Wallabies team to play Scotland announced: Cheika set to blood another debutant

QC a liability in just defense ??

LoL Machooka. Am so old, I adhere to the olde Victorian sado-masochist methods of rearing kids and keeping the missus tough to handle all them house chores. If its possible I will avoid the footpaths and make them all walk through the bramble bushes. Toughens them up for God and Country, hey wot old chap! :)

Ah yes Paul, when you said kids I wasn't thinking of a 2 year old, more like >10 yo. I imagine you would be carrying the lil one for most of the walk up the hill and anyone under 7 will also be whinging by Fitzroy St. tbh I have never caught the shuttles to or from Central as my kids were much older when I started dragging them to the Rugby so we just walked for the exercise. If the weather holds, Saturday afternoon footy is always a great family day. Like you my tickets are in the corner, Gate 18 I think. Here's hoping for a good crowd and have a great day with the family. :)

Fry, I don't really Like Quade for the similar reasons. 2 Yellows and a red in defensive tackles is a liability.

Have never seen a better half of rugby played by a Wallabies team than the first half played by them in that match.

I'd say Robertson is the only front rower who wouldn't be a certainty over the past options. And even then he may be better. Coleman definitely. Hooper over Wilson.

Genia definitely on the bench before Whitaker. Folau on the bench before Jason Little. Foley or Kuridrani on the bench before Nathan Grey. And Kepu and Allan A in their somewhere. Thin pickings though, I agree.....

Yes, that is true, the lineout should be good. But it just seems to go against everything Cheika has stood for in the past. He has never placed much importance on the lineout. Even against the best exponents of it in NZ, he has continually ignored its importance. It's weird. Like the twilight zone.

same old voice timbo - you ignore that with hunt at 12 and foley defending more at 10 there are actually less moving parts and it does look like grey has changed the pattern.

not this year

Folau is also not allowed to make covering tackles at fullback.Lazy to the bone.

Peter, do you think Robertson is actually a better ball carrier than Smith? I've always thought Smith was fairly handy in that regard. He's certainly partial to a big linebreak and gallop down the filed in a similar vein to Sekope Kepu I hardly notice Robertson when he plays... he's certainly not dominating the scrum when they pack down so if he's not smashing rucks like they're going out of fashion or running the ball what is he doing that Sio or Smith (or even old Benny A) can't do better?

Robertson was beaten up at the tackle area.Too small for a international prop .This was the Fijians mate. Not a top 8 team.

Yeah Simmo is better.

Yeah Jameswm, Hanigan is twice the lineout option Timani is. Timani = heft, carries in tight, body shifting, repeated efforts around the breakdown, 4th lineout option Hanigan = genuine lineout option, more pace, better runner in the loose I don't think we need the lineout ability that Hanigan brings over Timani. Carter, Coleman and Higgers are 3 good targets and then Timani is enough for the occasional 'surprise' throw. 'Triple H' (Hanigan, Hooper, Higginbotham) is too loose for me, the three of them occupy too similar a space... Timani, Higgers and Hooper (tight to loose) is a much better spread across the park and I think Timani's ball carrying and ruck smashing ability would really add to the current team.

Falou isn't the first player in which the defense line was rearranged for, Quade Cooper as an example. Although fullback is an important defensive position that comes with that position and Falou is a 20-30 meter runner, point taken. However, Falou is too important offensively as a fullback to ignore and Cheika is playing him as such. Cheika's 2016 of shuffling line ups is over. Players will get more than one oportunity to prove themselves. Hanigan performed ok for a debutant and he is not that much of a lightweight at 110 kg. Expect to see a hungry Dempsey come off the bench soon.

Same old voice here, Half Right, Folau does rove back and forward and insert.... in attack and he is quite good at it. He features quite a bit in the highlights reel. But where does Cheik and Gibson put him in defense and why? The yellow card incident gives us a clue. He is at 14, leaving Foley and DHP to provide cover for the downfield kicks, Folau is a powerful short burst runner which doesn't make him suited to cover the miles needed to provide a decent roving fullback defense. Highlander wrote a great article about the problems in this strategy. One of the key points illustrated was when the Kiwi forwards made a turnover, Kerr-Barlow was already on the scene, only a couple of steps away ready to start the counter-attack. An already in-position Ben Smith takes the offload and converts it into a 60m gain though a rag-tag defense. When the Wallabies make a turnover, there is no play maker anywhere useful. DHP is the closest runner. While the Wallabies are getting players into position, the opposition are re-aligning their defense, valuable seconds ticking away, The 2 players best suited to capitalize are too far out of position to be of any use. The plan is bad. Either Folau's defense is as fantastic as his fan club claims and he should play 13. Or it isn't, and he should either play 14 swapping with TK in attack or he should get off the field. Either way, leave the number 15 jersey to the professionals. There are just too many moving parts in the current arrangement for it to work effectively.

Paul D - I do not believe Cheika chose Robertson because he is a better scrumager. IMO he selected him because he is more mobile than Smith and is a better ball carrier. He thinks his scrumaging is good enough.

interesting comparison as wingers. Hodge is a better defender and tackler. Hodge is faster Hodge kicks further DHP is better under the high ball DHP is more elusive, runs better in traffic DHP kicks better under pressure DHP is a better catcher Neither are good at passing nor offloads.

I have seen nothing this season to suggest that.