England v Wallabies, Twickenham, Sun 10th Nov 2:10AEDT / 1:10AEST

[LeCheese]

At 21 I had played 2 years of 1st grade club football. I left my job and pissed off to Spain for 6 months then came back to play the next season. Played for the county at 22 and left the year after that to go play in South Africa. So don't lecture me about what a child I was, that is revisionist history that you know nothing about. I was not that unusual in my day, you were expected to be a man by 21, not a child.
Infantalising a 21 year old is madness.

Absolutely expected this response from you, but a small part of me hoped for some reflective humility. Sounds like you had a great time, but none of that is near the equivalent of being introduced to professional rugby by starting in front of 82,000 at Twickenham.

Infantilising a 21 year old is indeed madness, but so is acting as though they're a fully matured adult. Once again, there is a middle ground.

 

[Slim 293]

SMI left out how many km’s in the snow he had to walk barefoot to get to training every day…

 

[Derpus]

At 21 I had played 2 years of 1st grade club football. I left my job and pissed off to Spain for 6 months then came back to play the next season. Played for the county at 22 and left the year after that to go play in South Africa. So don't lecture me about what a child I was, that is revisionist history that you know nothing about. I was not that unusual in my day, you were expected to be a man by 21, not a child.
Infantalising a 21 year old is madness.

Dunno if you know what that means

 

[Derpus]

Genuinely if Joseph can start this weekend it can gives genuine gravitas to the previously silly idea of league players turning out for the RWC on sabbaticals. As Union becomes more and more niche in Aus, it could really happen in the same way Kerevi/Dupont went to 7s for the Olympics.

I doubt dropping in League players wholesale would result in much success but it would certainly be a fun time.

It would be more viable and generally more interesting if NRL and Rugby Union were run by the same organisation with shared resources and collaborative planning.

 

[TSR]

From all reports Sua'ali'i’i is more mature & composed than your average young footballer.

I thought last years disaster with Gordon showed exactly the perils of throwing players in to early but, some have it at that age and the vast majority of reports I’ve read about Sua'ali'i’i is that he is a level above both physically and mentally than most his age.

I don’t expect his path to not have a few slip ups but happy to back the judgement of Schmidt.

Of course Doran could turn out to be wrong too and maybe he isn’t starting.

 

[LeCheese]

I doubt dropping in League players wholesale would result in my success but it would certainly be a fun time.

It would be more viable and generally more interesting if NRL and Rugby Union were run by the same organisation with shared resources and collaborative planning.

Could we call this organisation Integrated Rugby Australia? Governance by the IRA may bring us one step closer to Ireland.

 

[Derpus]

From all reports Sua'ali'i’i is more mature & composed than your average young footballer.

I thought last years disaster with Gordon showed exactly the perils of throwing players in to early but, some have it at that age and the vast majority of reports I’ve read about Sua'ali'i’i is that he is a level above both physically and mentally than most his age.

I don’t expect his path to not have a few slip ups but happy to back the judgement of Schmidt.

Of course Doran could turn out to be wrong too and maybe he isn’t starting.

I think its a lot safer to throw an outside back in than a flyhalf, honestly.

 

[TSR]

I think it’s a lot safer to throw an outside back in than a flyhalf, honestly.

I probably agree. But if we look back not too far Maddocks has come out publicly and said throwing him in too early did him no favours.

On the flip side O’Connor was thrown in young and looked absolutely at home from the outset (on the field).

My point is while I think most players benefit from a more measured approach some are absolutely up to it. Let’s hope young Joseph falls in the later category.

 

[stillmissit]

SMI left out how many km’s in the snow he had to walk barefoot to get to training every day…

Was a huge shock Slim, on the first training night the captain of 1sts picked me up from our housing commission house. I have never seen so many lace curtains pulled in my life. He arrived in an Aston Martin and nobody on the estate had heard of one being lifted lately....

 

[stillmissit]

Absolutely expected this response from you, but a small part of me hoped for some reflective humility. Sounds like you had a great time, but none of that is near the equivalent of being introduced to professional rugby by starting in front of 82,000 at Twickenham.

Infantilising a 21 year old is indeed madness, but so is acting as though they're a fully matured adult. Once again, there is a middle ground.

But we are happy to have them kill and be killed. ABC exempted.

 

[KentwellCup>ShuteShield]

At 21 I had played 2 years of 1st grade club football. I left my job and pissed off to Spain for 6 months then came back to play the next season. Played for the county at 22 and left the year after that to go play in South Africa. So don't lecture me about what a child I was, that is revisionist history that you know nothing about. I was not that unusual in my day, you were expected to be a man by 21, not a child.
Infantalising a 21 year old is madness.

 

[drewprint]

But we are happy to have them kill and be killed. ABC exempted.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Going a bit off piste here fellas

 

[Purce]

I'll have a crack / what I'd like to see. Written the right way...

1. Bell
2. BPA
3. Tupou
4. Williams / Frost
5. Skelton
6. Valetini
7. McReight
8. Wilson
9. White
10. Donaldson
11. Peitch
12. Kerevi
13. Ikitau
14. Kellaway
15. Wright

16. Faessler
17. Slipper
18. AAA
19. LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto)
20. Gleeson
21. McDermott
22. Lolesio
23. JS

Start with a strong pack. Heavy, good hitters. I think LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto) has been great off the bench and his running game seems to work better later. Gleeson brings the same threat. Williams at lock if we want more physicality, Frost if we want a more tech / athletic combo with Skelton.

Donaldson to have a go with his mate White. Kerevi to start and run him till he can't. JS to come in at 12. Use some smarts and mix him up running a wider channel in attack while allowing him to defend a bit closer in.

Wilson has earned his position IMO. But if they want better line out options then maybe Williams. Agree that LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto) doesn't really work at 6.

I'm tempted to throw caution to the wind here with the limited run up to the lions. We need to see if some of these guys have it, we also know what others offer. If I were to, then I'd be very tempted to give Uru a crack. I think he has the natural abilities to be a great 6. Jorgensen instead of Kellaway and perhaps JS into the fire at 12 with a switch to wing later in the game.

Kailea in there somewhere as well as Pollard.

Anyway, excitement is growing. I actually think we have the pack to match England if they all show up.

Halves still a glaring weakness though.

Go wobs!

 

[emuarse]

Probably means Kerevi is still not up to scratch if they are looking at moving Ikitau to 12. Conservative option would have been to shift Stewart over from the A team when Paisami got injured.

But I am also of the opinion of f*ck it, we are 9th in the world, let's throw a hail mary and see what happens

Christy's take is only that Sua’ali’i play at 13. There's no mention of Ikitau at 12.
It could be that Kerevi is at 12 & Ikitau is on the pine to cover for both positions. (Is that BR having a spasm in the background )

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

Christy's take is only that Sua’ali’i play at 13. There's no mention of Ikitau at 12.
It could be that Kerevi is at 12 & Ikitau is on the pine to cover for both positions. (Is that BR having a spasm in the background )

Gotta say. I fucking hate that combo (right now) yeah, they're a big pairing but we have unknowns about both.

One coming back to Rugby with 4 years not playing and the other out of Japan and the last we saw him it was less than impressive. It has potential but If I was England I'd be running everything through them and seeing how the communication and movement is.

 

[KOB1987]

Christy's take is only that Sua’ali’i play at 13. There's no mention of Ikitau at 12.
It could be that Kerevi is at 12 & Ikitau is on the pine to cover for both positions. (Is that BR having a spasm in the background )

And Panda's take was just that Sua'ali'i would be in the centres. So maybe Doran is just assuming that 13 is where he'll be, but he's actually at 12, with Kerevi covering in case it goes pear.

 

[Strewthcobber]

Every rugby journo in Australia trying to cram Sua'ali'i into a headline somewhere?

His salary is getting paid through the free marketing alone

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

It's true and there hasn't been this much general FTA coverage in years.

Have people at work that know I watch Rugby asking how is he going to go? Now, they won't get up and watch but are still consuming media on Rugby.

 

[PhilClinton]

Latest article on ESPN this morning says it will be JS and Ikitau starting. Essentially, no one knows and we've had every potential combination published in the last 48 hours.

I'm not sure how many of you follow NBA but this tactic is quite similar to the Lakers Bronny James situation. Bronny has been a controversial media focus of the Lakers since he was drafted and instead of delaying his debut, the Lakers coach played him off the bench alongside his dad in the first game of the season. Got the whole debut over and done with, ripped the band aid off.

The biggest difference here though is JS isn't a nepo baby and can actually play his sport well.