EOYT 2014

[BabyBlueElephant]

Chieka will do a job for the Aussies. Even if he isn't the man to transform you overnight into world beaters, he is, IMO, the best coach you could have in the world for getting rid of a few mentality problems you have. Better than White could ever of been.

I remember when Chieka took over Leinster nearly a decade ago. He transformed a team of outstanding backs but, in all honesty, soft and pathetic forwards into one of the most grizzly in your face teams about. Boks at club level almost. He also tamed a team of young exciting backs with a bit of attitude too, to unify and believe in a collective mentality. Most of all he turned a team of underachievers into a team that had a winning mentality, and in his last two years they won the Celtic league and Heineken Cup.

Everything wrong with Leinster then is fairly similar to everything wrong in Aussieland at the moment. Leinster wasn't in disarray admittedly, but it was a soft team lacking in mentality. Chieka has his ways and will sure as hell bump up the forwards a few levels. Particularly the backrow. Under his this is the area that will benefit hugely, and with guys like Gill, Palu, Hooper etc I could easily see this unit becoming one of the most outstanding in the game under him.

At the very least, he will get your national team playing as a group, and with fire. Your forwards will rarely go backwards once he gets going on the international level with the players available. I reckon a coach like McKenzie would've done a job on the team too IF he came in after Cheika.

 

[Marcelo]

Henry Speight is ready to play the first game?

 

[kiap]

Speight is a bit underdone so it may be good for him to start against the Barbarians. McCalman after rehab maybe the same.

I think the best XV should start against Wales; something like:

​

1 Slipper, 2 Fainga’a, 3 Kepu​

​

4 Carter (Horwill), 5 Simmons,​

​

6 Jones (Higginbotham), 7 Hooper (c), 8 Higginbotham (McCalman);​

​

9 Phipps, 10 Foley, 11 AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper), 12 Leali'ifano, 13 Kuridrani, 14 Speight, 15 Folau.​

- and then work backwards from that to come up with a side for the Barbarians.

For mine, I'd sit half of those guys out for the Baabaas. If Cheika wants to see where the new guys (and Genia, Cooper, Horwill) are at, then maybe:

1 Robinson, 2 Hanson, 3 Faulkner,​

​

4 Carter, 5 Horwill (c),​

​

6 Jones, 7 McMahon, 8 McCalman;​

​

9 Genia, 10 Cooper, 11 Tomane, 12 Leali'ifano, 13 English, 14 Speight, 15 Folau.​

​

Bench:​

16 Mann-Rea, 17 Slipper, 18 Alexander, 19 Skelton, 20 H'bum, 21 White, 22 Godwin/To'omua, 23 Horne.​

But possibily not all of them will get a shot.

 

[BarneySF]

I think this is it: http://media.smh.com.au/featured/michael-cheika-confirmed-as-wallabies-coach-5907193.html

He's an impressive man.
Edit: this is actually better: http://www.foxsports.com.au/video?v=cheika-named-wallabies-coach_1227098522262
The whole thing was worth seeing, IMO.

Is there any footage of the Q & A out there?

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Seems nor.
I watched some of it and he was impressive in his passion.

 

[Marcelo]

For mine, I'd sit half of those guys out for the Baabaas. If Cheika wants to see where the new guys (and Genia, Cooper, Horwill) are at, then maybe:

1 Robinson, 2 Hanson, 3 Faulkner,​

​

4 Carter, 5 Horwill (c),​

​

6 Jones, 7 McMahon, 8 McCalman;​

​

9 Genia, 10 Cooper, 11 Tomane, 12 Leali'ifano, 13 English, 14 Speight, 15 Folau.​

​

Bench:​

16 Mann-Rea, 17 Slipper, 18 Alexander, 19 Skelton, 20 H'bum, 21 White, 22 Godwin/To'omua, 23 Horne.​

But possibily not all of them will get a shot.

I think like you, Slipper and Kepu should rest the first week IMO. After Baabaas they are going to play 4 test matches in a row, they shouldn't be injured. Without them we are nothing TBH.

 

[Wilson]

Speight is a bit underdone so it may be good for him to start against the Barbarians. McCalman after rehab maybe the same.

I think the best XV should start against Wales; something like:

​

1 Slipper, 2 Fainga’a, 3 Kepu​

​

4 Carter (Horwill), 5 Simmons,​

​

6 Jones (Higginbotham), 7 Hooper (c), 8 Higginbotham (McCalman);​

​

9 Phipps, 10 Foley, 11 AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper), 12 Leali'ifano, 13 Kuridrani, 14 Speight, 15 Folau.​

- and then work backwards from that to come up with a side for the Barbarians.

For mine, I'd sit half of those guys out for the Baabaas. If Cheika wants to see where the new guys (and Genia, Cooper, Horwill) are at, then maybe:

1 Robinson, 2 Hanson, 3 Faulkner,​

​

4 Carter, 5 Horwill (c),​

​

6 Jones, 7 McMahon, 8 McCalman;​

​

9 Genia, 10 Cooper, 11 Tomane, 12 Leali'ifano, 13 English, 14 Speight, 15 Folau.​

​

Bench:​

16 Mann-Rea, 17 Slipper, 18 Alexander, 19 Skelton, 20 H'bum, 21 White, 22 Godwin/To'omua, 23 Horne.​

But possibily not all of them will get a shot.

Cheika may not have the luxury of resting to many players against the baabaas, particularly when some of our best performers are the ones most in need of a rest. He may be better off looking to make early changes in most cases but it'd be a pretty big blow to guy like slipper to have worked his arse off and be dropped by the new coach unless it's really well handled. If does do it then something like the team you've got there is probably best, the more rested the better for the guys to understand, though I might keep Kuridrani in so we aren't sacrificing too much in midfield defence.

Also I'd argue that with another two weeks under his belt by the BaaBaas and three by Wales, Quade is absolutely in our best 15. I'd be playing him against the BaaBaas as his lead in to ripping out Welsh hearts as he did last year.

 

[Bowside]

For the Baabaas I'd go with:

1. Slipper
2. Hanson
3. Kepu
4. Skelton
5. Horwill
6. Jones
7. Hooper
8. Higginbotham
9. Genia
10. Cooper
11. Tomane
12. Godwin
13. Kurindrani
14. Speight
15. Folau

Good mix of some quality and some underdone players.

 

[Scrubber2050]

Think it is great for Australian rugby that Chek has been appointed. Also like the fact that Blades remains - gives some stability.

Chek has, potentially a great team. To me, the first thing he has to do ( and I reckon he is the man to do so) is to bring all the players to be a part of THEIR TEAM and ours as well., Knock on the head very quickly any expressions or actions of State based rivalry.

Move forward as one

 

[something]

I'd be dropping Folau for Baa Baas. Since his meteoric rise we havent really needed a replacement 15, but maybe have a few smokeys in there just in case he goes down. Im thinking either AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) or Foley with QC (Quade Cooper) at 10. Even Lilo with To'omua at 12 to work on the QC (Quade Cooper) To'omua combo that proved so effective last eoyt

 

[Braveheart81]

With QC (Quade Cooper) returning, Foley is a pretty good option at fullback against the Baa Baas.

I figure AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) is still a starter in this side and we could see Tomane and Speight on the wings against the BaaBaas fighting for the second wing spot for the Wales test the following weekend.

 

[Gibbo]

The Waratahs players in the starting XV (especially Hooper, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper), Folau) have played a massive amount of footy in the past 6 months. Baa Baas game should give them a rest or only 40 mins.

 

[Brumby Runner]

The Waratahs players in the starting XV (especially Hooper, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper), Folau) have played a massive amount of footy in the past 6 months. Baa Baas game should give them a rest or only 40 mins.

Similar situation with Slipper and Kepu. A very high workload all year. Rest them now for the games that matter.

Incidentally, I won't be at all surprised nor disappointed if the Baa Baas beat us. They are on paper a very strong outfit. The question will be how they can gel as a team. My expectation is that we'll win all four other games and throw the RWC betting into a spin.

 

[Brumbieman]

What the fuck is this 3/5 or 4/5 bullshit?


We're the fucking Wallabies for christ sake, anything less than 100% on this tour should be disappointing, not expected!!!!!


The only team that we should have trouble with is England, and if we want to win the world cup, we need to go over there and skullfuck them, and Wales.

3/5 !!!

What's happened to rugby in this country.......*incoherent grumbles*

 

[I like to watch]

Yeah, and historically we do not have the track history of the AB's to be expecting undefeated tours.
Add in the fact that the Messiah just quit,with a record that suggests that an undefeated tour is just fantasy,and his replacement has had a full day under his belt before the squad leaves.
Sure lets have an undefeated tour as a goal,but it's not a realist expectation.

 

[TheBigDog]

I'm surprised that one of the Smith twins from the Brumbies wasn't given a spot in the squad for this tour. They are only 24 years old and seem to be getting better each year. I'm sure touring and training with the national squad would have been good for development, specifically I can see Ruan becoming a value backup at tighthead.

 

[Braveheart81]

What the fuck is this 3/5 or 4/5 bullshit?


We're the fucking Wallabies for christ sake, anything less than 100% on this tour should be disappointing, not expected!!!!!


The only team that we should have trouble with is England, and if we want to win the world cup, we need to go over there and skullfuck them, and Wales.

3/5 !!!

What's happened to rugby in this country...*incoherent grumbles*

Surely it's a case of realism versus excessive optimism.

It's all very well to want to win every game on tour but if we say that 5/5 is the expected benchmark it makes almost every Wallaby end of year tour in history an abject failure.

4 out of 5 on last year's end of year tour was considered a very successful tour. Why wouldn't 4 out of 5 this year also be considered very successful? That would then mean 3 out of 5 is probably the pass mark.

Of course the team will be building for each game with the expectation that they can win and certainly they can.

 

[No4918]

Unfortunately resting players is difficult. We say the Barbarians game doesn't matter so much and it may well be true. Unfortunately if the rest of the country just hears on the news that the Wallabies lost again and snigger about how much of a basket case the code is.

 

[the sabanator]

Speight is a bit underdone so it may be good for him to start against the Barbarians. McCalman after rehab maybe the same.

I think the best XV should start against Wales; something like:

​

1 Slipper, 2 Fainga’a, 3 Kepu​

​

4 Carter (Horwill), 5 Simmons,​

​

6 Jones (Higginbotham), 7 Hooper (c), 8 Higginbotham (McCalman);​

​

9 Phipps, 10 Foley, 11 AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper), 12 Leali'ifano, 13 Kuridrani, 14 Speight, 15 Folau.​

- and then work backwards from that to come up with a side for the Barbarians.

For mine, I'd sit half of those guys out for the Baabaas. If Cheika wants to see where the new guys (and Genia, Cooper, Horwill) are at, then maybe:

1 Robinson, 2 Hanson, 3 Faulkner,​

​

4 Carter, 5 Horwill (c),​

​

6 Jones, 7 McMahon, 8 McCalman;​

​

9 Genia, 10 Cooper, 11 Tomane, 12 Leali'ifano, 13 English, 14 Speight, 15 Folau.​

​

Bench:​

16 Mann-Rea, 17 Slipper, 18 Alexander, 19 Skelton, 20 H'bum, 21 White, 22 Godwin/To'omua, 23 Horne.​

But possibily not all of them will get a shot.

If Genia and Cooper show some form against the Barbarians, it'll put enormous pressure on Phipps & Foley. Phipps has been playing well, but Foley remains a serviceable option at 10 without really offering what QC (Quade Cooper) can. The Wallabies of recent years play best when Genia & Quade are firing, I'm hoping we can see it back by the time the Wallabies hit Twickenham on the 29th.

 

[Braveheart81]

I'm surprised that one of the Smith twins from the Brumbies wasn't given a spot in the squad for this tour. They are only 24 years old and seem to be getting better each year. I'm sure touring and training with the national squad would have been good for development, specifically I can see Ruan becoming a value backup at tighthead.

They're not even Wallaby eligible yet as far as I know.

Surely there are also a bunch of props ahead of them.

Sio is still injured and the two Rising props have been excellent, not to mention Laurie Weeks who also debuted this year and Pek Cowan.

Faulkner is on the tour and will presumably get a debut.