France v Australia, Saturday 19 November

[KOB1987]

Just heard on the radio that Quade has to pass a fitness test.

 

[Brumby Runner]

^^^^^Could be very unlikely given he hasn't trained since Tuesday apparently. Would Lance get a run to Keep Foley resting on the bench?

 

[KOB1987]

They played s cut from Cheika and he said 'everyone is carrying something he'll be fine' but that could just be spin.

I reckon they would play foley and bring either lance or hodge to the bench.

 

[PeterK]

Cooper will play.

On courier mail reported he was not in the captain's run but Cheika said he would be playing.

Don't understand why Timani was the one left off the bench though.

 

[Micheal]

I think they would definitely play Foley (given Quade is injured)

Lance has to play against the French Barbarians in less than a week and Foley, if he plays the French, would have a weeks turnaround before his next hit out where Lance wouldn't

Foley also played the most minutes of any Wallaby last season, then played a Japanese season and most of a Super season without any major injury. He's proven to be pretty durable over the years, apart from the minor blip at the start of 2016.

 

[Scotty]

The big question is: Who's the fullback back-up if Morahan suffers an injury? Foley??? When it was the last time he played in that position at test level? Mmmmm. Naivalu, Speight and Taqele can't play at 15, they don't have the skills for the position.

Assuming Quade plays I'd be pretty excited to see Foley come on at FB. Could be a great attacking weapon off a Cooper pass out wide and setting up the fast men.

 

[Scotty]

Feel for Cooper in the lead up. He is behind a weaker pack, with likely worse scrum and line out. He has been injured all week and unable to train. He has only had 15 minutes of game over the last three games for some inexplicable reason.

He is missing the two best high ball takers as a kickoff, up and under or cross kick target. He is missing the three most damaging ball runners of the last few games as targets. He has a debutant at 12.

Does anyone think it is realistic that Cheika is giving him any real chance to push for a starting spot next week?

 

[Warpath]

I just hope they bring on Naiyaravoro early..his runs are awesome to look at and his inside passes just as he is about to be pushed out could create gaps.....takes 2 players to push him out..

 

[TOCC]

Does anyone think it is realistic that Cheika is giving him any real chance to push for a starting spot next week?

I don't think that is Cheikas intent, it serves no purpose, but broadly Its no different to Eden Park 2015

 

[TOCC]

Wallabies should win this, I say "should" as in the player depth is there to win it, maybe not across all the positions but across the team it is.. just depends how much time these combinations have been given to train together, it's difficult considering guys like Morohan weren't Included in the touring party but have now been parachuted in for this game..

Had guys like Morohan been included in the touring party instead of Koroibete and been training with the squad the whole time I would hold no reservations, but i feel it's a little unfair that they now be brought in with 1 weeks preparation and expected to perform at the best of their potential.

 

[Rugbynutter39]

I've been an unashamed supporter of Cheika since he hit the deck. Even if he chose players he was familiar with over form players. Even if he pulled unexpected selections - Pooper, double 10. And yes, there is no alternative. But no, this doesnt mean criticsm might not be justified.

Right now he's loosing me.

I had no problem with him running an A team and a B team at the RWC. Didnt even mind if certain players that I thought should be A team, and well Cheika didnt agree.

What I'm concerned with is the aparent lack of planning. "Oh shit, we have to treat Ireland like England, where the hell is my B team for France?"

Yep, the Barbarian players may always have been intended as a source to draw on. But Godwin? Morahan? Not commenting anout these blokes ability, just where they fit in the plan.

Add in Pfitzies popcorn meme, yeah right bloke, players called in to an unexpected B team, what the hell could their fans have to complain about?

Right now, if Cheika is shitting gold eggs, they definitely are too small.

I'm just not seeing a plan. I'm not seeing any evidence of an intended B team untill "hell, where is it?" And I do see coming, from TWAS' flower conspiracy, "ah look we tried those guys, they proved to be not up to it." Wrong. Also wrong is the thought that if we win, Cheika is a genious. Hell no, just a very lucky boy.

No, I'm not switching off on Cheika, but I see no evidence of him being in control for this EOYT.

I see actually more method in cheika and planning including those who were selected for baa baa's

If you think about it morohan as been in much better shape leading up to play France game as been involved in decent minutes for 3 baa baa matches where based on that performance earned a starting 15 spot. Same with taquele who gets a bench spot.

I like cheika as prepared to do things which is not just for short term but long term benefit. Yes he may have made mistakes a long the way but more positives then negatives with lot of things happening. About heading in right direction and continuing to improve and transform which is slowly happening. Maybe not at pace others would like but I am ok with the direction we are heading and glad he is prepared to make controversial decisions if he believes they are right and good to see aru are backing him.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[PeterK]

I don't think that is Cheikas intent, it serves no purpose, but broadly Its no different to Eden Park 2015

QC (Quade Cooper) has a great opportunity to get a start against Ireland next week.

Why you ask?

If he did have the A team and they as expected beat the French that would not be enough to get him a start.

Now if the pack is beaten , it gets dominated, and he has a limited backline in terms of chasing kicks and lack of combinations he has the opportunity to produce something magnificent which Foley is unable to do.

Create a lot of tries behind a beaten pack against the odds.

THAT may get Cheika's attention since the England pack will dominate the wallaby forwards.

Sure it is a big ask but that is what is needed if he hopes to start.

 

[Scrubber2050]

I think Nick got it right before - it's less about the 'Grand Slam' and more about England. The Grand Slam is a bit artificial and certainly doesn't carry a huge amount of weight anymore.

But beating the Poms always does, no matter the time, place or sport.
.

Are you serious ????
Grand Slam is a thing we have not achieved for a long long time.
From memory we beat the Poms convincingly only last year.

To win the Slam we have to beat the Poms anyway !

 

[Kev]

Are you serious ????
Grand Slam is a thing we have not achieved for a long long time.
From memory we beat the Poms convincingly only last year.

To win the Slam we have to beat the Poms anyway !

But do Australians really care that much? I think we mostly want the Bledisloe and the Webb Ellis. There's no special trophy for a grand slam right?

I actually think this France match is really important because you don't want your first free-to-air match (of this tour) to result in a loss.

 

[Scrubber2050]

But do Australians really care that much? I think we mostly want the Bledisloe and the Webb Ellis. There's no special trophy for a grand slam right?

I actually think this France match is really important because you don't want your first free-to-air match (of this tour) to result in a loss.

Shit
it means a lot to me, the players and Chek and I think Australian rugby fans. The Bled is also important and the biggie is the RWC

Otherwise he would be playing everybody

 

[I like to watch]

QC (Quade Cooper) has a great opportunity to get a start against Ireland next week.

Why you ask?

If he did have the A team and they as expected beat the French that would not be enough to get him a start.

Now if the pack is beaten , it gets dominated, and he has a limited backline in terms of chasing kicks and lack of combinations he has the opportunity to produce something magnificent which Foley is unable to do.

Create a lot of tries behind a beaten pack against the odds.

THAT may get Cheika's attention since the England pack will dominate the wallaby forwards.

Sure it is a big ask but that is what is needed if he hopes to start.

I disagree.
I don't think form is the deciding factor,it's style.
Foley is his boy for that reason.
But I'm not sure he's nearly as effective,without KB (Kurtley Beale) or Giteau outside him.

 

[Twoilms]

^^^^
I care about the Grand Slam, beating England at all costs (seriously, losing to the English is worse than losing to any other team) and about the heritage of Rugby in general. Think most people care about these things.

I'm really surprised the forums have exploded like this. It's such a win-win. We will have gone a long way to cultivating some depth in our squad. Depth that needs to be cultivated prior to the next WC which Chek has quite clearly been trying to generate for some time. He's also using squad development spots and an extra barbarians game to the same effect.

Gives some people a shot who wouldn't otherwise get it and provides previous first teamers a shot at working their way back into form.

Rests key players who have had an extraordinarily long season. Seriously 30+ games in a year is a lot of rugby. Hoops, Moore, Foley etc all in dire need of it.

And if we lose who cares it was our fuckin B team at the tail end of a ridiculously long season. We wont anyway. France have shown nothing to warrant such negative predictions. Their best 10 is injured and his deputies are pants.

People saying its a disgrace to the Jersey and shit are just finding reasons to be angry.

 

[hammertimethere]

Assuming Quade plays I'd be pretty excited to see Foley come on at FB. Could be a great attacking weapon off a Cooper pass out wide and setting up the fast men.

I'm all about this Scotty. Would be interesting to see if the wallabies "fluid structure" of ball players and ball runners would work better if the second ball player wore 15 rather than 12 (which is not to say the ball player at 12 is useless, I just prefer them to be more of the muscular variety e.g To'omua and Hodge, rather than Foley).

 

[KOB1987]

What I'm concerned with is the aparent lack of planning. "Oh shit, we have to treat Ireland like England, where the hell is my B team for France?"

Yeah Dru, what rugbynutter said by and large. I don't mind a bit of criticism of Cheika, or anyone for that matter, people make their own opinions about other people's decisions and that's fine. But of all things to criticise him about lack of planning isn't one of them.

He would have been planning his tactics for this tour since the moment it was announced. I'd say that on one hand he would have been delighted that he was given a midweek match against the French Barbarians, but on the other hand livid that he wasn't given enough players to play in it. He orchestrated a number to be in the Barbarians side that he could draw upon, and by the sounds of it has been busy trying to rally up a few NH based players to fill the last few spots so that none of his squad for Ireland have to also sit on the bench for that game. Some people are even angry about that because it emerged that one of those was JOC (James O'Connor).

 

[KOB1987]

This would be best placed in the thread for next week's game but it's relevant to this one as well so I'll plop it here.

I've been doing a bit of tea leave reading. It's reasonable to assume that the 7 players who are being 'rested' are going to occupy starter's jerseys for next weekend and are key to the game plan. The 4 forwards speak for themselves so I just want to focus on the backs for this exercise. Using last week's jersey numbers:

12. Hodge
14. DHP
15. Folau

What I find interesting is that Kuridrani is in the starting side tonight. I'm making an inference here that either he's playing for his spot for the next 2 games or that next week is when we are going to see Folau switch to 13. It also explains the persistence with Speight. I reckon the plan is for Folau to play 13. with Speight on the wing and they switch in defence so that Folau can man the back with DHP. Naivalu and Nayarovoro are playing off for the other wing spot.

Or it could simply be because Kuridrani is the only specalist 13 in the tour squad!