Wallabies 2023
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KOB1987
John Eales (66)
Yeah Im a bit miffed by the Richie hype TBH. I know he's Rory's identical twin, but he's not his clone and I doubt he will be handed an international debut at altitude. That would be a massive stitch up. Maybe off the bench at Parra would work better if Eddie wants a look.
Marce
John Hipwell (52)
Adidas sponsors too many different kind of sports. Canterbury main focus is rugby, sometimes they sponsor other sports but rugby is their main focus
rugbyAU
Dick Tooth (41)
Maybe start Frost and Neville together in the first game for continuity and bring Skelton off the bench?
Members Section
John Thornett (49)
your flogging a dead horse that no one cares about & not related to wallabies 2023 take it to another thread
Mr Pilfer
Dave Cowper (27)
Happy for Skelton to start as he has been in the set up before and I think our whole structure changes with him so we need to get used to him asap. Arnold off the bench though makes sense.
Could have Arnold 19, LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto)/Tom Hooper 20, Samu 21
That should be your signature.
rodha
Dave Cowper (27)
Why Eddie Jones might not start Michael Hooper against Springboks
Test veteran Michael Hooper may not be called on by coach Eddie Jones to start in the No. 7 jersey against the Springboks next month according to another former Wallabies captain.
www.rugbypass.com
As usual Horwill knows what he's on about, an exceptionally good leader & very astute captain for Reds & Wallabies.
Hooper's too small for the modern backrower, consistently blasted-off of rucks by bigger players, ragdolled when attempting to carry the ball in tight, hopefully Eddie will see the light and select Tom Hooper at 7, at 199cm & 120kg he is Australia's Pieter-Steph Dutoit equivalent.
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qwerty51
Stirling Mortlock (74)
Why Eddie Jones might not start Michael Hooper against Springboks
Test veteran Michael Hooper may not be called on by coach Eddie Jones to start in the No. 7 jersey against the Springboks next month according to another former Wallabies captain.
Shame Gleeson sounds like he's not going to be fit for this.
Tom Hooper is a chance at 6 - not at 7 at all. PSDT doesn't play 7, remember SA (and France generally although rare to see genuine fetchers in France) play their opensides at 6.
7 will be Gleeson (when fit), Kemeny or Samu.
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KOB1987
John Eales (66)
Yeah PSdT is not an open side, he wears number 7 because they do it the other way around there. He is an out and out blind side. I will go out on a limb and say that Tom Hooper is zero chance to be selected as an open side flanker.Why Eddie Jones might not start Michael Hooper against Springboks
Test veteran Michael Hooper may not be called on by coach Eddie Jones to start in the No. 7 jersey against the Springboks next month according to another former Wallabies captain.
As usual Horwill knows what he's on about, an exceptionally good leader & very astute captain for Reds & Wallabies.
Hooper's too small for the modern backrower, consistently blasted-off of rucks by bigger players, ragdolled when attempting to carry the ball in tight, hopefully Eddie will see the light and select Tom Hooper at 7, at 199cm & 120kg he is Australia's Pieter-Steph Dutoit equivalent.
If they are to go back to the 80's you'll have a big mobile fucker like Frost at 8 and then a couple of all rounders playing flanker - 2 of Valetini, Samu and Gleeson for example. There are likely various iterations of this back row floating around, but that is how I would structure it, assuming Frost can control the ball at the back of the scrum (a very important thing that is often overlooked by the armchair selectors when selecting their team).
Worst case for Michael Hooper that I can envisage in Pretoria is that he is on the bench.
The_Brown_Hornet
John Eales (66)
If Gleeson isn't fit and not able to be started at 7 in this game (I'm keen for us to test Qwerty's theory), then I want Pete there.
Slim 293
Stirling Mortlock (74)
Shame Gleeson sounds like he's not going to be fit for this.
Tom Hooper is a chance at 6 - not at 7 at all. PSDT doesn't play 7, remember SA (and France generally although rare to see genuine fetchers in France) play their opensides at 6.
7 will be Gleeson (when fit), Kemeny or Samu.
And yet out of all those players, Tom Hooper is the only one to play at 7 this year…
Aaaaand that article talks about a big, jumping 7… sooooo, not Gleeson?
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KOB1987
John Eales (66)
When did he play at open side? I'm assuming it was an injury ravaged circumstance. Playing him there for the Wallabies will end about as well as playing Ben McCalman there in '11.
Slim 293
Stirling Mortlock (74)
KOB1987
John Eales (66)
OK I stand corrected - however I assume that the rationale was to get a bit of height in the lineout and not muck around with Valetini and Samu in their regular positions. Did he switch with Samu on defensive scrums? I'll still maintain you wouldn't do it at test level, the opposition would target the shit out of the breakdown.
Slim 293
Stirling Mortlock (74)
I believe the rationale was that Hooper is a big guy who possesses the engine of an open side flanker - hits a lot of rucks, and makes a lot of tackles and carries.
I don’t believe he was used in the lineout at all in that game…
KOB1987
John Eales (66)
I didn't see the game but it doesn't appear that anyone was. From the stats I can find Neville got a steal and that was the only Brumbies lineout win of the night. Off topic I know but I was curious to see that if Hooper wasn't used in the lineout then who was.
Slim 293
Stirling Mortlock (74)
Neville with 8 lineout wins and 1 steal…
Frost with 6 lineout wins…
According to the stats on the Super Rugby website.
It would be strange if they didn’t win a single lineout all night… maybe it’s time to start watching some Super Rugby?
