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Beale made a name for himself as a tough defender with one tackle in recent times. Unfortunately, it was high shot that went unpunished. He goes that high again in current times and it will be a yellow card most certainly. I am unconvinced that he has been able to correct his tackling...

Slim, I have no skin in this fight as I don't have a connection with or follow any of the JID sides, but when the Vikings have significantly the most players but finished the year below Royals and Wests, then it looks a bit like Tah-itis to an outsider.

Too many questionable selections for my liking. McMahon is great at Super Rugby level, but has been nowhere near as effective at test level. Remember also that he is not long back from serious injury. He is a big gamble v the ABs, and I think would much better suit a bench spot than a starting...

I'd go with : Sio, TPN, Ala'alatoa, Arnold, Coleman, Hanigan, McMahon, Timani, Powell, Foley, DHP, Hodge, Kuridrani, Speight, Folau. Reserve bench - Moore, Faulkner, Kepu, Rodda, Hooper, Genia, Beale, Meakes. But I know that Cheika's team won't be anywhere near as challenging as that.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I recall either at the end of 2016 or maybe 2015 Super Rugby season, a certain SMH journalist (being kind) foreshadowed on Fox's Rugby Club, or whatever it was called at the time, that the Force would be wound up or perhaps moved to Western Sydney. As far as establishing the...

Won't matter at all if we're still behind on the scoreboard at the end.

And Foley?

Not sure about another lock. Arnold, Carter and Enever are all top quality Super Rugby and above locks, while Ben Hyne and Tom Cusack could also adequately cover in times of need. Would like to see the mid field area strengthened though. Edit : Darcy Swain will also probably be in the mix somewhere...

To answer my own question, the CT today reported Sio, Ala'alatoa, Arnold, Carter, Powell, Kuridrani and Speight have all been allocated to the Vikings. I expect Sam and Joe might get some time in the NRC, but not the others.

Similar to the way the ABs play Ardie Savea.

Jesus, BH, that's another very undersized backrow. Hope Cheika at least has learnt a lesson about balance in the backrow.

I am not a fan of Hanigan at this stage, but I think he will start over McMahon just for his lineout work. I really don't like the look of 10, 12, 13 being Foley, Beale and Kerevi. That is just too weak in defense. I can see Cheika going that way in his search for "X Factor" but I'd prefer...

Are there any allocated Wallabies?

Not for all of them, but as far as I know I've indicated above.

Didn't necessarily stop the Force players speaking out, and as you reminded me above, they are ARU employees. This whole process was so wrong from the beginning that I think it would have been to the betterment of rugby in the country had a few more of the influential people spoken out about it.

Yep, that is me to a tee, iro Vikings, Brumbies and Wallabies. I have also taken an interest in the JID finals series, but have no club affiliation.

Just catching up BH, and this question might have been addressed in later posts, but if the WF are all ARU employees, what's to stop the ARU terminating those contracts immediately and then there'd be no organisation out West to take the matter to court?

Are you suggesting Pulver was paid peanuts? If not, what leads you to think the next CEO will be on lower money than Pulver was? And, if that's your idea of peanuts, I have to say that you come from a very different mob of monkeys than I do.

Have never seen such a dominant scrum as Wests were over the Vikings, but not come away with tight head wins. Admittedly, only watched the second half, and different things might have occurred in the first stanza, but Wests really had to overcome the ref at scrum time as well as the Vikings.

^^^^ which is why I said some form of protest would be good to see. The game will be televised worldwide, so I think there is ample opportunity to embarrass the ARU while also showing support for the Wallabies.