Wallabies vs England third Test DIY player ratings: The results

There is no way that Skelton was great. At best he was ok. He was next to useless in the Line Out and his lack of fitness and clumsiness gave away penalties that England pounced on. A man his size should be putting fear into the opposition but he can't just take the ball at one out and jog into contact - he's got to be coming off the back fence and taking that pop from the #9 at full pace. He'll knock holes in the defence and if the #10 and back row can be sniffing around for the off load the Aussies can be deep in behind the opposition time and again. He might take 2 or 3 defenders but he's so slow that the rest of the defence has time to organise and prepare for the next phase. I think he really could be a good player who causes a lot of chaos but right now he's pretty easy to defend against and he makes the Aussie line out weaker

Turn it up, rate him highly but he is not the most talented wallaby of all time... Can name at least ten off the top of my head...

PiratesRugby Perfect summary of Checkas hand picked Wallaby pack..

Softest locks to play imo over the last 10 years are.... SHARPE TIMANI DOUGLAS MUMM and CARTER

Timbo I am in favour of Fardy as injury lock cover over Mumm as insufficient 'utility' cover for two positions.

I think voters are being generous with Horne..He should be a 3.5..The bloke is Mr Invisible and is VC ?? What is with that??

And the fact that will less space and inside backs that don't fix defenders from driving, Folau doesn't have the opportunity to be as effective.

I actually agree here. I've been a long time critic of Skelton, but I actually think he played well in the first half. He just needs to keep improving.

Agree with you RL. I posted similar sentiments on the G&GR site and was quickly jumped on (like many of the replies here. Yes Skelton can do better and there are legitimate concerns around fitness and ability to play 60 let alone 80 mins. But you are dead right re the rucks and mauls. Skelton ploughing in to clean our a ruck is a like a bulldozer on steroids. In that first half he hit numerous rucks, smashing the English defenders away and leaving clean ball at the back. Yes his running/offload game wasn't great on Saturday but even if he isn't making breaks he is attracting numerous defenders. Like Hooper the guy can't seem to get a break from a lot of Wallabies supporters!

5 was exactly the correct rating as Frisby did exactly what was expected of him. He sat on the bench very well. The voting does not have a "Not Ranked" or "Did Not Play" option - it forces any voter to rank someone like Frisby.

Problem with that is that there is no depth in the back 3 yet there is depth at 13.

Yes he does. Because otherwise defenders just drift and double team him.

Folau doesn't need Kerevi or Kurindrani to "fix defenders" for him, TWAS. One, neither are that good at it, and two, he's equally adept at playing tight as he is in space. I'd like to see him play 13 because he'll comfortably be the best outside centre in the world, but most importantly, more impactful for Australia.

didnt show any mongrel. Also he should have verbally dominated and psyched out the ENG team and reserves from the WB bench

I am a big fan of Simmons but he came off the line and tackled a man who never got the ball and while he was on the ground Coles strolled over in the gap. Cheika dropped Simmons for the previous game and said some thing like " he knows what he did to get dropped ". Does anyone know what Simmo did or said to get the axe?

Well it's only your book it is. In the real world it's not considered one. Where does he do all his work? On the fringes. Why would you want him working in tighter? Folau is a better fullback option with players like Kerevi and Kuridrani fixing defenders in the centres and him exploiting the space that offers.

Not at all. There are many ways to skin a cat but that try was scored in the one phase - again, Folau picked up the ball, beat two defenders and layed it on to Toomua who layed on for Foley. That's a try assist in my book - he was more actually influential in that try that the DHP one. Happy to keep chatting with you about Folau's positive impact in a crap team mate. Your insistence that Kerevi and/or Kurindrani are stronger centre options than Folau in isolation is funny. Both are nowhere near him.

on your logic every player who touches the ball in any phase leading up records a try assist. Without their involvement there's no try. That's not a try assist to anybody but you, which is why the respected providers of statistics (Opta and espn) do not count them.

Sure is champ. The play started when Folau brought down a high ball in traffic. Was recycled and one phase later DHP misdirected a pass off Itoje. Folau then picked up a rolling/bouncing ball on halfway, fended the 11, ran 10m to draw the 8 and put Toomua clear away before he passed to Foley to score. You and ESPN might not call that an assist TWAS but if Folau is not there the ball is likely dropped, the awkward pass is likely dropped, both defenders are not beaten and there is most definitely no try.

That's not a try assist. He passes the ball to Toomua who advances, commits the defence and then passes to Foley, the try scorer. Toomua assists the try. Whilst I had no criticism of Folau's game, did he even beat a defender in his run?