Tag Archives: wallabies

Wallabies Squad for the First Test: the Deans XV

June 20, 2013 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

Robbie Deans has this morning confirmed that the team for the first test against the British and Irish Lions will be:

Starting XV: Barnes, Folau, Ashley-Cooper, Leali'ifano, Ioane, O'Connor, Genia, Palu, Hooper, Mowen, Horwill, Douglas, Alexander, Moore, Robinson Reserves: Fainga'a, Slipper, Kepu, Simmons, Gill, Phipps, McCabe, Beale

First some credit where it is due: Christian Leali'ifano and Ben Mowen have been the form players in their positions all season and wholeheartedly deserve their selections to debut in Brisbane.

That is where my credit to the coach ends I am afraid. I am on the record elsewhere in this blog about the selection of Folau. Nothing has changed there: simply on form alone I do not believe he warrants selection. Add to the history of his joinder to rugby and the likelihood of him leaving rugby at the end of the year and my view is complete.

My other major objection to the selection of this team is its obvious lack of “battle” readiness. One would have expected that with the Super Rugby season nearly complete that the players selected for the Wallabies would be in such a state of readiness but it is clear from the amount of playing time they have had that they simply could not be. Take the following examples:

  • Berrick Barnes: 5 games for the Waratahs mainly off the bench. Has played in 152 minutes of top class rugby this season.
  • Kurtley Beale: 4 games for the Rebels but 3 of those were the first three games of the season and since then he has played 32 minutes of Super Rugby and two club games.
  • Wycliff Paul: 9 games for the Waratahs this season averaging 55 minutes per game.
  • Pat McCabe: 7 games for the Brumbies including 5 from the bench for an average of 30 minutes per game (that number is skewed by him having started in the Brumbies Round 17 clash against the Rebels when all of the other Wallabies players were excluded from playing).

More to the point, the Wallabies squad has not played a minute of rugby “in anger” since the end of May (Round 16 of Super Rugby). That means that by the time the team runs out on Saturday night it will be have been 21 days, at least, between competitive rugby games for the Wallabies players. In that time the British and Irish Lions squad has been tested with 5 games of rugby. Simply put: if readiness is what the Wallabies need they do not have it.

Finally, the slavish devotion that Robbie Deans has to not selecting Quade Cooper in this team obviously has lead to the decision to play Berrick Barnes at full back, a position that he has not started at for his franchise all season and has only played in 4 times in a Wallabies jumper. This team would have looked much better balanced with Cooper at fly half and O'Connor at the back for mine. Then again, to select the team that way, or even this way to be honest, is to ignore the standout claims of Jesse Mogg to the number 15 jumper. To select a player with limited playing time this year in a position he doesn't play instead of one of the rising stars of the game beggars belief.

Obviously, I want Australia to win. I want Australia to win every time an Australian team graces a court, pitch or ground. I have a real fear though that this Australian team has very little chance of doing so being as underdone as it is.

The Wallabies Squad: No Cooper … but that is not the biggest story!

May 21, 2013 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

On Sunday the Wallabies squad to meet the touring British and Irish Lions was announced. A squad of 25 with the prospect of a further 6 players being added after the end of the next two rounds of Super 15 action and after the Queensland Reds v Lions fixture on the eve of the test. Much comment in papers (kudos to the Courier Mail for immediately linking him to the Broncos) has been about Quade Cooper missing out and whilst I can not for a second believe he is not in the top 25 players in the country, having heard what Robbie Deans said on Triple M Brisbane, I concede there is a point to his non-selection. That’s right folks: I have found something Robbie Deans has done to agree with and that is that Q Cooper needs to take contact more and minimise his turnovers. It is not rocket science: I have been saying this on Twitter for months and having watched every second Cooper has played this season I am happy to consider myself in a position to comment.

That said, as the title of this post would suggest, I do not believe that Quade Cooper missing out on the squad is the biggest story coming out of its naming. The story that should have the focus of rugby journalists and fans alike is the selection of Israel Folau in favour of Jesse Mogg.

Before people jump all over me and suggest that my views here are just sour grapes because of my well publicized disdain for Folau’s turncoatary, I respectfully and wholeheartedly disagree. Again, I am in the fortunate position to have watched close to 90% of the game time that each of Folau and Mogg have played this season and it based on what I have seen that brings me to the view that I have reached: that the selection of Folau in favour of Mogg is just a travesty.

Let’s be honest here: Folau is a supremely talented athlete, of that fact there can be no denial. To have played with different measures of success all three of the oval ball codes in this country at the highest level is no mean feat. Indeed, save for Brad Thorne, I would be happy enough to suggest that there is probably no better oval ball athlete on the planet (lets wait until he has Thorne’s record before we crown a new king in that regard). The potential in him to be a brilliant rugby player and a mainstay of the Wallabies for years to come is certainly there: if he stays in the game. Therein lies part of the rub here: four seasons of rugby league (two with Melbourne and two with Brisbane), two seasons of AFL (including one in the lower grades) and now 10 games in Super Rugby are indicative of a mercenary looking for the next dollar rather than a committment to a code.

It would be easy here to simply say that Jesse Mogg is a different story, and less of a mercenary, given his history of playing rugby union at school and his selection in the Australia A Schools rugby union side. It would be wrong though to say that because he is a one code man he should get the first nod for this squad. The fact is that his path to the Brumbies was via rugby league and a contract with the Broncos for whom he played in the Toyota Cup.

It would also be easier here to say that Folau should not be selected having only played ten games of Super Rugby in advance of his selection but that would not really be true either given that Mogg is only one season advanced than him when it comes to Super Rugby time in the roll.

If it is not an experience problem and it is not because I think Folau is a mercenary then why then am I so adamant that Mogg ought to have been selected in this Wallabies squad in Folau’s place? It is simple really: I think at this point that Mogg is the better of the two players and at fullback gives more to a Wallabies outfit that looks likely to be short on attacking flair given the centres Robbie Deans has selected. If, as I expect, Folau is named as fullback for the first test then I think one can expect the backline to read something like this: Genia, O’Connor, Horne, Ashley-Cooper, Ioane, Cummins and Folau. If that is the backline selected then there is a glaring deficiency in the back three: the ability to kick for distance and for field position. Bizarrely for a former AFL player, Folau is not much of a kicker of the rugby ball and I don’t believe I have ever seen Ioane kick in general play. Such kicking is going to be vital in a team that will be have a “bash and barge” mentality in attack (again based on the list selected).

There can be no doubt that Folau is creative in attack but again I would countenance that would the position that so is Jesse Mogg. Indeed, anyone who can run 100m in less than 11 seconds as Mogg is alleged to have done in the off season and also throw a long pass like Mogg can must be considered to be an attacking weapon. I would question who is the better defender of the two as well: on the evidence I have seen I certainly would say that I would prefer to have Mogg as my last line of defence than Folau.

This is a test series against the Lions: it is going to be tough and it is going to be won by the best defensive team. Picking a player that is an attacking dynamo but is: learning the game, does not kick in general play and has defensive question marks strikes me as the wrong move when there is a player with equal attacking flair that will be sitting on the sidelines who is an exception kicker in general play and has the edge in defence.

Of course, it must be disclosed that there is a very real prospect that Folau will not play and is in the team for “experience around the group” (a favourite line of Cricket Australia selectors) which means that the O’Connor / Barnes combination at 10/15 beckons. Again, I would think that Jesse Mogg is a better answer at 15 than that combination but he is not in the squad.

My original premise, and the source of my original virulent anger at the exclusion of Mogg for Folau, for this blog was that it simply sends the wrong message to pick Folau after he has left two other codes, has not yet committed to this code and has only played a handful of games. Those are all reasons that could be used to suggest that Mogg ought to have been selected. However that misses the point and the real premise of this post: right now, in my opinion, Jesse Mogg is simply a better player than Israel Folau and that that ought be obvious to anyone who has watched as much of the Super Rugby season as I have.

Whilst Robbie Deans continues to not pick players in form or his “favourite” players (I am looking at you Messrs Timani and Dennis) or players with very limited playing time in Super Rugby this season (Barnes is at the top of that list) there is going to continue to be much angst from fans and pundits of the game. That is the right of a fan of the game. When you pierce through the anger though there also must be concerns around how we are going to win this series with the player group named. For me those concerns would be sated in a smallish way by the selection of Mogg for Folau.

On that note: back to the main story it seems … will Quade Cooper be in a Broncos jersey this season? Or will he be boxing?

Robbie Deans: are you serious? You must be and that is a travesty!

April 12, 2013 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , Leave a comment

Here is the 30 man squad chosen by Robbie Deans for the upcoming “team planning” session ahead of the Lions Tour:

Mogg, Folau, Ioane, Tomane, Ashley-Cooper, Tapuai, McCabe, Leali’ifano, Barnes, O’Connor, White, Genia, Palu, Auelua, Hooper, Gill, Dennis, Higginbotham, Mowen, Simmons, Horwill, Douglas, Timani, Palmber, Slipper, Alexander, Robinson, Sio, Moore, Polota Nau.

Are you kidding me Robbie Deans? They are the best 30 players in Australia right now? I assume that you must be serious otherwise you would not have selected these 30 players instead of significantly more qualified and in form players.

Some numbers to consider:

10: This is the number Waratahs in this squad. This from a team that has won 3 of 7 games this season with a net points differential of -38 points. Enough said!

7: This is the number of professional rugby union games played by Israel Folau. Somehow he is in the fullback / wing frame for the Wallabies. You can not tell me he is a better player AND is in better form than D Shipperley, M Inman or A Mafi.

25: This is the number of tackle busts for the season from Alfie Mafi. In a team struggling desperately in attack he has just been a standout. For some reason he is outside the top 30 players in the country.

Those numbers aside one of the most glaring travesties in this 30 man squad is the omission of James Hanson. Robbie Deans has gone with his old favourites in Stephen Moore, who has been playing off the bench, and Tatafu Polota Nau who is injured instead of a player in the form of his career who has stepped up to lead the Reds forward pack in the absence of much more storied and injured compatriots. What more did he need to do Mr Deans? Move to NSW seems to be the only thing he has not done!

Back row staples Dennis, Douglas and Timani get their customary call up again without any semblance of form and despite being in a forward pack that has been under-performed, outmuscled and out-enthused for the basically the whole season.

The positives in this team come from the selections of Brumbies Jesse Mogg, Christian Leali’ifano and Ben Mowen who wholeheartedly deserve their selections. However that is where the positives end.

On that note, I have one last number for you: 0. This is the number of test matches Australia will win against the Lions if Deans sticks with his plan of picking out of form players from under performing teams and rookies with little experience in top flight rugby.

The positive in that is the ripping up of Deans’ contract that must necessarily follow such a pasting. The obvious negative is the undervaluing of the Wallabies jersey with the selection of a sub par and out of form team.

Wallabies side to play Wales named: I am scratching my head

June 19, 2012 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , , , , 1 Comment

Here is the Wallabies side named to play Wales this Saturday in an afternoon fixture at the Sydney Football Stadium:

15. Kurtley Beale
14. Adam Ashley-Cooper
13. Rob Horne
12. Pat McCabe
11. Digby Ioane
10. Berrick Barnes
9. Will Genia
8. Wycliff Palu
7. David Pocock
6. Scott Higginbotham
5. Nathan Sharpe
4. Sitaleki Timani
3. Sekope Kepu
2. Tatafu Polota Nau
1. Benn Robinson

Reserves

16. Stephen Moore
17. Ben Alexander
18. Dave Dennis
19. Michael Hooper
20. Rob Simmons
21. Nic White
22. Anthony Faingaa

The return of Kurtley Beale is a welcome one.  That said I am scratching my head at two other changes to the team and one of the continued selections:

  1. In moving Rob Simmons to the bench, the Wallabies have demoted one of the most consistent performers in their forward pack from the last two test matches.  I do not know what is gained by demoting the guy for a replacement who does not bring anything additional to the table in terms of skills or presence around the field.  Equally, keeping Simmons on the bench is a bit perplexing when Dave Dennis can play both at lock and in the back row.  This move makes the team look a bit “forward heavy” on the reserves bench for mine.
  2. I can not understand why you would drop Mike Harris off the bench for an afternoon game when your first choice fly half has already been struggling with cramp? As simplistic at this sounds, if Barnes were to be incapacitated again I would have thought the security of having Harris on the bench would be comforting.  I concede that if Barnes goes off the obvious move is Beale to fly half, Ashley-Cooper to full back and Faingaa onto the wing however I am not sure I would keen to put Beale under that sort of pressure in his first game back after injury.
  3. Palu has been more of a liability than a positive in this test series and looks seriously short of a gallop for mine.  I can not understand why the Wallabies brains trust would not switch Higginbotham to number 8 and give Michael Hooper a start at number 6 and send Palu off for some fitness work before the Super 15 season restarts.  

Finally, to state the obvious the Waratahs are disproportionately represented in the team with 8 representatives which continues to show that Super 15 form seems to count for nothing.  Equally I am not all that displeased that the two contending teams in the Australian Super 15 conference (Reds and Brumbies) are not as at risk as they might have been to injury for the final 3 rounds of that competition as they would have been if form was a selection criteria.

Selection imbroglios aside, it will be a fascinating third test on Saturday.