That's exactly my point.
Jane will serve exceptionally well until at least the world cup, then you've got a very capable replacement in Piutau.
To be fair it's a situation most nations would be tripping over themselves to be in: "Do we drop Cory Jane?"
Jane is almost certain to start this week (unless the AB's have a massive change of heart and start Dagg at fullback). However Jane's time as a world class international winger is waning IMO. He was out for most of last season, and didn't really impress when he did return for the AB's at the end of the season. It looked as though he had been surpassed by both Ben Smith and Charles Piutau in terms of AB's right wing options, so needed a big Super Rugby season to stay on the AB's radar. He was overall very quiet (but accurate) for the Canes - you could almost count the number of tackles he broke all season on one hand.....
A number of injuries throughout the English series meant he started every match (Piutau was out for the whole series, Savea for match 1, Dagg for matches 2 & 3) - if there had been no injuries I don't think he would have played a single match. He was very quiet in the 1st match, had a shocker of epic proportions in the 2nd match, but did have an excellent 3rd test. He was very quiet again this last match (though most of the backline was). Piutau is only just back to full fitness (and didn't impress for Auckland in the weekend), but when fit and firing I think he is the AB's best option on the right wing. He doesn't have Jane's high ball skills or experience but offers a real attacking threat, and is a very strong defender too (Jane is accurate but quiet passive on defense). Unless Jane starts to show some consistent form I think he may struggle to make the AB's world cup squad, especially with Gear (and possibly Kahui) returning...
Higginbotham is a great player... for the opposition.
I agree. To start with he was
the most penalised player in Super Rugby (conceding 32 penalties). You would normally expect the most penalties to be conceded by a prop (as there are a lot of penalties awarded at scrum time) or by someone who does a lot of work at the breakdown. Higginbotham fills neither of these roles. Indeed (according to the stats at foxsports.com.au) he didn't force a single turnover at the breakdown during the Super Rugby season. So basically he conceded 2+ completely unnecessary penalties per match.
His wide ranging ball running is an asset (along with his excellent ball handling skills), but I still think he plays far too loosely for test rugby, and the fact he concedes 2+ penalties per match makes him a complete liability in my opinion....
Palu was quiet last night, but he is clearly the best choice the Wallabies have in my opinion. He does the basics well, runs hard and straight, makes his tackles etc. I can't agree with the poster that suggested his work-rate isn't good enough either. He is not as dynamic as many others, but for a big lad but he gets through more than enough under-appreciated 'dirty work' - certainly far more so than Higginbotham (who spends most of his time loitering on the win...).
Anyways.... I don't expect too many changes for the AB's. If Kaino is out injured Messam will obviously come into the starting lineup (and do a good job IMO). Personally I would start Ben Franks and LH prop, but the selectors do like Crockett for some reason. Honestly I wouldn't be too fazed if Nonu was out injured. It would be interesting to see what the do if he is out though. Fekitoa is probably the next in line but has very little experience at 12. Crotty has a lot more experience in the position and is a much 'safer' option, but a Crotty/Smith midfield would perhaps lack powerful running option....
. I'm talking about Charles Piutau or maybe Izzy Dagg
