Wallabies team to play France announced: Will Genia axed

Backline should have neeb ; white, Foley, Cummins, tomua, aac, horne, folau. Only two changes. With genia, Beale, kirundrani in the bench.

Yeah no higgers or hodgeson or mccalman or sio!!!! Wtf are we going to try to win

AAC needed to be a outside centre and Rob Horne on the wing. Kurindrani in in the best form yet. Maybe if he was the bench back instead of McCabe.

WOW! NO Genia, even in the 23???? He is a proven big stage player. Beale on the bench instead of starting? He has been the stand out center throughout Super 15 and not talking just the Aussie super sides. Higginbotham is another one who I would expect at least in the 23. Still it is a pretty handy squad but I would have gone with a test proven halfback on the bench at least instead of two relatively inexperienced internationally halfbacks.

I thought Uncle was referring to a test where this biffing of Cowboy happened not realizing it was NSW Country v The All Blacks as I knew Carter didn't make The Wallabies until 1988 and Cowboy made his last All Black appearance in 1986 so, stand corrected. I always thought Dave Carter was a great player who probably should have played more tests, especially as I didn't realize he was hard enough to drop Mark "Cowboy" Shaw.

Trialling*

I strongly disagree with your first phrase. Genia has paid for his arrogance? Look at his forwards in the Reds, he isn't a one man army… If the forwards are hopeless, unfortunately the halfback looks silly, this is the case for Genia. Nic White and Nick Phipps have profited from having competent packs. Their teams have given those two the platform to improve their game, getting consistent, clean ball. When those basics are ticked off and teams are moving off on the front foot, halfbacks have a better grasp on the game. Whilst I don't agree with your first phrase I think Genia lacks fitness, he often resorts to kicking whenever he is tired. This is not solely his fault as he is working extra hard to get the ball out of the Reds' scrappy rucks. When it comes to the crunch, I reckon Genia will be starting along side Cooper. Although, Foley and White will prove good test subjects during the upcoming French series.

Ewen must be trailing players for this test series. There is no way a team like this will be competitive against the All blacks or even South Africa. For Australia to win, we need to play an aggressive, attacking style of rugby. My back line choice for the world cup/against decent opposition would be as follows: 9. Will Genia (playing halfback myself, you look terrible if your forwards are hopeless, the added stress of digging around for the ball and not only that, if you don't get clean rucks you have to take a step back to make every pass, which tends to have a flow on effect with the rest of the backline) - i must say the only lacking part of Genia's game is his fitness, it is blatantly obvious the he resorts to kicking to manipulate the game when he is tired~ i do this too :P 10. Quade Cooper (I know he is currently injured) Best fly half in the world...again, needs to be surrounded by quality players that can instinctively read him or at least anticipate - he has looked awful in the reds 1. he is not attacking the line 2. there is no point with the backs he has to work with... 11. Henry Speight (currently not eligible for wallaby selection, brilliant player, suitable match up for blokes like julian savea) 12. Kurtley Beale (talent) 13. Digby Ioane (bring him back from France) 14. Adam Ashley cooper(great player, hardly passes the ball, chuck him at wing) 15. Israel Folau... In my opinion you will only beat quality opposition playing a back line like this, as for reserves you need guys like Rob Horne, Nic White and Matt Toomua. Whilst I rate Nick Cummins as a great bloke, he doesn't bring an x factor to the wallabies team, he is extremely predictable. (good defensive ability, ball skills are average, taking julian savea as his opposition, savea outclasses him in every aspect) As for the forwards, there is still room for players to make a mark. In my mind Higginbotham (with improved discipline) is the clear choice as flanker next to Hooper. If Pocock returns from injury and to his past form, he would be my choice as Hooper's opposite man, with Higgs on the bench. Ewen have your fun against the French… Thoughts?

Matt Hodgson's not picked! Travesty!

Israel Folau – world class Adam Ashley-Cooper – I guess he’s on the wing and not at outside centre because they want to give tevita time to get right at outside centre before the WC Tevita Kuridrani – AAC better in this position this year, but Tevita could be a gun one day, so I’m happy they’re giving him time to dominate. Look at Nonu – he couldn’t even make the hurricanes side… now the AB’s don’t even both picking another 12 in their squad. Matt Toomua – Toomua was good for QC last year because he was a rock to Quade razzle Dazzle. Not sure BF is going to draw as much attention as QC, so I wonder whether they might have kept MT in his usual 10 position, but I guess they are keeping him at 12 so that Quade can just slot back in at 10 when he gets back. Nick Cummins – solid but not striking fear into the hearts of opposition like Ben Smith or Julian Savea. Bernard Foley – I don’t notice Foley controlling games for the Tahs the way QC does for the Wallabies– ie breaking open defences with passes I don’t see coming - but then again, I don’t notice Dan Carter ‘controlling’ games and he’s the best 10 in the world. DC just puts people into gaps and you think, ‘that was clinical rather than impressive’. Everything looks like it was planned. It’s not as entertaining, but the end result is the same I guess. Nic White – Frankly, I’m surprised. Genia proven. Nic white still has the potential to be unpredictable if he gets angry. He had an absolute ripper against the rebels though and I hope he plays like that against the surrender monkeys. Wycliff Palu – enforcer. The sort of guy I’d want on my team… 60 minutes of pain is what we want from the big man. Michael Hooper - yep Scott Fardy – yep – the man is just all brick. Sam Carter – never notice him on the field in brumbies to be honest. He’s not very mobile but his workrate is pretty high according to stats. Horwill on the bench is great. He will be so angry by the time he gets on the field. Rob Simmons – lucky to be there. Sekope Kepu – reserve for the waratahs... that I can remember being destroyed by NZ and SA packs. Stephen Moore (c) – world class James Slipper – not the biggest fan, but he’s still young and has been ‘the next big thing’ for a while. Time to prove himself, just like tevita. Scott Sio not even in the reserves? Res: Tatafu Polota-Nau, Pek Cowan (What?!), Paddy Ryan (I’ve seen this guy make no impact at Shute Shield level – people seem to rate him), James Horwill, Ben McCalman (happy this guy got in over higgers – has added mongrel to his game), Nick Phipps (good on him), Kurtley Beale (what a come back from oblivion), Pat McCabe (awesome – the Energiser bunny of rugby – OI!).

"I dont think the people calling for AAC at 13 realise that he just does not fit the profile that link wants at 13" I think you will find most people understand that very well, but they are talking about a different issue - not why Link makes the pick that he does, but who he SHOULD pick if he wants to maximise the prospects of Wallabies taking games against the top teams. "The profile is a big crash ball type of player who always wins the contact." Which Kuridrani doesn't, so being "big" is irrelevant. AAC is far better at crash ball than Tevita, because of his skill, particularly in the angles he runs. The issue in attack is bending the line against the best opponents and doing so consistently. "Go back to the highlights of last year and you’ll see just how important he is in setting up tries with the go forward he has." Translation: "Lets look at the matches against second and third tier test nations last year and pick out some isolated incidents where Kuridrani looked good". That is not the way to pick the best test side.

RAF, The NSW Country team vs All Blacks 31 July, 1984 according to Max Howell: James Grant, Dwayne Vignes, Mick Scanlon, Mick Finlayson, Bruce Kejda, Peter Tonkin, Mick Claridge, David Carter(c), George Merriman, Greg Hannan, Steve Morgan, Jim Boland, Col Watson, Peter Palmer, Rick Nolan. David Codey was in the Qld team to play the ABs 12 days later.

And the dwarfs would be...? :)

"Tevita Kuridrani is very raw. His passing skills aren’t that great, and he needs to think more when he makes a break. But there were bits and pieces last year when his power running really added to the backline" Exactly, which is why selecting him at 13 was not smart.

Australia needs to beat the All Blacks and win back the Bledisloe. As far as I'm concerned every other priority is a distant second. And so from this perspective, yes, we ought take risks against the French to try and find a team that can in fact beat New Zealand.

Well mate this is an opinion site and that's my opinion. Like it or lump it my opinion is much more important to me than yours.

I'm with you Wazbo. I played the curtain raiser and then watched the game. I remember how NSW Country stuck it to the All Blacks all day and I'm positive it was David Codey who belted Cowboy because not long after that he moved to Brisbane and played at the GPS club where I played.

No physicality ? Palu is one of the most physical ball carriers and defenders in Australian Rugby. Kepu is no slouch while Fardy is a pest at the breakdown. Simmons is improving.

No complaints from me, except a risk re Carter and scrum: -Genia is a better SH, but Nick White is a sharp shooter. Practical choice, given Foley's low accuracy - Pek Cowan / Paddy Ryan over Sio, that's mysterious - Palu/McCalman over Higginbotham. Looks like the coach is going to play an abrasive game. - Horwill lucky he was not replaced by Skelton, because of Carter's start - Carter has strong stats in SR: lineouts (own throw), tackles, defenders beaten. I prefer he comes off the bench so he doesn't get overwhelmed with the speed, and tenacity of facing up with the French starters Hope Carter is able to lift his game to test standard from the start. Go Wallabies!!!

Jez did you happen to catch what the Aus u20s did to Argentina on Monday. 5 tightheads or thereabouts I believe. Allan ala'alatoa being the major hero.