2012 Rugby Championship Round 6 Game 2 Argentina vs Australia - 6 Oct

[fatprop]

McCabe gets it until someone does it better or he is injured.

He is the best option at the moment

 

[Braveheart81]

Agreed.

No one is going to get selected at 12 anytime soon unless McCabe is injured or the aspiring 12 is an absolute superstar in Super Rugby.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

If Taps plays in the next game, why not swap him and McCabe around? Taps then plays in his preferred position at 12 and we get a look at McCabe at 13, where a lot of us think he would be best suited.

 

[Braveheart81]

I would leave them as is. It does seem that the two roles are being reversed to some degree on what used to be the norm.

12 gets put through a lot more defensive work and has more forwards crashing into them than 13.

If you compared them to Nonu and Smith, Tapuai would be more of the Smith style than the Nonu.

I don't see why Tapuai can't play 13.

 

[Scotty]

Damn Yes?

Translation - Fuck Yeah.

 

[Scotty]

Agreed.

No one is going to get selected at 12 anytime soon unless McCabe is injured or the aspiring 12 is an absolute superstar in Super Rugby.

Was McCabe an absolute superstar in Super Rugby?

If not, then why is he an automatic selection? Because he is 'solid' and 'consistent' at test level?

 

[Braveheart81]

I'm not saying that he is an automatic selection. He has performed well for the Wallabies though (I'd say that he is almost without fail in our top half of players each game) and is the incumbent.

As a general rule, the aspiring player needs to substantially outperform the incumbent at Super Rugby level to take their spot.

If Tapuai only plays a bit better at 12 than McCabe next season, McCabe will still get selected in the first Lions test.

 

[barbarian]

I take the opinion that players need to prove themselves worthy of unseating the incumbent, rather than having the incumbent have to prove themselves worthy of keeping the jersey. Within reason of course. Shipperley was a prime example- I thought he deserved another crack, though Cummins had a good debut.

I disagree with dropping good performers for untried players/combinations that we have no good reason to believe will work. Tapuai was average at 13- not great, not terrible. Did he do enough to unseat McCabe? No. Once again McCabe was a rock in defence and solid in attack. He deserves to hold his spot.
.

 

[randalf8]

All this would be easier if McCabe played for Queensland.

 

[I like to watch]

But then there would be the outrage that he is not captain despite all the injuries.

 

[Braveheart81]

Maybe one day, McCabe, Horne and Phipps will all move to the Reds and then this will be all the Reds fans.

 

[What2040]

wouldn't mind McCabe but the other 2 - no way

 

[Lee Grant]

Some thoughts in no particular order.


• I hadn't been up to date with the injuries because the U/16 tournament was on last week and I was caught up in that. When I saw the team on the screen I said to myself: WTF?

I thought the Pumas would win the game against that lot and would have challenged a full-strength Wobs team. They should have reached their peak for the last two games of the RC, which were are home, but they lost their mojo instead.


• I am glad that Kurtley bounced back from his period of poor form and it is just as well that he did. Am surprised to see McCabe ranked so low by Gaggers as I would have had him in the top 5, not the lowest.


• Am glad also that Fat Cat made a good response to being dropped to the bench, which I agreed with. I had been disappointed that he hadn't progressed with his physicality, both in his build and his play, since returning from his operation. His involvements count had seemed low also.

The jury is still out, but the scrums seemed better when he was on. Not to the point but we have missed Kepu more than we thought we would.


• Tapuai had an unhappy game but he should be persevered with: the presence of a LF kicker in a Wallabies team has high value as there are precious few in the land - and he can play better than that.


• It was sad to see Douglas crocked so early but it had the happy consequence of Higginbotham being able to prove himself in a game that needed to be played tight. Dennis deserved to have a good run with selections this year, and he got it, but if Higgers can play hard like he did in Rosario, the other stuff will always be there to draw upon, and he will be the more valuable man at 6.


• The lineouts were poor again and even some that were not lost had to be rescued by Samo or Hooper. Talking of Hooper, what a marvel he has been. He astonished me at the 2008 Schools Opens tournament in Canberra and has been doing so ever since. What a fine cadre of opensiders we have.


• But of all the technical elements of rugby this year that have been found wanting, the taking of the high ball, and the kicking of them with a good chase, are the most significant ones to improve. And they are the easiest to fix.

With our best high ball taker, Genia, crocked, we were poor and every team we played hoisted the pill up and got results even though we knew they would do it. Nor were we much better during the year attacking with them. It was not so bad in Rosario because chasers were in the vicinity of the catcher more, but in other tests it was just kicking the ball away.


• It's hard to judge this 2012 team because of the butchers bill we had. This served to cast the net wider, which had the salutary effect of testing other players at a high level. The Wallabies, especially those replacing regular starters, are to be congratulated for grinding out a few wins that might have been lost in recent seasons by the main side but I doubt that Gatland, the Lions coach, will be having too many sleepless nights.
.

 

[Slim 293]

Was McCabe an absolute superstar in Super Rugby?

If not, then why is he an automatic selection? Because he is 'solid' and 'consistent' at test level?

I wouldn't say superstar, but he finished the Super Rugby season as Australia's best 12, so he is more than worthy of an automatic selection until someone can prove to be better.

 

[randalf8]

What's strange is that someone would even suggest that super rugby superstardom warrants automatic test selection after we have a significant sample of test performances to judge the player on.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Great post above Lee - to "like" it would not have been enough

 

[Scotty]

I wouldn't say superstar, but he finished the Super Rugby season as Australia's best 12, so he is more than worthy of an automatic selection until someone can prove to be better.

I guess I'm wondering how anyone will prove to be better?

 

[barbarian]

By performing at Super level, then off the bench at test level.

 

[Scotty]

I take the opinion that players need to prove themselves worthy of unseating the incumbent, rather than having the incumbent have to prove themselves worthy of keeping the jersey. Within reason of course. Shipperley was a prime example- I thought he deserved another crack, though Cummins had a good debut.

I disagree with dropping good performers for untried players/combinations that we have no good reason to believe will work. Tapuai was average at 13- not great, not terrible. Did he do enough to unseat McCabe? No. Once again McCabe was a rock in defence and solid in attack. He deserves to hold his spot.
.

That is great in theory, but how does any player prove themselves worth of unseating the incumbent when they are in the stands most of the time (Tapuai) or are playing out of position (Harris)? Particularly when the coach and selectors have a history of ignoring super xv form when selecting the wallabies.

Slipper, Douglas, Tapuai, Shipperley, Cummins were all form players in super rugby, but have only come into the wallabies because of injury to others.

 

[Richo]

By performing at Super level, then off the bench at test level.

Or getting a break due to injury.

I remain unconvinced that McCabe is the best long-term option at 12, but I certainly think he will get a run there in this game. And should. I'd like to see Tapaui get a go on the EOYT.