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Boric is just returning from a very long injury lay off, and I don't rate him as highly as NZers seem to do. Williams is a shadow of the player he was prior to that horror run of injuries. Thorn is a very tough, hard, tight lock who does a lot of work. I rate him highly - but I still...

As a supporter of a team that could likely be playing the All Blacks at the World Cup, I am overjoyed at the selection of Woodcock over Crockett. It's also arguably one of the weakest second rows in a long time that the All Blacks have picked. I also would've gone for Messam over Vito, but...

Guess we will disagree then. After a few games Palu went OK for the Tahs, but he was hardly in game-affecting form. and I don't need to point out the difference between the Clan and a test side. And what will a big, strong bustler like Palu gain from an 80 point hiding of Russia? Games for...

Bit concerned about Palu's form and fitness if he's not ready to play Canada in the Aus Baabaas. How many club / warm up games will he get under his belt before the WC? Unless he gets some full 80 minute club games, don't see how Palu could be considered a starting player in the WC side. Even...

I think most rugby fans would prefer to see those tries not awarded (see: NZ v France reffed by Barnes), but agree with the line in the sand. NRL don't allow rulings on forward passes because of how subjective it is with the ball travelling out of the hands backwards. I am not sure that...

I'm still waiting and hoping for the day that someone thanks the Flying Spaghetti Monster and the Invisible Pink Unicorn, and celebrates His Noodly Appendage by doing a noodle dance after scoring. We can all dream. Didn't know that SBW was a Muslim until last weekend as well. Anyone else (as...

We also see Carter at the back a lot in defence, and he certainly has no problems defending. Admittedly, not off the set pieces, but in phase play you often see Carter dropping back for the kick. So, the answer would probably be not quite so much, but certainly Cooper would still be dropping...

He was an U21 player. He never played for the Boks "A" team.

I do believe that Reg is right, Eddie Jones in his madness only tried Samo as a flanker. We were still searching for a new blindside flanker back then, as there had been no obvious selections since the retirements of Cockbain, then Finegan (or perhaps Finegan was on his last legs and had injury...

Curious as to the lack of an out and out fetcher in that squad, or an openside at all really. Maybe they feel it's not needed against the Boks - maybe true a few years ago, but if Brussuow plays, I think it's a risk. Who will be the openside - Messam? Perhaps Thomson?

From the SH, last year I would've said Mark Lawrence, but I reckon Joubert has been the best this year, followed by the Mark variety of Lawrence. The nepotistic Bryce variety of Lawrence I would have as significantly worse than, say, Dickinson. From the NH, I can't comment as I haven't...

Steve Kefu has been playing pretty well for BoP. I wondered if any Aus Super team would be interested in him as he probably has two or so years left but he could provide a bit of experience. Only team I could even think of would be the Force. Otherwise I guess he'd be off to Japan.

I actually reckon the Wallabies have it in the locks. Thorn is a great player, but this year wasn't up to his standard of the last few years - sadly I think that age is catching up with him. Ali Williams has been noticeably well down on form as well. In comparison, I reckon that Horwill and...

I dunno, I wouldn't mind Ben Blair putting in one of his infamous performances.

Jeez, Lloyd Johansson. He had potential, but not nearly as much talented as he was beat up to have. Could have been a capable Super player in the Nathan Grey mould at best, I would think. He went to Italy though, didn't he?

Hmmm. The Reds actually won a couple games based on breakdown dominance alone - the two that most stand out to me are the Stormers and Chiefs games. There were other games where they dominated the breakdown, but won through other means too. WJ; did you actually watch more Reds than the two vs...

I think they are in a definite rebuilding phase, and will miss Gits. Keen to see how To'omua and Lealiifano go, as well as their new-ish pack of forwards. To me the key is more the Brumbies' finishing than defence. Would like to see an improvement in that area. They had loads of ball, made...

Anyone willing to make any predictions on how the Brumbies will go with that squad? For both the Aus conference, and overall.

Yeah, Mils was the major transgressor in that ruck for me too. After the tackle he sorta went onto his hands and knees and cacooned onto the ball, I thought. Was a "WTF!?" moment for me that the ref let them get away with it. Thought it was a definite yellow for Mils, very lucky there...

The sooner they get Palu back the better, as the big guy needs time to play himself into form and fitness. He needs a few games before the World Cup starts.