Roar Wallaby form teams after the Super Rugby semi finals

Good work, PK, and thanks for that. It will be interesting to compare your lists against Cheika's final squad. I like the idea of Timani in the squad and I'd prefer him to start at 6 and do some early damage before being replaced at betw the 50th-70th minute for Hooper/McMahon/Faingaa to run riot when they eventually come on. Skelton is must and I think his mere presence makes the opposition think twice and that usually is the break one needs to take advantage. I am also a Horwill fan and I hope he finds his mojo during the RC as it will be good to have him with Skelton.

Paul, Jones is the best performing Australian lock this season. He also calls the lineout (no great achievement in a poor lineout but that is more due to the hooker). I disagree with PeterK about him running out wide. He runs close and wide whereas Timani is used for limited periods to do the impact work in close. I think Timani only averages about 50 minutes a game. Timnai pulls off the big hits and Jones is often the one pulling off the trying saving tackle.

I've had a quick look at Timani in comparison to his stable mate Jones and it's interesting to see Jones has more metres/run, more clean breaks, actually takes lineout catches, significantly better defence and is an 80 min man clocking up almost 1200 mins from 15 games. Really impressive stats for someone who's barely noticed and doesn't get the kudos that others receive.

Now it is just a waiting game to see what Chieka does. Do you know when the rest of the squad will be announced?

What about McMahon as back up openside flanker and cover for 6

Based on form (and experience) I'm far partial to picking our top 23 players, and subtly rotating the forwards during the RC. The key, though, is not disturbing the combinations too much and putting 2 new starting players in each week. For example, if Holmes and Sio don't start in week 1, they would start the following week. The other key is subbing players at the 45-55 minute mark, perhaps leaving the last 2 players on the bench until the 70 minute mark. What's also important is that the 23 RC players who are selected are told that this will be the WC 23 barring injury or complete deteriation of form during the RC. There's gotta be some faith put into the 23 and transparency of what rotation means within that squad. The subtle rotation will also provide some insurance at the WC if players get injured. If Moore comes off as Captain, then Pocock is there and more than able. This model seems to have worked for the Brumbies. 1 Slipper/Scott Sio 2 Moore/James Hanson 3 Sekope Kepu/Holmes 4 Simmons (lineout caller) 5 Will Skelton/Jones (possibly Dennis) 6 Scott Fardy/Hooper 7 David Pocock 8 Scott Higginbotham (lineout caller)/McCalmum/(possibly Palu) 9 Phipps/Will Genia 10 Bernard Foley (goal kicker) 11 AAC 12 Toomua/CCL (goal kicker) 13 Tevita Kuridrani 14 Rob Horne 15 Israel Folau The 23 player selection also tries to draw the best strengths from each state/province and keep combinations in the backs together. It'll be the latter that survives the pressure cooker of the WC. Reds - 5 Brumbies - 7 Tahs - 8 Rebels - 2 Force - 1 Standby players in a broader squad of 31 should include: Giteau, Mitchell, Smith, Hodgson, Tomane or Speight (ie players with no ego and would be happy to support what's best for Australia). I think Palu and Dennis would also fall into this category. All these players, especially the first three could come in at a minute's notice and play very well in a WC game. Hodgson has got excellent leadership and is an older head. Dennis will be selfless and along with Fardy can play in the second row.