South Africa tour (and squad)

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Now that is some good news. Get McCabe on the bench too.

 

[H...]

i'm a realist - we'll be lucky to see giteau boned, I think O'connor is safe. Who else will marketing put on the conflakes packets? Genia / Cooper / Fainga? Not WASPy enough for them I wouldnt think

 

[fatprop]

Aus Touring Party for Bok Land - Turner, Cummins & McCabe in

Deans fits new Turner

19th August 2010 06:53



Forgotten winger Lachie Turner is among five new faces added to Australia's 28-man squad for their two Tri-Nations matches in South Africa, while Quade Cooper also returns from suspension.

Injuries to Cameron Shepherd (hamstring) and Peter Hynes (knee) have opened the door for Turner, who was this week named in Australia's Sevens squad to contest October's Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

Turner, who has 11 Test caps to his name, is joined in the touring party by Sevens team-mates Nick Cummins and Pat McCabe, who are both featuring in the Wallabies squad for the first time.

McCabe, who was a standout for the Brumbies in during the Super 14 campaign, was invited to train with the Wallabies during the Tri Nations and did enough to impress coach Robbie Deans.

Prop Ben Daley and veteran lock Mark Chisholm are the other new faces having not been required in the Wallabies' 20-10 loss to New Zealand in Christchurch.

Western Force flanker Matt Hodgson is the third player to miss the tour through injury after suffering a groin strain at training on Tuesday.

The return of Cooper, who has been in the spotlight this week amid reports he is considering a switch to rugby league next season, is a major boost for the Wallabies who face a demanding schedule on the Highveld, where they have not won since 1963.

The tour begins in Pretoria on August 28 with the second and final Test also to be played at altitude in Bloemfontein on September 4.

Deans' men will then return to Sydney to face the All Blacks on September 11 in the final match of the Tri Nations tournament.

The Wallabies are currently second on the standings at the tournament's mid-point, requiring a win in just one of the matches in the Republic in order to reclaim the Mandela Trophy.

Australia won the trophy two years ago, when they won in South Africa for the first time in eight years, but surrendered its possession with a 1-2 loss in last year's series.

The Wallabies have won their past two matches against the Springboks, 21-6 and 30-13, both in Brisbane.

The Wallabies have never won from four previous attempts at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria, while the history is no more favourable in Bloemfontein where Australia won 15-4 on debut in 1933 but have been beaten in both matches played there since.

As well as reclaiming the Mandela Trophy, success in South Africa would ensure a second-placed finish in this year's Tri Nations.

The Tri Nations resumes after a week's break on Saturday when the Springboks entertain the All Blacks at Soccer City in Soweto, Johannesburg - the venue for last month's football World Cup final.

A win for the Kiwis will ensure them of this year's title.

Australia squad: Rocky Elsom (Brumbies, captain), Ben Daley (Queensland Reds), Benn Robinson (NSW Waratahs), Salesi Ma'afu (Brumbies), James Slipper (Queensland Reds), Stephen Moore (Brumbies), Saia Fainga'a (Queensland Reds), Nathan Sharpe (Western Force), Dean Mumm (NSW Waratahs), Rob Simmons (Queensland Reds), Mark Chisholm (Brumbies), Ben McCalman (Western Force), David Pocock (Western Force), Scott Higginbotham (Queensland Reds), Richard Brown (Western Force), Will Genia (Queensland Reds), Luke Burgess (NSW Waratahs), Quade Cooper (Queensland Reds), Matt Giteau (Brumbies), Anthony Fainga'a (Queensland Reds), Berrick Barnes (NSW Waratahs), Adam Ashley-Cooper (Brumbies), Pat McCabe (Brumbies), Nick Cummins (Western Force), James O'Connor (Western Force), Lachie Turner (NSW Waratahs), Drew Mitchell (NSW Waratahs), Kurtley Beale (NSW Waratahs).

 

[Gnostic]

Anybody want to bet the only change we see will be Cooper to 10 and Giteau to 12. Fainga'a will drop from the squad.

JOC (James O'Connor) will stay on the wing, Brown at 8 and Ma'afu at 3.

 

[rugbyfan]

very happy about mccabe being in - definitely adding some spark to the attack with his hard running.

 

[Moses]

Michael O'Connor must be fucking ropeable

 

[Gnostic]

Mcabe will not get on the field Fan. You know that Deans & Co will make not changes except Cooper in and Finger out.

 

[Hawko]

Comments:
With Hodgson out who is the back-up 7? I know its probably Richard Brown's best position (the Force have three 7's in their backrow, two of whom are very very good) but I'm not sure that he is our second best option now, though if Waugh is still injured who else? Time to begin praying for Pococks safety.
Why is Chisholm going into the squad? We haven't lost any locks, have we? McCalman would be emergency back-up and even Rocky has played lock before in an emergency. Why not take another fetcher instead?
I do hope Cummins is going for the ride. Turner and McCabe are a long way in front of him on just about every statistic except for outrageous hairstyle. Maybe they are taking Cummins as back-up for 13. Now there's a scary thought.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Absolutely gutted for Hodgo. How unlucky is that bloke? I think we now select McCalman at 6 and move Rocky to 8 or maybe Mumm at 6 and put Chisolm or Simmons at lock.

I'd love to see McCabe debut in these two tests and Turner must start. His form since being sent back to club footy has been everything that could have been asked of him. He has responded well to being dropped.

 

[Lee Grant]

Well done to McCabe and Turner for getting in the squad. They are both diligent players who won't go walkabout in a game and will back up all the time. Turner will chase kicks all day like a blue heeler chasing a stick.

They may not get a lot of game time but they have got a signal.

 

[qwerty51]

Hodgson is huge blow. Could've decide a few match results imo. He plays so well in SA.

 

[Brumbies Guy]

Can Salvi get the call up? Otherwise chuck little Finger in there

 

[Hawko]

Michael O'Connor must be fucking ropeable

I agree its pretty tough trying to train for the Commonwealth sevens without three key squad players. Is the 3N so much more important than the sevens given that we cannot realistically win this year? I think not, but I guess Deans is not going to give that a thought given that the dogs are barking openly about his coaching. The last two weeks' rugby club criticism has been directly at the gameplan and the backs play, but it is not a huge leap from there to the two coaches that are responsible for that. He's going to see one SA win an absolute priority for his positions sake.

O'Connor has been given a terrible hand to play: ARU stuffs up two experienced squad players and now Deans totally stuffs up his training program. Willing to bet a fortune that the collective NZRU hasn't done the same thing to Tietjens (spelling?).

 

[Joe Blow]

Brown has to be the back-up 7. They should start with McCalman or Higginbotham at 8 and have Brown on the bench.
What happened to Hynes????
I thought he said he was ready to roll.

 

[fatprop]

very happy about mccabe being in - definitely adding some spark to the attack with his hard running.

I doubt that, McCabe is safe, defends well and runs hard but rarely beats defenders. So he is all the things Lote was critised for, but cheaper.

One of out big issues is that our second tier wingers (McCabe & Turner) aren't great in one on one work to beat a defender whereas Digby & Mitchell can be relied on to beat defenders. It may be one of the reasons JOC (James O'Connor) is getting time on the wing as he can to either give support time to arrive or get a counter started.

 

[fatprop]

I agree its pretty tough trying to train for the Commonwealth sevens without three key squad players. Is the 3N so much more important than the sevens given that we cannot realistically win this year? I think not, but I guess Deans is not going to give that a thought given that the dogs are barking openly about his coaching. The last two weeks' rugby club criticism has been directly at the gameplan and the backs play, but it is not a huge leap from there to the two coaches that are responsible for that. He's going to see one SA win an absolute priority for his positions sake.

O'Connor has been given a terrible hand to play: ARU stuffs up two experienced squad players and now Deans totally stuffs up his training program. Willing to bet a fortune that the collective NZRU hasn't done the same thing to Tietjens (spelling?).

It is tough for O'Conner, but he also wanted more links between the 7s and 15s so he could get better players into his program. Those same links have removed a few from training, but also got Luke Morahan in a Wallaby squad

 

[DPK]

I doubt that, McCabe is safe, defends well and runs hard but rarely beats defenders. So he is all the things Lote was critised for, but cheaper.

One of out big issues is that our second tier wingers (McCabe & Turner) aren't great in one on one work to beat a defender whereas Digby & Mitchell can be relied on to beat defenders. It may be one of the reasons JOC (James O'Connor) is getting time on the wing as he can to either give support time to arrive or get a counter started.

I've seen a few people say this, but watching Turner for Eastwood it was clear that he does have the ability to beat players one on one. Obviously this isn't the Test level, but while he was at 13 for the Woodies he regularly beat defenders on both the inside and outside; against Southern, he set up/scored 4 tries from 5 touches.

Give him a little more space and he is quite capable of beating players one on one.

 

[Crow]

It is tough for O'Conner, but he also wanted more links between the 7s and 15s so he could get better players into his program. Those same links have removed a few from training, but also got Luke Morahan in a Wallaby squad

I agree - the integration of 7s has done a lot for 7s in a reasonably short amount of time. It's provided a second method for up and coming players to showcase their skills and make a case for wallabies selection. It's also given access to current high level players who are not currently in the WB camp to 7s.
It's pretty much win-win except for the odd occasion where both teams want access to the same players at the same time. Well worth it for the advantages, though.

 

[Gooch]

I think the addition of Turner is a good thing. I hope he gets a chance over in SA.
Devastated about Hodgson. Someone must have a voodoo doll of him somewhere.
We all know that it doesn't really matter who RD puts on the bench, only the starting 15 will get game time.

 

[TOCC]

Im happy to have Turner back, he has such great potential as a finisher, i expect him to play a Rodney Davies-esque role at Wallaby level. Watch for the chip kicks over the top with Turner chasing through