SPIRO: George Smith is a gift Robbie Deans must accept

Well put. If Deans doesn't pick Smith on present form he should be sacked. Bragging rights over a Lions tour - only once in 12 years - are too important,

Why not just say you couldn't follow, cuts to the chase eh what. A better life is also achievable when you stand up and fight. You were geographically lucky, you had to be able to sail to get away, expensive and difficult at first...

Yes, I follow fine: refugees= cowards, hard-working 'ethnics' looking for a better life= cowards. Oh yes, and Britain was great in the old days because of its attitudes, but then it collapsed because it wouldn't give up its old attitudes. If my head's in the sand, I don't even want to say where you've stuck yours

If Deans doesn't pick him, he'll be crucified if they lose - and if he does pick him and they lose, he'll be crucified for not having faith in the youngsters over a veteran. Even if the Wallabies win, they'll still be conjecture and theories about why he should've picked whomever he left out. The poor guy can't win

And if there was nothing to separate them then inject new blood, build the pantheon, grow and foster new blood, honour the families and friends who helped them get to the brink...

Bury that head deeper into the sand, blinded, you can always live off your memories. A thriving industry from all accounts. The 'lost your country' comment refers rather to the lack of political will to deny entry to another country's cowards. Britain of old became what it was because it harboured little support for the faint-hearted. People fought hard for a better world and your history is where it mostly happened. However, unable to rid yourselves of the medieval anachronisms held you back and the new world took over supremacy. Those cowards now look to take advantage of that lack of will and intimidate emboldened by the belief that if they show resolve then they will eventually be your masters. So it is not a stereotypical argument I employed, rather an examination of a process which attempts to debase every modern society and has at its core political correctness. Ya follow.

Adam where do you get your information from? Deans did not end Smiths career and what "history" are you talking about?

You need a good kicker. Barnes and Harris won games for Australia with their boot in 2012. Barnes played very well for Australia in last year. He was man of the match in more than 1 game. Lealiifano is uncapped and is a risk, Tapuai is the incumbant and playing very well. I would probably give Tapuai the edge in defense too. You play a team to win and Barnes is a better option at 15 becuz he is an incumbant of sorts and a very good kicker under pressure. He is also a better defender and tactical kicker. Compare that to an uncapped player who is not tested or the kicker that Barnes is. Barnes is just more valuable.

Thanks for the response, Brett, it was reasoned and well though out as usual. I personally am in favour of ditching the rule but observing it unofficially. As you said yourself, it'd be a ridiculous exercise to try to weigh the performances of players competing in different competitions. So the simple answer is don't select them at all unless you have some compelling evidence that they are up to Test standard. I think experience counts in this regard, but form is more important; specifically Super Rugby form. So I wouldn't mind for an unofficial rule of selection to insist that the player concerned has played enough Super Rugby to demonstrate their capability before being selected for Tests. 'Enough' is obviously rather subjective, but I fail to see why that decision couldn't be left to the discretion of the selectors. In Smith's case, I don't think he is so far beyond Gill or Hooper as to make his non-selection criminal, but I think not having him in the squad when he could be available would be a waste. His maturity and experience would bolster the resolve of the squad members considerably. I have no doubt that Gilll and Hooper would be better for even just training alongside of him.

All his caps are bench caps are they not? Coming on too little too late if at all hardly lets you stamp your mark on a match.

Serious question: when has Gill ever played splendidly for the Wallabies? He's barely featured for them. Brett said something similar the other week. It's complete fabrication.

I don't begrudge a loyal servant of the game like George Smith anything he wants to do

if its in the daily telegraph it must be true!!

Certainly am getting your response Brett. I'm based in France so am in the right time-zone for late replies :-) You seem to have the same argument as Rob and I, but have used it to reach a different conclusion. I agree whole-heartedly that it would be very difficult to to rate a player playing in Japan, France, England or Cuba and compare them to those playing super rugby. I also think that a player playing in these places would be removed from the Wallaby culture and playing style and consequently would have a steeper learning curve when brought into the WBs structure (Samoa's a reat example of this). Therefore, I think that these players would be very unlikely to be picked regardless of whether there is a specific policy on it or not. The incentive to remain in Australia.... remains. Indeed, for a player playing in these areas to be selected under an open selection policy, to my mind, they would need to have at least one (probably more) of 3 attributes going for them. These would be: a/ They are just that damn good that they are so far above the competition for their position. Here I agree with Rob that Genia is probably the only player in Aus that could be considered to tick this box at the moment... b/ An unfortunate injury crisis removes from contention the valid competitors for their position in the S15 competition (a la Luke Burgess); or c/ The location where they are playing gives them some specific local knowledge that would benefit the team (again a la Burgess). Without one, or more likely more than one, of those attributes foreign based players would be unlikely to get a look in. Where we differ is that I think even without a 'Australian Based' requirement, players know that they will be unlikely to play for Australia if they head offshore hence a specific policy is not required to create the incentive. However, if something occurs to tick some of the boxs above it would be good to give the coaches freedom to select some of those players that had given up there international carreers and headed OS despite the risks. You and Soapit seem to think if the policy where removed Deans would suddenly start selecting the Wallabies from all over the globe and a lot of our players would start chasing the money and leaving the country. From the arguments that we agree on.. that seems unlikely I'd say we'll have to agree to disagree, but its a healthy discussion to have! BTW - re my last comment. Do you know what the situation is in South Africa? There local comp or S15 sides do not seem to suffer despite players playing OS and the Boks

Before I go, on the topic of George Smith, if you have played super rugby in that calendar year then you should be aloud to play test rugby. Nothing more nothing less. Brett McKay is right. Gill and Hooper will have their turns.

The worst thing here is that the three amigos are back together. However I don't think you can just throw CL straight into a lions test match. Robinson is much fitter this season, Moore has a more all round game to TPN and he can come on as an impact player. Alexander gets the nod for his test experience and go forward in the tight. MMM hopefully will be fit and will and aggression to the forward pack. Horwill near carried 6 chiefs defenders over the line in the first 10 mins the other day so enough said (he'd be my captain.) Mowen will do anything for the team and a much harder worker than Higginbotham, also can jump at the front of the line out. Smith if available gets the nod just on shear experience and can give some leadership, Gill is a great bench option as he can cover 6 and 7. Mowen doing the tight work can free up big Palu to make some damaging runs and the Europeans don't handle him as well as nz and sa do. Genia is Genia, and Nic White deserves to be back up with a great kicking game and accurate pass. I'll get onto the backs tommorrow morning. Hope you enjoy!

Good looking team Aussie James

Wow.

Not really related to Rugby here, but by 'lost their own country' it sounds an *awful* lot like you are pointing to Britain being 'over-run' by ethnic types. Conforming to a few stereotypes yourself, aren't you? Luckily most Brits don't think like that (no 'White Britain' policy, Old Boy)