Wallaby Watch 2014

[fatprop]

I don't agree with that. If the openside goes down, you play with a 6/8 there and adjust your game plan accordingly. The Brumbies have managed to survive without a 7 their whole season without too much trouble.

You're better off having your 4th best loose forward on the park and playing accordingly, than you're 2nd best openside if these are two different players.

Also the potential 1 or 2 pilfers that the openside would get are outweighed by the potential 1 or 2, line outs/scrums lost due to a compromised set piece.

You can budget 80 minutes from Hooper, you can't budget 80 minutes from both locks. So one is on the bench.

So the other forward reserve comes down to picking someone to cover more positions (say 6, 8 and at a pinch 7) or the player who is a specialist seven?

If Palu is selected, then Higgers, if Higgers starts, then McCalman.

If you really want to open the game up, you pick McCalman as reserve lock (with Fardy) & Higgers

 

[Braveheart81]

I very much think the bench these days is set up for planned substitutions rather than covering for injuries.

If there is no plan to play dual opensides late in the game then I don't really see the point of having a backup 7 on the bench as the plan is for them to play 80 minutes.

If the 7 gets injured, then you have to make the best of the options you have available.

Everyone harks back to McCalman playing 7 at the RWC but part of the problem there was that we lost the form player in the side and no one was going to be a sufficient replacement. If we'd taken Hodgson, Waugh or Robinson the RWC we would have still got beaten by Ireland playing the way we did.

 

[emuarse]

Me thinks that the Links' longer term objective is more important than the short term one. The latter being to win the series against the French.
He would rationalise that he has the man power to do that.
But what he really wants to do is to settle on his best options for the Bledisloe Cup, and on as a stairway to the RWC.
Therefore I see the starting side selected later today as one quite different from the starting side in the third test against the French, injuries aside.
I won't even attempt to name names, but, for instance, you'll probably see all three half backs have their share of time out on the paddock, as you will with NO 8's etc etc.
So probably most of the 32 man squad will have an opportunity to impress. But come 16th August, the 15 man starting team along with the remaining 8 squad players will have been well and truly determined, and will be the side playing the third test against France, with one question mark - QC (Quade Cooper).

 

[lewisr]

McKenzie has made it very clear as to what style of game he wants to play, hence the shift of To'omua to inside and foley/ beale as 10s, Phipps fits his fast delivery and high tempo style very well so I don't think its exactly a surprise that he would start phipps.

However in saying that, White still strikes me as a better TEST 9 and still offers good passing albeit maybe not as lightning fast from the ruck as Phipps.

 

[Train Without a Station]

Just more likely to hit the target.

 

[Braveheart81]

Iain Payten is speculating that it will be White, Foley, To'omua with Genia to miss the 23 so perhaps the Phipps starting rumour was only based off some training yesterday.

 

[fatprop]

Just more likely to hit the target.

Nah, Phipps runs out of petrol (like that pretty bad pass on Saturday just before he was replaced) and we remember those passes, til then he gets to each ruck quickly and for the Tahs gets it way

He runs out of petrol because he gets to more quick rucks to pass the ball.

 

[Pfitzy]

NO-one is expendable.

Huh? Think you've got it wrong there big unit

If Phipps is picked, its because Link is considering the value of Phipps and Foley playing halves for the Tahs the whole year. If White started then I think individually he would do a better job, particularly if To'omua and Foley played interchange first receiver (as they probably will), but its a pretty short week in Wallaby camp and maybe Link wants to see if Phipps and Foley can do the business, or if he has to shuffle things.

Better to find out in game 1 than if a series is on the line in game 3.

 

[Braveheart81]

Nah, Phipps runs out of petrol (like that pretty bad pass on Saturday just before he was replaced) and we remember those passes, til then he gets to each ruck quickly and for the Tahs gets it way

He runs out of petrol because he gets to more quick rucks to pass the ball.

I finished watching the replay of the Tahs game last night.

I think only one of those passes before Phipps got replaced was a terrible pass to no one.

The other one or two were to a group of players and no one went for the ball.

The Tahs are playing a game where players have to be running onto the ball and the halfback has to put the ball in front of the man. If no one commits to catching the pass, it will go to ground. A big part of the problem was everyone else was getting tired and less willing to charge onto the ball.

 

[swingpass]

at what time today is the team announcement ?

 

[No4918]

Only a few question marks left.

Locks - who will partner Simmons? Horwill will be in the 23, Jones should get first chance of the others.
13 - AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) is the form man and will move to 13 later in the game anyway if Kuridrani gets the first chance. If Kuridrani is not in the XV I don't see him in the 23. Who will get the wing position if AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) is 13? This question has me thinking AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) will be on the wing as the side is stronger with that combination.
Back reserves - Lilo/Beale or Beale/McCabe. I think the former.

 

[Braveheart81]

at what time today is the team announcement ?

The team will be released around 12pm.

The redundant press conference is being held at 1pm.

 

[Scythe]

Appears like Foley and White are the halves - foley supporters are cheering !

http://m.foxsports.com.au/rugby/wal...-for-france-test/story-e6frf55l-1226940625764


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Lindommer]

Looks like Link's going for a recipe of form/combinations. With Foley and To'omua at 10/12 it's a bit hard to slot in Australia's third best performing scrummie, who doesn't come from either of those two's teams. Genia'll be back, he's got too much talent to continue to performing the way he has. Maybe he's playing to RG's instructions/game plan.

On that note I sincerely hope Horwill doesn't play this weekend, he NEEDS a rest. If it was me I'd advise a couple of days at the beach. A rested and in-form Horwill's vital to the RC and RWC2015. Jones looked particularly good when I watched him in Melbourne last week, we simply have to build depth here and see how good Jones and Carter are in gold.

 

[KOB1987]

I agree that we shouldn't read too much in to any of the selections that are made today with regards to the longer term..we will see 3 different teams run out this series with the team in Sydney being the one that will most closely resemble the team for the first game of the RC.

EDIT: which isn't to say we will see wholesale changes between now and then, just tinkering around some key combinations and individual performances.

 

[swingpass]

On that note I sincerely hope Horwill doesn't play this weekend, he NEEDS a rest. If it was me I'd advise a couple of days at the beach. A rested and in-form Horwill's vital to the RC and RWC2015.

on the reds v highlanders thread, i posted that i thought big kev needed a big rest, but was howled down by the queensland faithful, who mostly all insisted that it was his best game in a dominant pack. i still think he is a very good player sadly out of form.

 

[Train Without a Station]

I think his form has improved over the season. He needs game time to keep that and most importantly his fitness (which has diminished since 2011 due to time out for injuries) improving.

That shouldn't be a reason for him to be picked though. The Wallabies aren't a vehicle for players to play their way into form.

 

[suckerforred]

Everyone harks back to McCalman playing 7 at the RWC but part of the problem there was that we lost the form player in the side and no one was going to be a sufficient replacement. If we'd taken Hodgson, Waugh or Robinson the RWC we would have still got beaten by Ireland playing the way we did.

I think the problem with the RWC2011 squad was the lack of a specialist backup 7 in the SQUAD. No, you don't have them in the game day 23 but you have a spare in the squad. That is a position that is open to injury & you don't particularly want to be left scratching your balls for the next game.....

Edit - Playing <80 mins with a 6/8 playing 7 is unlucky. Playing >80 without a specialist 7 is poor planning.

 

[Braveheart81]

I think the problem with the RWC2011 squad was the lack of a specialist backup 7 in the SQUAD. No, you don't have them in the game day 23 but you have a spare in the squad. That is a position that is open to injury & you don't particularly want to be left scratching your balls for the next game...

Edit - Playing <80 mins with a 6/8 playing 7 is unlucky. Playing >80 without a specialist 7 is poor planning.

In any RWC squad you're going to take risks in some positions, particularly if you're carrying any injured players who you're hoping will be a key part of your team later in the tournament (which most sides end up doing).

I think the situation is remarkably different now than it was in 2011. In 2011 we had Pocock then a choice of Hodgson and Robinson. Hodgson had been absolutely dusted up by Samoa and was in very different form to how he is playing now. Robinson was playing well and had just won a Super Rugby title but certainly wasn't in the same league as Pocock.

If we'd had a Hooper, Gill or Hodgson (in 2014 form) waiting in the wings I've no doubt someone else would have missed out on the squad and we'd have had a backup 7.

Unless our squad is completely injury free for next year's RWC then I expect Link will choose to take a risk with the positions where he considers his backup options to be weakest.

 

[Train Without a Station]

in a RWC you have a limited squad of 30 and cannot make substitutions, only injury replacements. I wouldn't have selected Hodgson in this Wallaby squad. If it was a World Cup squad I would have.

Regardless the lack of a 7 or Pocock did not lose us the Ireland game. Sean O'Brian is not a breakdown dominant player. He is more of a ball running player. The error was playing Ben McCalman and getting him to try and imitate Pocock, leaving you with one player being ineffective in his role, rather than offering a different role and slightly adjusted game plan.