• Welcome to the forums of Green & Gold Rugby.
    We have recently made some changes to the amount of discussions boards on the forum.
    Over the coming months we will continue to make more changes to make the forum more user friendly for all to use.
    Thanks, Admin.

Wallaby 31 players for 2015 RWC

Status
Not open for further replies.

BDA

Jim Lenehan (48)
last night was a good example of why it is much easier to put your hand up for selection when your team is playing well. Genia and JOC (James O'Connor) both looked like a million bucks because they got good attacking ball.

Also, surely people can no longer deny that Greg Holmes is Australia's best scrummaging THP this season and should be on the bench against South Africa in July

Liam Gill is also demanding selection. Unfortunately unless there's injuries, it wont be at 7. I see no reason he couldn't play 6 though.
 
T

TOCC

Guest
Agree with Holmes, bring the man back into the Wallaby fold... He is good at scrummaging and a reasonably high work rate around the field


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Jagman

Trevor Allan (34)
I see no reason he couldn't play 6 though.
The Wallabies need 3 locks in the middle row, plain and simple. Case in point, 2013 EOYT Fardy gets injured against England (then the Wallabies lose) and the next week McKenzie puts Simmons at blindside (really right flanker) and the scrum is fine. 2014 EOYT McMahon is blindside and the rest is unfortunate history as far as our scrum is concerned. Need as much weight and "height leverage" as we can get.

Gill is an awesome player but it's 7 or 20 jersey or nothing for him, not 6.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Joe Blow

John Hipwell (52)
Higgers fell to pieces when it all started to get hard last night. Gill just lifts in the same circumstances. Not sure he is my first picked backrower but he is definitely in my 31.

Higgers did not fall to pieces. It just was not their night. He was right there

Agree Gill was again mammoth. I would pick him at 6 ahead of McMahon but am skeptical of having all 3 of him, Hooper and Pocock in the squad.
Reid and Fainga'a were outstanding the previous week and he schooled both of them and McMahon.
 

No4918

John Hipwell (52)
Higgers did not fall to pieces. It just was not their night. He was right there

Agree Gill was again mammoth. I would pick him at 6 ahead of McMahon but am skeptical of having all 3 of him, Hooper and Pocock in the squad.
Reid and Fainga'a were outstanding the previous week and he schooled both of them and McMahon.

He was certainly right there when the niggle was on. He just can't help himself and it does his game and team no favours.
 
T

TOCC

Guest
Gill is not a 6, and should not be picked as one...

He has played much more test rugby at 6 then he has at 7....

I'm not saying that's justification to pick him as a 6, just an interesting statistic..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

No4918

John Hipwell (52)
I think he could go quite well as a 6. His game is now much more rounded than when he last played there for the Wallabies.
 

Gnostic

Mark Ella (57)
Gill, Hooper and Pocock simply aren't 6's.. Neither were Waugh, Smith or Croft..

They could play well as individuals but the forward pack is about selecting balance and two open sides don't provide the correct balance.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


But I will also say it depends how you want to play and also the dynamic of you 8 and second row. You can still achieve the balance if you have the right players in the other positions. Trouble is I can't see how that can be achieved with the players available in Australia.
 

Gnostic

Mark Ella (57)
As great as Holmes was last night and for most of this year I'd still have him behind PAE. PAE has been pretty dominant with a 7 playing as a 6 as his flanker, and two players widely regarded as 6s in the second row. Last night the Rebels scrum was dusted but it should be noted that Leafa and Smith were both injured when that supremacy was achieved.

That said IMO I would take Holmes as fifth prop.

LHs - Slipper, Sio
THs - Kepu, PAE and Holmes.

Both Holmes and Kepu have extensive experience as a LH.
 
T

Train Without a Station

Guest
As great as Holmes was last night and for most of this year I'd still have him behind PAE. PAE has been pretty dominant with a 7 playing as a 6 as his flanker, and two players widely regarded as 6s in the second row. Last night the Rebels scrum was dusted but it should be noted that Leafa and Smith were both injured when that supremacy was achieved.

That said IMO I would take Holmes as fifth prop.

LHs - Slipper, Sio
THs - Kepu, PAE and Holmes.

Both Holmes and Kepu have extensive experience as a LH.

You mean PAE has been better than Greg Holmes who in his first scrum of 2015, won a tight head and penalty try after the reds scrum was slightly outmuscled before he came on. The same Greg Holmes that also lead the Reds scrum to a 7 mean tight head against the Hurricanes last week? And the same PAE who Slipper got the better of last time they played?

Righto mate.
 
T

TOCC

Guest
But I will also say it depends how you want to play and also the dynamic of you 8 and second row. You can still achieve the balance if you have the right players in the other positions. Trouble is I can't see how that can be achieved with the players available in Australia.

Yes you're right it definitely does depend, other countries might be able to achieve the right balance with two open sides, but I don't think Australia has the cattle in the tight five or at number 8 to do that..
 

BDA

Jim Lenehan (48)
The Wallabies need 3 locks in the middle row, plain and simple.


I agree with this. I'm not saying I would pick Gill at 6, nor that Cheika would pick him there. If you've read some of my early posts you'll see that i believe the wallabies are best served with having a Lock style 6, and generally looking to put out a big heavy pack if possible. my point was only that Gill is not getting picked at 7 in the world cup as long as Hooper and Pocock are fit. If he wants to have any chance of selection (albeit very slim) its at 6. There's a lot of people talking up the selection of McMahon at 6 (again, not me, but others). If McMahon is in the selection frame as a back-up no.6 then Gill should also be competing for that spot. He's played at 6 for the wallabies more than McMahon has and is probably a better line-out jumper than McMahon.

Personally I would have Jones and Fardy as my no.6s for the WC.
 

Gnostic

Mark Ella (57)
You mean PAE has been better than Greg Holmes who in his first scrum of 2015, won a tight head and penalty try after the reds scrum was slightly outmuscled before he came on. The same Greg Holmes that also lead the Reds scrum to a 7 mean tight head against the Hurricanes last week? And the same PAE who Slipper got the better of last time they played?

Righto mate.

I'm glad you agree.
 

BDA

Jim Lenehan (48)
I think PAE is definitely one of our better THP this season and should be in the selection frame, but he's not been as consistent as Holmes this season. Of the 5 or 6 games Holmes has played this season, he's got the better of his opposing LH in each game, He's forced a few penalties in most of those games, and I honestly cant remember him being penalized in the scrum since his return. PAE has been penalised a fair bit. I gather he's still getting out smarted now and then by some of the more experienced props. That's a bit concerning heading to a world cup
 
T

TOCC

Guest
Greg Holmes debut'd for the Wallabies 10years ago, he was initially selected as a loosehead prop with 10 of his 13 caps coming at loosehead and the remaining 3 coming from the bench. His last wallaby cap was in 2007 at the RWC, it will be 8 years between wallaby caps if Greg Holmes is selected again.

From 2005-2011 he was preferred as a loosehead at the Reds, yet in 2011 he was called up by Ewen McKenzie to replace the injured James Slipper as starting tighthead prop in the Super Rugby GF. From 2012 he shifted to primarily tighthead prop and has remained as the preferred starting tighthead prop ever since.

Greg was interviewed in 2012 and asked about his Wallaby chances:
"If I can improve my tighthead scrummaging and get a bit heavier and yet can still cover loosehead as well, that's my best chance of making the Wallabies. That's my plan, at least."
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top