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There is aspects of this backline that I like. Two strong ball-running wingers who we'll want to make use of should see us spread it wide on occasions. A steady hand at 15 is fine with me. JOC (James O'Connor) seems like a weird, unnecessary gamble at 10, but I'm crossing my fingers that he rises to the...

Great Win! congrats Brumbies. Tamoa was awesome. Good to see the Wallabies Kimlin and Sio stand out. Hopefully that's a good indication on where the Wallabies squad are at.

Japan is tits. Don't be concerned about the language barrier either. A large percentage of the population have a rudimentary grasp of the English language (like most Asian countries).

I don't see anything particularly wrong with Shiggins' comment. Japanese is an ethnic group as far as I'm concerned. They have a distinctive appearance that comes from being isolated from the rest of the world for thousands of years. 'Australian' is not an ethnicity. I'm not saying you have to...

A lot of people predicting a brumbies win...mm not sure myself. At the end of the day it is an understrength brumbies side against 23 test match regulars. The Brumbies starting side looks good. Strong backline and competitive forward pack. The problem, as with the Reds and Tahs game, is that...

I'm expecting Deans to name Barnes at 15 and McCabe at inside centre. With Lilo and Beale on the bench. I think Deans will concentrate on a defensive approach for the first 50 minutes and then bring on the more attacking players in the final 30. Not sure I agree with that approach. And Im not...

My concern for this game is really how fast (or slowly) the Wallabies hit the ground running. Avid Wallaby fans know all too well that the first test performance of the year tends to be disjointed, stuttering performance, played at about 80% intensity. Here we really need to be playing...

I was very keen to see us play a 6/2 bench, but with Ioane/McCabe/Beale/Barnes potentially all in the 23, Im not sure we can afford to.

Yeah will be interesting to see how Fotu performs tomorrow

So any thoughts on the make up of the battle-row this weekend if Palu is unavailable. I'd probably lean towards bringing Dennis in to start at no.8. He has the massive advantage of having played there last week. Although I think McCalman is a bit stronger at the breakdown.

I thought Skelton really announced his arrival as a top flight rugby player. He looks like a Wallabies in the making. Lets hope he continues to progress

typical saffa "we need big bodies" approach ;). I agree that you should start the game with big ball runners but a dynamic backrow is the best option for dominating the breakdown. The Reds have one of the most impressive back-rows in the Super comp yet they have a relatively small 6,7,8...

Yes I got the same impression from the Reds game. I think it's one away we should get the upper hand. Those who watched the Wallabies v England game last November will recall that the wallabies won that game easily in two areas 1) defense and 2) the breakdown. The Wallabies' work at the...

I agree. It'll be interesting to see how they match up against the Brumbies front row of Palmer & Sio. That will be the best front row they will face before the tests.

I wouldn't even have Barnes in the starting side. He'd be on the bench if I was coaching. I do agree he is a quality kicker.

For mine the most intriguing contest in this first test will be the scrums. Which ever forward pack can get the upper hand in the scrums will win their side a mental advantage. The starting front row of Robbo/Moore/Alexander is a good test front row imo. The Lions props are looking likely to...

I think as long as JOC (James O'Connor) is in the side he will be the kicker. Two of our most memorable wins of the last 3 years have come as a result of a JOC (James O'Connor) kick (Hong Kong Bledisloe, RWC QF). We should have some confidence in him stepping up to the plate in clutch moments.

From what I saw the Force front row handled the Lions quite well at scrum time (but I only watched the first half). As for the Tahs gaining parity, the Force got the better of them last week. From memory the bloke playing LH (?) had a poor game. Patty Ryan wasn't all that much better. It'll be...

Of the positions still up for grabs these are my thoughts Tighthead - Kepu/Alexander/Slipper My pick: I'd go with Alexander. I think he's slightly stronger in the scrum than Slipper, and better than Kepu around the park. He has a good partnership with Moore and has a long history packing...

I see Izzy going great guns in the first test. I reckon the Poms might struggle to contain him. If we can get some good attacking opportunities off set piece in the Lions 22 I wont be surprised to see him get over the chalk. He's a freakishly good finisher 10 metres from the line.