Wallabies 31 Man Squad

[BDA]

Kepu's scrummaging has been inconsistent lately. He has had a few scrums this year where he would be fine in one scrum, get absolutely blown up in the next, then be fine again for the following scrum, then get blown up again. Really weird and I have had some issue finding any other causes than in one of them where Tafu slipped up and nearly nose-dived into the pitch.

This seems to be a trait of Australian props in general. They can scrum when they put their mind to it but as soon as they lose concentration everything turns to shit.

 

[Braveheart81]

I believe I read a comment from Kafer in an article on the weekend which suggested Palmer is carrying an injury. Can anyone enlighten us?

If its true, I would say that is the reason we has not yet been chosen and he will be the final prop added to the group.

He missed the Tahs game because of a minor foot injury. He is expected back this week I believe.

 

[Pfitzy]

Alexander packs with his arse too high, and often. Go have a look at one of the early scrums from the weekend - Alexander is packing shoulders below hips, while Robinson looks like he's setting too high. But ah - on the engage, Robbo readjusts as has become his technique, and Alexander is going nowhere but down.

In short, Big Benny needs to bend his bloody levers more and grunt it out at THP. I prefer Slipper at this stage.

Kepu doesn't appear to have improved his fitness levels in line with some of the other Tahs under Cheika. I've got questions about his work around the park, where THPs are expected to hit rucks (and stay on their feet). When you think about it, props should really have the best ruck technique of any player, as their job is to hit another bloke low and drive through, while channeling a stack of power doing it.

 

[fatprop]

My only real concerns about Folau's kicking are A) accuracy and B) doing it under pressure with Lions forwards/Mike Phillips going for the charge down

Yeah, Watching him live on Saturday again I was impressed with his positioning.

Earlier this season, against the Cheetahs, he was getting to the ball, but late - running hard.

Against the Brumbies he was there and had time

Under pressure? who knows, but he is a big unit who can take a tackle.

Like all these big games, shit will happen, hopefully he will have units around him to provide support (and he will do the same), because that will be key - those 1%'ers, the backs and backrowers working hard to get back to clean out/catch/run - what ever is needed.

 

[fatprop]

He missed the Tahs game because of a minor foot injury. He is expected back this week I believe.

He has a history of foot injuries

 

[Brumby Runner]

Amazingly, JOC (James O'Connor) was really poor vs the Blues before he went off injured. A similar performance from Cooper would have been panned, and people would have been pointing to that performance for reasons to not pick Cooper. A classic example is how many have pointed out Cooper's miss vs the Cheetahs when he slipped, but not mentioned how easily JOC (James O'Connor) was bumped off three times in the Blues game.

There is definitely people who deny that Cooper plays poorly when he does, but on the other hand many many more people here hold Cooper to standards that they do not to anyone else.

There is still one poster here who routinely posts whenever Cooper makes a mistake, e.g. kicks out on the full, gets a charge down, gets an intercept, yet does not when anyone else does, including JOC (James O'Connor) who did both vs the Chiefs to gift the Chiefs a few tries. That's two games now where Cooper would have been panned by a lot of people for those mistakes, yet JOC (James O'Connor) has avoided the same criticism, most notably from Deans.

I'm disappointed in Deans believing Cooper is apparently the 5th choice (or worse) fly half in Aus; and if you think it's solely for the reasons Deans has publicly stated, then you're very, very wrong in my opinion. Deans is clearly doing the same thing as I mentioned: holding Cooper to a higher standard than others to excuse himself for leaving Cooper out.

Just to give you an idea on how ridiculous it is with Deans, Deans has now blamed Cooper for Taps having bad form. Is it Cooper's fault that Cooper puts Taps in a break, and Taps drops the ball? Is it Cooper's fault that Taps has been missing tackles? Is it Cooper's fault that Taps' ability to break tackles and his left foot step have gone MIA? Now to put it fairly, the Rebels' 12 has been struggling too, outside of JOC (James O'Connor) recently, yet JOC (James O'Connor) once again avoids any sort of blame.

(Source.)

It's pretty clear that Deans does not want Cooper in his squad, and will come up with any excuse on why he should not be there. It is now up to Cooper to make Deans look dumb in his game vs the BILs. I wish Cooper the best of luck there.

Finally, the biggest peice of evidence of how Deans feels about Cooper was at the bottom of the above aticle:



So Deans doesn't even bother to take the time to tell Cooper he will not be chosen ahead of time. Tells you exactly how much Deans respects Cooper.

While for me Deans not selecting Cooper was not a surprise, people defending Deans to say that it is not personal between him and Cooper is a surprise. Especially with the above evidence.

Anyway, I wish JOC (James O'Connor) the best of luck against the BILs. I wish him the best of luck. Personally I think he's been dealt a bit of shit sandwich with his lack of experience at 10 and being put in such a pressure series with no preparation and coming off an injury, but I am hoping he does the job for us.

And to Deans, I hope you're sacked sooner rather than later as I just don't think you have the vision, communication and man management ability required for the head coach of the Wallabies.

This is so spot on. Nobody can now be in any doubt about Deans' toxic attitude towards QC (Quade Cooper), whether or not they think he should be in the squad. It is to the ARU's shame that he, Deans, is still around and causing such divisiveness in the rugby community. I am very confident that the vast majority of Australian rugby supporters have lost all confidence in Deans as a coach and he should go.

 

[Braveheart81]

This is so spot on. Nobody can now be in any doubt about Deans' toxic attitude towards QC (Quade Cooper), whether or not they think he should be in the squad. It is to the ARU's shame that he, Deans, is still around and causing such divisiveness in the rugby community. I am very confident that the vast majority of Australian rugby supporters have lost all confidence in Deans as a coach and he should go.

Without doubt, Deans shouldn't have had his contract extended beyond the 2011 RWC prior to the event taking place. That was craziness from the ARU.

Quade Cooper seems to be the only player in Australian rugby who has a problem with the coach and vice versa. I think it is unrealistic that this issue is seemingly being extended to being a endemic problem when there is zero evidence to suggest that is the case.

 

[Ignoto]

Quade Cooper seems to be the only player in Australian rugby who has a problem with the coach and vice versa. I think it is unrealistic that this issue is seemingly being extended to being a endemic problem when there is zero evidence to suggest that is the case.

Didn't Giteau, Tana Umaga and Andrew Merthens all have issues with Deans as well? Quade/Khoder were the only one's stupid enough to air the dirty laundry in the public.

So a flip on this "endemic" could be, players are putting up with Deans because they want to play for the Wallabies and have no other choice as he's here to stay.

 

[Pfitzy]

He got reappointed. I hardly think that would have happened if the majority of players were truly disgruntled - they've got representation these days who could approach the mucketty-mucks outside the player-coach channel

 

[Blue]

Didn't Giteau, Tana Umaga and Andrew Merthens all have issues with Deans as well? Quade/Khoder were the only one's stupid enough to air the dirty laundry in the public.

So a flip on this "endemic" could be, players are putting up with Deans because they want to play for the Wallabies and have no other choice as he's here to stay.

Lots of players and coaches have had lots of issues over the years.

It happens all the time.

 

[Blue]

The Lions have Cian Healy and Gethin Jenkins as their LHs. Neither are dominating scrummagers but both can hold up their side of the scrum, so to speak.

What?

Jenkins was considered the best LH in the world for about four years running and not too long ago.

Healy has improved out of sight.

Name better scrummaging LH props in the world right now other than Fat Cat who is NOT better than either but on par.

Healy in the 6N was better than he was in the RWC.

 

[Ash]

I can't see anything more than 1 lock coming in to cover the back 5 at scrum time, there's already 3 locks and 6 backrowers. Anything more and the locks and backrowers will be overrepresented in a squad of 31. In my book, there's already one too many backrowers for a squad of 31 (unless Deans is going to play two flankers on the bench, then the sixth makes sense).

So how about this, if Deans does play a 5:2 split, who are the backs that he will choose?

Putting on my mad Dingo helmet, I reckon that Deans will opt for a Genia, JOC (James O'Connor), Digby, Horne, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper), Cummins, Barnes backline in the first test, with whatever reserve scrummy is chosen and Folau on the bench.

Again putting on my mad Dingo helmet, the starting flankers would be Higgers, Hooper, Palu with Gill and Dennis on the bench (although Deans may swap Higgers and Dennis).

Not what I would do at all, but it's what I think Dingo is likely to do.

PS Lindommer, I think that Horwill is a TH lock, not a LH lock. I would take Horwill as a TH lock ahead of Timani every day of the week.

 

[Ash]

Lots of players and coaches have had lots of issues over the years.

It happens all the time.

Deans is doing well on the wracking up the pissed off players, though. Even McCaw had some choice words about Deans in his book.

 

[Swat]

Deans is doing well on the wracking up the pissed off players, though. Even McCaw had some choice words about Deans in his book.

It's hard to like a guy who's supposed to be telling you what to do when he has the communication skills of a brick.

 

[Pfitzy]

So how about this, if Deans does play a 5:2 split, who are the backs that he will choose?

Putting on my mad Dingo helmet, I reckon that Deans will opt for a Genia, JOC (James O'Connor), Digby, Horne, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper), Cummins, Barnes

6:2 split. And i think Deans will go with two flankers on the bench.

With no QC (Quade Cooper) we have JOC (James O'Connor) moving from wing to 10, and Cummins promoted, leaves you Folau and Lilo on the bench.

 

[USARugger]

Deans is doing well on the wracking up the pissed off players, though. Even McCaw had some choice words about Deans in his book.

It has become a bit of a pattern.

To those saying that no other players coming out to the media is indication that it is purely between Quade and Dingo..

Did you ever stop to think that maybe nobody wanted to risk having their cart hitched to the media evisceration that followed Quade's interview? I sure wouldn't. Anything they would have said after that would have been forever smeared by the taint of 'yellow'.

 

[Braveheart81]

So how about this, if Deans does play a 5:2 split, who are the backs that he will choose?

It's an 8 man bench.

I think we'll be playing a 5:3 split because our backs are going to be up for a lot of contact and Deans will be after some cover. I'm guessing the backline will be:

Genia, Ioane, JOC (James O'Connor), Horne, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper), Tomane/Folau, Barnes

Bench will be Burgess/White, Lilo, and Folau/Tomane.

 

[Riptide]

Riptide, I agree with your assessment of who will be picked but I do think you may underrate their scrummaging ability. Jones is a bit of a potplant in modern parlance but few ever get any change out of him at scrum time. Recall the last lions tour when the beast won the first test for SA by destroying Vickery. Jones was brought in and that was the end of Springbok scrum dominance. I suspect that Jones and Fatcat will ultimately play out an honourable draw.

I am a bit more worried about the other side - I suspect Healy is not very technical but he is very strong. When he gets a decent bind he can monster people, but it seems to me that he has a problem in that he doesn't hold his side of the scrum up very well (perhaps a bit like Fuse). I would be interested to hear the opinions of the veteran front rowers on the site, but I suspect Healy spends so much time on the bench press that he has lost the flexibility in his shoulders. He seems to have real difficulty getting a decent high bind and often goes to ground. Against a guy like Alexander this can be a problem because of his tendency to hinge. In the WC their side of the scrum was a shambles - Lawrence blamed Alexander and half dozen scrum penalties was the story of the match. Whether he was right or wrong is moot, when Healy got a decent bind he killed Alexander, when he didn't he won a penalty - could easily happen again. I am nervous about Alexander starting against Healy.

Sorry, Dont get me wrong - Jones is an excellent scrummager, it just that he is a glacier around the park.

FAir point on Healy; he is not the most technically gifted scrummager but he is solid on the hit so he doesn't slip or miss the bind that often and doesn't get out of position so easily that a small TH can get to him. As an aside, Corbisiero is the best scrummaging LH available to the LIons and he'll pay for the BaaBaas against the Lions having been injured most of the season. Any injuries and I suspect he gets the call up; he is the best scrummaging LH in the NH (outside some obscure Georgian in the French Div II)

 

[Ash]

6:2 split. And i think Deans will go with two flankers on the bench.

With no QC (Quade Cooper) we have JOC (James O'Connor) moving from wing to 10, and Cummins promoted, leaves you Folau and Lilo on the bench.

My bad, forgot the extra prop.

Surely you have to carry a half back, just in case Genia goes down injured. Which means that you only get 1 reserve back outside the scrumhalf. If that's the case, Dingo will choose Folau over Lilo as Barnes will be the reserve 10/12.

It's an 8 man bench.

I think we'll be playing a 5:3 split because our backs are going to be up for a lot of contact and Deans will be after some cover. I'm guessing the backline will be:

Genia, Ioane, JOC (James O'Connor), Horne, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper), Tomane/Folau, Barnes

Bench will be Burgess/White, Lilo, and Folau/Tomane.

I think that Dingo will favour Cummins over Tomane, although Tomane was previously ranked higher by Deans until injury.

edit: reason being that Cummins did the job for Deans on the EOYT, and Deans seems to be favouring incumbents and those with more experience.

 

[RoffsChoice]

Deans is doing well on the wracking up the pissed off players, though. Even McCaw had some choice words about Deans in his book.

And yet early in the book he praises Deans' communication and rhetoric style when talking to him about being captain, praising how he manages the team up to and including the 2007 super season.