Everyone agrees that the Wallabies showed an impressive level of grit against South Africa last Saturday. So is the team now set, or are there improvements on selection to be made?
I believe there are small but important changes to made: 1) I’m gobsmacked Staniforth wasn’t on the bench for the test in Cape Town. Is he injured? He can cover anything from 11 to 14 and gives us the option of having Giteau at 10. I believe we should actually be giving this set up the odd run-out to a) see how off the pace Larkham is and b) get ready for Larkham’s injury. Ashley-Cooper simply doesn’t give the same options. 2) Chisholm vs Hoiles as first replacement 6. Wrong choice. Keep Chisholm on the bench ’till the end to cover whole back row and second row. Hoiles could have really made a difference on Sat, Chisholm is just tall timber. Otherwise what we’ve got is what we’ve got. Let’s build on from last Saturday, rather than throw the baby out out with the bathwater.
Tags: australia, mark chisolm, rugby union, selection, staniforth, steven hoiles, Wallabies
Matt a.k.a Gagger or GAGR (short for GreenAndGoldRugby, not a fetish)
Matt started G&GR just before the 2007 Rugby World Cup and has been enslaved ever since. You can follow him on Twitter here http://www.twitter.com/Matt_Gagger 
Whilst I think giteau is a great player he is best at no.12 so why would we put him in 10 when we still havevthe best aussie fly-half Lakham. I agree staniforth is a versitile player but thats noy enough to be up there. Yes maybe bench, but apart from that.
Hi Amy,
I agree, as long as Larkham is a) not injured and b) on form. I’m not sure we can bank on either at the moment, which is why I reckon we need to blood the Giteau(10)/Staniforth(12) combo as a backup (not replacement).
At the very least Staniforth should be on the bench.
cheers
Matt