Roar Forum: What changes should the Wallabies make for England?

My Changes; 1. Scott Sio 2. Tatafu Polota-Nau 3. Sekope Kepu 4. Rob Simmons > Philip / Enever 5. Adam Coleman 6. Ned Hanigan > McCalman 7. Michael Hooper 8. Sean McMahon 9. Will Genia 10. Bernard Foley 11. Reece Hodge 12. Samu Kerevi > Hunt 13. Tevita Kuridrani 14. Marika Koroibete 15. Kurtley Beale Reserves 16. Stephen Moore > Uelese (selfish behaviour from Moore, and stupid from Cheik to pick him on tour. What a joke) 17. Tom Robertson 18. Allan Alaalatoa 19. Matt Philip > Enever (How does Simmons continue to get selected????) 20. Ben McCalman > Timani (Hanigan in his blazer) 21. Nick Phipps > Powell - Id like to see him get some game time 22. Karmichael Hunt > Kerevi, Meakes or Perese 23. Henry Speight > Maybe Rona? Cover wing and 13 Alternatively, I wouldn't mind seeing McMahon at 6 and Timani at 8 with McCalman on the bench. I think Hunt would be a great asset in 12. He goes hard and seems to enjoy the physical stuff (which England will bring). Also, he's more of a ball player, will take the line on and is another kicking option to take some much needed pressure off Foley. Our forwards are what will win or lose this game in my opinion, which is why Simmons, Hanigan and Moore should not play. They are passengers. I could rant for a long time about Moore and Simmons. Simmons - dropped from the reds, not played in June and now starting? He hasn't improved. Makes me wonder what Rory Arnold has done to upset people??? Moore has ruined his legacy. If he was about the jersey, he would have retired. As mentioned above, Selfish by Moore, and stupid by Cheik. In Hanigan's defence, he will improve and I like the idea of blooding young players, but he can't be starting this game (if playing at all). SHOULD be a good game, and lets hope it is. A massive opportunity for the wallabies to make a statement on world rugby with their current 1 game winning streak against the all blacks.

He snuck into the same side gate, but unlike Ritchie, he forgot to check that the security guard wasn't watching first. Same Action different situational awareness. Both against the rules.

If he entered the ruck "Ritchie style" he wouldn't have been penalised!

Right on!

The bloody obvious Hodge 15 , Beale 12 , Kerevi 11 , McMahon 6 , McCalmen 8 . Our top five last week McMahon , Beale , Genia , Hodge , Nau next five Coleman , Kepu , Kuridrani , Foley , Hooper last five Sio , Simmons , Kerevi , Koreibete and last again Hannigan . It was good to see a winger doing a wingers job brilliantly ; I refer to the Irish winger Andrew Conway .

The side against WALES played well. ENGLAND will be stronger around the ruck and for the first 60 minutes I would play McCalman instead of Hanigan. The latter had his best game and in the final 20 minutes would provide speed all around the paddock. My concern is Simmons who cannot be replaced by Philips who at this stage is too soft to play against the Poms. ARNOLD is now fit after finishing the NPC and could be on his way to London as we speak.

If Australia go into the England game with the same forward pack, they will get murdered. Remember that Wales had two of their three gun backrowers in S.Warburton and J.Tipuric missing, only T.Faletau was a starter. The WB backrow were pretty good in defence as none of them missed any tackles but were far too lightweight to have any effect in attack. The rucks and penalties were so bad that for the last 15 minutes, they pretty much stopped contesting the defensive rucks unless it was a guaranteed win. For the England match I would punt Ned H. and Sean Mac and start with Lurham Tui at blindside (providing he is guaranteed to last a full match) with Ben Mac at #8. Keep Ned Hanigan as reserve to shore up the lineout. This way you have two big men in the backrow and gives the scrum some extra power while both are very good lineout exponents. The main downside is you lose some speed into the rucks and the cover. I thought Ned Hanigan's tackle of the Welsh winger was a copybook flying cover tackle. That's the first "WOW!" moment he has given me in his 10 matches (plenty of "Not Again!" moments though). However I expect coach Cheika to keep his starting pack and only bring in L.Tui either as reserve lock (punt M.Philip) or flanker (punt McCalman). Remember in Argentina Cheika selected Jack Dempsey as starter blindside, Tui as reserve backrower and Ned was LRO, so he is not totally wedded to Tah Ned. If he keeps the starting pack from Wales, then with R.Simmons at lock that's four small-frame or weak-in-power forwards against the Brutish 8 pack of Mother England. Am not happy! Australia got hammered in the ruck penalties and as the match progressed I wondered "are the penalties because the WB players have not 100% adjusted to the new ruck rules or is it the referee confused and is mixing the old and new rules?" The ruck just before Hooper's yellow, one WB player (K.Beale perhaps) has come in correctly via the gate and clearly has stolen the ball off the Welsh tackled player, despite two other Wales players laying off their feet all over the ruck and trapping the WB tackler on the floor. Penalty to Wales while I scream "wtf???". I guess I have to get my head around these new dopey rules also. It will end up like RL, with uncontested rucks. What a pity that the IRB/WR clowns have destroyed the contested ruck just to appease the ERU over the Eng vs Italy 6N Hoo Haa earlier this year. If the olde farts really wanted to do something about rucks, how about clamping down on players just falling into rucks to bury the ball. Some players don't even pretend as they come in off their feet and do another belly flop. That and "pillars" taking out defence opponents without the ball who happen to be standing in the vicinity (2 metres at times) of the ruck. Back to my grump pills, I need a nappy change! Nurse!!! LoL

Foley gets charged down a lot as well but not because he is a slow kicker but lacks vision and makes poor decisions. If you note I stated Beale should take exit kicks. For balance until Hodge can kick a lot quicker AND maintain good distance he cannot be considered for clearance kicks. Hodge takes a long time with his kicking action. Right now Beale (or Hunt) should be taking kicks where the defence is close enough to put pressure on the kicker.

Perhaps he should get the experience at NRC and SR like everyone else is expected to. Ben McCalaman has 49 caps I think. No absence of experience there and made an impact the moment his boots hit the grass.. Put Ned on the bench, he can get his experience in 20 minute intervals.

So Foley has never had a clearance kick charged down? I think a balanced perspective is in order How about: "Hodge should spend some time with Mick Byrne this week speeding up his clearance kicks." That charge down came at lightning speed and the Welsh player deserves a lot of credit for his run.

I got awfuly nervous on that last conversion attempt. If that went over, a converted try to Wales would have won it for them. They lost their enthusiasm after it missed the sticks.

Shock Horror, a varied kicking game forces the opposition to spread out to cover, thinning the defensive line, opening gaps to run through. Sending chasers after the ball puts the receiver under pressure forcing mistakes? Who would have thought? What an innovative. world leading approach. What is that you say? This is what everybody has been doing for years? Surely not! Cheikaball is be the only way and it must never be questioned, NEVER,... EVER! /End Sarcasm

Colemans first: First man there, Hands on the Ball, On his feet, Ineffective Clean out, Headgear and a noisy crowd. In my view he had rights to the ball, if he managed to hear the Ref, well, that's on him. Right or wrong, you need to do what he says. Coleman's second penalty was a bit rough. He was pinned under a Welsh player who was straddling him, If he had rolled he would have knocked the guy off his feet. Staying put was the best option to minimize his impact on the game. But when the half did his best TJ Perinara impersonation, pushing the ball down between 2 players to make it look like they were the reason for the play slowing down, he milked a penalty that shouldn't have been there. I am not blaming the ref, but I give Coleman a free pass on that incident. It set Hoops up for a fall when he had his brain fade and entered the ruck "Ritchie style".

More impact at the breakdown through starting selections should go some way to fixing that

McMahon is always more effective in the back half of the game or against weaker opponents, for me he is a very good utility forward replacement whose place is on the bench. This should be forced when pocock is back (as much as I hate the pooper).

He also turned the ball over in contact three times due to his body height running it up. NH side know that they can target Wallabies poor technique in this area and they have done (since Ireland In RWC2011) with varying degree of success, most recently Scotland. It's just gotta be fixed!

Foley can't win you a game, he can only lose it. And you'll never win a RWC with Foley at flyhalf. You ignored my compliment for Beale and my several years of slagging off Simmons. That Simmons is now a Tah is just an unfortunate coincidence for Australian rugby.

I know, mate, it is weird that we haven't managed to improve more in this period (although our scrum is far better than it once was). I too would like an answer to your question. Peter, no idea who the current scrum coach is.

Higgers isn't even in the squad...that said. McCalman for Henigan, Beale to 12, Hunt to FB

Hanigan out for Higginbotham Robertson out for Slipper Phipps out for Powell I would leave Kerevi in for another game over Hunt - who i feel is overrated and not much of a threat with ball in hand. If only James O’Connor wasn’t such a DH.