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The impending Hooper vs Pocock Dilemma

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Hans

Hans

Fred Wood (13)
With Skeltons form for the Tahs, and his new found endurance, you could take out a mortgage on him being the first lock picked. Unfortunately, much to my dismay, Simmons will likely be his partner. That leaves your lineout/forward pack (assuming the Hoocock combination) Slipper, Moore, Kepu, Simmons, Skelton, Pocock, Hooper, Palu/McCalman.

Lineout would have skelton jumping/reaching at 2, simmons and palu/mccalman in the middle, with pocock your man at the tail. With this type of combo, McCalman could prove to have the bonus at 8, given he is a fractionally better arial specialist then Palu.
 
BDA

BDA

Jim Lenehan (48)
Was against the Lions in Brisbane.
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Yep. And I'm not saying you'd want him at Centre, I'm simply saying that if you play a 6/2 bench and you're unlucky enough to get a bunch of injuries, you could play him at 12. It's been done before
 
Hans

Hans

Fred Wood (13)
Generally speaking if you are throwing to the back of the lineout, you have done enough song and dance to throw the opposition off and it is an uncontested win. It is too high risk to have contested ball at the back given the time in the air etc. You could put Hooper in the air and, straight throw assuming, you should get the ball back.
 
Braveheart81

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
I could definitely see Cheika deciding to play Hooper and Pocock in the same starting XV in one of the Rugby Championship games to see if it works or if it is a disaster. Personally I'd go for the game against the Boks to test it because it is probably the worst matchup on paper for it so it shouldn't give you any false hopes.
 
something

something

Jim Clark (26)
Why do we have to play the stereotypical roles of a 6 & 7? can someone please elaborate the key reasons why we can't have both on the field at the same time (one at 6?). For mine, their games compliment each other pretty well. Deep within our hearts, we all want this.

at scrum time you just get them to push a little harder and not dick around on the side (hooper).... and for lineouts you have Skelton front pod, pocock at the back and christ, Simmons is probably just going to call to himself anyways.
 
RugbyReg

RugbyReg

Rocky Elsom (76)
Staff member
Very worthwhile to give it a shot in the RC to see how we fare v NZ or SAF.

But would a Hooper/Pocock combo be the angle to beat England or Wales?
 
Braveheart81

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
RugbyReg said:
Very worthwhile to give it a shot in the RC to see how we fare v NZ or SAF.

But would a Hooper/Pocock combo be the angle to beat England or Wales?
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I think it should be a favourable matchup against Wales. They also tend to play a smaller 6 than some of the other teams.

An undersized 6 seems like a bad matchup against England and South Africa so that's why I've picked it as the game to try it so we can see if it has legs against a more traditionally structured team.
 
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Dctarget

Dctarget

Tim Horan (67)
Speaking of speed in defence at the line out; get Skelton to literally throw Hooper upwards. Surely they'd get the same height if not a few more metres.
 
Chris McCracken

Chris McCracken

Jim Clark (26)
Dctarget said:
Speaking of speed in defence at the line out; get Skelton to literally throw Hooper upwards. Surely they'd get the same height if not a few more metres.
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A shorter lifter and taller jumper will generally be faster into the air than the other way around, as well. Skelton is damned either way in terms of the defensive lineout.
 
Scoey

Scoey

Tony Shaw (54)
something said:
Why do we have to play the stereotypical roles of a 6 & 7? can someone please elaborate the key reasons why we can't have both on the field at the same time (one at 6?). For mine, their games compliment each other pretty well. Deep within our hearts, we all want this.

at scrum time you just get them to push a little harder and not dick around on the side (hooper).. and for lineouts you have Skelton front pod, pocock at the back and christ, Simmons is probably just going to call to himself anyways.
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Why not? Because it would fuck our set piece. Saying just make them push and not dick around tells me that even you think this is a bad idea or you have no idea about scrummaging but the biggest impact is in the lineout. Your last sentence is your answer. Apart from typically having your quickest and most explosive jumper at the front (ie not Skelton) any team that comes up against a lineout with Pocock, Simmons and Skelton is going to chew it up and spit it out.
At test level you want minimum 3 but preferably 4 excellent jumpers.

It really is that simply. There is a reason why forward positions aren't readily interchangeable. The positions are all different for a reason.
 
The_Brown_Hornet

The_Brown_Hornet

John Eales (66)
Hans said:
Don't be surprised, especially with TGC running things, to see a curve ball come game one of TRC, with hooper at 7 and Pocock at 6. I have a funny feeling in my waters, that TGC isn't so much looking at who to start and who to bench, but how to get the best out of them both. Reality is, they are both better then any 6 we have in Aus, and it would allow us to carry 2 x 6 types on the bench for huge late physical impact.

I know the theme of the thread is 2 number 7's don't work, but with the different styles of play, don't all fall off your chairs when TGC names the team for game 1. I just have a funny feeling on this one.
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Sorry, better than Fardy at 6, who has been consistently one of our best players in the last couple of seasons?
 
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