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Which may explain why Morahan is in that extended team. It does seem like a 6-2 bench is on the cards. Last weekend I thought Lilo was exposed when he was forced to play out wide. I can see the logic in the forward selections but there are risks whenever half the pack is changed from one week...

Edit: left out of starting 15. That is crazy to think the best Aussie on the park would be dropped from a starting line up. Some supporters obsession with a "fetcher" is amusing. From my armchair it seems a superfluous discussion. There are two quality loose forwards that wore 7 and 8 on...

Very surprised to see some critical of Hooper, and even one poster not including him in their 23. Remarkable. The guy is an aggressive no frills sort of player that I thought played very well on Saturday night. Certainly the best player with a yellow jersey on. I think the spotlight should be...

Ireland forwards were superb. Really confrontational and physical. Tough conditions for running rugby. Well done junior Paddies. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

3. Hooper 2. DHP 1. Folau

There is some great talent in the current squad and plenty of potential no doubt. Whilst Folau, Pocock, Hooper and Kepu are world class players, that 2001 squad had a lot more in that class and they had more in that next tier as well. I remember being in Richmond on the night of the Melbourne...

Unfortunately for Australia I don't see too many in the current squad with the combined quality of the likes of Burke, Roff, Herbert, Paul, Gregan, Latham, Larkham, Kefu, Smith, Eales, Giffin etc.

An excellent kicking performance from Farrell. 9/10 in anyones book is a class effort. the fact he got 10 attempts against a quality side like Australia adds to the performance. Was impressed with the physicality of the English forwards at the collisions. They really pushed up and in...

barbarian - if Beale and To'omua are fit does Kerevi make the squad let alone the 23? An interesting one to consider. To'omua's form this season has been poor. I'm a fan of his confrontational style and add to that he has the skills of a quality 1st 5. Beale was the form back of all Australian...

Really? Phipps can't go 80 at a high level. They will need Frisby at halfback I reckon.

And unfortunately this season K-train's form has looked more like puff n billy

Well done to Frisby. The guy is having a superb season. He has good rugby nous and will bring some added speed to the halfback position.

A lock, lock/6 and a 6/7 on the bench? That's a little surprising, isn't it? Is Kerevi the wing cover?

I don't think this wing combination is any worst under the high ball than what we went in with in the RWC final. It certainly wasn't a strong area of Skudder's game and it showed a few times during the RWC. I think Naholo will be very good and if he can stay uninjured this could be his...

NZ played a dominant 50 odd minutes against Georgia and then the final 25 or so was pretty competitive. Georgia's defence was a lot better and our attack was forced to go far too lateral. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I think he was running in the opposing team because he's seen that Eddie is running the same plays as 13-14 years ago

I would add Tom Carter, James O'Connor, Steve Kefu, Saia Fainga'a to that list....

Just a little surprised to see Palu in there ahead of Houston, but other than that it is to be expected.

When Nonu first moved to 12 for the ABs in 2008 I wasn't really a fan, but what was clear is that the AB coaches had moved on from the Mauger/McAllister 2nd 5 and wanted a more direct player to better utilise Conrad Smith as the centre who ran good support lines and distributed well. It was...

Slightly off topic but I'd say Sharpe peaked early in his test career in the early 2000s. That 2003 WC and then the next couple of years was probably when he played his best footy and was in the top 4 locks in the world IMO. Not that he was a bad player after that, but he never "got better...