Wallabies announce 30-man squad for South Africa and Argentina Tests

Well, we're only 0.9 points behind South Africa in 5th, so if we win in the republic we could bounce straight back above them.

Except that Robertson is not selected, TPN plays in England, Kepu is on the bench and Simmons is 4th or 5th in line So in actual reference to the current squad NSW have 2 out of 8 and Dempsey is still coming back via NRC. Damn that Tah bias

Thanks Sheikh What about upward mobility of stars align and there's a few wins?

Cheiks is looking at an all Waratah Wallaby starting pack in 2019. Coleman and Pocock will be the only Non Tahs. 1 Robertson 2 TPN 3 Kepu 4 Coleman 5 Simmons 6 Dempsey 7 Hooper 8 Pocock

There lies an important question - do we think the current squad is capable of turning things around? Cheika is at a cross-roads (although one at which I think he'd only ever go one way from), but we could decide to abandon any hope of coming 2nd in the Rugby Championship and look at players/combinations outside the 'chosen few', in the hope that we find the right recipe. The alternative, which I'm sure is what we'll do, is continue down the same path with the same players in the hope that with more time playing together they suddenly gel into a coherent side which can lead us to a glorious loss in the RWC final (being realistic here!)

I've crunched the numbers and unless something remarkable happens (eg, Argentina beating the ABs, or the Wallabies losing by > 2 tries) then even if we lose both the final matches in the Rugby Championship, we can't drop below 7th. And if we're 7th going into the Spring Tour, then losing to Wales & England probably wouldn't hurt the ranking that much. If we lost to Italy, however, then slipping to 9th is a distinct possibility. I think we're safe from 10th, though, as Fiji are too far behind.

The best #8 coming through isn't eligible yet - Naisirani. If he isn't the Wallaby 8 for the RWC then Cheika knows 4/5ths of eff all about rugby. And hopefully, having a proper #8 in the squad will stop the Pooper tactic; pick a proper #8 and a proper #7 (preferably Pocock!) and then you don't have to muck around with picking a lock at #6 to counteract the lack of height at the line-out. A back-row of Timu/Cottrell, Pocock/Hooper & Naisirani gives a lot more balance than a back-row of Hanigan, Hooper & Pocock, and allows Hanigan to go back to Super Rugby and learn his trade away from the spot-light. He's got potential, but thrusting him into International rugby while he's still learning isn't helping him.

Yes KT. Quade in the mix would not make all WB problems go away. (2,6,8 and 13 are far from settled), but it would offer an attack threat. We are leaking like a sieve in defence atm while maintaining low score levels. We need some skills in the 10 jersey. QC should have at least been in the squad for the last 2 years. One of only two things I find agreement with Alan Jones on.

With the problems at Fly half (and lets be frank: Kurtley has been awful in that position), the person who should be travelling with them is Quade Cooper. Cheika's statement that he has to play Super Rugby to be selected just does not stack up. Cheika has selected other players from the NRC previously. Cooper is playing well enough in the NRC to be selected on form. If they are not going to play Toomua in that position (and why not?), Quade is a much better option than Kurtley. The Wallabies are performing too badly to be knocking back players like Quade for spurious reasons. In this case the reason is simply that Thorn doesn't like him.... That is not a good enough reason.

Exactly. And now that Flanders looks certain to be part of the run on side, you know nothing is going to change. Even with his job on the line, Chieka shows not only his provincial bias but his inability to select the best team.

RA already gave our rugby a suger hit by dropping the Force. Not much to show for all the trouble.

We are now ranked 7th. I am wondering if we will drop below France and Argentina by year end. Are we looking at possibly being ranked 9th in the world?

I’m sorrry to say it Rob but the spine of this side is still the rot which will be the legacy of Chieka’s reign. Get rid of TPN, Hanigan, Foley and move Hooper to the bench and I think you’re steering back on course. Foley and Hanigan are proven duds, the former just happens to live off his game against England and kick against Scotland in 2015 plus a couple of forwards-led cake walks against soft opponents. Remove the cancer before it kills the patient. And to answer the cliche retort: I would select any of the new hookers blooded this season, ANYONE other than Hanigan and install Toomua at 10 before giving some understudies a chance on the Spring Tour.

Cottrell has been the stand-out No 6 for some time and yet, it has taken the unavailability of Tui for him to finally be picked. As I type this I am reminded my long felt frustration with selectors who only picking stand-outs when forced to. The other frustration is selectors not making changes when players are not performing, For some time our defence has been abysmal, yet no changes have been made to either the playing or coaching personnel. So off we go on another trip with the same problems and no doubt the same 23, at least a quarter of whom will be playing out of position, GRRRRR! With no Rugby to watch on Saturday evening I tuned into the League, including the early game, and was gob-smacked at the girls textbook tackling, particularly the Roosters. I don't think the Roosters (men or women) let in a try in either game, I said to my wife after only a few minutes of the first game "Gee these girls tackle better than the Tahs and the Wallabies". Hello? .... Nathan Grey.... R.A ..... somebody ..... check them out next Sunday!

Might be because Cheika has reverted to form with his regards to having his favourites back in the team, KCOL, and there is no enthusiasm from the punters.

He was the same with BPA - if you are seen as the next best and don't get a game, then why aren't you still the next best? How do you get dropped from sitting on the bench.

Yes, Fionn. Are these the last days before divorce? It’s not anger and drama that ends it all. It’s when one side, after years of being ignored, just stops caring at all. Paul Cully reckons a sacking will just be a ‘sugar hit’. He is correct in that sackings are usually a sugar hit, but there is more to this situation. McKenzie was a better coach. He had tactics. He had game plans. And he had more selection intelligence. But he also had a personal complication. Cheika was our sugar hit after Link unlinked. He is a likeable passionate guy. And an excellent motivator. But he’s not a world class selector or a tactician. Not many are. Cheika has been a four year sugar hit. It’s time we ate some greens.

Good article, agree we need to be practicing maul defence

That’s it they need new blood. Contract system sucks as they , RA, have to get their money worth

We South African,