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Rugby Championship 2025: South Africa v Australia

Wilson

Tim Horan (67)
As good as it would be to see Wilson slot in there, Kellaway and White are the coverage at 10:
Schmidt confirmed Andrew Kellaway and Nic White will serve as playmaker cover behind the returning James O’Connor after an innocuous kick in the second-last play of training caused an injury to Donaldson.

...

“We've only been back from training for about an hour so he will get a scan now and we'll have a definitive picture because we need to know for next week as well whether we need more cover.

“Nic White can cover ten and is astute enough to do so, Andrew Kellaway has the skill set as well if we go with what we've got at the moment.”
 

KOB1987

John Eales (66)
The disappointment to me is the absence of LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto) (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto). I thought his recent form was worthy of a bench spot to continue the work of Skelton in the second half.

The biggest concern I have otherwise is with JOC (James O'Connor) (James O'Connor)'s ability to see out a large part of the game, maybe even the whole game if another 10 isn't added before the game. Given his age and very restricted game time this year, I am fearful he is at high risk of injury forcing an early departuere from the field.
On your first point, he said of Edmed that their MO is to have new players train with the squad for a week before putting them in the match day squad, so it's probably reasonable to assume they are taking the same stance with LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto). On your second point, I think we all have the same concern and I think it's highly likely we'll see a change announced after the captain's run - he needed to name a team and given the spontaneity of Donno's injury he hadn't quite worked out what the best coverage would be.
 

Upthemaroon!

Chris McKivat (8)
I bloody love the crazy mind games Rassie started in test match footy. I don't think Schmidt has a deeper motive behind naming the 6-2, but my first thought was: "Is CdC or Langi about to have a warm up injury and swap Tane in to make it a 5-3 again and putting Rassie on the backfoot?"

Keen for the game!
 
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stillmissit

Jim Lenehan (48)
I have been banging this drum for a while but it will be hard to win if we revert to our outmoded D by lord laurie. McRight et al will need to be at the top of their games, as will the clean out pods or the turnovers will kill us.
Nick Bishop stated on RP said "In Joe we may trust, but it is getting harder by the game to trust the outmoded defensive system he oversees.
 

fatprop

Nathan Sharpe (72)
Staff member
It makes more sense with Donno injured, but the idea of White or Kellaway stepping in is a brave move and a sad highlight of our lack of depth and the lack of confidence they have in Edmed. He has been in and out of camp all year

We can assume JOC (James O'Connor) will be underplaying and looking preserve himself, whilst the Boks will be looking for him, especially if he is isolated on kick receipt
 

stillmissit

Jim Lenehan (48)
It makes more sense with Donno injured, but the idea of White or Kellaway stepping in is a brave move and a sad highlight of our lack of depth and the lack of confidence they have in Edmed. He has been in and out of camp all year

We can assume JOC (James O'Connor) (James O'Connor) will be underplaying and looking preserve himself, whilst the Boks will be looking for him, especially if he is isolated on kick receipt
HI FP, didn't know Donalson was injured. Edmed at 15 would have been a different kettle of fish!
This is high risk stuff against a team where you need to have key positions covered. Kellaway at 10? The Bokke would love that.
I don't think it is lack of depth (quality yes) but having the amount of injuries is a real worry. I wonder how our injury stats compare to others.
 

Hogan

Ward Prentice (10)
I'm picking a blown calf for JOC (James O'Connor) (James O'Connor) in the 25th min when he has gone past his season average for mins. Tate to slot in at 10 and further become a utility after his impressive stint on the Wing.
It will end in tears. Playing at altitude, JOC (James O'Connor) will be lucky to see out the first half. His original selection is a mystery to me (prior to Donaldson getting injured). Surely now is the time to be giving our young playmakers as much time as possible in the driver’s seat in preparation for the WC in ‘27. Games like these against the world champions provide invaluable experience for them moving forward.
 

Major Tom

John Solomon (38)
It will end in tears. Playing at altitude, JOC (James O'Connor) (James O'Connor) will be lucky to see out the first half. His original selection is a mystery to me (prior to Donaldson getting injured). Surely now is the time to be giving our young playmakers as much time as possible in the driver’s seat in preparation for the WC in ‘27. Games like these against the world champions provide invaluable experience for them moving forward.
Hard one when we’re trying to win games to help our pool seedings.
Highly unlikely we’d win this game with any of our 10s anyways.
Who do we even throw in there? Tane? HMP? Merrideth? Bowen? Creighton? All of those names would struggle against the Boks in SA and is that the best experience letting them get pumped? Yes and no.
 

stillmissit

Jim Lenehan (48)
It will end in tears. Playing at altitude, JOC (James O'Connor) (James O'Connor) will be lucky to see out the first half. His original selection is a mystery to me (prior to Donaldson getting injured). Surely now is the time to be giving our young playmakers as much time as possible in the driver’s seat in preparation for the WC in ‘27. Games like these against the world champions provide invaluable experience for them moving forward.
If we had a few outstanding prospects who had shown something in Super Rugby, but I don't think we do. Bowen shows some class but he's not done enough to demand anything so far. I do think his time will come. If we can hold onto him and other talented players.
 

whitefalcon

Phil Hardcastle (33)
I have been banging this drum for a while but it will be hard to win if we revert to our outmoded D by lord laurie. McRight et al will need to be at the top of their games, as will the clean out pods or the turnovers will kill us.
Nick Bishop stated on RP said "In Joe we may trust, but it is getting harder by the game to trust the outmoded defensive system he oversees.
We appeared to adjust this to be far less passive in the third test. It wasn't a rush defence but we had far more line speed and it looked far more effective.
 
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