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Is that just to encourage the selection of Argentinians? I think that's a good, flexible way of achieving that end, and not one I'd heard before.

Fair enough

Short answer: no. And if I had to pick one for a Bledisloe tomorrow, I'd pick Jane because he's so reliable - but whenever I watched them in tandem in the RC I thought Savea was a bit more threatening. I hope he can keep adding work-rate to his game.

And the bench: 16. Strauss 17. O Franks 18. Douglas 19. Hooper 20. Pienaar 21. Beale (last couple of games were impressive, I thought) 22. Jane

Largely the same as those above, but with Savea replacing Jane. Fewer tries, but better play. 1. Roncero 2. Hore (best of an underwhelming bunch) 3. Alexander 4. Sharpe 5. Whitelock 6. Fernandez Lobbe 7. Mccaw 8. Read 9. Smith 10. Carter 11. Habana 12. Nonu 13. Bosch 14. Savea 15. Dagg

Is this stubborn refusal to admit that mccaw has had an absolute blinder, or do you really think that?

How about mini-Savea? Obviously unproven in the tough stuff, but having that kind of pace at 7 is such an exciting prospect.

You're right, but you're really just debating definitions of best here. Pocock may not have all the skills in the world, but he can win big ticket test matches almost by himself (boks QF), which qualifies him at least for some kind of 'best' list. Liam Messam has all the skills in the game, but...

Appreciating the updates guys, I'm stuck about a hundred kilometers from the nearest Rugby-bearing TV.

Sharpe, Simmons and Slipper all went to TSS in Queensland - along with Higginbotham, Morahan, Tapuai... They're like an aussie Christchurch Boys High, without the five-eighth specialty. Or like Gisborne, minus all the Gears.

It seems like an extension of Eddie Jones`old phase play philosophy, thinking shifting defenders and maintaining possession across several phases can be worth sacrificing an extra yard or two on individual phases - thus the player occasionally yields right in front of his support. Seems like it...

... Yep. Fair. It was a bad enough memory that my brain has clearly fried and cloned it. Stephen Donald has also lost us the game with a grubber in his 22 on forty-three separate occasions. Agreed, but by the standards we had been setting the previous year (bar that semi), it was pretty...

He was almost right though. That 2004 tri-nations side was awful. Scrum was shit, Spencer couldn't deal with a flat line - I remember wulf and tuituvake on the wings at one point. Dire. Thank the rugby gods that lions series fall two years after world cups, instead of one. Aussies may be saying...

Obviously that's poor form, and the argie fans are much to be admired, but... Rule 1 of attending a Bledisloe at Homebush: If you lose, make sure you beat the winning team's supporters to the train station. I've been in a few carriages packed with gold after a wallabies win, and it is brutal...

Agreed. That is a 100% first string side, at least by the reckoning of these coaches. I wish we were starting Cane ahead of McCaw - he's going to break, and we could probably get the job done without him.

There have been a few comparisons between Cooper and Giteau on this thread. That's pretty unfair on Giteau I reckon - his year-long blow up and exit was way better than this one. That moment where he kicked the goal to deny the reds a bonus point, and told Stephen Moore to "fuck off because I'm...

Hey mate, can you post it if possible? Twitter may as well be written in dutch for all I can find my way around it. Edit: Found it after an adventure through cyber-space. It was just the one posted a few pages back.

I'd be amazed if Mitchell and Moore were with Cooper on this one. They're both tough, hard-working players and both of them have always played really well under Deans (and in the current wallabies set up, generally).

Of course, now we all know where he got his energy. Interesting read though - I actually know a bloke who used to get Andy Hore to put in all his fence-posts on the farm. Andy would just come around and do it for free because of the work-out. I wish he was a fair representation of the whole...

Careful mate, that kind of talk isn't popular here...