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yes sure. Perhaps. It’s still not the position we are most wanting. By a long shot. fill the weakness/gaps first, then add strength. 10-2-possibly 12. Strength comes from Kerevi (already done with 12), then Skelton (backs go nowhere without tight forward gains) koroibete. Without Koroibete we...

If you have a choice of three: Only one of Quade/Foley. We are pretty solid out wide, even if Koroibete ups the quality. I’d take Skelton. So:- 1:- Quade/Foley 2:- BPA (if in form); with our two obvious holes considered, then 3: Skelton; based on most impact. After that 4: Koroibete and 5...

Not sure on the other two, but it seems unlikely that Stewart would make it to a WB 10 jersey. At 12 he isn't Kerevi but can manage a second fly roll and pull in for defence in the 10-12 channel. I don't see it as enough to break any further than Australia A. Who knows though, strange things...

Ha! I wish.

Would have said the same about Cooper. The reality for both, is that we haven't (hadn't) seen much of them for a while. Age will be a factor, but not a cancellation. Beale is back with determination to prove himself for another RWC. I wish him all the best in that endeavour, and if he does prove...

Holloway is the only 6/lock I am aware of with proven line out calling in the Wallabies. For me it matches him to Skelton as a minimum.

Like your thinking BH. A couple of thoughts from me: 1. I don't see Fainga'a as a lock in. A possible for sure but not at all locked in for me. 2. Leota? Form is too far back to be considered locked in. With a good Super season? Sure. 3. Hooper is a lock in for the squad, but I'm not convinced...

From the Reds, if they have a solid year (big if) then possibly Uru is a dark horse for lock/6 in the mould of LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto), Hanigan, Holloway. Holloway with the clear running given his flexibility in calling and ability to tame some of the problems in selection when Skelton is on board.

Exactly the same number of touches, BR. Though Lolesio had half the time. Remember however that Donaldson on his first start needed to start with underpaying. Thought he worked it well. Neither are going to light it up.

I imagine Welsh fans are saying something similar this morning.

With you SMI - plenty of promising stuff for sure. Late though and when we are down on our haunches. Is it too late for the green shoots to grow? Very "just in time" for the RWC and only if discipline continues to improve and somehow injury management is resolved. I think we are being a little...

The Italy debacle remains sour. Probably always will. I'd say Rennie has done fine in developing a spread of talent across the squad, a good thing. But neither Aus A nor the teams that fronted Italy/Wales are going to be ideal against the top 5 in the RWC. Player development at Super leads to...

That's interesting. Is it something formal or just a nod and a wink?

Strangely enough: 3. Nawaqanitawase [8 runs, 74m, 2 clean breaks, 8 defenders beaten, 3 offloads, 7 tackles] 2. Ikitau 1. Lonergan HM Hodge, Donaldson, bench.

What tosh.

This +1

Very interesting, Slim. For my money, I'm shutting up about my disappointments with Rennie and now focusing on supporting the guy. We can't solve that shit (training to resolve injuries) in 12 months, but we can take advantage in the culture thing. Bring in an S&C guru that reports directly to...

Pfft. I've been starting to see some advantage in Wright. That's not one. This said, Wright, Petaia, Nawaqanitawase > Campbell + 2 of the others. For now.

Interesting comment. I'm counting nine (9) - yes that is 9 - changes in the starting 15 to the Italy game. The reality is that we are used to the likely selections and the likely pecking order, so that Rennie's selections are generally not hard to predict reasonable. This squad was as likely as...

The game is about combinations. Wright, Petaia, Nawaqanitawase combined better than any alternative we have seen. Individual strengths seemed to balance individual weaknesses and the whole was greater than the sum of the parts. I don't like Wright and I do like Campbell, but this seems to me...