Benn Robinson Ruled Out for the 2011 Season with Injury

[The_Brown_Hornet]

There are a lot of drama queens on here. Wallabies sunk?! England favourites?! As my old dad used to say, get your hands off it.

This is an important loss, but winning or losing a world cup depends on many things. If Fatcat was the switch, then we were always f*cked. We have plenty of backup.

England are precisely the kind of team we don't want to be facing unless we have a very solid first phase. They will just bore us to death, just like in 2007. We have to beat them in the tough stuff, like we did in 2008 and 2009.

 

[qwerty51]

We could always pick Vickerman and Horwill in the 2nd row and not Sharpe :fishing

I don't think it should be overlooked the impact a Samo/Palu type would have over someone like McCalman either

 

[Gnostic]

Start with Moore he has had an extra week's rest and let TPN heal. I'd say let Moore play as much of the 3N as possible with Finger on the bench to make sure TPN is fit for the RWC.

If we have TPN/Moore at Hooker and Kepu/Slipper at TH we could possibly get away with a weak scrummager at LH like Alexander, Daley or Rodzilla at LH. If we have two weak links in the front row expect repated penalties against all the stronger sides and possibly a prop in the bin.

 

[What2040]

with robinson in the team we had two scrumaging props (with kepu)
now we have one (whos recovering from injury )
sure we have blooded other players in the same position in the last years but not a single one of them can scrumage.
we now go back to damage control strategies in the scrum which have been exposed time and time again. robinson could quiet be easily considered the most important on the team as hes the only one we dont have any serious replacements for. think bout it. we can no longer be competitive in the scrum and it doesnt matter how many midfield breaks alexander or daley makes a good team will scrum us in our quarter and two resets later we will be a man down.
i dont think we have a choice. i think its time to now carry palmer on one side of the scrum just to avoid this happening

You have to be kidding (re Palmer) - carry is the operative word - woe woe woe would rather have daly or alexander

 

[Groucho]

England are precisely the kind of team we don't want to be facing unless we have a very solid first phase. They will just bore us to death, just like in 2007. We have to beat them in the tough stuff, like we did in 2008 and 2009.

Hornet, there's no reason Slipper and Kepu should underperform in the scrum. Kepu was the outstanding scrummager in Oz this year. If Robinson and Slipper is considered acceptable, then so should Kepu and Slipper.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Kepu certainly looks decent, but largely untried at test level. Don't get me wrong, though, I hope he steps up and murders opposition props this year. We need him to. Slipper is still crocked, isn't he?

 

[Groucho]

Kepu certainly looks decent, but largely untried at test level. Don't get me wrong, though, I hope he steps up and murders opposition props this year. We need him to. Slipper is still crocked, isn't he?

Yes. We can't afford to lose another one, or our chances really will be compromised.

 

[drewprint]

Absolutely gutted. Not the kind of news I wanted to wake up to. Not only have me lost our key frontrow option, but we've also lost our second best halfback and third best flanker.

BUT. As many have already said, it's not all doom and gloom. Slipper, Kepu, Alexander and Daley can still get the job done well.

 

[tigerland12]

I am devastated by this news, we just lost the best loosehead prop in the world

 

[Ruggo]

A bit suprised Holmes wasn't called in as the replacement. Not nice for Ben but not the end of the world for the Wallabies.

The show goes on.

 

[Sully]

He is probably a better loose head than Daley.

 

[light]

Robinson or no Robinson, I doubt we would get on top of the NH scrums anyway, we've only beaten them at their own game a few times. If the tournament was held in the NH I'd be slightly worried as the crowd may influence referee scrum calls but while it's down here across the ditch I'm not too worried. Add to this the fact that the Kiwi's didn't select Crockett and the Bok's are sending their second string side to the tri-nations we should still fancy ourselves. This loss is bad, but Australia has never had a really strong scrum that I would back to hold together for a whole tournament, we have to go with what's natural to us, and that is hanging in during the scrum, being competitive during the line-outs, turning over the ball during rucks and scoring tries through backline brilliance and creativity.

You blokes are all doom and gloom, Dean's would have been ready and expecting this. I don't think it will phase him and he will take the appropriate measures to ensuring we don't get dominated.

 

[Groucho]

Robinson or no Robinson, I doubt we would get on top of the NH scrums anyway, we've only beaten them at their own game a few times. If the tournament was held in the NH I'd be slightly worried as the crowd may influence referee scrum calls but while it's down here across the ditch I'm not too worried. Add to this the fact that the Kiwi's didn't select Crockett and the Bok's are sending their second string side to the tri-nations we should still fancy ourselves. This loss is bad, but Australia has never had a really strong scrum that I would back to hold together for a whole tournament, we have to go with what's natural to us, and that is hanging in during the scrum, being competitive during the line-outs, turning over the ball during rucks and scoring tries through backline brilliance and creativity.

You blokes are all doom and gloom, Dean's would have been ready and expecting this. I don't think it will phase him and he will take the appropriate measures to ensuring we don't get dominated.

Good attitude, light. But I'd go a bit further. I feel we can be competitive in the scrums and occasionally dominate the lineouts.

 

[JJJ]

I like all this looking on the bright side, and will support his replacement heart and soul, but to my mind Benny was the difference between the scrum disadvantage against England being manageable or decisive. If nothing else his known strong scrummaging gave us a bit of credibility with the ref in those 50/50 calls.

 

[Mrob7032]

Loosehead is not the problem - we need Slipper fit and firing at tight head. Alexander can go back to LH at international level, where he is much more effective (though less so than Robinson). With Moore/TPN in the middle, it's pretty even.

Most of the Tahs scrum power at the back end of the season was Timani anyway.

 

[daz]

There are a lot of drama queens on here. Wallabies sunk?! England favourites?! As my old dad used to say, get your hands off it.

This is an important loss, but winning or losing a world cup depends on many things. If Fatcat was the switch, then we were always f*cked. We have plenty of backup.

+1 Well said, sir.

 

[light]

What we lose in one position another team will lose in another. If any team makes it to the world cup final with their first choice XV I will be surprised. It's not about who you lose but how you compensate for it, we may see the emergence of another quality international prop if not anything else. England, France, NZ, SAF, Argentina and Ireland won't be writting us off just yet.

 

[Fredfreduels]

Still going to win the world cup.

 

[Skippy]

Gutted for Robinson. And no matter what you think of him as a player it's a loss for the team and the number of props available for the WC.
However... whilst he is good and I think highly of him, I've never been a huge believer that he is in the top 5 looseheads in the World. But yes... probably the best we have.
Although... Alexander is more suited to loose I believe. I'm a big fan of Jerry Y from ACt and Sydney Uni and disappointed he hasn't figured in any training camps. We can cover for the loss of Robinson in my opinion and no matter whether or not he is playing or someone else... the fact is we are only looking for 'parity' in scrums and are not going to dominate anyone except maybe some minnows in pool games. We just simply need parity and I feel Kepu, Slipper, Alexander with Moore and TPN and Horwill in the second row... we will get parity. And with the backrowers we have and the backline... parity will be all we need. Vickerman may now displace Sharpe for his stronger scrummaging.
The only thing that will lose us a real shot at the WC in my opinion is if our scrum is penalised to death. And with Alexander now an unlikely tight head option (moving to loosehead for Robinson) this will remove that concern to a large degree as Alexander had started to become a penalty machine at tight head... like Baxter was. And that's why Baxter won't get in. Deans won't risk the penalties (deserved or not).

 

[Ash]

Robinson is our best attacking / most destructive scrummager. He will be a huge loss to our scrum, and he was damn handy around the field as well. I was impressed by Kepu at LH, though, when he kept Robinson on the bench early in the season at the Tahs. I actually think Kepu may be our second best LH at scrum time.

This leaves Slipper at TH. He is due back in a week or two, so hopefully Slipper can regain some form quickly. I guess that would guarantee Alexander a bench spot, but Alexander's scrummaging hasn't progressed at all since his break out at TH for the Wallabies two years ago.