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I'd say that Douglas and Dennis were the only Tahs who had strong seasons despite the team's poor performance. Timani's selection has surely been vindicated. As has AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper)'s. Otherwise, I'd say that a number of good players didn't play well in Super Rugby.

Who was better than Douglas at TH lock? Neville would be the only real argument, I would say. Simmons is unlucky not to make the bench, especially since the curse dictates that Sharpe will go down at some point. I don't like playing 5:2 against the Argies, as I think it will be a bruising...

I don't think Simmons and Sharpe is a good combination. Both are really LH locks, even if Sharpie can pack at TH if need be. I'd prefer Sharpe and Neville or Douglas.

Bright enough to blow the whole damn circuit!

Am I the only one shocked that the ARU doesn't employ it's own statistician? I would have thought that this was an area in which competitive advantage is readily available. For example, breaking down statistics in minute detail can help break perception vs reality problems, and it can give new...

For all the crap Burgess you used to get (both justified and not), he did have a distinct skill that changed games: his darting runs tight to the ruck. Against a tiring side he provided a significant point of difference from Genia, who can do this but for whom it's not a central part of his...

Nah, it's just shit spelling. :)

Exactly.

More of a coincidence.

Why would NZ want to exclude RSA from Super Rugby? The ITM + Aussie conference doesn't seem like much of a draw. If you're talking about some kind of 3rd tier... well, yeah, that'd be great.

Agreed. The only problem is when one team -- ahem -- ends up wildly unfit. It would be good to see teams meet some kind of S&C standard, even if there is a lot of flexibility for focusing on different areas. The debacle of the Tahs not doing enough fitness work preseason should never have happened.

Presumably the plan with this team is to play with some width and try to get runners into space. Hopefully they've had enough time to gel in the backs and can move the ball with purpose. As for the forwards, this is a more balanced line up. They need to work much harder to realign and provided...

You know it's AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) at 13, right? ;)

He said no. http://m.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/mclachlan-knocks-back-league-20120904-25c1c.html

I'd prefer Simmons over Gill. Harris and Fainga'a is better than Horne and Fainga'a. Is Harris there as goal kicking cover? If not (and Barnes, Cooper and Beale are all kickers), why? Why not go with Tapuai? (Personally, I don't get Fainga'a over Horne, since Horne was the starter last week...

I don't like that bench. Fainga'a and Horne replicate each other far too much. Tapaui for either one would have been much better.

Actually, I think they should be on at the same time. 6. Higgers 7. Hooper 8. Samo. Then Dennis comes on at 6, Samo goes off, Higgers goes to 8. It looks, though, like we will see a straight swap of Samo and Higgers. That, to my mind, doesn't make a lot of sense because it puts us back in...

Yeah, it really depends on how Samo is doing, what the pace of the game is, etc. Robbie has a tendency not to be decisive with subs, unfortunately.

Why does everything have to come down to provincialism? Casual trolling really is a waste of all our time. Anyway, I agree that we have much better balance with Samo at 8. The problem is that it'll be surprising if he manages any more than an effective 45-50 minutes. Hopefully he can set a...

Yep. There is a slot on the bench for a playmaker, one would think.