Ireland v Australia, Saturday 26 November

[Lindommer]

The first of two remaining HUGE tests on our EoYT. One would presume the selectors will choose the team (+ reserves) immediately after the French test and then allocate the rest to the French Barbarians match. Will the 15/23 be sent to Ireland early in the week, or will they stay and watch the French BaaBaas fixture? The time for testing/switching/having a squiz at blokes in alternative positions is over, it's the best available in their best spots against Ireland and England.

It'd be nice to get a medico's report on Coleman, Douglas, Hanson and McMahon.

 

[Brumby Runner]

I've said it on other threads, but suppose I should repeat it here. The full squad of 23 for the Irish test should be in Dublin from the day after the French test. But that will leave insufficient numbers of players to make up another 23 for the Baa Baas game. Very poor management I reckon.

 

[wamberal]

The team will, no doubt, do what they think is best.


I would not be too dogmatic as to where they should be on any given day. Chubby is a good enough manager to know what is best. And he is creative enough to balance a bit of recreation (in the truest sense) with the grind of preparation for a very important game.


Hopefully he will find ways to freshen them up a bit amidst all the tumult and pressure. One thing is for sure, they should not need too much heavy work at this stage of an over-long season.

 

[Brumby Runner]

The team will, no doubt, do what they think is best.


I would not be too dogmatic as to where they should be on any given day. Chubby is a good enough manager to know what is best. And he is creative enough to balance a bit of recreation (in the truest sense) with the grind of preparation for a very important game.


Hopefully he will find ways to freshen them up a bit amidst all the tumult and pressure. One thing is for sure, they should not need too much heavy work at this stage of an over-long season.

So, let's just suppose he decides to keep 6 players on the bench in Paris who will also be required either to start or be on the bench gainst Ireland. Do you think it would be wise (and that Cheika really knows how best to manage the situation) if those 6 players are not in Dublin preparing for the Irish (not a very important game, of course) but are stuck in Gay Paree and are only able to travel over to Dublin on Friday for a Saturday test. Seems the potential issues with such an approach are simply evading a lot of posters on these match threads.

 

[Lindommer]

Whom out of the Scottish test squad's a chance of being replaced against the Paddies?

1. Sio
2. Moore
3. Kepu
4. Coleman
5. Arnold
6. Pocock
7. Hooper
8. Timani
9. Genia
10. Foley
11. Speight
12. Hodge
13. Kuridrani
14. Haylett-Petty
15. Folau
16. Latu
17. Robertson
18. Ala'alatoa
19. Simmons
20. Skelton
21. Mumm
22. Phipps
23. Cooper

Those in bold are montes for the 23; Coleman and Skelton are definitely out. Some (Pocock/Mumm/Cooper) may be wearing different numbers depending on their performances against France. It's interesting to note both A'a'a'a and Robertson lining up to play THP this Saturday but, more importantly, Ledesma sang their praises as good young competent THPs. Finally! So, do they both sit on the bench against Ireland with one wearing 17, or does Slipper get the reserve LHP gig and one youngster misses out? I've a sneaky feeling experience might be the way to go against both Ireland and England, maybe Allan and Tom can split the 18 duties over the last two tests.

Opportunities:

• Slipper has a golden opportunity against France to show he's better than either of the young tyroes at LHP.
• As a dyed-in-the-wool Tahs supporter I can't for the life of me see how Mumm's adjudged to be that much better than Fardy. Yes, Dean's played well, but Scott offers so much more at the breakdown.
• Simmons is probably a better match with Arnold in the second row than Douglas, and seems to've picked up his physicality the last few tests he's played. Kane's got a marvellous opportunity to stake a claim.
• 7? Mmmm. Looking at the two remaining tests I'd be tempted to start Hooper against Ireland and Pocock against England. Mustn't get ahead of myself.
• McMahon played extremely well against the Poms wearing 8, surely Sean's worthy of a bench spot.
• Cooper has his chance to replace Foley at 10.
• Wing. The four wingers competing for one spot are all in this match and, on recent form, Henry's running third or fourth. The best performance from Morahan, Naivalu, Naiyaravoro or Speight should be rewarded next Saturday.

 

[Scoey]

It's not like they are travelling Sydney to Dublin though. It's Paris to Dublin right? That's what, an hour? Hour and a half flight tops? That's pretty manageable. Make camp in Dublin and send 23 blokes back the morning of the baa baas game?

He may even pull in a few Aussies playing in France for this one. He apparently contacted JOC (James O'Connor) to see if he was available, the SMH is reporting. JOC (James O'Connor) is injured but so can't play but if he needs a few extras I'm sure he could find a few in France already. It's not a Test so the 60 cap rule on eligibility presumably doesn't count either so guys like Liam Gill etc could be options.

 

[Scrubber2050]

The players for this test have already penciled in.

It would only be injury that may force a change or some unbelievable event such as Cooper scoring 4 tries and kicking 10 out of 10 (all from the sideline).

But if Luke Morahan scores half a dozen from the back I'd bet you pounds to peanuts Izzy will take back the 15 spot - some blokes are just untouchable with Chek

Anyway, this match is another must win for the Grand Slam so best team (23) need to take the pitch.

We were supposed to easily take care of Scotland but as I said it would be close, in fact we were fucking lucky all round. Ireland have their tails up and the match will be a torid old affair.

 

[Lindommer]

It's not like they are travelling Sydney to Dublin though. It's Paris to Dublin right? That's what, an hour? Hour and a half flight tops? That's pretty manageable. Make camp in Dublin and send 23 blokes back the morning of the baa baas game?

Then get on a bus/train/plane and travel over to Bordeaux. And back to Paris before returning to Dublin. Leave the Oz BaaBaas in France.

 

[Rugbynutter39]

I've said it on other threads, but suppose I should repeat it here. The full squad of 23 for the Irish test should be in Dublin from the day after the French test. But that will leave insufficient numbers of players to make up another 23 for the Baa Baas game. Very poor management I reckon.

I think you are harsh brumby runner as making a lot of assumptions this has not already been planned for. I am not sure your assumptions are correct but time will tell whether you are or not.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Lindommer]

My team:

1. Sio
2. Moore
3. Kepu
4. Simmons
5. Arnold
6. Fardy
7. Hooper
8. Timani
9. Genia
10. Foley
11. Naivalu
12. Hodge
13. Kuridrani
14. Haylett-Petty
15. Folau
16. Latu
17. Slipper
18. Ala'alatoa/Robertson (whomever misses out wears 18 against England)
19. Douglas
20. Pocock (starts against England, Hooper to the bench)
21. Phipps
22. Cooper if fit, if not, Lance
23. Morahan

This selection presumes McMahon isn't fully fit. If he's ready in a fortnight I'd pencil him in at 21 for the Pommy test with a 6/2 bench.

 

[Brumby Runner]

Agree entirely with the notion of starting one of Hooper and Pocock with the other on the bench, and it would be sensible for Pocock to start against England. Hope the coaching staff are catching on - better late than never.

Similarly, if Robertson and Ala'alatoa are to share the reserve THP spot, then I'd keep AA for the England test as well. Not sure though that it is necessary for them to share as I think Tom is playing better than James Slipper atm (at set piece if not in the open where Slipper had some good touches this morning).

 

[The torpedo]

It's not like they are travelling Sydney to Dublin though. It's Paris to Dublin right? That's what, an hour? Hour and a half flight tops? That's pretty manageable. Make camp in Dublin and send 23 blokes back the morning of the baa baas game?

1 hr 40 min flight from CDG to Dublin so pretty manageable.

 

[KOB1987]

It's refreshing to be going into this game with almost universal agreement on what the team will be. It's a big change from the games at the start of the season when Cheika 'didn't even know what his best team was' or was 'creating depth' (depending on which one you subscribed to). As this morning's game showed, whatever it was is now bearing fruit as our fringe players are by and large all capable replacements for the first choices.

For mine there are really only two positions with question marks - 6 & 11 - and I'm not going to make predictions about either. 6 could be any of Pocock, Fardy, Mumm or even McMahon if he's fit, and 11 could be any of Speight, Naivalu or Morahan. In both cases though I do think the first mentioned has the upper hand as they are the incumbents.

There could also be a few in Douglas' corner over Simmons, and it would be foolish to think we can get through the week without the Foley/Quade debate rearing its head. It's unfortunate for Quade that he didn't get his opportunity but that's how the ball has rolled and his supporters now only have their opinions to go off. It's a dead argument now for the rest of this year, let's just agree to let the Super season do the talking for next year.

This game is going to be epic!

 

[PeterK]

My team:

1. Sio
2. Moore
3. Kepu
4. Simmons
5. Arnold
6. Fardy
7. Pocock (need him to combat S OBrien who was very good against NZ)
8. Timani
9. Genia
10. Foley
11. Morahan (kicking game puts him ahead of Naivalu)
12. Hodge
13. Kuridrani
14. Haylett-Petty
15. Folau
16. Latu
17. Slipper
18. Ala'alatoa
19. Douglas
20. Hooper
21. Phipps
22. Cooper if fit, if not, Godwin covers multiple positions
23. Naivalu

 

[KOB1987]

PK I think it's a reasonable assumption to make that the seven players who were rested will be starting, therefore Hooper will be at 7. That's for this game at least, as others have stated if Cheika elects to go with Mumm or Fardy at 6 and bench Pocock then he could well start at 7 v England. Personally I think he will stick with Pooper v2 for both games though.

 

[Brumby Runner]

1 hr 40 min flight from CDG to Dublin so pretty manageable.

Might suggest you refer to relevant posts on the Baa Baa's thread (I think). The Thursday night game is in Bordeaux, not Paris.

 

[Brumby Runner]

I don't think there's any chance Douglas will start over Simmons. Simmons is the lineout caller, and hopefully can replicate his game today and stay on for 80 minutes. Better option than Mumm coming on and keeping Fardy out of the side.

 

[Twoilms]

Our under utilization of McMahon is kind of annoying. So much energy and such a handfull. We should be using him the same way the all-blacks use Ardie. Off the bench with 25 - 30 minutes to burn.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[Strewthcobber]

My team:

9. Genia
10. Foley
11. Morahan (kicking game puts him ahead of Naivalu)
12. Hodge
13. Kuridrani
14. Haylett-Petty
15. Folau

Which 3 are defending in the line?

 

[Pfitzy]

You'd imagine Foley drops for Morahan, in that scenario.

And, in that scenario, I'd play Morahan as a shooter on defensive first phase in order to use his speed to trouble the playmaker.

The others settle in behind him and Folau + Foley play sweeper with Genia