O'Connor to start against All Blacks

:)

TPN (I say in jest – excellent player, great Wallaby and a good man, but he is like 35 years old). George Smith also wasn’t as good as when he left ????

So who’s come back and struggled?

What I would like to know is if he is a better 12 than a 13 or a better 13 than a 12.

To be fair Fionn, the selectors are still not done deciding on their best 23 although only a few spots remain uncertain for them. With regards to Latu starting I dont think that is a bad call coz they have settled on him being in the best 23 and even if that is 16 he should get a start to see what he can offer as a starter or he should have some game time as a starter in case FF gets injured down the line. We dont need a situation where our back up starting hooker doesnt have any game time or know if he is suited to start in case of an emergency or if he is going to be only an impact player. This game will answer that question for the. The bigger concern is LSL being at 6 and to a lesser extent Tom banks. I believe the role for T. Banks until post world cup should be 14 or 23 and that means if he is 14 Hodge needs to be at 15. They could try 14. Banks and 15. Beale too but either way Banks needs to get a run at 14 for his pace. The better balancing option would then be Hodge at 15 but either way Banks needs to be tried at wing. Ideally all three of them needs to be in the best 23 but where they play is very crucial for it to work.

Hi Peter, the sensible thing to do would be have TK on the bench in case JOC doesnt work at 13. However, could it be that it's more of seeing what JOC can do and giving Toomua and Banks another chance? I believe this game will decide the role of JOC, Toomua and Banks for the world cup meaning if they will be in the 23 or not. They know what they will get with Kervi at 12 or 13 and Kurindrani at 13 so if it comes to that they will just switch back to the both of them and stick with them for the world cup. Hard to know their thinking on why Kurindrani was dropped to accommodate JOC where as it seemed swapping him for Kervi would be the better way to go, if it worked Kervi and JOC could share the 12 duties and Kurindrani would retain his spot. The way it is now one of the three are going to miss on the first choice 23 since there is no point having Kurindrani on the bench just to cover 13 and ideally all three should be in the first choice 23. Also even if JOC does a good job and stays at 13 we would never know if he would have been even better at 12 which would have allowed both him and Kervi to play 12 and Kurindrani at 13 who has always been very solid for the Wallabies.

I don't think he needs to worry about outrunning anybody anymore! Its an extreme example, he's probabaly put close to 100kg on his frame. My point is the frame (skeleton) is irrelevant. I think you'll find alot of shorter sprinters are actually pretty bulky. Bolt etc are tall with long limbs, short guys have powerfully set legs and bodies. I wouldn't consider 1.8m and 97kg as unusually heavy set.

sure JoC with a broken shoulder, which is conveniently forgotten

Yeah, he looks amazing.. what a crazy transformation from a scrawny guy to a supersized monster. That's just my point though - can that guy even run anymore - at least as well as he used to when he played basketball and sat at his natural athletic size? Hopefully JOC can still motor and sidestep like he used to without the bulk changing things too much.

Skelton hasn’t played test rugby yet. I’ve heard he’s improved but that’s all relative. Because he went to Jenny Craig finally doesn’t mean he’s now a better test player, but forget all that, the thing you seem to miss since that game is important to you is no one has returned to the SH a better player. Zip. None. I fully understand the fact that some of our SH players, and coaches lift the standard of northern club rugby, I mean watching any one of them is like watching a baabaas team but on return, they just aren’t able to match the best players around them.

The article you must read.

Except when Rennie Ranger ran at him.

Dempsey is injured. Should be McCaffrey or Wright. Guys that jump at the line out and go hard at the breakdown.

Bobby my fortune teller is giving me a very different forecast......One of us is getting ripped off.....

Maybe thats why he is at 13

No probs.

I love the way you state the bleeding obvious and miss it. Obviously test rugby is a step up from any other format. It's only made immeasurably harder when you step into brand new combinations at 9/10 and 12/13 with the latter allegedly being asked to perform reverse role when in attack and defence. What could possibly go wrong when playing the best drilled, number one side. But no doubt the soft Premiership will be to blame for any problems there. And then there's the other massive miss. You can (and will) argue players skill levels haven't improved, since it's easy for you to hide behind subjectivity. But even you cannot deny the body morph Skelton has gone through. Oh hang on, of course you can, because you don't buy the discipline thing one bit.

Have you seen pictures of Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson when he played basketball? JoC's skeletal frame is just fine for bulking up. Most people's are.

Calm down Princess.. surely you recognise flippancy when you see it.. ie 'roided' isn't even a word, so let's ignore the slander stupidity and focus on the discussion point. If he can play perfectly well at 100kgs, which seems a long way above his natural athletic weight, fantastic, and good on him. But as he was already an established international Test player at ~85kgs, seems a lot for his skeletal mass to drag around and still expect to outplay Kiwi monsters, some of whom sit naturally at the same weight. Anyway, as I said, go James. I hope he smashes it.

Just imagine if the Wallabies won, would that sabotage Clowns plan of chopping and changing the centres and scrumhalf. No Foley and Phipps needed moving forward.