Wallabies v Springboks Saturday 9th Sept NIB Stadium

[Warpath]

Speight is useful with ball in hand but he rarely gets the ball and when he does, its usually not at the best timing so yeah

1. Sio
2. TPN
3. Kepu
4. Rory
5. Coleman (is he back?)
6. McMahon
7. Hooper
8. Timani
9. Genia (only due his performance 2 weeks back or else Powell)
10 Beale
11. Speight
12. Meakes (good defensive 12)
13. TK
14. Folau
15. DHP

 

[Ulrich]

It's telling that 3 days out from a test there's only 3 pages in the match thread

Always different too between Australia and New Zealand with it being Bledisloe and all.

The AU/RSA - RSA/AU threads don't receive as much attention at the best of times.

 

[dru]

I don't think the Wallabies will perform as well as they did last time (and we fucking lost anyway) and whilst heart says Australia, head says Saffas by 7

IN front of a sea of Blue.

 

[ACT Crusader]

It's just a matter of time and gentle reminders from his captain to the ref that the technique is solid. Polite discussions with referee bodies and video footage as back up will also help.
Refs will stop penalising him soon.

Let's not forget a few stills with arrows and captions that capture those few seconds that Latu is actually on his feet as opposed to leaning on bodies at the ruck (the reason for his penalties)

 

[Up the Guts]

It's telling that 3 days out from a test there's only 3 pages in the match thread

To be fair there has been a lot to talk about in terms of Western Force, ARU, and future of Super in the last week as well.

 

[Braveheart81]

I think there's also unlikely to be much change to the team after the last test.

Coleman will come back in and TPN will start.

I think the only selection dilemmas are between Latu and Uelese for the 16 jersey and Simmons and Rodda for the backup lock spot.

I tend to think Latu will get 16 based on having a bit more experience and Simmons will probably edge Rodda as the backup lock purely because he will be the backup lineout caller.

I'd prefer to go with Rodda but I'm not sure who that leaves to call the lineout.

 

[joeyjohnz]

Simmons will probably edge Rodda as the backup lock purely because he will be the backup lineout caller.

I'd prefer to go with Rodda but I'm not sure who that leaves to call the lineout.

If Coleman goes down and we're left with Rodda, Arnold and Hanigan as our lineout options we may as well pack our bags and go home.

Chieka used to pick teams based on Chieka ball; Bash&crash ball rugby where high impact big blokes win the collision. He's picked such a hoshposh team of weaklings that only exacerbate our current set piece deficiencies that he's left with no choice but to pick lesser players to make up for others inadequacies.

Before Chieka came along our lineout was one of the best in the business, despite our throwers being average at best. No one can argue that it hasn't digressed significantly since.

When you play favorites and make dumbass decisions like dropping our two best 6's (including our best 8) in Fardy & Higginbotham, and use a backrow consisting of two 7's and a non jumping lightweight 6, you are left with no choice but to play Simmons off the bench instead of an impact sub like Rodda.

Cheika makes his bed he lies in it. At the moment we need Simmons more than ever, and it's fucking shit Sub optimal.

 

[Braveheart81]

Hanigan is good in the lineout. We've only had 10 throws of our own in the Rugby Championship and haven't used him yet but we've also won all those throws.

I thought Hanigan paid his best two tests against the All Blacks and in the second Bledisloe our backrow were excellent (although they were poor in the first).

We should expect to throw a lot more lineouts over the next couple of weeks against the Springboks and Pumas because both of them will kick more. I guess that will give us a better idea of how our lineout is faring.

I too would have picked Fardy in the squad and given Higginbotham a go at 6 as I think it is the only place he has really done well at test level. Fardy was always going overseas and Higgers is 31 and never really cemented a test spot over multiple coaches so picking an up and coming player wasn't crazy. Like just about everyone I would have liked to see Ross Haylett-Petty in the squad too and had a look at him at some point.

We won all three of our lineouts in the 2nd Bledisloe with the combination of Rodda, Arnold and Hanigan so I don't know if your doom and gloom analysis is overly accurate.

 

[upthereds#!]

Next year
6's. RHP & Hanigan
7's. Pocock & Hooper
8's. Timani & Naisarani

Oh and Rodda took over the lineouts in QLD from Simmons.

 

[Braveheart81]

Oh and Rodda took over the lineouts in QLD from Simmons.

Yes, on analysis of the lineout when Simmons went off, I definitely think it is feasible for Rodda to be the bench lock and call the lineout if he replaces Coleman.

I think the planned scenario would be for him to replace Arnold though.

 

[Scrubber2050]

Hanigan is good in the lineout. We've only had 10 throws of our own in the Rugby Championship and haven't used him yet but we've also won all those throws.

I thought Hanigan paid his best two tests against the All Blacks and in the second Bledisloe our backrow were excellent (although they were poor in the first).

We should expect to throw a lot more lineouts over the next couple of weeks against the Springboks and Pumas because both of them will kick more. I guess that will give us a better idea of how our lineout is faring.

I too would have picked Fardy in the squad and given Higginbotham a go at 6 as I think it is the only place he has really done well at test level. Fardy was always going overseas and Higgers is 31 and never really cemented a test spot over multiple coaches so picking an up and coming player wasn't crazy. Like just about everyone I would have liked to see Ross Haylett-Petty in the squad too and had a look at him at some point.

We won all three of our lineouts in the 2nd Bledisloe with the combination of Rodda, Arnold and Hanigan so I don't know if your doom and gloom analysis is overly accurate.

I wouldn't have Hanigan in my 23. Over-rated by some on here

 

[Micheal]

Before Chieka came along our lineout was one of the best in the business, despite our throwers being average at best. No one can argue that it hasn't digressed significantly since.

Well this certainly paints the set piece from the Deans / McKenzie era's in a way that I don't remember it.

I've been complaining about the Australian lineout for most of my life.

 

[Slim 293]

The Wallabies did have a strong lineout for a number of years with a succession of good lineout players - Eales, Giffin, Vickerman, Sharpe, Mowen........

There were a couple of times in there when it wasn't so great (2009 - Mark Chisholm calling it), but it's really only been a consistent problem for the last couple of years, despite the fact that we had two of the best lineout teams in the Soup (Reds and Brumbies).

 

[Warpath]

Hanigan is crap, I'd rather have a polynesian at 6 or 8, maybe a Timani boy

 

[Up the Guts]

Next year
6's. RHP & Hanigan
7's. Pocock & Hooper
8's. Timani & Naisarani

Oh and Rodda took over the lineouts in QLD from Simmons.

Depending on Hanigan's development next year I feel that RHP, Pocock, Naisarani (if he continues performing the way he is) would be a very strong and much more traditional backrow. The problem with Hooper as captain is I feel there's no way he can be moved to the bench even though it may suit the team better if he comes on and go nuts for 30 minutes.

Having said that I imagine we'll see Hanigan, Hooper, Pocock next year with Naisarani on the bench. Having two 7s on the field at the same time doesn't appear to make for a balanced backrow but I guess it worked pretty well in Dunedin with Hooper and McMahon.

Either way it's nice to have some decent cattle coming through the ranks to have selection debates over rather than being forced to put both our 7s on the field because of a lack of talented 8s.

 

[Derpus]

Timani is so consistently underwhelming. Everything he has over Hanigan in size and power he lacks in heart and mongrel.

We need to somehow combine them into one player.

 

[Braveheart81]

Maybe Naisarani will be the guy to really take that number 8 jumper but up to now no one has played consistently better in that role than the combination of Hooper and Pocock will give us at 7 and 8.

Timani has had his chances but has some really flat games. McMahon had a stormer last match but was poor the game before and has been patchy as a starter.

 

[Derpus]

I think McMahon will always struggle to be consistent purely based on his size, which can't really be changed cause genetics n stuff.

 

[Braveheart81]

It's conceivable that McMahon could string together the sort of form that pushes Hooper to the bench and he combines with Pocock in the future, but it is really hard to pinpoint any games where Pocock has played 8 and hasn't performed better than any traditional number 8s we have fielded otherwise.

 

[Braveheart81]

DHP out for three months. That's a shocker!


Presumably Rona will come back into the starting side or maybe Korobeite will get a debut?