The Wallabies Thread

[Derpus]

I don't disagree with the general proposition that Rugby is losing it's fanbase.

I really just took objection to Dru claiming he didn't care about rugby anymore when he so obviously does.

 

[dru]

[AS it turns out I fell asleep the Mungo was so dull.]

YEs of course I care - it's just every now and then something creates a tipping point. The article by Cheika being one. fair enough to the response to my overreaction.

 

[upthereds#!]

Could anyone post the payto and panda article that covers Toomuas WC plans?

 

[RedsHappy]

Speak for yourself. I’m going to the test and can’t wait. Should be about 40k there apparently.

May flick on some premier rugby if I get the chance. Each game may get about 1000.

The hyperbole around club rugby can be a little hard to take at times.

RR - looking at the latest ticket availability I think the Suncorp crowd could head towards 45,000.

It was a very ordinary match in 2010 at Suncorp v Ireland, but I believe the crowd back then was 45,000.

The biggest question in my view underpinning this Test - about which I’m excited - is really the Cheik-Schmidt contest and more particularly and importantly, what has Cheika and his coaching team learnt since June 2016 v England?

EJ (Eddie Jones) chuckled all the way back to Heathrow as he comprehensively outcoached MC that series.

It must have been and remain a bitter, humbling experience for MC. It was an appalling blow to Australian rugby fans and their morale.

Schmidt is a very high class rugby coach, of that there can be no doubt.

If MC can win this series, it will be a fine marker that he can learn and grow and improve himself and his coaching group.

If not, it will almost certainly mean the opposite as home ground advantage is real and he has a ‘no more excuses’ squad at his disposal.

Michael Cheika - you stand at destiny’s forge.

 

[RebelYell]

Could anyone post the payto and panda article that covers Toomuas WC plans?

Or you could buy a subscription? Bit over this attitude...

 

[Derpus]

Or you could buy a subscription? Bit over this attitude.

Subscribe to the telegraph? wouldn't wish that on my worst enemies.

 

[KOB1987]

Could anyone post the payto and panda article that covers Toomuas WC plans?

It doesn't sound like MT's plans, it sounds like Cheika's. Oh wait, that can't be right, Cheika was the one that let him go in the first place...

Not so, or at least not in Cheika’s mind. The plan would be for To'omua to next year sign with a Super Rugby franchise for when his Tigers contract ends in 2020. That would, under RA guidelines, make him eligible for the Wallabies in the World Cup.


But unlike Dean Mumm, who came back from Exeter for good ahead of the 2015 World Cup, To'omua would return to Leicester to play out his final season.

And that is where it gets murky for RA. Given the global calendar kicks in 2020, To'omua’s English season would likely end at the same time as Super Rugby (end of June). So while he could have a contract starting in 2020, there’d be every chance To'omua wouldn’t play Super Rugby until 2021.​

That sort of wrangling, while theoretically possible, may not go down well with some Australian-based players.​

 

[Derpus]

He's probably not worth the fuckarsery, really. Good player, would be in the squad etc. But it would not be the equivalent of bringing back Giteau.

 

[Rock Lobster]

We have Beale, Hodge and Kerevi, just for starters, so we hardly have a depth problem at 12 and Cheika wants to manufacture some way of getting To'omua back for the WC?? Like the completely over the top effort to get Samu into the squad, I just shake my head at what Cheika does and can totally understand how it would not go down well with Australian based players.

 

[barbarian]

Jeez poor old Cheika can't win sometimes.

I recall an argument on this very thread some 5-10 pages ago about how Cheika and RA dropped the ball by letting To'omua leave.

Now Cheika tries to get To'omua back, and he's screwing over the local players who have toiled so hard in Super Rugby!

Surely having as many hands on deck for the World Cup is a good thing, as long as we can work out a way to do that within the current rules?
.

 

[Rock Lobster]

Whether Cheika let To'omua go or not is a moot point. The issue I have, is by jumping through all these hoops to get him qualified, Cheika essentially guarantees him a spot regardless of his form or anyone else's form 12 months out from naming a squad.

 

[barbarian]

Whether Cheika let To'omua go or not is a moot point. The issue I have, is by jumping through all these hoops to get him qualified, Cheika essentially guarantees him a spot regardless of his form or anyone else's form 12 months out from naming a squad.

That's a fair point. But I would point out (as I did on the Ireland thread) that Cheika does have a bit of form coaxing players back to Australia and then ignoring them completely - see Leroy Houston, James Horwill etc.
.

 

[Strewthcobber]

World Cups are important, and World Cups in our timezone are massively important for the sport in our country.

Whatever it takes to get the best players on the field giving us the best chance of success.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

 

[Rock Lobster]

Besides, by signing a contract extension in the knowledge it would rule him out of WC selection under our rules at the time, surely that says something about his desire to play for the Wallabies. Why bother with someone not totally committed to the cause when you have players of similar ability in his position busting their gut in Australia under the belief that playing here is a pre-requisite for selection?
How can we say we need to keep our best players playing in Australia and then start twisting the rules for whoever we see fit. Introducing "Giteau Laws" and others only opens a can of worms and leads to more players heading overseas. Simply make the rule one or the other. Either you have to play here to get selected or you don't.

 

[KOB1987]

I reckon Cheika's trying to lure as many of the 100ish professional players we have based overseas back as he can. The commercial reality is that the pay is better over there and many of this generation prefer to play for the pay than for their country. In our day you could earn gazillions as a corporate banker and still play for your country so in some respects it's understandable that they make that choice.

It could just be the journalist establishing the loophole which could then be exploited to allow MT to then play in the RWC, there's no suggestion that Cheika has come up with it.

 

[Slim 293]

Surely having as many hands on deck for the World Cup is a good thing, as long as we can work out a way to do that within the current rules?
.

Nah, trying to bring back someone of To'omua’s calibre is a waste of time when we have so many quality flyhalves running around to back up Foley.........

When is Hawera eligible?

 

[Zero_Cool]

Whether Cheika let To'omua go or not is a moot point. The issue I have, is by jumping through all these hoops to get him qualified, Cheika essentially guarantees him a spot regardless of his form or anyone else's form 12 months out from naming a squad.

This is a big concern with Cheika at the moment, it looks pretty obvious that he is using Wallabies Caps (or at least Squad/Touring) as a bargaining chip to convince players to sign in Australia.
Shouldn't the coaching be done by the coach and the contract negotiation be done by the ARU and if the player is good enough to get into the Squad/23/XV then, they get a spot?!

 

[KOB1987]

Why don't you just start a Cheika hate thread and then you can just go for your life on that one rather than doing it through every other thread on this forum?

 

[Strewthcobber]

The commercial reality is that the pay is better over there and many of this generation prefer to play for the pay than for their country. In our day you could earn gazillions as a corporate banker and still play for your country so in some respects it's understandable that they make that choice.

Or you'd go and play league


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[Derpus]

Think that breaks the rules tho ay.

Why don't you just start a Cheika hate thread and then you can just go for your life on that one rather than doing it through every other thread on this forum?

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