Roar Wallaby form teams after Round 15

"No need to be a hater tah man." He is just following your lead... ;) "the tahs had a few rubbish seasons" You still haven't answered my question - how were any of them as bad as the Reds now?

No need to be a hater tah man. Under Dean's mike the tahs had a few rubbish seasons and Dean's picked lots of tahs. That is a fact

I have a bad feeling that TPN isn't going to be on the plane. Cheika and Gibson are still keeping him out of Tahs games out of concern about concussion. If he can't show himself fully fit during TRC, I reckon they will leave him. Then we are probably looking at Moore, Latu and Hanson. Unless Charles or Saia really put their hand up in the last few games. I think Leoffa has just made too many mistakes, so this is not his year.

Witty....

Higginbotham at 6 AND 8?

1.Slipper 2.Moore 3.Kepu 4.Simmons 5.Skelton 6.Higgnbotham 7.Pocock 8.Palu 9.Genia 10.Foley 11.Speight 12.Kerevi 13.Kurindrani 14.AAC 15.Folau 16.Hanson 17.Sio. 18.Holmes 19.Coleman 20.Vaea 21.Hooper 22.JOC 23.Phipps

Oh gord, not the Genia - Cooper combo again. Talk about living in the distant past. Probably still dreaming of 2011.

Blindside- typical, boring anti Tah crap. Simpleton.

Higgers for mine, I even rate him above Palu for consistancy. He has been playing the house down for the Rebels, week in and week out and he has muscle and power. As I am a rabid Tahs supporter, I judge who goes well against Team Suremo, The Tahs. Against the Rebels, Higgers was a giant, against the Force Hodgson played out of his skin, against the Ponies, Vaea seemed a little out of his league and was sorta in and out of the game. So after Higgers and Palu, then its Vaea. Sadly one of these 3 will miss out selection for the RWC, they are all really good players.

"I have seen the tahs have a shocker and make up most of the wallabies." As bad as the Reds have had this year? When? In any case, why should the Wallabies have more Reds in them, just to satisfy your notion of balance with previous years? That sounds like you see fairness to the Reds as more important than the Wallabies succeeding - and of course anyone who has followed your posts know that that is the case. You aren't a Wallabies supporter at all, and you never have been. "I wasn’t expecting many with a Waratah at the helm" Like the number of Reds picked when a Red was at the helm? ;)

Re the locks, there is no reason why Simmons can't be there, but it will be because he is a good all-round lock, not because he is only needed for the lineout. He has several games to cement his spot, and the competition is starting to heat up. Skelton is considered a front-runner at the moment, but there are also a couple of other big units in Rory Arnold and Adam Coleman, and Cheika seems to like big units. Then there are several lighter players vying for No 6 who also have experience at lock - Scott Fardy, Lopeti Timani and Luke Jones. But Cheika also seems to like using a wrecking ball next to a workhorse, which is pretty standard stuff anyway. Simmons is never going to be the wrecking ball but he can make a good workhorse. Number 8 is an issue. Cheika obviously likes Palu, i.e. an eightman who can shift bodies in a ruck, but there will be at least one more, plus no guarantee Palu won't break down before we even get to RWC. McCalman and Higginbotham have been pressing their case, but I think Ita Vaea could really cement a spot if he plays well in the last few super games.

What I meant to add was that there s something else very important which has been bedded down - the coaching staff. Cheika was unhappy with the WB scrum performance at the end of last year. So he brought in the scrum coach from his Stade Francais days, Mario Ledesma, to show what he could do with the worst scrum in the Australian S15 conference. Now there is no arguing about the choice for WB scrum coach! Even though several good choices were unavailable, the coaching group looks strong: Cheika as head coach and forwards; Ledesma for scrum; Larkham as attack coach, Grey as defence coach. Good to see also that they have been getting the squad players together on a regular basis to eyeball each other and get to know the strategy and concepts that coaches will use.

Sam Whitelock said before the last game that he saw the Waratahs' line out as a significant strength, and something the Crus would have to work hard to beat. The results on the weekend bore out his assessment, neither lineout dominated but Tahs looked very competent. That turns a lot of majority opinion on the Roar on its head. Which doesn't mean pick all Tahs, you could pick no Tahs but the principle would still apply. Moving on to the team, I think a lot of slots are still up for grabs and several dark horses could yet come through. Cheika has given a clear signal that he is considering Rory Arnold, Samu Kerevi is impressing in difficult circumstances, and two-fathers from the western force has been showin real form also (his name is Haylett-petty or something like that). Re Beale, as usual many of the.adverse comments above miss the point: getting him out of the team is easy - at least two other players have to clearly and unequivocally put their hand up as better. It's up to them.

The real concern for me is the 9 and 10. I don't see anyone smashing it out of the park. Think Stirzacker has done a great job this year but not sure if it's enough to get the nod above Phipps or Genia. QC hasn't played enough, Jack D is too raw and I don't think we can get close with Foley. I hope I'm wrong.

Beale falls off tackles no matter who me marks. There is no place to hide, although hiding him on Tuitavaki's wing would have made more sense than Nadolo's. Wing/FLB is a very interesting spot for the WBs. I assume they can only pick 4, maximum 5 in the world cup squad. Folau, AAC, are certainties. Horne, JOC, Tomane, Speight all offer different attributes, none has really consistently stood out this year. Honey Badger doesn't even come into considerations this year on form, unless you think charisma is the most important attribute, in which case he is first player selected. Horne has consistency and defensive capabilities. JOC has quick stepping, some playmaking capabilities, goal kicking, and the ability to play fullback, but hasn't hit anything like his peak yet. Tomane is big and can bust a few tackles, but is fairly slow, and sometimes error prone. While Speight is quick and fleet footed, but can sometimes go missing, and isn't quite as assured on defence. Be interesting to see which way Cheika goes.

yeah i notice that too but beale was still falling of the other winger once he swapped sides! he just refuses to go low with the shoulder.

as much as i have enjoyed watching kb over the years and continue to hope that he will find his best form again i really dont think he has done anything to deserve a wallaby spot this year. on top of that his defense has got even worse (possibly due to the shoulder injuries), on the weekend I dont think he managed to lay one effective tackle. I also think QC will find it really difficult to get back in the squad with such little rugby under his belt in the last 2 years, and JOC is also struggling (but i would still select him, he is a tough and arrogant competitor and i feel he will rise to the occasion at the RWC). I am not an amigos knocker, my fondest wallaby memories in the last decade have usually involved them or pocock, but i would have no issue if cheika didnt select any of the amigos in the wallaby squad.