South Africa tour (and squad)

[MrMouse]

I liked the look of A Fainga'a at 12. He needs a lot of polish, for sure, but to me there's something right about the balance of the backline with him there. On the one hand, he got caught out defensively a couple of times (fixable with time) but he also made some telling tackles dropping the All Blacks behind their advantage line, and he looked like the only Wallaby who was going to break a tackle (apart from perhaps AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper)). He gave the backline some raw grunt.

So the question is: does Fainga'a at 12 compliment Cooper's style better than Gitteau at 12? I think the answer is yes. But this is crazy talk, right? Gitteau is too good to be left out?

So here's the mad option that keeps both of them: put Gitteau at fullback. McQuuen turned Larkham from a 15 into a 10. Perhaps Our Robbie should do the opposite with Gitteau?

I mean if Beale can make a recent fist of being an international 15, why can't Gitteau?

Mate, one reason is that Beale is a 10/15. Giteau is a 12 who has unsuccessfully been played in a variety of positions, including 9 and 10.

What Giteau is, is an international XV quality inside centre who has been down on both form and confidence for some time, and shuffled through the deck once too many. I'd be playing him in club games over the next couple of weeks (at 12!) to try and get a bit of sparkle back, watch him, and if he's no good bench him and start AF. Simple.

Also, I disagree regards the balance of 10. QC (Quade Cooper) 12. AF 13. AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper). It could work (we will see) but I prefer a ball player and a ball buster together.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Anybody from other states you'd like to throw in there MM?

EDIT: referring to your previous post, BTW.

 

[fatprop]

I liked the look of A Fainga'a at 12. He needs a lot of polish, for sure, but to me there's something right about the balance of the backline with him there. On the one hand, he got caught out defensively a couple of times (fixable with time) but he also made some telling tackles dropping the All Blacks behind their advantage line, and he looked like the only Wallaby who was going to break a tackle (apart from perhaps AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper)). He gave the backline some raw grunt.

So the question is: does Fainga'a at 12 compliment Cooper's style better than Gitteau at 12? I think the answer is yes. But this is crazy talk, right? Gitteau is too good to be left out?

So here's the mad option that keeps both of them: put Gitteau at fullback. McQuuen turned Larkham from a 15 into a 10. Perhaps Our Robbie should do the opposite with Gitteau?

I mean if Beale can make a recent fist of being an international 15, why can't Gitteau?

Because Git's (and AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper)'s) first option too often is to kick, give me a 15 like Hynes or Beale any day as their option is where can we can counter attack. With the current rules you a 15 with a positive intent.

 

[naza]

I liked the look of A Fainga'a at 12. He needs a lot of polish, for sure, but to me there's something right about the balance of the backline with him there.

Hmmm. Let's see.

Lacks any variety whatsoever.
Shit kicking game.
Shit option taking and decision making.
Has never dominated at any level of football (yes, I've seen his U19 work Lee)
No passing skills, perfectly complementing AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) (SARCASM !!!)
Not that big or powerful.
No speed.
No footwork.
Misses half his tackles.
Cannot comprehend slide defence.
Is a crashballer with no line breaking or offloading ability.
He's perfect !! (SARCASM).

I cannot say anything nice about this bloke. Ok, um...let me try...uh..um...Oh yeah, he had a better test debut than Matt O'Connor (1994).

 

[MrMouse]

Anybody from other states you'd like to throw in there MM?

EDIT: referring to your previous post, BTW.

Other states? What other states?

 

[Sandpit Fan]

Hmmm. Let's see.

Lacks any variety whatsoever.
Shit kicking game.
Shit option taking and decision making.
Has never dominated at any level of football (yes, I've seen his U19 work Lee)
No passing skills, perfectly complementing AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) (SARCASM !!!)
Not that big or powerful.
No speed.
No footwork.
Misses half his tackles.
Cannot comprehend slide defence.
Is a crashballer with no line breaking or offloading ability.
He's perfect !! (SARCASM).

I cannot say anything nice about this bloke. Ok, um...let me try...uh..um...Oh yeah, he had a better test debut than Matt O'Connor (1994).

I started reading that and thought you were talking about Tom Carter....

 

[RugbyReg]

or Nahan Grey, and what I wouldn't give for Nathan Grey now!

 

[Scotty]

Naza,

Even Fa'ainga's kicking game was better than Giteau's. As for option taking, he took the first kick of the game when nothing was happening, and Giteau didn't see it.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

or Nahan Grey, and what I wouldn't give for Nathan Grey now!

Now there was a limited player who played a lot more test footy than I thought he would. You're right though, he would be a walk up start in the team right now.

 

[barbarian]

On A Fainga'a, they were talking about him on 'the back page' last night and showed the two AB tries. Both are pretty much caused by Fainga'a coming out of the line and being caught in no man's land. People seem to think it was JOC (James O'Connor) who fucked up defensively but it seems it was the new kid. Found it interesting that someone who is supposedly a good defender can make two elementary errors at crucial times.

 

[Scotty]

I did predict before that he would have an average game, unlike many who thought he might be the second coming.

However it is too early to castigate him too hard or throw him onto the scrap heap just yet.

 

[Linus]

Naza, well said.

As a newbie here, I couldn't bring myself to say it as forcibly. I'll repeat he tried hard and was his first game but he is far from the saviour of the backline that you might think from reading some of the posts.

 

[Henry]

JOC (James O'Connor) needs to learn how to pass the ball more often.

As does AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper)...

 

[Lindommer]

On A Fainga'a, they were talking about him on 'the back page' last night and showed the two AB tries. Both are pretty much caused by Fainga'a coming out of the line and being caught in no man's land. People seem to think it was JOC (James O'Connor) who fucked up defensively but it seems it was the new kid. Found it interesting that someone who is supposedly a good defender can make two elementary errors at crucial times.

There's no doubt Ant wanted to make an impression in his first starting test and tried too hard to put on a big hit. In this instance I hold the coaches responsible: he should've been counselled to play his natural game and told in no uncertain terms to make sure he worked with his fellow backs in defence. However, I sincerely hope he's learned from this experience and plays much better in his next test.

 

[Groucho]

I don't understand why anyone is considering dropping Beale. He was one of our best players on Saturday, he is young, has immense potential and is improving at a great rate.

Let's start dropping the players who are dropping badly before we start dropping players who are playing well.

 

[Joe Blow]

Fainga'a went OK but I am sure Deans will revert back to his first choice 10-12 combo of Cooper-Giteau.
There is amazing potential with Giteau running off Cooper and Fainga'a is a little limited in attack.
Looks like Hynes will be back on the wing.
I agree that Beale looked excellent and I hope he is given further opportunity at 15 while AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) is required at OC.

What about the forwards? Maafu. Brown and Mumm need to be looked at and I think Moore should start if fit.

 

[Bowside]

1. Robinson
2. Moore
3. Slipper
4. Sharpe
5. Simmons
6. Elsom
7. Pocock
8. Hodgson - Give him a chance, he can't be that much worse than brown.
9. Genia
10. Cooper
11. Mitchell
12. Fa'ainga/Gits
13. AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper)
14. Hynes
15. Beale

16. Fa'ainga - Maybe starting, I'll leave that one up to deans.
17. Ma'afu - No other options
18. Mumm - Can play lock or blindside
19. Higginbotham - Comes on for a 30 minute bust in the second half.
20. Burgess - For when Genia is off the pace.
21. Giteau/Fa'ainga/Barnes - No idea
22. O'Connor - Back 3 reserve.


Assuming hynes is fit, which if the paper is correct, he is.

 

[Groucho]

Hynes back is a big boost. He offers immeasurably more than JOC (James O'Connor) at this stage.

 

[fatprop]

There's no doubt Ant wanted to make an impression in his first starting test and tried too hard to put on a big hit. In this instance I hold the coaches responsible: he should've been counselled to play his natural game and told in no uncertain terms to make sure he worked with his fellow backs in defence. However, I sincerely hope he's learned from this experience and plays much better in his next test.

What about the forwards? Maafu. Brown and Mumm need to be looked at and I think Moore should start if fit.

Mumm did a lot of work on Saturday, he topped the run stats, the tackles stats and the ruck & maul, just in front of Sharpe

http://www.rugbystats.com.au/matches/rugby/match3485.html

 

[Crow]

16. Fa'ainga - Maybe starting, I'll leave that one up to deans.
17. Ma'afu - No other options
18. Mumm - Can play lock or blindside
19. Higginbotham - Comes on for a 30 minute bust in the second half.
20. Burgess - For when Genia is off the pace.
21. Giteau
22. O'Connor - Back 3 reserve.

I like the 15 and I think Gits could use a spell on the bench, but that would leave us with Cooper and Beale(?) as kickers. Are they up to it?