingaa making the squad is ridiculous. I don't think Horne or Faingaa are bad (I can't say the same for Barnes), but come on! Let's look at it this way: Your alotment as a coach is 30 players. Out of these 30, usually, 17 are forwards (sometimes even 18). So you have 13 backs that can make the side. Out of these 13, you need 3 scrumhalves. This leaves us with 10. Then you put in your guarantees like Quadey, Ioane, Mitchell ,O'Connor, Ashley-Cooper and Beale. This leaves us with 4 places left. Tehn of course McCabe deserves to be at least in the squad, which leaves us with 3. Out of the massive abundance of backline talent in Australia, are you seriously telling me the next 3 best are Barnes, Fainga'a and Horne? Surely Hynes isn't still injured? And Turner? If those two aren''t injured, then that renders the selection of Barnes, Fainga'a and Horne even more outragious. But even if they are, there are so many other backs that were incredible this season. Guys like Luke Morahan, Rod Davies, James Stannard, Ben Lucas, Mark Gerrard...even Stirling Mortlock has looked awesome this year! My point is, how the hell can Barnes, Fainga'a and Horne fit into the squad?

Aus 22 without injuries: 1. Ben Robinson 2. Stephen Moore 3. Ben Alexander (I'd tell him to start holding his bind or else I'll shoot him) 4. Horwill (C) 5. Sharpe 6. Elsom 7. Pocock 8. Higginbotham 9. Genia 10 Cooper 11. Mitchell 12. O'Connor 13. Ioane 14. Hynes 15. Beale
16. Hanson 17. Daley 18. Samo 19. Beau Robinson 20. Burgess 21. McCabe 22. Ashley-Cooper

Aus 22 with what I think are the current injuries (I'll give Deans the benefit of the doubt and assume that Hynes and Turner are injured) 1. Daley 2. Moore 3. Alexander 4. Horwill (C) 5. Sharpe 6. Elsom 7. Pocock 8. Higginbotham 9. Genia 10. Cooper 11. Rod Davies 12. O'Connor 13. Ashley-Cooper 14. Ioane 15. Beale
16. Hanson 17. Slipper 18. Samo 19. Beau Robinson 20. Burgess 21. McCabe 22.Morahan

i don't understand your problem??? deans has won teh tri-nations for you?!?!!? he prob has the yougest side to coach, but yet he is bring in the results...

i dont know if you want better rugby :? but i still feel the wallabies are going to win this WC... i said it before the tourney began...

don't worry about the loss against IRE... i mean spain lost their 1st game in the fifa WC last year... yet they won it...

but maybe i don't see what you see.... but i think RD knows what he is doing.... and i am actually worried.... cuz of what he has done to the crusaders.... he is building the AUS team...

and the youngsters that you have... i think this is NZ best chance to win teh WC cuz AUS is deff taking 2015...

 

[Darwin]

People rip on McCalman for no good reason. He isn't a superstar, but he works hard. Thats about it. I'm not endorsing him making the starting team, but he is worthy of making the squad.

I've never understood why McCalman gets so much criticism. As you say he is not a superstar, but he works hard, makes his tackles, and is a good lineout option. He actually had couple of very strong games for the Wallabies last year too (one vs the AB's in particular). He's the sort of player that is never going to standout, but is always going to do his job - I wouldn't actually mind seeing him in the 6 jersey with a strong ball carrier (Samo/Palu) at 8.

Actually, Quade's career took off when Barnes went away because the Reds had Quade at 12. The point is, Cooper at 10/O'Connor at 12 is yet to be tested. I believe that it would work, and work extremely well. Deans should have at least given it a chance by now

Quade Cooper has never started at 12 since Barnes left at the end of 2009 - all his games have been at 10 (with Faingaa or Tapuai outside him).