For the Wallabies this week, my thoughts.
Smith has to get gametime. Hooper and Gill are awesome players, but nothing they do will make the Lions shit themselves. Bringing Smith on 5-10mins after halftime will give us a mental edge. Picture it, the Aussies in the crowd will go full retard when they see him running out for his last game in gold. Tears will flow.
His reputation will mentally beat the Lions. Defeat them in their mind. Who else do we have who could have that effect? Psychological uppercut to the jaw with 30mins to go.
I'd also have Kimlin on the bench rather than Simmons, so that we psych them out with the dead, soul less stare of an angry ginger giant who wont play for the Wallabies again and has one shot.
I would also play McMeniman off the bench. The 2nd half is going to be absolutely ferocious, and we need big, aggressive, mobile units to dominate it. I"d be inclind to tell Hooper, Douglas and Palu they've got 50 minutes, and then bring Smith, Kimlin and McMeniman on. The lineout gets stronger, Smith gets the crowd really going nuts and puts the fear of god into the Lions, and Kimlin and Madness just get to stand there waiting for the play to start again, with a terrifyingly blank, unblinking expression.
Kimlin:
Madness:
Other than that, no changes. Switch Lealiifano and Beiber, obviously (what kind of fucking idiot would think beiber is still a 10? Oh....right ), but everything else is fine.
Our pack need to spend all week working on breakdown technique to improve their accuracy at the ruck and secure ball, and everyone needs to practice catching the ball, but other than that I'm against any real changes.
Same starting team, but bench of
Slipper
Fainga'a
Kepu (sigh, i'd play Sio)
Kimlin
McMeniman
Smith
