Wallaby 31 players for 2015 RWC

[Train Without a Station]

Interesting that so many people were advocating taking Faulkner despite his poor scrummaging as he can play LHP and THP because they were worried about the prospect of Slipper being shifted to THP if Smith was the 5th prop, even though he started both his Reds and Wallabies career playing THP.

But many people are saying its a perfectly fine contingency to play a prop at hooker in the case of injury.

 

[southsider]

Interesting that so many people were advocating taking Faulkner despite his poor scrummaging as he can play LHP and THP because they were worried about the prospect of Slipper being shifted to THP if Smith was the 5th prop, even though he started both his Reds and Wallabies career playing THP.

But many people are saying its a perfectly fine contingency to play a prop at hooker in the case of injury.

Who's said all that on here?

 

[Scotty]

Because we have depth at wing and little depth at lock.

What's the poor message it sent? Douglas was clearly picked on the job he did for Cheika at the Tahs in 2014.

I think you just answered your own question.

Club level favourites with little history of international performance.

 

[Brumby Runner]

My understanding is that we asked the organisers whether the selection satisfies Law 3.5 and it does. I fully accept that's at odds with what the papers are saying.

Where did you get this little gem Groucho? Haven't seen it reported anywhere. In the event a prop can play hooker and not contravene the tournament rules, I'd expect the scrum to be pretty solid on our own feed, but very unlikely to win a tight head through raking the ball.

 

[Langthorne]

So they have considered the possibility that one of Moore or TPN could be injured, and they have decided that Sio is a better backup hooker than Hansen, AND we get the added benefit of an extra winger sitting in the stands?

 

[Brumby Runner]

If that's the case, why the Fk is McMahon in the squad? The backrow consists of 2 number 7s (more than enough) and 2 number eights. McMahon's selection suggest that he will be a back up 6/7 cover. If Cheika plans to play Mumm at 6 if Fardy is injured then McMahon's inclusion seems unnecessary. If Cheika sees Mumm as Fardy's back up then why not select Horwill (as a lock) and Mumm (as a back-up 6 / bench lock/6).

If Mumm is indeed the man to take the 6 jersey if Fardy goes down, I'm trying to foresee a situation where McMahon will actually be selected in any games other than to give Hooper or Pocock a rest. That's not a geat justification for his selection.

Could be a couple of scenarios at work here. Pocock is now our first choice No 8 and will only play No 8, so McMahon would then be the backup No 7. Or, Hooper and Pocock will share the No 7 in the important games or play 7 and 8, but McMahon is needed to play 7 in the game against Uruguay to give both Hooper and Pocock a rest. Or, McMahon is the preferred backup No 6.

Whatever the thinking, I'm pretty sure that McCalman will be 6, McMahon 7 and Palu 8 against Uruguay.

 

[pjm]

I'd say Mumm at 6 against Uruguay, the rest of the locks need game time.

 

[BDA]

Could be a couple of scenarios at work here. Pocock is now our first choice No 8 and will only play No 8, so McMahon would then be the backup No 7. Or, Hooper and Pocock will share the No 7 in the important games or play 7 and 8, but McMahon is needed to play 7 in the game against Uruguay to give both Hooper and Pocock a rest. Or, McMahon is the preferred backup No 6.

Whatever the thinking, I'm pretty sure that McCalman will be 6, McMahon 7 and Palu 8 against Uruguay.

If Cheika selected mcmahon just for the purpose of letting pocock and hooper rest against uraguay, that would be odd. We could very easily just play McCalman at 7. Hell play Mumm at 7 (he's apparently been selected for his versatility anyway). No disrespect the Uraguay, but I expect they'll struggle whether or not theirs a traditional 7 in a gold jersey

 

[Groucho]

Where did you get this little gem Groucho? Haven't seen it reported anywhere. In the event a prop can play hooker and not contravene the tournament rules, I'd expect the scrum to be pretty solid on our own feed, but very unlikely to win a tight head through raking the ball.

I asked, but I can't say who I asked. However I've just asked who I asked if I can use their name online. I fully understand that people claiming to have 'mail' are infuriating.

 

[Groucho]

I think you just answered your own question.

Club level favourites with little history of international performance.

It's very hard to avoid some element of that.

We choose coaches because of their successes. Cheika credits Douglas with being instrumental in his Supe title. By picking him, he's backing himself to get the same out of him for this team. That's part of the coaching experience we're paying him for.

We could stick with foreign coaches who have never coached an Australian franchise, I guess, and therefore aren't tainted by actual contact with the players.

 

[jimmydubs]

If sio is the backup plan: whilst comforting that the coach does understand the rules it's still a shit decision. How many lineout we going to win?
Yes it's a contingency. But it's still ridiculous. Why not have Hanson along, training and knowing the calls?

Now in case of injury we have a) Hanson turning up in time but with no recent time with the squad or b) sio giving it a punt.

It's not subbies, it's bill FFS.

 

[Groucho]

If sio is the backup plan: whilst comforting that the coach does understand the rules it's still a shit decision. How many lineout we going to win?
Yes it's a contingency. But it's still ridiculous. Why not have Hanson along, training and knowing the calls?

Now in case of injury we have a) Hanson turning up in time but with no recent time with the squad or b) sio giving it a punt.

It's not subbies, it's bill FFS.

Hanson is training with the squad, and will do until the Wallabies depart the USA for England, after which he's not allowed to.

Same goes for Sam Carter, David Dennis, Tetera Faulkner, Scott Higginbotham, James Horwill, Samu Kerevi, Christian Lealiifano, Taqele Naiyaravoro and Nic White.

 

[BarneySF]

France #1
England #2
Ireland #2
Italy #2
Wales #8
-
New Zealand #12
South Africa #14
Australia #20

Hmmm..

Interesting when someone makes a visual if it. There should be some metric whereby the teams' squad sizes vary based on where they sit on this chart.


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[BarneySF]

Sio as third hooker and have one of the spare wingers working hard on lineout throwing!


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[Marcelo]

About the 3rd hooker. Cheika has a former top class hooker in his staff, Mario Ledesma. He's doing a good job, he has eliminated props like Ben Alexander and Benn Robinson who have been the cancer of team for years and given the opportunity to players like Holmes and Sio, who have proven to be good at test level.

We must trust Mario, he knows his stuff and I'm sure he have had significant impact on the choice of players

 

[KOB1987]

Man, this keeps going around in circles..

Personally, I think we should now just trust the judgement of the coaching staff. In summary:
1. only 2 hookers - it seems the rules don't differentiate between props and hookers. If 2 front rowers go down, the accentuating circumstances clause kicks in and we can call in a replacement, regardless of how close to kick off it is. In the absolute worst case scenario that we lose a hooker in the warm up then we have a prop who can cover. That would be the case in ANY test match.
2. too many wingers - the squad structure seems designed to have 2 complete starting XVs. The reason for this is the draw. We have 3 games in 10 days, but fortunately the easiest game - Uruguay - is in the middle. So, none of the 'A' XV have to start against Uruguay. The expectation is that the 'A' side will play against Fiji, mostly rest against Uruguay and then play from England onwards. It also means they can train as a XV for the entire tournament, no interruptions.
3. Further, we would expect any injury replacements from 72 hours prior to the Uruguay game onwards to allow for a more conservative squad structure. And there will be injuries, fact.
4. aside from perhaps James Horwill, the players from EVERYONE's preferred match day 23 are in this squad (based on the RC squads). If you think that [insert name of offending player] is a dud selection, refer to point 2.

Bring on the RWC and bring back Bill!

 

[Scotty]

It's very hard to avoid some element of that.

We choose coaches because of their successes. Cheika credits Douglas with being instrumental in his Supe title. By picking him, he's backing himself to get the same out of him for this team. That's part of the coaching experience we're paying him for.

We could stick with foreign coaches who have never coached an Australian franchise, I guess, and therefore aren't tainted by actual contact with the players.

It wouldn't be an issue if he actually had the time to get that out of Douglas. But he has picked a bloke with 20 minutes under his belt on the hope he can not only achieve full fitness but also very quickly turn 2014 state form into 2015 World Cup performances.

It is a stretch of a choice.

This one and the 2 hooker choices are risks that didn't have to happen and I just don't see much upside to. All he had to do was cull a winger and pick his best performing lock.

 

[Scotty]

I assume Horwill has achieved the 60 test caps now? Anyone know the exact number?

 

[KOB1987]

I assume Horwill has achieved the 60 test caps now? Anyone know the exact number?

62

 

[KOB1987]

I'm thinking that the Bledisloe #1 side is the A team, but with Simmons for Horwill (Skelton on the bench, Douglas in the stands) and Genia obviously on the bench for White.