"Yeah, yeah, experience blah, blah....yawn"
The Wallaby team to play Ireland at Croke Park on Sunday has been announced. The only change from last Saturdays pom thrashers is David Pocock taking George Smith’s spot in the run on team.
No doubt this will stoke all the “Smith being past it” talk. I think it’s more of a case of the old head being better suited at the business end, and the young legs for the pace at the start. A nice situation for Robbie to find himself in.
The team
15. Adam Ashley-Cooper (Brumbies)
14. Peter Hynes (Queensland Reds)
13. Digby Ioane (Queensland Reds)
12. Quade Cooper (Queensland Reds)
11. Drew Mitchell (NSW Waratahs)
10. Matt Giteau (Brumbies)
9. Will Genia (Queensland Reds)
8. Wycliff Palu (NSW Waratahs)
7. David Pocock (Western Force)
6. Rocky Elsom (Brumbies, captain)
5. Mark Chisholm (Brumbies)
4. James Horwill (Queensland Reds)
3. Ben Alexander (Brumbies)
2. Stephen Moore (Brumbies)
1. Benn Robinson (NSW Waratahs)
Run on reserves:
16. Tatafu Polota Nau (NSW Waratahs)
17. Matt Dunning (Western Force)
18. Dean Mumm (NSW Waratahs)
19. George Smith (Brumbies)
20. Luke Burgess (NSW Waratahs)
21. Ryan Cross (Western Force)
22. James O’Connor (Western Force)
Tags: david pocock, George Smth
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i think this may be warranted after george’s off game and the work that pocock did in his cameo. having said that, i don’t think george is past it at all. just slightly off at the moment and you have to go with the best form. and right now that’s pocock. this is a big match, and i’m looking forward to seeing how he fairs.
Ditto.
Must be my shortest post ever.
I like it how you agree but don’t give Newb a thumbs up. you stingy bastard, right now he’s sitting on zero, lets see how many he gets now i’ve said this.
See how many thumbs up NEWB can get!
you work wonders bobas. i even had to give myself one in a tribute to yourself.
by the way, i think 4 may be a record for me already!
ok, seriously? 15! how many of those are you bobas? fess up!
if i could give you that many, wouldn’t i give them to myself?
it doesn’t let you do more than 1 for each comment.
And its 16
Agree 100%. You must select players on form. I am a huge fan of Smith’s, but thought most areas of his play last week were below par.
In saying that, we need players like him in the breakdown, in fact Australia need to commit more players both to the breakdown and to support play when the gain line has been broken. Go Aussie.
I think it’s right to select on form, but i don’t think george was that bad on sat. I feel he was due for a big one. Hope pockock does well tho,
Something else to chat about.
http://www.rugby.com.au/news/super_14_2010/melbourne_appointed_as_15th_super_rugby_team,135013.html/section/21893
Seems our fortune is changing all over.
Excellent decision. I knew David Kirk was good for something.
Pocock was way too high at the tackle contest at last start and therefore ineffective. Worked hard but low result.
George needs people to appreciate him – great player. Maybe his defensive rushes v England were part of an umbrella defence plan.
good points, sir. i also thought that george looked worse than he actually was, especially with a few missed tackles. runners went right around him, but he was never really a chance to make the tackle anyway because of his position out of the line and moving forward. if it was part of a plan, fair enough. if not, it was just poor positioning and he knows better.
moody was effective, which wasn’t all george’s fault since the forwards need to work as a group at the breakdown. but i do put some of that on him as he should be able to counter his opposite number.
but still, i think he’s a great player and will be back in true monster form.
At the risk of sounding controversial. George has not been the player he was for some time. Consistanly outplayed by McCaw, Brussow and Burger for the past 2-3 seasons. Poor last week and Moody well and truly got the better of him.
Time for a changing of the gaurd !!
Pah!
THUMBS DOWN. rugby isn’t a 1 on 1 contest, I’m sick of people making out it is 15 one on one contests.
Just cos we lose and the breakdown statistics are poor it doesn’t mean mean George Smith is being outplayed by his opposite number.
Highest thumbs wins hillston hog.
What it means is the other team (all 15 of them, 16 in some cases) did better in that aspect of the game and Australia was outplayed AS A TEAM.
George is a legend and has been a one man band for years in a relatively weak team (when compared to SA & ABs). He has by no means been outplayed by these guys. Individual effort, he’s still top shelf.
Bring back
BuckGeorge…..Let pocock fall, the guy is riding on a reputation he has never lived up to in any situation. Gorge is miles ahead and will be even when he retires.
its about time Pocock actual did something to contribute to a winning team, the guy picks his spots to shine and hangs around the ruck doing little to nothing for the other 99% of the time~
good thing about being young at the moment in the wallaby set up is, if you do something good, your instantly rewarded, while if you do something bad, its cause your learning, good thing the older guys arnt judged the same otherwise the y0oungsters would be revealed to be shit!
Clearly Dingo sees something the rest of us cannot. That is not to say Bam Bam isn’t a good player, but he just doesn’t seem to have the impact Smith does.
Moody may have gotten the better of Smith last weekend however there was no decernable difference when Pocock took over at no.7
if things are tight in the last quarter and all of a sudden george smith comes on against my team, it would make his presence much much more intimidating.
i like dingo using george smith as an impact player and i don’t think it’s because he’s out of it. pocock’s work rate is awesome and i see the logic in him being placed as the starting no.7, which adds size along with palu and rocky.
I like the Bam Bam cos he reminds me of myself and how i used to play. George Smith is good, but he’s no DEANS.
Mmmm, just forgetting about who is the better of the two for the moment, I think it was very savvy to rotate them.
Didn’t you notice the south African reffing this one? I think they’re keeping smith on the bench so he doesn’t get penalised for pilfering early on. Bam bam isn’t as mouthy and ball hungry, he’ll ruck but not cheat. It’s the plan against the ref don’t you think?
btw, I am tipping the French Samoans and Aussies tonight…and rooting for Italy!!
The italians don’t need any help with rooting.