What if we had Australia A?

[RugbyReg]

Hard to determine exactly who is in the main team, but if we had an Australia A game this weekend. Mortlock, Mitchell, Brown, Baxter not available.

15 Mark McLinden
14 Francis Fainifo
13 Timana Tahu
12 Tyrone Smith
11 Lote Tuqiri
10 Daniel Halangahu
9 Brett Sheehan
8 Stephen Hoiles
7 Julian Salvi
6 Ben Mowen
5 Will Caldwell
4 Tom Hockings
3 Guy Shepherdson
2 Sean Hardman ???
1 Ben Daley

16 Huia Edmonds
17 Sekope Kepu
18 Mitchell Chapman
19 Scott Higginbottham
20 Ben Lucas
21 Gene Fairbanks
22 Alfi Mafi (is Nick Cummins still injured?)

 

[cyclopath]

Could be a handy backline if they got some ball - Fainifo, Smith, McLinden and Tahu.
Caldwell, Mowen and Salvi are honest toilers. Maybe play Lucas rather than Angry-Pills Sheehan?
If the U-20s were not on, To'omua might be worth a go too.

 

[louie]

10 Daniel Halangahu
is laughable

 

[RugbyReg]

10 Daniel Halangahu
is laughable

not overly. Solid enough considering he is ranked behind the unavailable:

1 Giteau
2 Barnes
3 Cooper
4 Beale ?
5 Lealiifano
6 To'omua

So 7th? I guess you could play Lucas there and Holmes on the bench.

 

[formeropenside]

I'd be happy with Hardman at 2 - I don't know why he gets singled out for a question. I'd have no qualms starting Hardman in a test match, if TPN and Moore were both unavailable. He wont win you a game single handed like those guys can, but he wont lose it either.

I would be tempted to play Lucas at 10.

It gets interesting when you lose a 30 man squad, some injuries (Genia, MMM, Ioane etc) and a bunch of players to U-20's.

Also, I'm not sure I would start Hoiles. Depends who it is up against though - if its a PI side, sure. If its the Maori or Jnr AB's, Hoiles is not really suited to that style of play.

 

[barbarian]

I'd play Wykes ahead of Hockings. Other than that it seems a fair side to me.

 

[RugbyReg]

I'd be happy with Hardman at 2 - I don't know why he gets singled out for a question. I'd have no qualms starting Hardman in a test match, if TPN and Moore were both unavailable. He wont win you a game single handed like those guys can, but he wont lose it either.

I would be tempted to play Lucas at 10.

It gets interesting when you lose a 30 man squad, some injuries (Genia, MMM, etc) and a bunch of players to U-20's.

Also, I'm not sure I would start Hoiles. Depends who it is up against though - if its a PI side, sure. If its the Maori or Jnr AB's, Hoiles is not really suited to that style of play.

re Hardman, only questioned because no one really knows if he's retired or not.
re Hoiles, fair call, but does that mean Houston? Or would you move Mowen there. Probably not a bad alternative.

 

[Pfitzy]

5 Lealiifano
6 To'omua

For running a backline I wouldn't put either of these two ahead of Halangahu. He may not pull the odd flashy play that they can but he'd make a hell of a lot less mistakes. This is international rugby, not bloody park footy.

 

[Thomond78]

Go blow it out your fucking arse, Tony, there's no fucking "A" at the start of Straya. Or even in Victoria...

 

[Lee Grant]

10 Daniel Halangahu
is laughable

Disagree, but to be fair to you, you obviously missed the 3 Tahs Super14 games in the RSA at the end of the season.

 

[louie]

10 Daniel Halangahu
is laughable

not overly. Solid enough considering he is ranked behind the unavailable:

1 Giteau
2 Barnes
3 Cooper
4 Beale ?
5 Lealiifano
6 To'omua

So 7th? I guess you could play Lucas there and Holmes on the bench.

did occur to me you only picked available.

beale not at fly.
lealiifano is fair more cutting. and put in some great gmaes this year. not as bad as most think he is. one to watch.

10 Daniel Halangahu
is laughable

Disagree, but to be fair to you, you obviously missed the 3 Tahs Super14 games in the RSA at the end of the season.

i saw them. he's solid but you need more.