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If that's the case, why select him in the squad? My understanding is that he's available for the first two tests and then he will have the op. Then we have to put Phipps on the bench for the next four games. I do agree with you that we should start an ABP (anyone but Phipps) program. Hooper...

Kaplan has a very special place in his heart for Elsom; remember the card for the Waugh/Elsom tackle a couple of years ago against the Crusaders (I think)?

Against NZ we would be better off with a 5:2 split on the bench so we can make sure we can bring on fresh forwards. We need the pack working as though every starter is going to get 50 minutes so we can increase the intensity of our effort. Strangely for a NZ team, some of their weaknesses are...

I agree with you Tigerland. I reckon its two greats and one oh dear. He'll only get game time if someone else goes down.

Fainga'a might be better around the field as a second fetcher and dynamic low tackler but his scrummaging is clearly inferior. From press reports TPN is carrying an injury and so Fainga'a may have to be on the bench against NZ. If that happens in one of the games and Moore has to be replaced...

I know I posted this a few pages back, and I won't go into detail, but the top four super rugby team's flanker turnover stats were very low and it was the bottom teams who did well in securing turnovers. The top teams focussed on playing a diferent style of game and they were the ones who were...

McCutcheon and Jono Jenkins would be pretty happy with this. Me, I'm not sure giving away Alcock is a top idea. Those Force guys really like to corner the market on backrowers.

If its proven then the obvious move is for NSWRU to revoke the license. There'll be grounds in the license agreement to do this if the salary cap has been rorted. Then Nick Farr-Jones & Co get to appoint a whole new Board who can then wipe the slate clean and get the Tahs back on track. Once...

The quality of our play was poor, Wales were just a smidgin poorer.

Be afraid. Be very afraid. Goosen gives them both at once.

We might be ranked in the top 3 but our form coming in has been poor, we cannot put up our best players in important positions and there appears to have been no improvement in deficiencies highlighted in our coaching at the WC. Pessimism can also be realism.

The news is certainly not the best: And now White is crocked and Phipps is our only cover for Genia. Cadern Neville's development goes on the backburner. Hanson is chopped and Fainga'a returns. Not good news for the set piece. Tapuai is cut, potentially our best 12, certainly for the future...

I agree with everything you say. If everyone was fit you'd pick Robinson (with some trepidation, but Holmes or Cowan were the next best LHP's on show this season, so Ben gets the nod) and Palmer at THP with Slipper on the bench to play both sides. If Palmer is injured as he is now you have to...

The Rugby Gods have finally done something positive for the Wallabies. The idea he might have been selected for games against NZ had me lying awake at nights. I don't like being happy someone got injured, but Deans has pushed him up way beyond his current defensive skills. Hard to say, but...

When he left the Tahs I was pretty distraught. He had speed, a monster boot and huge skills and the potential to be a winger/fullback for the Wallabies for years. But then his body started to break down and it just has never properly recovered. One of those Wallaby might-have-beens. Best...

My post, at least, was not negative for the sake of it. It was negative because to win against NZ you have to have a gameplan that says more than "defend really well and play what's in front of you". The news that Ant Fainga'a was being considered for 12 clearly indicated that "don't let them...

It appears that Hannibal at Cannae has not only topped the G&GR table, but has in fact taken out the whole competition. Congratulations are in order.

But that's just it. Vermaak is from the Bulls, de Bruyn is not. And how any SA coach could leave Brussow out after the carnage caused by Pocock in the QF game is a total mystery. Did they learn nothing (apart from the fact that BL is not an international standard referee)?

There's a small problem with who is left to be acting chairman. Zemancheff has gone, Petersen is almost certainly conflicted, two of the members are so new they've only been to a couple of meetings and on top of that we are told that several members of the Board are overseas on business or...

And Dan Carter would last just as long with Cliffy Palu. Unequal contest.