i agree that Cooper is not at his best, but didn't play that badly last week and he has significantly more upside than foley.
I keep hearing this. The problem is, while it may be true, its not being demonstrated. He had a flick pass that came off tonight. Besides that, he ran laterally, a lot.
Hopefully To'omua's back next week, and I would start Speight..
I wouldn't be risking To'omua's health two weeks after failing a concussion test like that, when he has a recent history, does he not?
Pfitzy's player summaries:
Slipper - poor bastard looks broken. Give him a Test off.
Moore - good captaincy. Probably not as involved running the ball as I'd like
Holmes - bit of a pot plant game from him. Held his side up well but not much else to speak of
Simmons - great steal to nullify what could have been a certain maul try from the Pumas. Cleared a couple of rucks well. Solid performance everywhere except the scrum where he wasn't able to hold his side.
Skelton - some rank stupidity mixed in with excellent play. Threatened the gain line consistently, even when he was taken low, his momentum would still roll him on a couple of yards.
Fardy - got into the niggle and produced some good turnovers. Hope his ankle pulls up well.
Pocock - MOTM of course, though like all our forwards was threatened by the step and jink of Argentina's speedy backs. Great game, making a case for him starting in the trenches
McCalman - I really can't understand why, when we were getting cleaned up by an umbrella defence, we didn't start using BennyMac to blow holes in around the ruck. He had a couple of carries where he was disposing of some big humans with relative ease, but we couldn't capitalise. I'd start him against the ABs
Phipps - couple of bad passes, couple of uncharacteristic misses on defence, but also made some great front-on tackles and got the ball away swiftly on most occasions. Not sure about the box kicks. Its not his thing, really.
Foley - one of those bad nights with the boot. Played the "enabler" role well overall, but really needs to fix that plant foot routine if he's going to be at 10 come RWC time. His hands for TK's try were great.
Tomane - good winger's try, but his option taking and communication on defence worries me when presented with multiple attackers. He never seems to take an option, and always looks dithery. I understand him running backwards in a 2 on 1, but in a 4 on 1 (as he was unfortunately exposed to) you need to pick a target and smash him, and trust the cover defence.
To'omua - fuck
Kuridrani - not quite as involved this week due to a lack of To'omua, but supported well and put in some good tackling. You'd think a bloke his size could get the shoulder in harder but the threat of the step seemed to give him pause. Goood try.
AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) - missed some tackles, got skirted on occasion - our outside backs communication really was poor this game, looking from my armchair.
Folau - silly penalty in-goal on the Argie player, but otherwise threatening around the park.
BENCH
TPN - great minutes at the end, particularly scrum leadership
Sio - I think could get a start against the ABs if he trains hard enough. Can scrum, dynamic around the park
Kepu - came on, contributed to the scrum
Mumm - sparky bench run replacing Fardy, but it hasn't sold me on him yet
Hooper - again, missed tackles, but when he latches on he drives blokes back. Some nice hands in the try too. Great reactions.
White - actually put in some decent passes to help finish the game off
Cooper - he'll not want to watch that one again. It was a bit up and down, but mostly down, capped by the YC
Beale - two touches, two try involvements. That's all well and good, but his role as Mr Fixit won't necessarily work when there is a tight game at hand.
