Wallaby 31 players for 2015 RWC

[fatprop]

OK

Beale is an average defender
Cooper is a "arm grabber"

The rest bend their backs, miss a few, sometimes eat grass, but put in proper efforts

Personally, I wouldn't select Beale or JOC (James O'Connor) for the RWC. We have better, in form options.

Cooper? He is a great attacking unit, but lets see how he pulls up, he hasn't played much lately, we could end up with Lilo & To'omua as cover for Foley

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/a...ead-of-the-rugby-championship-20150625-ghw849

 

[Train Without a Station]

What's the go with you referring to players as "units" now fatprop? These players are people, not numbers!

 

[Braveheart81]

You only have to look at his stats this season (most turnovers in the competition,

I think this was true earlier in the competition but isn't true now. There are three Waratahs with more turnovers than Beale and I easily found three Highlanders as well.

 

[BDA]

Really? who are the tahs?

 

[Train Without a Station]

Foley and Folau are 2.

 

[Braveheart81]

Really? who are the tahs?

Foley - 32, Phipps -28, Folau - 29, Beale - 23

Highlanders: Naholo - 34, Fekitoa - 24, Aaron Smith - 26 , Sopoaga - 30

Hurricanes: J Savea - 26

For a surprising stat, Julian Savea's defensive stats are worse than Beale's. He has 28 made, 21 missed tackles @ 57.1%. Beale has 47 made, 29 missed @ 61.8%.

 

[fatprop]

Foley - 32, Phipps -28, Folau - 29, Beale - 23

Highlanders: Naholo - 34, Fekitoa - 24, Aaron Smith - 26 , Sopoaga - 30

Hurricanes: J Savea - 26

For a surprising stat, Julian Savea's defensive stats are worse than Beale's. He has 28 made, 21 missed tackles @ 57.1%. Beale has 47 made, 29 missed @ 61.8%.

Errors rates are always interesting, best way to ensure no errors is to not try anything

 

[Marcelo]

The positive side of the Speight's suspension from a Wallaby perspective: Reduces the risk of injury before the WC. He will go to the WC with extra rest

Of course, I'm not a Brumby supporter

 

[Braveheart81]

The positive side of the Speight's suspension from a Wallaby perspective: Reduces the risk of injury before the WC. He will go to the WC with extra rest

Of course, I'm not a Brumby supporter

Is it? He's going to miss the first two tests and give others opportunities. With only two Wallaby tests under his belt he probably needs to wait for an injury or loss of form to get back into the starting XV.

 

[Joeleee]

Is it? He's going to miss the first two tests and give others opportunities. With only two Wallaby tests under his belt he probably needs to wait for an injury or loss of form to get back into the starting XV.

I would add that he's not Test hardened yet. Giving a guy with 50 tests a few extra weeks break might be great for recovery. Giving a guy with 5 tests a break means he misses out on valuable Test experience.

 

[cyclopath]

Alan Jones shows how out of touch he is on espnscrum today.

http://www.espnscrum.com/australia/rugby/story/267229.html

"Hooper an Astonishing Captain"

"I rank Hooper, Michael Hooper, as one of the finest captains rugby has ever had"

"First, he leads by example. Second, you've got to be loyal to your players. You're not loyal to a fault; so in the Argentinian fiasco with that women (Di Patston) in the team, there was a suggestion that certain players would be sent home. Hooper intervened; he said: 'won't happen, not unless you want all of them to go home"

"Now these are the tough things about being a captain; this is a young bloke, experienced beyond his years and his leadership is astonishing," Jones said. "And we've had some great results under this kid. And the disgraceful behaviour of the Australian Rugby Union on the Beale affair; leaking to one or two of their favourite people in the media: 'well, after this is over we'll be looking at the captaincy'. This is nonsense."

Is this bloke for real? I'm a huge fan of Hooper as a player but even his most loyal supporters would admit the Wallabies struggled for leadership under him in 2014, and that the Beale saga was one of the biggest black marks on his captaincy.

Also Australia had one of it's worst years in professionalism "under this kid", not some great results. Not meaning to criticize Hooper for it, but note it's just completely untrue.

Want to know why rugby in Australia is so fucked? Pathetic "journalism" like this.

You really need to ask?

 

[Floggn']

Foley - 32, Phipps -28, Folau - 29, Beale - 23

Highlanders: Naholo - 34, Fekitoa - 24, Aaron Smith - 26 , Sopoaga - 30

Hurricanes: J Savea - 26

For a surprising stat, Julian Savea's defensive stats are worse than Beale's. He has 28 made, 21 missed tackles @ 57.1%. Beale has 47 made, 29 missed @ 61.8%.

Incredible stats in regards to Savea. If I was Larkham for this weekend and Cheika for the Tests I would be running a lot of blindside plays at him. You nearly have a 50/50 chance of getting through him.

 

[Groucho]

Toutai Kefu. How quickly we forget.

I deliberately left out Kefu and Ofahengaue, wamberal. They're very good examples of players who more than held their own against equally excellent All Black opponents. Sometimes they produced skittling runs (as indeed did David Lyons from time to time) but not as often as they do in the sunlit uplands of our imaginations.

 

[Groucho]

What about 11. Tomane 14. Beale 15. Folau? Izzy dropping back to field the bombs and interchanging with Beale on attack and set plays.

Indeed. Beale wouldn't defend at the back in a Beale, Tomane, Folau setup. Instead, Beale and Folau would share the fullback role with Folau in position to dissaude midfield bombs as currently. Beale could then share the playmaking role in attack with whoever plays 10, giving us three playmakers, or else more options at 12. It does make sense.

Of course, all this requires that Beale is in form! Like an in-form Cooper, an in-form Beale is an easy player to pick, personal issues that people have with him aside. An in-form Beale, Cooper and JOC (James O'Connor) troika would be a real boost to our chances this year, but it's a forlorn hope now.

 

[Marcelo]

Is it? He's going to miss the first two tests and give others opportunities. With only two Wallaby tests under his belt he probably needs to wait for an injury or loss of form to get back into the starting XV.

In his defense. There is not an undisputed starter right wing.

AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) at 14 is average
JOC (James O'Connor) had an average Super Rugby season
Taqele isn't a test player
Peter Betham is Peter Betham
I don't see a better option than Speight ATM

 

[qwerty51]

In his defense. There is not an undisputed starter right wing.

AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) at 14 is average

 

[Groucho]

Sorry maybe I should have clarified - Beale is erratic, but less so than people make him out to be. As i said, his good games are more frequent then his bad. Little mistakes are over exaggerated and what could be said to be a good performance is often written off for one or two things. People don't seem to be looking at the big picture.

Quade, as Braveheart pointed out, is scarily similar foil to Beale. People laud him as this marvellous attacking weapon, who shines for the Wallabies and who has developed his game to refine his problems.

His defence has gotten better. It's not Beale-esque but its still terrible. His mistakes have fallen off, but not incredibly so. On his day he is incredible, but his day doesn't come around often, especially considering he's seemingly made out of glass. Of his 54 tests for the Wallabies, what percentage can be objectively said to be good to great performances? What percentage can be objectively said to be poor to terrible?

He's just far more likeable of a character. They're both great players, both have their faults. Let's not let our judgement get blurred.

The Australian Rugby is are, by large, fickle and poorly informed. Opinions travel in herds. To me, this is especially evident within this forum. The only problem is, the shepherds are the people who speak the loudest and with most confidence, not those who are correct in their judgements.

It's worth pointing out that Beale is very likeable as an individual. That's pretty much a universal opinion amongst players and others who know him personally (with the obvious exception of the obvious exceptions). It's the public perception of his personality that is in the doghouse, because of his stupid mistakes.

 

[Groucho]

Errors rates are always interesting, best way to ensure no errors is to not try anything

Indeed. Both the Tahs and Highlanders play high-risk rugby and choose to accept the error rate that brings with it.

 

[Dave Beat]

Quade made 28 tackles and missed three in his limited minutes this season, which is quite high compared to the tackles per minute of pretty much any other 10, as well as the overall success percentage (90%), Kurtley makes 60% and Bernard makes 70%. That's dominant for a ten no two ways about it, I would happily take someone who looked unsure of themselves and tackled that often and that well. Quade also makes more metres per carry than Beale (4m compared to 3.3m). Quade has worked hard on both his deficiencies on the park and in general conduct socially, whereas Beale hasn't, if anything Beale seems to be less of a player these days and the scandals just seem to get worse for him. I'm getting my stats from Sanzar.

I was going to use a reply on some one who was bagging his D, but thought yours maybe more appropriate. People seem to recall him pre injuries and yeah his defence was shit. He then spent time in the off season attending to this weakness and i believe he can defend;

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uNgtf0n598

You stats suggest the same.

He's not my 10 yet but I'm keen for the RC.

These people can't tackle

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...&mid=7DE732B0A3DED749BB447DE732B0A3DED749BB44

 

[Train Without a Station]

Indeed. Both the Tahs and Highlanders play high-risk rugby and choose to accept the error rate that brings with it.

I agree. Though plenty said the same about Cooper and how he needed to master a more conservative game for test rugby.

Actually trying to break the line will lead to a few errors.