Super Rugby Round 11: Aussie team of the week

In another interesting weekend for the Australian teams in Super Rugby, at an individual level some Wallabies mainstays are still struggling to find form while newcomers continue to make strides.

We’ve tended to hang onto our champions for too long in Australia in the past and I’m hoping we see players selected on form in a little over a month for the Wallabies’ first Tests of the year against France.

1. Scott Sio
Scott Sio scrummed pretty well against giant Chiefs prop Ben Tameifuna and once again gets the nod. Pek Cowan was another strong contender up against a massive Bulls pack, while the other contender was James Slipper, who started at tighthead but shifted across when Greg Holmes came on.

Benn Robinson had reasonable stats as well but I can’t go past Sio, who is one of those firming for a Wallabies jersey.

2. Stephen Moore
Nathan Charles again played pretty well for the Force but Stephen Moore is getting better with age, like a good drop of red. If you want some stats to back this selection up I’ll point to his 11 tackles, more than double that of all the other Australian hookers.

The stats also tell me that Moore had only two carries, yet one clean break, three passes and one try assist. How does that work then? All the other hookers had zeroes in all these categories.

But the stats don’t tell the story of what an outright pest Stephen Moore is at the breakdown all game. I cross my fingers he stays healthy, because he is far and away our best hooker at the moment.

3. James Slipper
As mentioned above, the Reds scrum actually looked stronger with Slipper at loosehead when Holmes came on, so I understand if some question this selection. Force fans will plug for Kieran Longbottom, who I’ll admit had a solid game, but Slipper is just so good around the park that I felt I had to select him this week, even in a losing team.

The fact Slipper can play both sides of the scrum does his chances of Wallabies selection a world of good.

4. Scott Fardy
Will Skelton had another good game in a losing team, but his stats don’t hold up to Fardy. While Fardy is less noticeable, he had double the number of carries and over double the number of tackles.

The fact that Fardy enjoys the hard work in the breakdown makes him a Wallabies  certainty in some capacity. The fact he can play in No. 4, 5 and 6 also holds him in good stead.

5. Adam Coleman
Sam Carter and James Horwill both have legitimate claims to this position this week. Adam Coleman is probably a bit of a sentimental selection for his rookie status, while I’m probably being a bit hard on Horwill for captaining a losing team.

Come Wallabies selection time I’ve no doubt Horwill will be there or thereabouts, but there are quite a few young locks around the country putting their hands up. There will soon come a time when selectors will choose youth over experience.

6. Angus Cottrell
Cottrell is a bit of a regular here. Jaques Potgieter would have made it into this team a number of times but for his ineligibility, which I guess doesn’t tell the best of stories about the relative strengths of Australian versus South African forwards, but Cottrell was the standout of the Australian eligible blindsides on the weekend.

I think it was Tim Horan who mentioned during commentary that Cottrell was sure to be a Wallaby within the next couple of years. If he keeps playing like he is, it may be sooner then we think.

7. Michael Hooper
If we could take the quality of opensides we have had in Australia over the past 20 years and spread it around to some other positions, I’m sure we’d have been world No. 1 for longer than we have. And we continue to churn them out.

The battle for this spot is really between Matt Hodgson and Michael Hooper. Force fans are going to again be disgusted at me for giving it the guy from the losing team, because Hodgson was outstanding and instrumental in engineering another Force win in terrible conditions.

Hooper, however, was equally outstanding. And the ‘trying conditions’ he experiences are caused by the ordinary play of his fellow forwards. Hooper ‘only’ made 17 tackles compared to Hodgson’s 24, but he had nine carries for 49 metres as opposed to six carries for three metres.

It’s a shame we can’t find room for both Hooper and Hodgson in the run-on team, but I’m all for specialists and Hooper and Hodgson are both specialist opensides.

8. Dave Dennis
I originally had Ben McCalman in this spot again this week. He had a very quiet game by his 2014 standards, but he stood out more than the other No. 8s. Certainly much more than Dave Dennis.

Fellow Roarer Tane Mahuta has tried valiantly to defend Dave Dennis from constant attack on this forum and he has made some good points. One of those good points was his good tackle count on the weekend. While he didn’t top the Waratahs tackle count – that honour went to Michael Hooper – he was pretty close with a very respectable 14 tackles, tied with Rob Horne.

I spend a good percentage of my Waratahs time watching Dave Dennis. He seems to spend a lot of his time jogging from one position in the line to another, and through years of experience has found the exact right spot to be in to avoid most of the real work. The stats don’t bear this out, though, and I have no real evidence to back up my assertion.

So despite my misgivings, on stats alone Dennis has usurped Ben McCalman’s spot and made it into this team of the week.

9. Nic White
It was interesting listen to the New Zealand commentators remark on Genia’s game on the weekend, especially when they remarked he used to have such a good box kick and wondered why he didn’t use it more often. I thought he was using it too often and think it was actually more a case that he was using it when he shouldn’t and not using it when he should.

And that for me typifies the description of Genia this year – he still has all the skills, but has forgotten when to use them.

I got in trouble for defending Nick Phipps a bit on the weekend, and rightly so on reflection. He was pretty poor as well, while Ian Prior was solid but unspectacular.

Which leaves us with Nic White, who is now the leading halfback in Australian rugby and must be handed the Wallabies’ No. 9.

10. Matt Toomua
Here are some interesting stats on the number of passes by the 10s in Australian teams this weekend:
Bernard Foley, 28 passes
Matt Toomua, 11 passes
Quade Cooper, 26 passes
Sias Ebersohn, 5 passes

You could put the Toomua’s low-passing stat down to the use of Lealiifano in a dual playermaker role, but Lealiifano actually only had three passes on the weekend.

I still don’t consider Toomua a ‘pure’ 10, but maybe I need to redefine what that means in my own head. He is without doubt in better form than Foley or Cooper.

Should he be selected at 10? Not sure. But if he isn’t 10 then I think he should be 12.

11. Chris Feauai-Sautia
I thought Feauai-Sautia had an outstanding game, probably the best I’ve seen him play – when you play your best against quality opposition, that’s a good sign. Eleven carries for 97 metres with 10 defenders beaten – that’s more than double any other Australian player, and I can’t recall seeing this stat this high before.

Rob Horne also stood out for me with a healthy tackle count, some dominant ones among them and a reasonable number of carries and metres. Robbie Coleman and Nick Cummins were solid.

Feauai-Sautia might be working himself into a Wallaby wing spot if he can continue performances like that.

12. Christian Lealiifano
While the stats point to Beale as doing a tremendous amount of work, I thought his game actually disrupted the pattern and structure of the team and hindered the performances of those around him.

Lealiifano on the other hand made some good runs, twice as many tackles and underplayed his hand, doing only what was required.

13. Adam Ashley-Cooper
Tough to leave out Tevita Kuridrani who finished off two tries, made some good carries, metres and tackles, but Adam Ashley-Cooper just carved them up and retains his death grip on a Wallabies jersey.

14. Joe Tomane
Like Feauai-Sautia and Ashley-Cooper, Tomane just seemed so threatening whenever he touched the ball, finishing off one try beautifully. He’s returning to the sort of form that saw him in Wallaby gold last year.

15. Israel Folau
Despite having a very quiet game by his standards, Folau was again the best fullback on the weekend. Jesse Mogg was rattled. Jayden Hayward is ineligible. Ben Lucas scored a try but always seems a little out of sorts to me.

Substitute in a few here and there and we have the makings of a pretty reasonable Wallabies team.