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Mr Doug, thanks for your post, put some perspective on things for me. I haven't re-watched the game, but with some sleep to put some space between the finish, and the aftermath, my view of the game was as follows. Firstly, I have to acknowedge the ABs were off their game until they were a man...

3 Kuridrani 2 Phipps 1 Fainga'a Hm Hooper, Higgers, Lilo, Fardy, Foley. AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper).

Not sure I'd dismiss Pocock's 2012 season as a 'work at' test season, but having been nominated as an IRB Player of the year in 2010 and 2011 I suppose you could make the argument. But then Hooper hasn't been nominated for that ever so not sure that leaves you anywhere. It is a valid topic...

You have to see the irony. When Hooper was starting to rival Pocock in 2012 there was plenty of stalwarts dismissing Hooper as too light, while extolling Pocock as the best 7 in rugby, with McCaws captaincy being the thing that made McCaw the more desirable player. Less than 2 years later we...

There is no doubt in my mind that Captaincy is one of the issues we face. Hooper is green. My vote would also be Pocock, a great player with a level head. We saw some good captaincy in the Wales tour of 2012. I count the loss of him in the BIL tour as our single biggest loss and would go so...

McCaw served an apprenticeship under a very good captain, unfortunately Hooper hasn't had that opportunity.

Yes, this is how I see it too. The Wallaby Captain has a duty to the ARU as well as his team. If I was Pulver, Eales, or McKenzie I'd be very uncomfortable with a captain that was saying anything other than I sympathise for all concerned including Kurtley, but the matter is under investigation...

For criminal matters yes, but this is civil, the test is balance of probabilities. Broadly you could say satisfied on the facts that there are enough facts, and that from these facts the judge concludes the person did 'it'. It is a much lower test than beyond reasonable doubt, but still must...

On Pocock as a leader TWAS I disagree. He showed good patience and leadership in the Welsh tests after a poor decision (in hindsight) in the Scots test. And we have seen many of our Captains make that mistake at test and sxv level. Of all our players he'd be my pick save only Moore and Horwill...

On the lasers Needs to be nipped in the bud by the whole union in my view. Yes our part is to cease play. But there also needs to be a concerted effort to stamp it out. Automatic concession of points is an option as this only happens in Argentina. A free call dob in line would also be an idea...

3 Horwill 2 Toomoua 1 Fainga'a

You could be right, he certainly made the same mistakes. But its my belief his character and patience give him the edge. That said I rate Horwill and would love to see him continue his improvement back to the levels of 10-11. I am hoping he has mastered some of the emotion that clearly got...

Today's performance, like the Eden Park one, was execrable. And 78 mins is brinksmanship on your part, and pretty shamelessly so at that Barbar. Our best game, I agree, was the one where we held the Boks out for 70 but lost. If you spend 70 minutes desperately trying to stem the tide...

Depressing game after last night's sublime rugby. We are a very distant third, realistically 4th after England. In essence we were a rabble. Lots of good individual effort hidden within a mire of disorganisation and fatigue. We can never hope to exert ourselves over the opposition when we...

Don't worry HJ maybe it will turn out Chieka has actually got JOC (James O'Connor) to sign a contract in invisible ink while neatly derailing the plans of Toulon and the Reds with mutually exclusive two year contracts that are both unlawful.

As a Rebels supporter it is hard not to be cynical. Great way to undermine the team irrespective of the detail. I guess it was due, we have had it with Cooper and O'Connor, inevitable Beale would implode to one degree or another. Like Cooper with the toxic wallabies I am expecting a partisan...

3 Hooper 2 Foley 1 Kepu Hm Phipps Slipper McCalman

3 Kuridrani 2 Phipps 1 Higgers

On the high tackle at a key time, now that we can discuss it without it sounding like sour grapes, I believe it will prove to be a key learning moment. The team was exposed as mentally fragile by the end of that play, as if the whole team had been kicked in the guts and didn't know when they'd...

Well, it is on topic!