So there's plenty of speculation that Tongan Thor will make his debut in this match.
Scotland v Australia - Sunday 26 November 1:30am AEDT
- Thread starter Braveheart81
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Scrubber2050
Mark Ella (57)
Am sure the Thor will be blooded. Does he deserve it - No way ! Very average scrummager - quite poor as a test prop. To me it cheapens the hersey, once again.
Do I understand why Chek is doing it. Of course everyone does.
It's still another poor selection, purely based on potential
Do I understand why Chek is doing it. Of course everyone does.
It's still another poor selection, purely based on potential
What if Cheika picks him instead of Tom Robertson?
dru
David Wilson (68)
Not so sure, certainly more potential. But right now Thor has several tests required to catch Robinson’s international scrum experience. I’d be cautious on the opposition we choose to blood the guy.
Played 72 tests. See here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benn_Robinson Or were you talking about Brett Robinson.........
. The loosehead is the guy who wears #1 and stands on the left of the hooker. He is called a loosehead because he only has one shoulder in the scrum and no head outside of his. He will try and get under his opponent's chest and try to lever up with his head to take him out of the game. And that is why you'll see them 'collapse in' when it goes wrong or the tighthead is too strong. . A tighthead is #3 and stands on the right of the hooker. he has two shoulders in the scrum and the looseheads head outside of his. He will try to bind tightly with the hooker and sometimes drive a wedge between the opposition hooker and loosehead. Basically what we did to Marler at the world cup. It was beautiful. Yes, they can swap over but it's not as easy as it seems. They are specialised positions and even though they are similar you are actually trying to achieve completely different objectives. And use different muscles.
Not BEN Robinson mate.
I forgot to mention that the hooker and the tighthead have a head either side of the opposition hooker. They are trying to put as much pressure on him as possible to stop him striking for the ball. That's why you see some teams try ti walk over the ball rather than hook it. Especially if your hooker isn't flexible. ALA S Moore
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Scrubber2050
Mark Ella (57)
Of course he will pick him over Robertson. He HAS to be capped. Is he better than Robertson ATM - certainly not at scrum time but in every other aspect of play he is better. AS you probably incisively realise BH I don't think Robertson offers much at all to the Tahs or Wallabies (except in his first season at the Tahs - he was good then but has declined markedly since then)
TSR
Andrew Slack (58)
I don't think Robertson is going quite as bad as he is made out to, but he certainly isn't making a name for himself either. It seems to me he was doing much better before he was switched from TH to LH. Alexander mark II?
Some guys are fine either side but most are considerably better on one side than the other.
Some guys are fine either side but most are considerably better on one side than the other.
TSR
Andrew Slack (58)
Extremely - but he was originally a LHP and he was moved across to THP. There was a brief period (2009 I think - a single EOYT if I recall correctly) when Benn Robinson & Ben Alexander a scrummed brilliantly, including dismantling Andy Sheridan (who was admittedly underdone - but they also demolished a couple of other scrums from memory). It was joyous.
But it is was the cruelest of false dawns and our scrum soon resumed being a joke and Alexander was regularly found wanting technically. Generally speaking his biggest issues were that he overextended and that he got a (probably deserved) bad rep with refs so, whenever the scrum went down he was assumed to be the problem (and often was). The other thing was that he actually normally did fine at super level, so I think he was persisted with at THP in the hope that he would eventually convert his form to test level.
I think lots of people still hold the opinion, with a far bit of justification I think, that he was a really good loose head who was converted into an average TH.
But it is was the cruelest of false dawns and our scrum soon resumed being a joke and Alexander was regularly found wanting technically. Generally speaking his biggest issues were that he overextended and that he got a (probably deserved) bad rep with refs so, whenever the scrum went down he was assumed to be the problem (and often was). The other thing was that he actually normally did fine at super level, so I think he was persisted with at THP in the hope that he would eventually convert his form to test level.
I think lots of people still hold the opinion, with a far bit of justification I think, that he was a really good loose head who was converted into an average TH.
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