Aussie S14 team of week 9

1. Ben Alexander (Brumbies) – Superb performance with his workrate and willingness to truck the ball-up, just what was needed on a night where the conditions were appalling.

2. Squeeky Moore (Brumbies) – Lead the Brumbies front row which dominated the Stormers pack. Had a pretty solid night with his line-out work and did plenty of dog work in tight.

3. Guy Shepardson (Brumbies) – Hard to leave him out given he played the full game and was in the thick of the action with his two front-row team mates.

4. Noodles Kimlin (Brumbies) – Stamped his authority on the match with some outstanding defence on both AJ Venter and Schalk, not an easy thing to do I’d imagine. He has played well over the last couple of weeks under difficult circumstances.

5. Madness McMeniman (Reds) – Looks far more comfortable when playing lock and it appears as though this is his preferred position rather than no.6 where he struggles for mobility. Back to his marauding best against the Highlanders after a few quiet weeks, his try was one for the end of season highlights.

6. Ben Mowen (Tahs) – Ok, he blew a try when he should have passed in the first half, but, perhaps he had visions of repeating his try in the same corner of a few weeks earlier. The only Tahs forward who seems capable of linking with the backline and providing an attacking option

7. David Pocock (Force) – Didn’t have quite the impact in attack as he had in games previous but provided the Force with a non-stop supply of good breakdown ball and made more tackles than any other Australian forward for the round.

8. Cliffy Palu (Tahs) – It is such a shame that the Tahs are unable to turn the dominance his continues to have over his opponents into better results. Easily put Pierre Spies in the shade and was one of the few go forward players for the Tahs

9. Patrick Phibbs (Brumbies) – I’ve never been a fan of Phibbs but he came on and made things happen. Charge-downs, close in snipes, disrupting opposition ball and was rewarded with a try. He is a scrapper in the Brett Sheehan mould and the conditions suited his style

10. Gits (Force) – Although Quade Cooper went alright this week, Gits was once again on a different level to anyone else.

11. Peter Hynes (Reds) – A goer, had an impact from the kick-off and made the Reds look like a different team. It will be an interesting selection meeting to decide if he or Diggers gets the right wing spot for the Wallabies assuming Lote has the left wing spot in the bag.

12. Berrick Barnes ( Reds) – While still far from his best, he showed some neat little touches and great attacking running to beat the other no.12’s this week. Would have liked to see Tyrone Smith on a dry track, but that was not to be. Barnes is such a great defender despite giving away a fair bit of size.

13. Diggers (Reds) – Every week leads the attacking metres gained. This stat is even more impressive considering a fair few of those metres are gained off inside balls running into traffic. Not sure if he will be the Wallaby outside centre this year but it looks only a matter of time before he make the position his.

14. Nick Cummins (Force) – Crammed more into the 50 odd minutes he was on the field that the other Australian wingers put together. Finishes tries well and can make things happen for himself; as shown by some outstanding line-breaks. Cummins is proof the Force can develop talent rather than just knocking it off from the other states.

15. Mark Gerrard (Brumbies) – Won the game against the Stormers with his right boot, Gerrado seems to be ageing like fine wine. Despite his outstanding performances this season, his name rarely comes up when potential Wallabies sides are talked about…why is that?