Wallabies squad announced for opening Bledisloe Test

If we cant come up with some penetration at centre, we have no hope. I would prefer to see someone like Dom Shipperley at OC, at least he offers some one on one difficulty for the opposition. Strong and capable runner and good defender. It was done with McCabe, why not Shippers? While we are at it, what is going on with the warm up routines? How many times have we seen the backs practicing goal kicking and 'force em backs" before matches. How about some zig zagging through cones, some one on one stepping, some agility drills etc. Kicking the ball around for 15 minutes is hardly good prep for SBW and Nonu.......

Oh well, ignore that there are at least 3 other superior 13s in country in Andrew Smith, Nick Cummins, Ant F (who shouldn't be at 12) and AAC, and just put him the side then! This is my point: there is no doubt that Rob Horne or anyone in that side is a good player. That is not the question. The question is this: are they best player available for the job in that position? The answer in the case of Horne and about 7 other players in that side is 'no'.

OMFG, are you serious? You are the master of non-sequiturs. Firstly, Donald was not in the squad because he was about the 4th choice 10. The ABs had a backup 10 in Cruden. Secondly, the ABs had easy access to reserves when they needed them. Thirdly, while it was a mistake to not bring a reserve openside, it was not rectified immediately when Palu went down injured. There was time to bring Hodgson or Robinson into the side. Instead, Deans in all his amazing wisdom played his favourite squeeze, McCalman, at 7 for the game against Ireland. After the tournament McCalman actually admitted that he hadn't played at that position since high school and he "learned on the job". brilliant. What a great time to "learn on the job" - against O'Brien, Leamy and Heaslip! Result? We all know the result and we also know that McCalman was completely ineffective at the breakdown with Ireland making twice as many turnovers. McCalman's personal turnover contribution? Zero. Never in my life have I witnessed such total incompetence from a test level coach. It's not even a moot point. He should have been sacked for it, on the spot.

The Boks will surely fancy their chances this year, as Deans seems to be trying to get Australia to play in a way that will be very similar to the way the Boks have been playing for years.

I'm aware of that M73 but to put it in perspective he only had a few more missed tackles than Conrad Smith. Horne was talked up as a renowned defender two years ago when he returned to the Waratahs after a hamstring or calf injury. I new nothing about him but I remember journalists talking him up, particularly in defence. So I decided to watch him and he seemed particularly brave (two years ago) in defence. Didn't see much of him though as his "brave" tackling quickly got him an elbow injury against the Allblacks that left him out of 2010-11 until the world cup where his first few minutes saw him brake his jaw. At the beginning of this year Horne said in an interview that he had been working on changing his tackling technique to reduce the threat of injury but this quickly saw him climb to the top of the missed tackles list. To his credit the second half of his season had almost half the amount of missed tackles.

The All Blacks did not have Donald in the squad yet he played did he not? If they were never going to play another 7 in the 22 then what was the dire need to have one in the squad?

no it is NOT the 30, Mowen, Shipperley, Holmes, Sheehan, and Morahan were not in the 30 man squad

I assume this is going by the 30 picked for the overall squad. Either way, hard to argue with these picks.

Team should be: Robinson/Slipper Moore Kepu Sharpe Simmons Higginbotham Pocock Mowen Genia Cooper Ioane Barnes Ashley-Cooper Shipperly Beale Polota-Nau Slipper/Holmes Pyle Dennis Sheehan Faingaa Morahan/Harris

Mowen should be there ahead of Samo and Gill ahead of Hooper. Although, I'm not sure of the wisdom of a 2nd openside breakaway anyhow.

Genia and Pocock should of been the MoM's , Barnes playmaking was poor and he kicked goals really well. Genia match 1, Pocock saved the game time and again games 2 and 3. Notcie all the illegal play on Pocock to try and nullify him, the did not care much about pressuring Barnes since he was no threat.

I do not understand all the carry on about Brumbies players deserving to be there. Their best player Lealiifano is injured and they fell in aheap without him. They did not beat any of the 6 teams in the finals. Who would you have? Alexander, very poor at scrumaging and the only good aspect was him being dropped. Moore is there and yes can be argued he should start. Palmer is injured Fardy and Carter only has 1 good season. However at least 1 should of been tired against Wales / Scotland. Since they were not you can not pick them Hooper is there and no way can he be picked ahead of Pocock. Mowen should be there as a specialist 8 instead of Dennis. White is injured. Lealifano is injured. Tomano is injured. Speight is not eligible. Smith is an average journeyman. Mogg is not as good as Beale and not better than wingers picked. So the ONLY Brumby hard done by is Mowen and ONLY because Palu is injured and maybe Moore should start.

If I could pick the team it would be (injured players not considered) Holmes TPN Kepu Pyle Timani Higginbotham Pocock Mowen (want a genuine no 8) Genia Cooper Ioane Harris (at 12, picked for his goal kicking) Tapua (if not fit since he did not even start for the reds then Cummins) Cummins (if at 13 then Mitchell, Shipperley was shown up badly by Pieterson) Beale Moore Slipper Neville Dennis Hooper (5-2 split with no halfback because White and Lucas are injured and rest are no good) Barnes Mitchell (AAC if Taps is not fit) Now if I am restricted to the 30 man squad that Deans had ie No Holmes, Pyle, Neville, Mowen, Cummins, Taps) then I would of picked Robinson TPN Kepu Sharpe Timani Dennis Pocock Higginbotham (same pack because he left out the players I wanted out of the 30) Genia Cooper Ioane Harris Faingaa Mitchell Beale Moore Slipper Douglas (Simmons just is not pysical enough) Hooper Phipps Barnes AAC Deans really painted himself into a corner and a POOR team with the 30 men he picked in his final squad.

First of all Quade plays VERY well in tests. Thanks to him the Wallabies started winning tests against the AB's, we would of lost 16 on the trot if he wasnt in there. Thanks to him we won the TN's last year with enterprising attacking rugby. Deans tactics reverting to conservative kicking territory in the RWC did not utilize Quade and his talents and yes played poorly under that style. Still more Deans fault. Since Quade questioned those tactics he has to be dropped. The team picked has NO attacking firepower. They will play an English kick for territory and kick penalties. They were quoted that they would attack through the big centres. Thats good because they have NO CHOICE. They cannot get the ball to the wing. Barnes does not have a long pass and the centres picked do not pass. The wingers only chance of getting the ball will be running back inside or the AB's kicking it to them. AB's by 20 at least. This is a terrible team. The ONLY improvement is the axing of Alexander.

biggest weakness in that team is the lack of a class goal kicker. We have 4 in the country Lealiifano (injured), JoC (injured), Harris and Barnes. Ergo either Harris or Barnes must be in the team until JoC is back. My preference would be Harris.

Good on you Stripes mate, as a Kiwi I agree with you and I for one don' see any games against the WBs as walk overs, never have and never will. You gotta back your team! I've been a Waikato and Chiefs man since I left Tokoroa back in the late 80s. Its been bloody painful but alas this year was so sweet. A dog will always have its day. Good on ya brother... Here's to a good test and Go the ABS

well said murph.

Horne good tackler, sh!te defender. He's good at putting on hits.. but he just can't read the play, and has clean misses. Almost the same in attack - strong runner, great angles - but would never wrap around, can't kick, pass, find open space, support. Perhaps the definition of one-dimensional?

Conrad Smith isn't playing, that's a win already ;)

Good post Geoff. You can't ask for more than both sides doing their very best. Let's hope the referee doesn't mess up and there are no red cards. Go the All Blacks, you good things.