Pick your Wallabies side to play England in June
Roar Pro
By Bondiplage, 10 Mar 2010 The Crowd is a Roar Pro
- Tagged:
- England, Rugby Union, wallabies
Australian Wallabies halfback Will Genia (bottom right) passes the ball during the team training session in Brisbane, Friday, Sept. 4, 2009. The Wallabies play South Africa in their Tri-Nations match at Suncorp Stadium tomorrow. AAP Image/Dave Hunt
On June 12, the Wallabies go up against England at Subiaco in Perth and a week later at ANZ Stadium in Sydney.
This time England will be sending their best as they’ll want southern hemisphere experience in preparation for the Rugby World Cup.
As of this date, with a game against Scotland coming up, and France a week after that, England and its fans are in somewhat of an uproar. Things are so dour at Twickenham that they’re thinking of recalling Tindall, whom many people think was always too slow for international rugby. And Wilko doesn’t seem to be able to run the line, not that he has much to work with.
The Wallabies will want to rock England in advance of the World Cup, so even though it’s three months til the first of the two June tests, let’s have your picks for the Wallaby 15 best suited to dump England. And be adventurous with your bench picks – there’s a lot of young talent out there.
So, who are you picking?
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- Explore:
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Katipo said | March 10th 2010 @ 12:17am | Report comment
I’m hoping someone will still be watching. Give this a read…
http://www.sbs.com.au/sport/blog/single/116722/Crouch,-touch,-pause,-ENRAGED!%3Cbr%3E
Banger said | March 10th 2010 @ 2:50am | Report comment
1. Robinson
2. Moore
3. Alexander
4. Horwill
5. Chisholm
6.Elsom
7.Pocock
8.Palu
9.Genia
10.Cooper
11.Hynes
12.Giteau
13.Mortlock
14.Ioane
15. AAC
TPN, Daly, Sharpe, Mumm / Brown, Barnes, O’Connor, Morahan.
Think that the forwards just about pick themselves. The backs and the bench is another matter, Decided to keep the reds combination in the halves and move gits back to inside centre. However they can swap as they like. Don’t mind fielding the two small playmakers with all of the size and pace of the other four backs. I think that this backline would be able to best utilise the latest rule interpretations.
The bench is where the retirement of george smith really hurts, as waugh is just not up to it anymore. Thats why it would come down to one of Mumm, brown or hodgson for the backrow reserve
Justin said | March 10th 2010 @ 8:07am | Report comment
Thats a decent side. I think I would go with
1 BR
2 TPN
3 BA
4 NS
5 Not sure, someone please stand up!
6 RE
7 DP
8 WP
9 WG
10 QC
11 DI
12 MG
13 AAC
14 PH
15 CS
Bench – Moore, Daley, Chisholm, Hodgson, Kingi, JOC, Turner
Some question marks over some current players so far this year.
Barnes has done nothing, Mortlock looks down a few pegs (I hope he can regain his rampage). If not AAC finally plays 13 foreer more (best tackling busting centre we have (DI is a winger, poor hands and decisions in defence rule him out of 13).
Hopefully Cam Shepherd gets on the park and plays well again.
Plenty of question marks this far out but I think its a form side not a name side.
Red Rooster said | March 10th 2010 @ 5:31am | Report comment
Banger – Horwill is out for 9 months but the rest of it looks ok Lock depth is thin
Rockin Rod said | March 10th 2010 @ 4:47pm | Report comment
Van Humphries, 34 year old bolter i read in the Australian today.
Chris said | March 10th 2010 @ 5:45am | Report comment
Seriously we are 4 weeks in to a 15 week competition. I know we all love playing armchair selector but how about we all give internationals a rest until week 10.
GladFop said | March 10th 2010 @ 6:52am | Report comment
CHRIS – The fact that the Reds are now throwing up some real contenders makes Bondiplage’s exercise a good one. The Wallaby team and bench could have quite a few new faces come June, and if the coaches and selectors are thinking about that now, why shouldn’t the fans on this forum?
Also, anybody who’s not totally parochial will be interested in our June opponents. The Wallaby staff and management will be closely watching this week’s England/Scotland game, and next week’s England/France game, on streaming if nothing else. Like a lot of fans who are interested in rugby wherever it’s played, I’m fascinated by the problems of England’s team and their archaic approach to improvement. Their backs’ inability to score tries is the big story in the international arena right now, which is why a lot of people in Oz, who may not be regular contributors to this forum, are busy drawing up the best possible Wallaby combo to play a team that will probably try to beat the Ws at their own game by running the ball. Question is, can England switch at this late stage to running rugby?
Probably not, but they’ll give it a shot.
Wavell Wakefield said | March 10th 2010 @ 9:14pm | Report comment
That’s an interesting comment, GladFop. However, what exactly is the ‘archaic approach to improvement’?
Did England not try to run the ball against Ireland? Further, the amount of tries scored in the current 6N is thus: France: 7; Wales: 7; Ireland: 6; England: 5; Italy: 2; Scotland: 2. Clearly, therefore, there isn’t a great disparity between the top four teams. However, it is undeniable that the English backs have not clicked and that they are not running the ball efficiently or accurately, and when breaks have been made nothing there has generally been no positive end point. Personally, I think there is an imbalance in the backline, and I think Wilkinson (allied to a lack of match fitness to 12 and 15, and slow ball from the pack) is not the man to lead an attacking backline on his own. He has neither the skills nor the personality. It is no coincidence that England scored 16 tries during the 2009 6N in his absence.
The interesting thing, of course, is that France have scored the most amount of tries without the slightest attempt to run the ball. So a team doesn’t necessarily have to run the ball to score tries. What they have to do is defend, kick well and have a good set piece. We saw the same thing with SA last season. England’s set pieces have been occasionally erratic (the lineout more than the scrum), the kicking from hand has been poor and Wilkinson’s place kicking has been even poorer. Hence the team hasn’t really been in a position to score tries. Significantly, the same backline has now played three games together on the spin, and so it would not be totally unfair to expect an improvement versus Scotland. We shall have to see how Saturday goes.
pothale said | March 10th 2010 @ 7:10am | Report comment
Will they not be watching any of Ireland’s games, then, since they’ll be playing them as well in June?
Or will they just pick the same oul’ team as last year?
Brett McKay said | March 10th 2010 @ 8:21am | Report comment
So are the Wallabies going to forfeit the Test against Fiji on June 5, or was that just a slip of the calendar??
pothale said | March 10th 2010 @ 8:29am | Report comment
fiddly details, picky, picky, Brett.
Tsk, tsk.
Brett McKay said | March 10th 2010 @ 8:42am | Report comment
Pots, it’s quite likely the only Test I’ll get to this year, I just want to make sure I’ll see someone run out
formeropenside said | March 10th 2010 @ 4:30pm | Report comment
I’ve seen calls to pick Halangahu as the Wallaby 10 for that Fiji test “to see if he is up to Test standard”. Unfortunately, I doubt the Fiji team will be of the standard that oh so nearly beat the Springboks at the RWC 2007. Even if Halangahu had a blinder against Fiji it would be of zero predictive value for a 3N test, or even a hard EOYT game.
There is more value in results against a top NZ or SA team at S14 level, but even that remains a step below Test rugby.
formeropenside said | March 10th 2010 @ 8:41am | Report comment
1. Robinson
2. Moore
3. Alexander
4. Sharpe
5. Mumm
6. Elsom
7. Pocock
8. Palu
9. Genia
10. Cooper
12. Giteau
13. Ioane
11. Hynes
14. Turner
15. AAC
16. TPN
17. Weeks
18. Higginbotham
19. Hodgson
20. Burgess/Kingi
21. Barnes
22. Morahan
Its pretty much the EOYT squad, as too many players are out of position at present. If I had to pick a form team to date, it would look a little different.
In a larger squad, there would be a few more players – largely Queenslanders – who could benefit from being in a Wallaby squad, such as A. Faingaa, Rod Davies and Leroy Houston.
LeftArmSpinner said | March 10th 2010 @ 8:58am | Report comment
1. Robinson
2. Moore
3. Alexander
4. Douglas (young and up and coming)
5. Mumm (ranks are thin)
6.Elsom
7.Pocock
8.Hoiles (unless Palu finds some form or should I say effort)
9.Genia
10.Cooper
11.Hynes
12.Giteau
13.Ioane
14. O’Connor
15. AAC
TPN, Daly, Sharpe, Brown, Barnes (marginal but he’s vice capt.), McCabe, Turner (you cant coach speed and this team might get it to him).
Bondiplage said | March 10th 2010 @ 9:42am | Report comment
POTHALE – The Wallabies play Ireland June 26 when they’ll have played England twice, so the emphasis will be on watching to see if the English changes, such as they are, will work. Having drawn against Ireland last time out they’ll certainly want to win at home, but an Irish victory in Irish-popular Oz won’t hurt nearly as much as an English victory – the W’s management won’t want to lose to Jonno who was instrumental in beating them in Sydney in 2003. They’ll really do their homework on England.
Re. those England changes for Scotland – about 2 million English rugby fans want to see the team run the ball, but Jonno’s sidelined Moody and Foden and keeps faith with Moyne. A secret plan perhaps?
pothale said | March 10th 2010 @ 10:41am | Report comment
Bondiplage
I get the anti-pom thing re England. But I figure Deans will want to put as much effort into beating Ireland given that they are pool opponents in the WC, no?
I’m surprised about Armitage TBH instead of Foden cos I like Foden a lot and has a relatively good season. Armitage is a bit of a cheap shot merchant – he doesn’t go for the tackle, or try to track alongside a player, instead goes for the ‘nearly arms’ tackle – he did it in the last match on Sexton who saw him coming and chipped through for Bowe to score. If he’d stayed with Sexton and tracked him, the outcome might have been different and allowed other cover to get across instead of forcing the issue.
Colin N said | March 10th 2010 @ 10:47am | Report comment
Armitage over Foden is a ridiculous decision, as is dropping Moody. It’s not the dropping part I mind, it’s the person who’s replaced him that I object to. If you’re going to call someone up, what about S.Armitage who has played regularly and been very consistant? He’s a great carrier and good tackler (hence the reason he stands in the ten position on defensive scrums). Plus he acts as a fetcher and competes at the breakdown.
He is also awesomely quick.
Wavell Wakefield said | March 10th 2010 @ 8:24pm | Report comment
I would have selected Foden, Colin, but ultimately if Armitage is fit he hasn’t been that bad that he deserves to be dropped. He’s a potent attacking who is not quite match fit. So, to that extent why not keep him for the 4th match in a row? It’s good that Johnson is persevering with the same backline but I do see your point. That said, I think that there are positional weaknesses to Foden’s game and both Parks and Southwell may well be able to fully exploit that. All things considered I think Armitage wasn’t selected out of conservatism.
I think Moody should be dropped. He still hasn’t improved as a player since 2003. He looked good in the Autumn due to the amount of injuries. England played a damage limitation game and so Moody could run around and act destructively. That trick won’t work against every side, and it hasn’t this 6N. He neither turns ball over or carries. Worsley allowed England to play a certain way last season, and I think he can provide a focal point, especially in the absence of Shaw.
Colin N said | March 11th 2010 @ 1:29am | Report comment
I agree there is a certain amount of consistency in England’s selection’s, but Armitage was on the bench against Wales andItaly and didn’t get an opportunity to impress. In fact, he came on in the last five minutes against Wales, competed in two rucks and created two turnovers.
I don’t mind Johnson having consistency in selection, but he’s not rewarding certain players, who are playing better than their counterparts with a call-up.
I see the logic behind Worsley and D.Armitage, but it’s as though, whatever these players do for their clubs, they are still behind some players at international level (Worsley hasn’t played much for Wasps this season and when he has, he’s been average. In fact, I’ve been impressed more by Will Mathews). Armitage is almost the perfect seven for me- good linkman, very powerful, yet quick (good footwork as well) and has an innate instinct to compete at the right breakdown’s to win the turnovers. Added to that a fabulous performance against Leicester when the rest of his pack was completely outplayed, he still managed to slow ball down, make metres (did you see that excellent break in the second-half).
If he wasn’t playing well for LI then fair enough, but he deserves his chance. Also did well against Argentina in the summer.
Wavell Wakefield said | March 11th 2010 @ 2:33am | Report comment
I think the issue over Armitage and Foden is whether they are able to offer enough consistency for England, and also what style England want to play. Foden is a marvellous attacking player but there are issues over his positional defence and kicking. Is Murrayfield a place to risk a player who is still a rookie 15? Armitage is also coming back from injury, so if he’s being given 3 games then why not a 4th?
With regards to S. Armitage I think England want to play a certain way and Worsley enables that. If Worsley is starting then I see Moody as having more bench value. He is a lineout jumper and can play 6 or 7. Worsley can also play 8, so to an extent Armitage is limited by the fact he is a specific 7. Aside from these two players other form GP players have been selected: Hartley, Cole and Youngs.
Personally I don’t think the side is ready to chop and change. The side is inexperienced and callow, and so lesser capped players wouldn’t be being brought into a stable environment. Johnson has gone with a core group of backs who are still learning each other’s foibles. That said, if Armitage plays poorly this week then I would hope that Foden would start against France.
Rugby Fan said | March 11th 2010 @ 5:15am | Report comment
England are an odd team at the moment. It’s possible that England could beat Scotland, while playing like they did against Italy, and then beat France, while playing as they did against Ireland but with a bit more luck and better defence. That could make them 6N champions but you can’t help thinking most of the rugby world would still think they are inferior to Ireland and France and some would also put Wales above them.
If they did win those two matches in that fashion, it’s difficult to imagine a Lions squad chosen this year including a lot more England players than last year. They finished above Wales in that 6N but Wales sent more players to South Africa.
This speculation will become meaningless if England lose one or both matches. Rugby commentators don’t seem to expect them to overcome France unless they play substantially better. It will be interesting to see the reaction if they do squeak through without much more visible coherency.
We still don’t know for certain which version of the law interpretations will be used by referees in the June Tests. I heard Spiro say on a podcast with Mark Boyle that he thought the new interpretations might actually suit England. He could be right there. Since Neil Back left the scene, England have never had a world class fetcher capable of generating many one-on-one turnovers so, if that is becoming a lesser part of the game, it ought to work to their advantage. On the other hand, players like Shaw and Easter have been penalized for not retreating in this 6N competition so they would be even more expensive under the new interpretations if they didn’t change their ways.
Psychologically, I think there is one aspect which will make the Australian Tests a difficult task for England. The World Cup-winning squad had become used to seeing themselves as top dogs in the North. Some thought this arrogant because the team famously tripped up in consecutive 5&6N campaigns in 1999 (Wales), 2000 (Scotland), 2001 (Ireland) and 2002 (France). Nevertheless, the squad still believed they ought to beat all Northern opposition and Woodward successfully cultivated a sense that the next challenge was to regularly beat the SH teams.
If England do go to Australia as unlikely 6N champions, they won’t have the same belief that they have the North in hand. I think this will make them vulnerable if they start to go behind on the scoreboard. Not many in the current squad have beaten Australia. The starting 22 in the 2007 WC quarter final victory was:
Robinson, Sackey, Tait, Catt, Lewsey; Wilkinson, Gomarsall, Sheridan, Regan, Vickery (capt), Shaw, Kay, Corry, Moody, Easter.
Replacements: Chuter, Stevens, Dallaglio, Worsley, Richards, Flood, Hipkiss.
Some are still in the starting XV now but the majority of the current squad have never beaten a Southern hemisphere team.