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It was a good weekend of rugby results-wise for the two top Aussie teams, but this has been the most difficult week yet to pick standout performers. There are sure to be even more controversial choices than usual.
1. Scott Sio
The Force scrum were pretty impressive but I’m still awarding this to Sio over Pek Cowan. Ben Daley had a bit of a shocker and Cruze Ah-Nau was quiet.
2. Stephen Moore
Pat Leafa, James Hanson and Nathan Charles were both pretty good in patches, but Stephen Moore retains the mortgage on this spot.
3. Kieran Longbottom
The quiet achiever of Aussie tightheads.
4. Cadeyrn Neville
Scott Fardy seemed strangely quiet and his stats back that up. Rob Simmons stats are more impressive but too often I notice him for the wrong reasons, namely silly penalties.
Sam Wykes was just okay so I’m giving this to Neville this week. He seems to be busting his proverbials to prove his place in the starting side and relevance for Australian rugby.
5. Sam Carter
A tougher call for me than the other lock spot. I’ve been in trouble for picking James Horwill before, but I thought he again tried hard in a losing team. Everyone’s darling of the moment Luke Jones was solid but unspectacular this week.
Adam Coleman had another good game, but I’m giving the credit to Sam Carter this week for topping off some impressive work around the park with a try.
6. Angus Cottrell
A lot doesn’t show up in the stats, especially for a guy like Angus Cottrell.
So often after a good tackle or work at the breakdown I’ll look for the number of the player and it will be the Force No. 6. He’s really combative and gets in the face of the opposition, and for all those little things gets the guernsey this week.
Another blindside who had won this spot before but I don’t seem to notice as much is Colby Fainga’a. He probably has more impressive stats than Angus, and fans of his or the Rebels may have a right to a grievance on this one.
7. Matt Hodgson
Without Michael Hooper you might have thought Hodgson was a shoo-in for this spot this week, but I did consider awarding it to the Brumbies unsung hero, Jarrad Butler. He made more tackles than Hodgson, won the same number of turnovers and the same number of carries, and Hodgson was also yellow-carded.
So while I’m awarding it to Hodgson for the quality of his tackles, it is a narrow victory.
8. Jake Schatz
I’m sure I will be roasted for this one.
I really wanted Ben McCalman to do well this week. He still seems to be behind Palu in the pecking order in the eyes of most rugby commentators despite having a better season so far. This week was a chance for him to justify my continued defence of him and stamp himself more firmly in selectors’ minds, but he was a bit quiet.
Scott Higginbotham is another who needs to make his mark. He was more impressive on the stats sheet than McCalman, but is too loose too often.
Ben Mowen was fairly quiet so I’m throwing a bone to Jake Schatz – the sole Reds representative in this team this week.
9. Nic White
There were nooutstanding performances from any of the Aussie scrum-halves this week.
Ian Prior was okay in replacing the usual Force standout Alby Mathewson. Will Genia could get back to his best if given the chance, but he’s not getting any in this current Reds team. Luke Burgess tries hard and plays a different game to others, but just lacks really good fundamentals.
Nic White is your typical yappy energiser bunny of a halfback. While he missed a few kicks for touch going for too much, it was outweighed by the good things he does and I prefer that he takes risks.
10. Matt Toomua
Quade Cooper was widely panned for his performance, but I’m not sure he was quite as bad as some are making out. Fly-half is always an obvious and convenient scapegoat, though even Bryce Hegarty was better than Cooper this weekend.
While Matt Toomua continues to confuse me as a No. 10, I have to award the guy some points for steering the ship to victory. The antithesis of Cooper, he rarely has brain explosions and is so keen for contact.
11. Nick Cummins
There were some good performances by other wingers, but it was a pretty clear win for the Honey Badger this week. Robbie Coleman didn’t show up on the stats sheets much but seems to chase every high ball, fields a few himself and is always pressuring the opposition fielders.
12. Kyle Godwin
It’s about time young Godwinmade it into this team. He has been a bit of a defensive specialist this year so far – as have all the Force team – but this week added some good runs.
13. Marcel Brache
This is the second time the young Force centre has made it into this team, and Tevita Kuridrani is getting further and further away from the Wallabies No. 13 jumper. I’m not saying Brache will replace him, but Adam Ashley-Cooper is in much better form there so far this year.
Brachel made some mistakes but seemed anything but overawed, and was really noticeable around the field – perhaps because the South African commentators had around four different pronunciations of his surname. Don’t ask me what the correct one is.
14. Dane Haylett-Petty
Tough choice this one. Joe Tomane looked really good and I’m confident would have nabbed this if not for going off really early with a suspected broken eye socket courtesy of teammate Ben Alexander.
Dom Shipperley has some good stats, but the number of high balls that went unchased was a bit of a disgrace for the Reds and the wingers have to take some of that blame. I think his stats more reflect the helter-skelter game that this was.
Male Sa’u made some good metres but the stats tell me he made zero tackles, and I just can’t abide that as a stat.
Which leaves me with Dane Haylett-Petty and Pat McCabe, who came on early for Tomane. Neither of them had really good numbers, but I’m going to give it to the former. This won’t be a popular choice but he had some good touches.
15. Jesse Mogg
Two kiwis in Jayden Hayward and Jason Woodward were the most complete players at fullback this round.
Then there are the Aussies Mike Harris and Jesse Mogg. Mogg has his frailties but 20 carries for 98 metres, pretty good fielding at the back and 21 kicks to continually pinthe Sharks back in their territory gets him over the line.
At risk of derailing my own topic, an interesting topic of conversation might be the fact that many of the star performers in the Aussie sides are their import players: Potgeiter at the Waratahs, Mathewson at the Force and Woodward at the Rebels.
Does this show canny recruiting on behalf of those teams and good coaching and player development, or is this a sad indictment on the state of Australian rugby?
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.