Australia v New Zealand - Sydney 16 Aug

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Hooker is a tough one Gaffa and a position that I'm now really worried about. Heart says Charles and I'm sure he'll get plenty of game time regardless. Against the Saffers it'll be heart in mouth against BdP and especially the throwing against that excellent line out of theirs.

 

[Train Without a Station]

Hanson missed a lot of the pre-season due to injury. That was why Saia toured of him last year.

Now he is fully fit, as opposed to when you are comparing about 6-8 weeks ago when he wasn't.

I personally think a fully fit (both injury wise, and aerobically) Hanson is a better Hooker for us than Hanson is.

 

[Nusadan]

Hanson missed a lot of the pre-season due to injury. That was why Saia toured of him last year.

Now he is fully fit, as opposed to when you are comparing about 6-8 weeks ago when he wasn't.

I personally think a fully fit (both injury wise, and aerobically) Hanson is a better Hooker for us than Hanson is.

?????

 

[BDA]

1 Slipper
2 Hansen
3 Kepu
4 Simmons
5 Carter
6 Fardy
7 Hooper (c)
8 Palu
9 White
10 Foley
11 AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper)
12 To'omua
13 Kuridrani
14 Horne
15 Folau

16 Charles
17 Sio
18 Alexander
19 Skelton/Horwill? - not sure
20 McCalman
21 Phipps
22 Beale
23 McCabe

 

[Train Without a Station]

Apologies. Hanson is a better hooker than Charles in my view. A fully fit Hanson anyway.

 

[FrankLind]

Aside from home advantage, where do you guys see your edge over the ABs?

I am thinking Hooper is better. Fardy better at turnovers than Kaino, Palu more powerful than Read, Folau is better in the air than Ben Smith.
But for the injury, I would have said your hookers are better.

 

[Bowside]

I think the team picks itself apart from Horne v Tomane for the wing spot and Charles v Hanson for starting Hooker.

I would pick Skelton on the bench.

 

[Pfitzy]

Aside from home advantage, where do you guys see your edge over the ABs?

I am thinking Hooper is better. Fardy better at turnovers than Kaino, Palu more powerful than Read, Folau is better in the air than Ben Smith.
But for the injury, I would have said your hookers are better.

Yeah its a different balance - the 6 and 8 power versus finesse game probably cancel each other out as you've stated.

Hooper isn't the fetcher than McCaw was, but McCaw isn't the player he was at his peak either. Plus the game has moved on from 7s being specialist turnover merchants.

Loss of Carter = Loss of TPN in my opinion.

Our backline looks strong as always, but again you're talking balance of each side there.

Now that I think about it, the whole thing is pretty bloody even...

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

I can't think of any area where we have a clear advantage over the AB's (assuming TPN is absent), though we match up better now than we have in several years. I do think, however, that we have more room to improve and that if that improvement continues we could be ahead of them in 12 months. I'll be very disappointed if we don't beat them at least once this year.

 

[Braveheart81]

I think our weaknesses are less obvious now and that's the big change in how we match up.

Slipper and Kepu's improvement should mean that our front row is far more competitive rather than an achilles heel.

Our forward seems far more capable of muscling up and competing physically than they did a year or two ago.

 

[FrankLind]

I feel we are a lot better at lock than you guys.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

I'd go along with that BH. The pack has stepped up in recent times and looks ready to give us the go forward we need. Guys like Fardy, Slipper and Carter really provide that muscle (and mongrel) that I've felt we've lacked against some of the better teams. If they keep improving at their present rate I think we'll have very good pack towards the back half of this year and into the next.

 

[Braveheart81]

I feel we are a lot better at lock than you guys.

We're renaming our guys Carterlock and Simmonslock to help tip the scales back in our favour.

But in all seriousness, Retallick has been incredible this year and him and Whitelock are easily in the top few locks in the world.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

I feel we are a lot better at lock than you guys.

At present, yep. We've got some young locks coming through who look like they could be very handy and I'm happy with that at the moment.

 

[Ruggo]

Phipps can go right into the 9 jersey for mine. Not only has he been on fire but there is also a degree of common sense in keeping his combination with Foley intact.

Higgers at current shouldn't be on the bench over McCalman.

I also like McCabe on the wing before Horne or Tomane.

 

[Set piece magic]

Is McCabe fast? His defense is brilliant and there won't be any fuckups with him there

 

[Braveheart81]

Is McCabe fast? His defense is brilliant and there won't be any fuckups with him there

McCabe is pretty quick and certainly looks faster this year than previously.

He's certainly faster than Horne and I'd guess he would be quicker than most of our backline.

I reckon our fastest players in the squad over 30-40m are probably Speight, Tomane, McCabe, Foley, Beale.

 

[FilthRugby]

I really like Horne at 11.

However, with an outrageously good All Blacks lineout, the best throwing option must be utilised.

I'd go with Charles over Hanson if TPN is out.

 

[Viking]

I think our weaknesses are less obvious now and that's the big change in how we match up.

This is a very good point IMO. The AB had a pretty good list of weaknesses to attack in the past which I feel has significantly got smaller. The use of the high ball and kick returns being a big one.

 

[BDA]

I tend to think Hansen would fit into the set piece better, given that he spends all year throwing to Simo and packing down next to Slipper. I've never played hooker so I really don't know if those types of combinations assist, but I would think there would be slight advantages in those combinations. It will be those slight advantages that will be needed against the blacks.