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Wallabies world cup squad selection

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Dumbledore

Dumbledore

Dick Tooth (41)
I reckon Mitch Inman would be more than useful at 12. Massive unit, don't think he's quite got the speed to play 13 at international level.
 
vidiot

vidiot

John Solomon (38)
Bruce Ross said:
This is the era of the 100kg+ inside centre with players like Hape of England, Jauzion of France, Sgarbi of Italy, Nonu and Williams of New Zealand, Morrison of Scotland and de Villiers of South Africa.

I'll go out on a limb and say it. We need a big workhorse 12 in the Wallaby squad and there is only one in Australia.
Click to expand...

Are we back to the second messiah - Higgenbotham - again already?:eek:

Seriously, IMO on form Tom Carter is first choice, but my understanding is that our backline needs a 1st, 2nd, 3rd and probably a 4th 5/8.

ok, that last bit is not serious so much as sarcastic.
 
Dumbledore

Dumbledore

Dick Tooth (41)
The WC backline will be:

9. Genia
10. Cooper
12. Barnes
13. AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper)
11. Mitchell
14. JOC (James O'Connor)
15. Beale

If Ioane gets unbroken then I can see things starting to shuffle around. I also dig what Konze (I think) was saying earlier, about horses for courses. Obviously it's not always applicable, but if it's pouring and windy then surely Gerrard, for example, has to at least be looked at.
 
Dumbledore

Dumbledore

Dick Tooth (41)
If we do get struck down with injuries, could end up with some interesting selections. Think in the forwards, a second string pack could look something like

1. Alexander
2. Moore
3. Palmer
4. Douglas
5. Simmonds
6. McCalman
7. Hodgson
8. Vaea

We're not without options...
 
DPK

DPK

Peter Sullivan (51)
Couldn't Kepu sneak into a second string pack? I'm not sold on the "new" Kepu.
 
BDA

BDA

Peter Johnson (47)
I wouldn't be changing the backline around much. The backline last year looked as good as ever. was probably the premiere backline in world rugby, second only possibly to the blacks, although I felt as though our outside backs out-shown theirs considerably. Coopers offers us something in attack that no other flyhalf does. Even if his defence is poor, his positives for us far outweigh his negative. I think Deans is happy with his combination next to Barnes. Barnes play like a 100kg plus centre. He is solid in attack and defense.

I think the idea of fighting fire with fire is a lost cause and deans knows that. He's not trying to play the most intimidating backine because he doesn't have players to fit the mold. He can however play most skillful backline, which is what he's been doing and it has worked well so far.
 
vidiot

vidiot

John Solomon (38)
Agreed to a point, but...

We weren't that good. We came second in a three horse race, got smacked repeatedly by the ABs until a dead rubber in HK, and were
(at best) unconvincing on the EOYT until the frogs.
 
Hawko

Hawko

Tony Shaw (54)
If Palu is still healthy at the end of the Super comp along with TPN, there'll be a lot less discussion on whether our pack is up to it or not. We got hammered by the Saders on Friday but that was an almost AB pack doing what AB packs do well. I want to see another six to eight weeks of Super form before we decide who will or won't win us the world cup.
 
BDA

BDA

Peter Johnson (47)
but dont forget Cooper was suspended for our first two games against the all blacks last year. the first was a shambles, and the second we lacked creativity. The reason we were average in the EOYT was more down to our forward pack than our backs IMO.
 
Ruggo

Ruggo

Mark Ella (57)
RugbyReg said:
Hmmm, I was thinking Anthony Fainga'a.
Click to expand...

He does have a better skill set than the other bloke. I hate the thought of the other blokes very limited passing game killing off the opportunity for those very exciting outside backs.
 
Groucho

Groucho

Greg Davis (50)
Bruce Ross said:
This is the era of the 100kg+ inside centre with players like Hape of England, Jauzion of France, Sgarbi of Italy, Nonu and Williams of New Zealand, Morrison of Scotland and de Villiers of South Africa.

I'll go out on a limb and say it. We need a big workhorse 12 in the Wallaby squad and there is only one in Australia.
Click to expand...

Scott Higginbotham!
 
fatprop

fatprop

George Gregan (70)
Staff member
RugbyReg said:
Hmmm, I was thinking Anthony Fainga'a.
Click to expand...

If we want bigger talented athletic centres, this week I would have AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) and Iaone as 12/13s

9 Genia/Burgess - my jury is still out
10 Barnes
11 Mitchell
12 AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) - he has had limited time there, but looked good, he makes the gain line easily and is an excellent defender
13 Iaone
14 JOC (James O'Connor)
15 Beale
 
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