Bledisloe #2 - AUS v NZL, Eden Park, Auckland, August 15th

[gold heart]

The pack has to be nudging 950kg..... I hope the predictions for rain fading on Saturday ring true - might be a long night otherwise.

 

[Strewthcobber]

A lot of pressure on Fardy and Horwill to improve the line out, Skelton needs to step up big time for this match.




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Pretty tough on those two. Take away one of the jumpers and expect them to do better. At least hooper won't be lifting. But NZ will be going very hard at the only 2 real options in our line

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[Tex]

We can win this one.

 

[Fireworks]

According to FoxSports:
WALLABIES: 15. Israel Folau 14. Henry Speight 13. Tevita Kuridrani 12. Matt To'omua 11. Adam Ashley-Cooper 10. Quade Cooper 9. Nic White 8. Wycliff Palu 7. Michael Hooper 6. Scott Fardy 5. Will Skelton 4. James Horwill 3. Sekope Kepu 2. Stephen Moore 1. Scott Sio.
Reserves: Tatafu Polot Nau, James Slipper, Greg Holmes, Kane Douglas, Dean Mumm, David Pocock, Matt Giteau, Kurtley Beale

 

[gold heart]

According to FoxSports:
WALLABIES: 15. Israel Folau 14. Henry Speight 13. Tevita Kuridrani 12. Matt To'omua 11. Adam Ashley-Cooper 10. Quade Cooper 9. Nic White 8. Wycliff Palu 7. Michael Hooper 6. Scott Fardy 5. Will Skelton 4. James Horwill 3. Sekope Kepu 2. Stephen Moore 1. Scott Sio.
Reserves: Tatafu Polot Nau, James Slipper, Greg Holmes, Kane Douglas, Dean Mumm, David Pocock, Matt Giteau, Kurtley Beale

Looks identical to the team posted earlier

 

[Scoey]

It's different to what I would've picked but that's probably why I'm not the Wallabies coach.

That team will do me. Wallabies can do this. Go you good things go!!!

 

[No4918]

That is a big bench. Looks like Giteau impressed filling in at 9 last week.

 

[KOB1987]

There's still no official announcement. Kane Douglas actually wasn't even in the squad that was named for this game on Monday.

I'm wearing my tin foil hat and wondering if the ARU has set a trap to find the source of the leak to GAGR

 

[Fireworks]

Interesting 6:2 split on the bench and opting not to start the Pooper. Worried if Gits has to play 9. Looked shaky there last week with loopy and inaccurate passing.

 

[No4918]

Not sure about 4 locks, would have thought Horwill had booked his spot with Simmons and the other 3 could get a run to try out for the remaining 2 spots.

 

[fatprop]

Kiwi's are too scared to make the changes. Vito will add something but Whitelock is as ineffective as Romano. I'd say they're planning on playing their locks the whole game and subbing out Vito and Read.

Nah, they are clearly the best side in the world by some way.

One loss doesn't change that, the same as a random win against them does not demonstrate the Wobs are in ascendancy

They will be bloody tough to get near, let alone beat this weekend

 

[light]

I like that he's changed the backrow around to keep NZ guessing. The Hooper-Pocock combination is our trump card that all opposition teams will now be preparing for, I don't mind that he's not using it in this test as it's going to be vital for our chances in the world cup.

That said, I think that team is still strong enough to beat the AB's if they get it right. Palu and Skelton are going to need to bash them into submission then see if we can release hell with Pocock and Mumm in the last 20 minutes.

I reckon ideally Cheika would have started Douglas over Skelton to give our line out the additional option but to roll that dice on a bloke who is unknown at this point would have been too bigger risk when the bledisloe is on the line.

Slightly disappointed Hanson isn't getting a run. He must play against USA.

 

[the sabanator]

Pros:

• Cooper/To'omua should be a good combo provided Quade doesn't let Eden Park get under his skin
• Rampaging Speight could give us a runner to get over the gain line

Cons:

• 2 lineout jumpers
• Palu coming into a Bledisloe decider when he hasn't played for months
• No pressure on the ruck in the starters, key to us winning Saturday

My thinking behind playing Skelton & Palu is that Cheik thought we didn't get enough go forward from the forwards in Sydney (we didn't). Miffed that Pocock isn't starting though, almost reminds me a few years back of when B du P was on the bench for John Smit despite being clearly the Boks best player.

 

[qwerty51]

Interesting, rather than getting a look in at Douglas I think it's more about replacing the whole tight 5 and he's the only 4th lock to do so. The game will be won and lost at the tight 5. I like the idea of Palu starting rather than coming on for Pooper, the collisions will be massive early on and Palu might not last long given he hasn't played for a while, he should be replaced at HT.

 

[Viking]

Holly crap just noticed Douglas. Wtf. Hope Cheika is onto something, he must have been training the house down.

Palu too - I hope he can step up. Same with Skelton but he as improved each game I feel, I hope that continues.

 

[gold heart]

If this team is correct it feels like an evil experiment - either wickedly good or disastrously bad nya nya nya

 

[KOB1987]

Officially out now, as per above

 

[Tex]

Fark if it was Dingo who posted this team sheet he'd be slated left, right and centre.

 

[Strewthcobber]

Holly crap just noticed Douglas. Wtf. Hope Cheika is onto something, he must have been training the house down.

Palu too - I hope he can step up. Same with Skelton but he as improved each game I feel, I hope that continues.

I wonder if they are a bit worried that Simmons won't come good. Those scaffoid injuries can be better in two weeks or drag on for months with several surgeries if things don't go well.

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[Brumby Runner]

Well, 7 changes to the personnel and a few positional changes. That sure wasn't expected by a couple of our posters who quite emphatically opined that there would be no, or minimal, at best changes. Just shows that there is little future in trying so adamantly to predict Cheika's moves and read his thoughts. Not that I was much closer. Sure, I thought To'omua would come in but at 10 (because at this time I don't think either of Foley or Quade are adequate at 10) and was also pretty confident Henry would get a run.

But the extent of the changes means to me that Cheika still has the RWC as his priority. He is still trying to establish what the best combinations are and who the best personnel are. Sadly, I think he's run out of time, mainly because he has persisted with the wrong people at 10 and 12 all along. If Cooper/To'omua doesn't gel on Saturday just where does he go from there? Experimenting against the USA will probably achieve very little if anything. Then we're into the Cup rounds and it could well be much too late to bring in other options.

There really are some large concerns about this side. Two jumpers only in the starting lineup will put a lot of pressure on the lineout. I think McCalman at 8 is the only practical option when Skelton starts, but my preference would have been to go with the same back 5. Nic White, Quade Cooper and Henry Speight are all gambles, and if they don't bring in a win, will in all probability cop the flak and blame from irate posters here and elsewhere, ignoring that the ABs are a much more formidable opponent at Eden Park. A two man backline bench comprising Giteau and Beale is a tremendous gamble. If White goes down, and we are behind on the scoreboard with 20 mins to go, I can easily see the ABs putting a whole lot of late points on us when the bench is used. I would have been a lot more confident with a bench of Phipps and Mitchell.

I am now just looking for the Wallabies to put up a good fight in this game and hope that some good points come out of the changes that have been made, especially in the 9/10/12 combination and with Henry Speight on the wing. I will be very pleasantly surprised if the Bledisloe comes back here this time.