Wallabies squad named

[farva]

Who are our standout LHPs, that are genuine LHPs? I wouldnt mind seeing a bit of a list of who plays there.
As far as I can see we have fatcat / Ryan at the Tahs, Alexander at the Brumbies (but he is more a THP at international level), Holmes / Slipper / Daley at the Reds, Longbum / Cowen at the Force and whoever happens to be walking past the ground at the Rebels.
After fatcat, it does fall away a little there.

I would have liked to have seen Charles given a run, certainly ahead of Fa'ainga, Jones given a chance. Manu given a chance (almost over Ma'afu but then Ma'afu had a good 2012 in Super rugby).
And the numbers are interesting. 49 is a lot, but this selection has been made prior to an extended super rugby campaign. There will be injuries. There will be form slumps. I would have thought we would have got pretty much anyone who had a chance of making the squad invovled? But then there may not be a budget for that.

 

[cyclopath]

Paddy Ryan is probably more a THP I believe.

 

[Torn Hammy]

I was watching the Seattle Seahawks the other day and saw how their fans would go crazy, making as much noise as possible whenever their opponents had the ball in an attempt to disrupt their calls and plays. If the other team got rattled then the cacophony just got louder.

This reminded me of how the NZ crowd treated Quade Cooper at the last RWC. Citing disrespect for their beloved hero McCaw, they booed, jeered and hissed every time Cooper received the ball. While the merits of their justification and the evaluation of their sportsmanship can be argued, what is undeniable is the effect it had on Coopers game. It disintegrated. He seemed to lose his confidence, vision and the instinctive nature of his game. And the more Cooper faltered, the louder the crowd became, which of course resulted in more stuff ups from Cooper. It was almost a relief when he hurt his knee and ended his RWC.

My point is that the All Black management and the NZ press will be aware of the crowds influence over Cooper and will be fanning the flames to re-ignite the antagonism. There is no way to silence a jeering 80,000 and so it seems Deans will have a major problem on his hands choosing a playmaker for the tests played in NZ.

 

[TOCC]

Westpac Stadium is 36'000 people, not 80'000.. And it will be just shy of 2years since the RWC... Not saying it wont be a point of concern, but you cant continue to change your selections based on how the crowd is going to react to a player.

 

[kiap]

I thought Benn Robinson and Ben Alexander both cemented themselves as our first choice props in 2012.

Robinson: Yes. Alexander: No.

Our scrum has a long way to go. Smashed by France, second best against Wales, Italy, and NZ.

The Wallaby scrum against a very average England scrum was very average. Too often Alexander cannot take the weight at THP. He didn't play against France but he is not the answer.

We'll need a player like Dan Palmer to have a good start to the year.

 

[Braveheart81]

kiap - I agree with your point about our scrum still needing a lot of improvement, but I think the France game where Alexander didn't play was about our worst scrum performance and Kepu and Slipper hardly shone.

I agree completely that we need Dan Palmer to have a good year and put himself in the mix for the Wallabies again. Unfortunately he was unavailable aside from the Scotland game.

I still stand by my previous point that Alexander was the best THP we had this year both in the scrum and around the park. 2012 pushed him ahead of Kepu and Slipper in my opinion.

 

[TSR]

I don't disagree with your comments above Kiap, but on last years form Alexander was the best that took the field against unfortunately modest competition. We really need Palmer, Slipper, Kepu, Holmes or Ryan to come on this year as a THP. In my view Palmer is the most likely. The best scrummaging THP should be the one picked for the Lions series, even if it is Palmer as a relative rookie in terms of internationals.

 

[Scott Allen]

kiap - I agree with your point about our scrum still needing a lot of improvement, but I think the France game where Alexander didn't play was about our worst scrum performance and Kepu and Slipper hardly shone.

I agree completely that we need Dan Palmer to have a good year and put himself in the mix for the Wallabies again. Unfortunately he was unavailable aside from the Scotland game.

I still stand by my previous point that Alexander was the best THP we had this year both in the scrum and around the park. 2012 pushed him ahead of Kepu and Slipper in my opinion.

I've said in articles I've written and in comments on the forum that Ben Alexander is not up to the standard required of an international tighthead. But I've also said (and agree with your comments Braveheart) that Alexander was the best tighthead the Wallabies had in 2012.

Alexander needs to make improvements with his technique but how can he do that when he's not starting as tighthead for the Brumbies. The improvements can't be made in training or moving to tighthead at the end of the game. Australian rugby needs alternatives at tighthead to be developed by starting in Super Rugby - Palmer is the obvious candidate but that means the incumbent (Alexander) doesn't get the match time in that position he requires to improve.

It's a real issue for Australian rugby and I can't see how you solve it.

 

[Slim 293]

The Brumbies tend to do a fair bit of rotation in the forwards so I would expect to see Alexander get plenty if time at TH even if he starts most of the season on the other side.

Having said that, Palmer is the best man for the job.

Alexander would be very handy off the bench.

 

[It is what it is]

I've said in articles I've written and in comments on the forum that Ben Alexander is not up to the standard required of an international tighthead. But I've also said (and agree with your comments Braveheart) that Alexander was the best tighthead the Wallabies had in 2012.

Alexander needs to make improvements with his technique but how can he do that when he's not starting as tighthead for the Brumbies. The improvements can't be made in training or moving to tighthead at the end of the game. Australian rugby needs alternatives at tighthead to be developed by starting in Super Rugby - Palmer is the obvious candidate but that means the incumbent (Alexander) doesn't get the match time in that position he requires to improve.

It's a real issue for Australian rugby and I can't see how you solve it.

Agree 100% SA.
This is a similar to the point I'm making re Slipper.
I don't see him emerging as a THP at International level BUT, the Reds keep picking him there, he wants to play LHP, and the current Wallaby coach doesn't seem to rate him as a THP option.
How will he improve his LHP scrumming when he plays THP at Super level?

 

[emuarse]

heh, I edited that within a minute of posting and yet still wasn't fast enough :-( Damn iPhone smart txt.

You have to watch the nit pickers - they're everywhere

 

[Deputy Van Halen]

The prop situation seems pretty obvious on paper as an armchair selector. Australia haven't had quality international THP in some time now as it appears we've favoured mobile props over pot plants, this means you have loose heads playing on the wrong side more often than not. This has lead to our less than stellar reputation at scrum time.

A good THP is the anchor of the scrum, you can't have someone who plays mostly at LHP in their career switch to THP and expect a quality scrum, especially at international level. It boggles my mind we have guys playing LHP at super level being forced to play THP for the wobs. Australia seems to finally have some talent coming through at THP with Dan Palmer and Paddy Ryan showing a lot of potential. Slipper and Ben Alexander are fine, even excellent loose head props, but they are not scrummaging tight heads, they appear to be forced into that role due to a lack of quality tight heads.

For my money, Slipper and Alexander should be competing with fatcat for the starting LHP position with Kepu, Palmer and Ryan competing at THP. With the extra prop on the bench there is no reason not to do this, there is no need for a jack of all trades prop. It will strengthen depth at international level and strengthen the scrum as players will be picked and played in their strongest position. This won't happen though, we'll have loose heads playing out of position and bemoaning our weak scrum against the brutal northern hemisphere front row where experienced scrummagers are being played in position.

 

[kiap]

Nup. Alexander in no way cemented his spot in 2012. He's not even the best THP at the Brumbies. ..... Okay, a cheap shot, I know. Sorry.

I agree on a lot of your points, Braveheart, but not on this one.

Alexander is selected as much for his work around the field, which is good - and less for his scrummaging, which is not as good. The scrum has gotta be the meat and potatoes for your THP.

Look at what tests Alexander did and did not play. He simply did not perform against good test scrums.

• Did not play THP in the series against Wales, subbed on as a LHP for Robinson.
• Did not start in two of the Bledisloes and did not play against France. Fortunate in a way that he got that wrist injury because he would have been destroyed.
• The game he played against the ABs he was crap (although TBF, so was Fatcat and most of the team that got nilled against the darkness)
• Okay against SA and Arg (and the injury-depleted Taffs on the EOYT) but those scrums were not in the class of the ABs.
• Got shown up against Italy and England.

He's no better than Kepu or Slipper really. People are overrating Alexander because we beat the Poms. The other two did it the better against the All Blacks (particularly in Brisbane), and got the job done for the series against Wales.

That's not to say that either of them were great, as the France match clearly showed (actually Slipper wasn't so bad there - but you'd still have to mark that down as he was only the sub; and besides his preference is loosehead).

It's a shame Palmer was injured and we didn't get to see more of him last year.

 

[Pete King]

Tight Head is king
http://www.rugby.com.au/wallabies/News/NewsArticle/tabid/1516/ArticleID/6777/Default.aspx

 

[Ignoto]

The improvements can't be made in training or moving to tighthead at the end of the game. Australian rugby needs alternatives at tighthead to be developed by starting in Super Rugby.

It's a real issue for Australian rugby and I can't see how you solve it.

Well I think you have answered it, the ARU need either stop picking Alexander at THP or tell the Brumbies what the Status Quo is and he is to play predominately as a THP who can cover LHP in the event of an injury.

The NZRU meets with it provinces to discuss it's aim and objectives, why can't the ARU do the same here?

 

[Brumbieman]

Sigh



1. Robinson
2. Moore
3. Palmer

16. Nau
17. Alexander (best option: plays both sides,a nd is our best around the park = best sub).

 

[Lee Grant]

Nup. Alexander in no way cemented his spot in 2012. He's not even the best THP at the Brumbies. ... Okay, a cheap shot, I know. Sorry.

That reminds me of what John Lennon said about Ringo Starr after he had replaced their earlier drummer and had been with them for a while.

When a reporter, who thought they could have chosen better, asked if Ringo was the best drummer in the country, Lennon said: "He's not even the best drummer in the Beatles."

But as I wrote after the France game - Alexander looked the best Aussie prop of the day - and he was sitting in the stands.

Not to any point? As you were then - carry on.
.

 

[Scott Allen]

Well I think you have answered it, the ARU need either stop picking Alexander at THP or tell the Brumbies what the Status Quo is and he is to play predominately as a THP who can cover LHP in the event of an injury.

The NZRU meets with it provinces to discuss it's aim and objectives, why can't the ARU do the same here?

But if the ARU insist on Alexander starting at THP then Palmer is in the same boat and he may actually be the one we really need - we need him starting to find out.

 

[Ignoto]

17. Alexander (best option: plays both sides,a nd is our best around the park = best sub).

We can carry a prop for each side now, so there's no need to pick one player to multi-task.

But if the ARU insist on Alexander starting at THP then Palmer is in the same boat and he may actually be the one we really need - we need him starting to find out.

I guess with such a long season we're bound to find out sooner rather than later. My only concern is Palmers experience. Do we think he's had enough experience to go from Super Rugby straight to scrummaging the Lions?

 

[cyclopath]

We can carry a prop for each side now, so there's no need to pick one player to multi-task.



I guess with such a long season we're bound to find out sooner rather than later. My only concern is Palmers experience. Do we think he's had enough experience to go from Super Rugby straight to scrummaging the Lions?

There are some good scrums in Super Rugby, so I'd say "Yeah". If he proves to be technically the best THP in Oz over that time, he must get a run.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD