<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Melhor Time @ Aug 30 2009, 04:39 AM)
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<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (smartcooky @ Aug 29 2009, 08:24 AM)
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This shows up the stupidity of the current format where everyone plays everyone else three times. It virtually over and were only 3/4 of the way through the competition. The remaining matches will be meaningless dead rubbers.
Roll on Argentina joining this comp.[/b]
Why not kick Australia out of the 3N? They are not able to win afterall? I do not want them removed but the point is vivid for everybody to understand. Australia bing in the 3N as a part of a three way battle for SH supremacy is simply not accurate. The current team is not good and the coaching has nothing to do with this.
Seriously, this is not so surprizing. Australia suffer from having no local player base. This is why they go after NRL players. Sooner or latter they will need to select players base din Europe, even if the rule is to only allow one or two based there in the team it will be an improvement. Look at Australia's options to replace Mortlock. There are none. The options, in Australia, are Cross or Ashley-Cooper. One is a former league player and the other is a fullback. Another could have been Timana Tahu who is another league player. While the other option for 13 woiuld be Lote Tuqiri... yes a league player too. Australia cannot go on with no national competition. The Super 14 is not producing players, certainly not enough in different positions. Some of the Wallabies are poor. Burgess was outplayed to the extent that his international career should have ended in November 2008 when playing vs France. The reason he is still there is a lack of options. This is the same reason why John Connoly played Giteau at 9 in 2007. Barnes and Lakham were there to play flyhalf. Australia really need Mark Gasnier playing for them. Today he scored two tries for Stade Francais. SF were losing and looking like being badly beaten at one point but Gasnier played well to help his team win. He plays in France so can't represent Australia, despite being much better than Cross, et all. This will need to change, and may come under review, if Australia keep losing. There is no way that Tyrone Smith is better. If Australia don't use Gasnier then he could very well play for France. France would be using Brock James but he played sevens for Australia so cannot.
Could Australia's amateur players (no Super 14 players allowed whatsoever) play Canada and the USA in North America and win? I am not so sure. Well Argentina's Jaguars have done so this year. Argentina are moving towards a professional domestic competition. John O'Neill, cancelled Australia's after one year. Mr O'Neill is not doing Australia many favors. His handling of the ARU's international affairs is anti-expantionist in many ways. Australia need better relations with many rugby countries. Its all good and well to move a Bledisloe Cup match to China or Japan to make a profit but the domestic fans need variation and need to see the strenghts of more teams. Australia's low crowd vs France in June in Sydney was really shocking. Vs Wales in 2007 it was too. John O'Neill blamed the Welsh for not having all their top players yet a French team who had defeated New Zealand didn't sell ticked two weeks latter. Australia have not hosted Argentina since 2000 and have not played in Argentina since 2002. Here lies the problem. The fans are, in large part, clueless. This is shocking given that the ARU is in a four way war with rugby league, soccer and Australian rules football. Rugby's strength is that it is international, unlike league and aussie rules. Yet, Mr O'Neill seems to not understand this. He does so much harm to Australia's relations with others. He should be looking to build a future with the world power Argentina.
He should be wanting to act as a regional leader in the Pacific. Think back to the success of World Cup games in 2003 in Adelaide, Wollongong, Canberra, Gosford and Townsville. These venues sold out, or virtually sold out games including Ireland vs Argentina, France vs USA, Canada vs Italy and Japan vs Fiji. The ARU should be taking games to these places. It needs to host teams like Samoa, Fiji, Tonga and Japan at these venues. Mr O'Neill pulled Australia 'A' out of the Pacific Nations Cup which made games like these that much more important. Australia needs to take games to the fans. Use these venues and make use of the year outside of the Super 14, Tri Nations and November / June internationals.
When Giteau was 12 the things were better for Australia. This is when the team scored tries. He should be playing here. Cooper was better at 10 but Brock James is what is missing. I have said so a few times already. Flyhalf play does not need to be a star like Carter or Hernandez. Wilkinson certainly has little play making skills compared to these guys, yet he controls play. Andy goode does too. He replaced a Giteau like player (Danny Cipriani) and England were better off. Organization is key at flyhalf. Brock James has this. Morne Steyn is a rubbish runner yet has this too. Why has Ronan O'Gara been the man for Ireland for so long? Cooper, Beale, O'Connor and Giteau are all immensely talented but most are better at other positions. The Wallaby backline is very unbalanced.
A balanced backline would be:
10 James
11 Ioane
12 Giteau
13 Gasnier
14 Mitchell
15 Ashley-Cooper
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Australia's problem lies in the forwards. They don't have a front 5 and SA killed them at the breakdown. To compound that, their link between a shitty pack and the fantastic footballers in their backline is Burgess, who is also ****. It's not really fair to criticise the rest of the backline considering how many players are missing.
The backs, if they're all fit, have an abundance of talent.
. Also tell the men in Green it is time to venture out of the Emerald Isles and visit SA for a bit of rugby and SA hospitality.
