Craig Gower deserves more accolades

I agree with Leftie and all the others who have posted comments endorsing Craig Gower's play at five-eighths for Italy. I must say I was most surprised at the line of most of the rugby writers after the first Test whether Nick Mallett would continue with him. Mallett, who is an excellent coach and a bright chap, a Rhodes Scholar who speaks a number of languages, correctly made the point that he could build a good backline around Gower. It will be interesting to see how he plays against New Zealand, Luke McAlister is a big chap and likes to run. Gower also performed his media duties excellently. Any more of this and we'll all have to re-evaluate the merit of rugby union poaching rugby league stars.

LAS, congratulations on your courage in writing this very correct article. Very correct - obvious why. Courage - it's not fashionable amongst traditional rugby folk to admit that an ex-league player genuinely brings something to the game. I mean, Tuqiri is in his 7th season of playing rugby, and yet he still cops league bashing. At 31, Gower is probably too old now, but over the last two weeks I think he has shown that if he were a few years younger, and if there were some way for him to get into the Wallaby set-up (can't do that from playing in France!), then he could turn into a useful acquisition. From my knowledge of him as a league player it has always struck me that he has the attributes to be an Australian Piri Weepu. One also should remember that he has had to function as the lynchpin of Italy's attack without being able to speak or understand Italian, which makes his performance all the more meritorious ... not to mention that he has been paired with HBs who make Luke Burgess look like John Hipwell in terms of passing.

Did anyone notice that grubber he put through? Pure league and pure genius..... aimed directly at the goalpost in order to get a deflection and make the cover defenders hesitate. Almost pulled it off too. Definitely hasn't been attempted enough in union yet... hopefully Barnes can start pulling a few of them off.

For someone playing their fifth full game at flyhalf his performance was good. I think the All Blacks could tear them apart. One comment should suffice both Cooper and Beale could learn much from the defensive capabilities of Barnes and Gower. There one on one small man defensive techniques honed in rugby league are very good and surprisingly very appropriate closer to the action with supporting flankers and backrow. I have had a suspicion that it is not the rugby league athletes that should have targeted but their more athletic playmakers. Never to walk into a team but to develop. I somehow think it is easier to talk of multiple lines and attacking patterns , types of kicks and defensive patterns with Johns , Lockyer , Slater, Kronc, Thurston, Mullen, Pierce ,Anasta , Prince, Gidley , Marshall, Prince , Orford,Graham , Kimmorley , Roberts, Potter , Wallace, Finch. etc.. The other area much underdone are physical mobile backrowers and flankers in the cast of Peter Ryan, Brad Thorn , Nathan Hindmarsh, Michael Crocker ( you do not have to like them ) to play as forwards. To Michael Crocker just get the ball would probably suffice.as a game day instruction. We have a tendency to assume that rugby league playmakers could never play rugby union as we are far to complicated. . We target rugby league players who basically have spent most of their rugby league careers on the wing eg. Dell, Tuquiri Rodgers and Tahu. Remember Tahu was only a rugby league centre for a full year at Parramatta. He played his career in SOO and at Newcastle on the wing. We even had to teach Rodgers how to tackle.Cronulla NRL and again in SOO refused to play Rodgers at 5/8. Yet we did?Rodgers is not bad at 5/8 for Gold Coast but only after his rugby union sojourn. Rugby union has never really targeted what we need . We have tended to target a headline. I understand why just not the backlash. This is not to infer that Dell or Tuquri et al never played a good game of rugby or would never had got a Wallabies jersey on merit. It is simply to highlight we seldom have chosen elite rugby league players with ready made kicking and passing skills. It may be their " footballers" who have the best capacity to learn .That is the point.

Lefty, Nice read Mate. Gower was a quality Leagure player, and I was surprised to hear he had been playing in the centres in France since making his transition to Union. From my uneducated-in-Rugby side of the fence, that seemed an odd position for what is obviously a high quality half....Thoughts? Still, watching the game on Satrday, you could still see some glaring League-tendancies, which may not be a bad thing (you already mentioned his defensive standards) for him to bring to the Italian team. I hear they will be building the 2011 RWC team around him? Or is that just sensationalising? Good to see him make the move and have some success with Rugby (still early days for him too), when there were no doubt plenty thinking he would fall in a heap....

Rabbitz, Basic logic, mate: "he is doing all this while still learning Italian" is not the same thing as saying "he is not up to the grade". Every player who makes the grade at test level is still (hopefully) improving. Young James O'Connor is truly "a player of the future", but he can be that and still justify his place in the Wallabies right now. For that matter, Stirling Mortlock himself would probably say he is still learning as he goes! On to the real issue: Gower's performance. Yes, he played well. The fact that he is still learning the game and the language doesn't mean he isn't already up to Test standard, it just means he will only get better. I thought Barnes and Gower both played well, but Barnes had the easier job - a far more skilled back line to work with, and not much difference in the forward packs on the night. The try that Gower set up in the first test I think is only their third this season so he and Mallet have a lot of work to do. It was refreshing to see Gower mix it up, never settle into a pattern of play. Rugby will give him far more scope to do that than League ever did. I can see why Nick Mallet is so enthusiastic - he never expected to have a pivot of this standard. Caravosio failed to give him good ball in the first test, and was dropped from the side, so the lesson is there for the Italian players. The Italian backs are going to have to learn some new tricks.

He was as good as Barnes last night. Hope he carries form and fitness in the 6N next year, they might surprise a team or two.

Thought he had a very good game last night. If Italy had fielded a full strength team it could have been interesting - but given the fire power they were lacking he played a very intelligent game and mixed it up well. Saw him last last night at the Crown casino. Was almost tempted to have a chat with him except that he looks so serious these days... Don't think I've seen him crack a smile since he's been back.

LAS I missed most of the second test, so I can't comment whether Gower was better or otherwise, BUT (and there is always a but!!) it really irks me when commentators, coaches, fans etc etc make comments like "He just needs more time" or "He a player of the future" or "he is doing all this while still learning Italian". IMHO when it comes to matches where you are playing the pinnicle games, tests, olympics, WC etc, if you are not up to the game, on game day then you have no business being there. I find it insulting to watch an international match and be told that "so and so is being groomed for the future". Tour games and friendlies are the place to experiment. Not in tests. But I hear you say "how can they develop players?" - Thats where sports administrations all over the world in all sorts of sports have dropped the ball (pun intended - sorry). If there is no way to develop players then there is no point having tests (or international competitions). I do not care to watch wannabes pretending to be champions - I want to watch the best of the best going hard and really meaning it. If they aren't representing your country really means SFA and they should follow the IPL model of having meaningless teams playing for meaningless accolades but earning good money along the way.

Have to concur Leftie, thought Gower was very good on the whole last night. Whether it was lessons learnt from Canberra, or just the prospect of sending runners through Cooper and Cross, he stood a lot flatter and ran at the line a lot more. Luke McLean at fullback was pretty good too, there's obviously still a lot of five-eighth in him as well, despite wearing 15. I think Nick Mallett made the comment during the week that Gower is the sort of guy to build a team around, not just because of his attacking ability, but also his defence. Think the comment was made that it was unusual for an Italian flyhalf to be such a good defender.