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I'm not sure if you mean by this comment that this is what "forced George out" but I would be really happy to see much more rotation in our test team. The Kiwis do it quietly and without fanfare. Why was Eaton given a start this championship? Why have they been rotating the three hookers for...

Last year's EOYT was not a few years ago and test rugby is a big step up from Super rugby. Higgers has great potential as a Wallaby but he has NEVER played better at international level than Palu last year and this year.

How come the Reds get to have more than 5 in the EPS?

I'm also hoping but there's no real foundation to that hope. When Ryan has impressed it has been out in the open. He has not yet shown an ability to dominate other Super loose-head props in his outings so far, and internationals are a huge step up from there for a front rower.

Too far fetched. He may have to run 50 metres just to have a chat.

I've held off commenting in the thread up till now as my feeling is one of relief rather than basking in the glow of a referee retiring after a great career. Yes he had some great games but very few of them involved the Waratahs. For me its just nice to know that when the Tahs games are...

It never ceases to amaze me. Palu is criticised for: Never making a physical difference. Comments like "didn't do anything", "invisible" etc. Always being injured. The blokes he plays with had him outright leader for the medal up to his injury, with daylight second. Hard to imagine they would...

Article in Rugby Heaven (can someone upload the link, please; I can't do it) has more detail and explains some of the discrepancy. One of the things is that the guaranteed $12K per match to players not receiving top-ups doesn't start for two years. For the next two years this portion of the...

From the news on the blog today, the new bargaining agreement will save the ARU 12%. My rough calculations say less than 8%. So I think Gagger is right; there are some devils in the detail that have not yet been revealed. Either that or my maths is going downhill at the same rate the rest of...

The situation, as I see it, had he accepted the Force offer was: He qualifies on the continuous play rule for an ARU top-up after next year so to my mind he would only be on $150K for next Super season plus internationals. $150K is about the average Super payment ($5M over 35 players). He...

Yep.

It may well be a good deal, I would not argue that. My point is that for some weeks now we have heard news of diabolical income forecasts that leave the game totally in tatters. But based on the increase in player payment share of income from 26% to 29% and the player payments going down...

Based on that information, the ARU are saving four-fifths of five-eighths of fuck all. Clearly the stuff Pulver was mouthing only a few days ago was only lip-service. Based on this there is no financial crisis at all, only a very minor downturn in the income stream. Those not on top-ups get...

Unless one of the wingers selected to tour drops out due to injury I don't think Betham even gets on the plane on Friday. He wasn't in the touring squad, he was only selected for the Bledisloe game. This may have had something to do with his emotional response during the anthem as I suspect...

Add Saifoloi to that list at least.

If you think that's tough who do you choose between Anscombe and Muliaina??

Only one NH player? You're dreaming. They usually get at least three of the five. Halfpenny is a walk-up for one spot, he'll be chosen before North. Strauss is no chance. I'd guess that the third NH starter might be Jones, the Lions THP. My guess for the other two are Smith and Reid, with...

A Vaskoppe is a tighthead according to the dictionary. Against the Springbok front row that sounds like a humiliating loss.

If they need a winger/goalkicker they can only be looking for a back-ups back-up. Anscombe and Cruden will surely be 1 & 2 and both of them are good goalkickers, Anscombe is exceptional.

Agree if he's good enough he's big enough. Adam Freier wasn't all that big but he was one of my favourite hookers at the Tahs. And having a hooker who is an effective ball poacher in the loose is very valuable. Bismark would have to be thought of as a seven in a number two jumper.