Wallabies vs Baa-Baas player ratings

1. Benn (two n’s) Robinson 7 – Didn’t show any of the flashy stuff he produced in the Super 14 but you get the feeling this wasn’t part of his brief for the game. The scrum looked good which is his job, he did it well

2. Squeaky Moore 8 – Managing to combine the open field running of Jeremy Paul with the set-piece consistency of Michael Foley, the best Australian hooker since Tom Lawton

3. Al Baxter 7 – Can’t remember him doing much except the shit work at the scrum and line-outs, but like ‘Two N’ Benn, did the business

4. Kev Horwill 8 – Australian rugby’s ‘Serial Pest’, if he played for any other country, we’d hate him. Showed what he is capable of when he has some decent troops around him.

5. Nathan Sharpe 5 – Fairly anonymous, maybe that was the plan so Big Kev could do the grandstand stuff. In a game where most of the forwards had their bright moments, he didn’t seem to have any.

6. Matt Hodgson 6 – Robbed of seeing his best as he went off with what looks like being a reasonably long term injury – shame

7. George Smith 9 – Magic, able to do stuff that not even Richie the Cheat could dream of.

8. Richard Brown 6 – Didn’t have the impact of the others but maybe that’s because he was doing his work plus a fair percentage of Smith’s in the tight after Hodgson went off.

9. Burgo 7 – The highlight of his game came in the third minute when he spanked SBW. Solid passing game and a couple of little snipes.

10. Gits 9.99 – The Giteau equation: Time + Space = Perfection

11. Drew Mitchell 8 – Despite having his plumage ruffled during his solo-try effort, dusted himself off and bobbed up in all the right places for the rest of the game. Didn’t make any silly errors which is rare.

12. Berrick Barnes 6 – Took the back seat on the Gits express and enjoyed the ride, some great tactical kicking showed just what a complete player he is becoming

13. Morty 9 – The one Wallaby who had a bit of pressure on him going into the game marking SBW. Proved what a big time player his is and was the focal point of the Wallabies attack – Gits’ try in the first half is an example of this when Morty attracted 3 defenders on a dummy run.

14. Lachie Turner 5 – Doesn’t really seem to have the impact at Wallaby level that he does at Provincial level, opened the door for Lote’s comeback one suspects?

15. AAC 8 – Looked every-bit the fullback with some great positional play and some accurate kicking – confounded the G&GR critics with only one ‘Bobas #3’ for the entire game

16. TPN 7 – Came on for Moore and really stepped up the pace, provides a great balance with his attacking prowess in the final quarter of a match.

17. Ben (one n) Alexander 8 – Like TPN, played a more attacking role than Fat Cat, the try he scored showed his ability to position himself in attack but let himself down badly with a ‘mincey’ dive at the end

18. Mummy 6 – One of the many to cream SBW, nothing much else to report but a good man to have on the bench with his versatility

19. David Pocock 7 – Entered the fray as the musical chairs started due to injuries and replacements, ended up playing no. 6 it seemed? No matter, still got around the field and had plenty of touches.

20. Josh Valentine 6 – Had over half a game to prove he is any different to Burgo and didn’t seem to be able achieving that. Once again, solid and reliable passing game which is what you want from your reserve half-back I guess.

21. Quade Cooper – 5 Only came on toward the end of the game when all the work was done, so consequently, didn’t do much. Interestingly seemed to play no.12 rather than fly-half – will get his chance this weekend you’d think.

22. JO’C 8 – Made things happen, showed his range of skills in a short space of time and proved why Josh Lewsey is calling it quits– a better player than Gits was at his age?