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Wallaby 31 players for 2015 RWC

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Tomikin

David Codey (61)
B'Man Kepu is listed as a workrate type usually, maybe for a THP. He is a genuine linebender and probably one of the best running THPs around.

I'd have to honestly say moving forward Timani may well be an option at 8. I can't see him as a long term lock option. In fact Timani at 8 would allow four very good lineout options or 3 with Skelton.

What is this I hear about Timani being a very good lineout options, I thought they don't throw to him at the lineout, mostly cos he has tit's for hands (I assume)
 

Highlander35

Steve Williams (59)
Timani doesn't take many if any lineouts. Jones and Higgers take about 80% of the throws, McMahon takes most of what's left with Reid and Colby cleaning up the scraps.
 

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
I'd have to honestly say moving forward Timani may well be an option at 8. I can't see him as a long term lock option. In fact Timani at 8 would allow four very good lineout options or 3 with Skelton.


Timani has taken 3 lineouts all season.

He's not even the fourth choice lineout catcher at the Rebels. That's generally their 7.
 

Groucho

Greg Davis (50)
And that's exactly the fault in Cheika's coaching which may very well be the Wallabies biggest downfall.

I think Phipps is Australia's best 9. I also have been very critical of Genia and would not take him to the RWC.

But for the Wallabies perform the best, they need to play the style that makes best use and gets the best results from the best talent available. Whoever they may be, and however they may play.

If Cheika is to rigid to change to suit the 31 blokes in the squad, how is it reasonable for him to expect multiple players to change to suit him? Or does he just select the players that suit him best, ignoring actual ability?

At the same time, I have been vocal in my support of Hooper as a better footballer than Pocock. Right now Pocock's playing a lot better and being more influential though, does Cheika just ignore that and go for Hooper because that suits himself best?

Is Austalian rugby going that well that you can afford to not make use of the best talent available?


It's not Cheika making those statements about picking players to play a particular style, but Internet posters. I think we need to damn Chieka for what he does, not what we think he will or won't do.

If he really does ignore the best talent in order to play a particular style of rugby, and that doesn't work, then the subsequent eCarnage wil probably be justified.

On the other hand, he has a tournament or two to win. We may be far from the best team in both. That might mean playing to a particular style, for straightforward reasons of game theory, in order to create a point of difference, and give ourselves a chance. It remains to be seen.
 
T

TOCC

Guest
Drew Mitchell has had some good games and some bad ones, and he has been dropped to the bench a few times this season as well.. Watching a highlights package will make any player look good... He is not the best Australian winger..

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Groucho

Greg Davis (50)
Drew Mitchell has had some good games and some bad ones, and he has been dropped to the bench a few times this season as well.. Watching a highlights package will make any player look good. He is not the best Australian winger..

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I think Speight at his best is our best winger, then daylight. But an inform Speight and Mitchell would be pretty darned good! We'd probably have the equal best back three.
 

Brumbieman

Dick Tooth (41)
B'Man Kepu is listed as a workrate type usually, maybe for a THP. He is a genuine linebender and probably one of the best running THPs around.

I'd have to honestly say moving forward Timani may well be an option at 8. I can't see him as a long term lock option. In fact Timani at 8 would allow four very good lineout options or 3 with Skelton.



Timani is a beast at scrum time. The Rebels scrum has been huge this year and he's been a massive part of the power coming from the engine room.
 

Brumbieman

Dick Tooth (41)
The other benefit of Mitchell, is that he's got a big boot.

If Speight is one wing and Folau FB, then the other winger must have a kicking game, especially if Foley and Phipps are the starting halves.

We will not be playing a game that relies on tactical kicking, but if we don't have more than one option we're fucked, and may as well not go.
 

ACT Crusader

Jim Lenehan (48)
My 31-Man Wallaby Squad (thoughts, concerns or players missing welcome)

1. James Slipper
2. Stephen Moore
3. Sekope Kepu
4. Will Skelton
5. James Horwill
6. David Pocock
7. Michael Hooper
8. Scott Higginbotham
9. Will Genia
10. Quade Cooper
11. Drew Mitchell
12. Matt To'omua
13. Tevita Kuridrani
14. Adam Ashley Cooper
15. Israel Folau
RESERVES
16. James Hanson
17. Ben Alexander
18. Scott Sio
19. Sam Carter (Depending on Injury)
20. Sean McMahon
21. Nick Phipps
22. Bernard Foley
23. Matt Giteau
REST OF SQUAD
24. Pek Cowan
25. Tatafu Polota-Nau
26. Rob Simmons/Adam Coleman/ Scott Fardy
27. Liam Gill
28. Nic White
29-31 out of: Christian Lealiifano, Kurtley Beale, James O'Connor, Samu Kerevi

Not sure there is a need to secure all of Pocock, Hooper and Gill in the 31. Especially if you also have McMahon in the squad, who against lesser opposition could probably cover openside off the bench.

Is Palu injured/goneski?
 

cyclopath

George Smith (75)
Staff member
The other benefit of Mitchell, is that he's got a big boot.

If Speight is one wing and Folau FB, then the other winger must have a kicking game, especially if Foley and Phipps are the starting halves.

We will not be playing a game that relies on tactical kicking, but if we don't have more than one option we're fucked, and may as well not go.
Have you watched Foley lately? His kicking is much improved on last year from hand - better distance, finding grass a lot. The Tahs don't kick for touch a lot, so hitting the space is what they need, and he's doing it more now. There's also To'omua most likely at 12.
But yeah, a member of the back 3 who can kick will be good, as long as they do the other stuff they have to.
 
T

TOCC

Guest
If Cheika were seriously considering Kerevi as a prospect he would need to bring him in for the Rugby Championship and invest some serious game time with him


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KOB1987

John Eales (66)
Agreed..I reckon on one hand he'd be busting to give him a go and on the other he'd be opting to save him for the EOYT with 2019 in his sights..
 

Dave Beat

Paul McLean (56)
Some thoughts, given there has often been talk about playing in the Northern Hemisphere.

I’d much rather bring our game to the NH and win our style, rather than trying to adapt to theirs. If we lose, lets lose playing good rugby.

The 91 RWC was extremely close because I think we didn’t play like we did all season – we put on some big scores that year, even our state sides did.

Were as,
The 99 World cup under McQueen we took our game plan and real rugby to the NH and scored plenty of trys.

Some may say we had better players, I say our game plan and approach to rugby was the winner that laid the results.
 

ljperk

Frank Row (1)
If there are any doubts about skeltons scrummaging then we shouldn't risk starting him (maybe give him a trial in TRC....) Pick the best srummaging lock as his replacement, if thats timani so be it, plenty of linout options in simmons, fardy and higgers/mcalman...
Kerevi is too much of a liability in defence imo...
 

barbarian

Phil Kearns (64)
Staff member
Were as,
The 99 World cup under McQueen we took our game plan and real rugby to the NH and scored plenty of trys.

Some may say we had better players, I say our game plan and approach to rugby was the winner that laid the results.

Well we beat South Africa in the semi, which was a tryless game dominated by penalties and drop goals. Then we scored two tries in the final, but it was hardly a free-flowing affair. In fact we kicked constantly.

The 1999 team played open rugby, but could also play the tight game when the circumstances required it. We need to have both strings to our bow as well.
.
 

Viking

Mark Ella (57)
Well we beat South Africa in the semi, which was a tryless game dominated by penalties and drop goals. Then we scored two tries in the final, but it was hardly a free-flowing affair. In fact we kicked constantly.

The 1999 team played open rugby, but could also play the tight game when the circumstances required it. We need to have both strings to our bow as well.
.


What we really need is Stephen Larkham playing flyhalf.
 

BDA

Jim Lenehan (48)
Re scrummaging, it's important to remember that the Wallabies scrum on its own feed has been quite good for the last couple of years. It's really on opposition feeds that we are struggling. As mentioned earlier, last year we really struggled to adapt to the northern hemisphere style of scrummaging where teams put the ball in the scrum and just push until they win a penalty. It requires us to scrum past the initial push and hold steady long enough to essentially force the attacking side to use it. That type of scrummaging is something you very rarely see in Southern Hemisphere scrummaging, even at TRC level. The only time you see it is on a 5 metre scrum and even then, the SH referees will only allow the scrum to stay stagnant for a few seconds before they require the attacking side to use it.

The Wallabies have generally looked unprepared for that type of scrummaging. They need to spend a lot of time working on scrummaging for long periods (10 seconds +) as a unit and not lose their shape.

I've noticed that Skelton has been much better this season in using his size and strength to offer a lot of power to the tahs scrum. However at the same time, the tahs scrum still hasn't looked the most solid unit at times and I'm concerned that Skelton may still struggle to hold his shape and body position when the wallabies are force to scrum for much longer periods. Only time will tell.
 

BDA

Jim Lenehan (48)
Well we beat South Africa in the semi, which was a tryless game dominated by penalties and drop goals. Then we scored two tries in the final, but it was hardly a free-flowing affair. In fact we kicked constantly.

You're correct regarding the low amount of tries. Althugh my memory of those two games (v SA and France) is that the wallabies were very good with ball in hand.
 
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