RWC: Pool C - Wallabies v Fiji - Monday 18 Sep 2am AEST

[swingpass]

im in Oz, being cheeky, ill watch the replay, fresh out of bed, unawares

 

[Joe Blow]

It’s an 1145pm kick off for me. Ill watch for sure.

 

[HogansHeros]

Average 12. Doesn’t play that position normally.

Except that he has been playing 12 at Lyon....

 

[Dctarget]

Any news on Skelton?

 

[dru]

Anyone going to watch live?

I'm not quite 50/50. Recovering from surgery and might not wake up - though I have the alarm set.

 

[molman]

I can't accept that Skelton single-handedly turns the quality of our scrum. Tupou may have something to do with it. That said, his previous reputation for being a scrum pot-plant is history and he justifies his scrum position behind the THP. He's been fabulous.

I think Skelton's maul-wrecking skills are sublime - but he has not been consistently applying them.

He definitely has strengths in these things, but the improvement of the team with Skelton or an alternative is not, I think, a game-breaking issue against Fiji.

OTOH loosing a starting XV player of significance, let alone the captain, well it's got to have an impact on consistency. We should be able to cope without Skleton, though much less so against the top 4. We will see in a few hours.

I think I'm more disappointed to see Tupou out. That Tupou/Bell combo is one that we really haven't had a chance to see enough of with both of their recent run of injuries.

All that said, I have been impressed by Skelton. His work to dismantle mauls has been impressive. He also has had some lovely moments at the breakdown, not to mention how he attracts defenders.

We've really had some bad luck with injuries of late. It was interesting to see AAA's name when people were discussing recent captains. I would love to have his experience on our bench atm.

 

[LeCheese]

We've really had some bad luck with injuries of late. It was interesting to see AAA's name when people were discussing recent captains. I would love to have his experience on our bench atm.

After a torrid few years of significant injuries, sustained during both Wallabies and Super, you'd have to think it's more than just bad luck at this point

 

[The Marketing Pigeon]

Skelton to play ?? Wallabies team sheet posted 30 minutes ago

 

[John S]

Yeah maybe the scans were ok and they're just being cautious? I wouldn't be surprised if they pull him before kickoff though depending how warm up goes

 

[qwerty51]

Means nothing they literally said he’s been given the warm-up to decide and he was originally named so why would that change?

 

[The Marketing Pigeon]

Means nothing they literally said he’s been given the warm-up to decide and he was originally named so why would that change?

Holding out hope over here

 

[rugbyAU]

Means nothing they literally said he’s been given the warm-up to decide and he was originally named so why would that change?

But surely they’d of ruled him out by now if the calf was serious

 

[qwerty51]

But surely they’d of ruled him out by now if the calf was serious

I don't think it's serious but it's serious enough to miss the next 2 matches which well, is serious for us.

 

[Moneyinc]

Will need to be better than last week and get a few more phases. Put the box kicks away please.

 

[qwerty51]

Will need to be better than last week and get a few more phases. Put the box kicks away please.

Hope not. Test Fiji under the high ball. Put their receivers under pressure, compete in the air with Mark N (Nawaqanitawase), or tackle immediately and flood the breakdown. Box kicks are not a bad tactic in Test rugby.

 

[BDA]

Nervous about this game. My gut feeling is its a make or break game.. win this and i see us going on to top the group, lose it and we probably dont make the quarters. could be a really shit monday

 

[rugbyAU]

Nervous about this game. My gut feeling is its a make or break game.. win this and i see us going on to top the group, lose it and we probably dont make the quarters. could be a really shit monday

I feel that if we lose we’re beating Wales and then we’d all be three wins each

 

[Rebel man]

Wales aren’t going that well. They beat Portugal by 20 sure and were always the better team. But there were 2/3 missed penalties and the missed conversion from memory.

Wales deserved their win and I am not suggesting otherwise but the margin wasn’t reflective of the contest

 

[rugbyAU]

Wales aren’t going that well. They beat Portugal by 20 sure and were always the better team. But there were 2/3 missed penalties and the missed conversion from memory.

Wales deserved their win and I am not suggesting otherwise but the margin wasn’t reflective of the contest

If the pool comes down to points differential, they’ll be kicking themselves they didn’t beat Portugal by more

 

[qwerty51]

Skelton officially out.

RIP RWC campaign.

RIP Eddie.