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Deans drops five Wallaby stars for Tri Nations

TRF_Cymro

Cymro The White
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The selection of four new caps, and the return of the experienced front rowers Stephen Moore and Benn Robinson, highlights the Wallabies squad that has been unveiled today ahead of this year's Tri Nations Rugby Series.

Just 28 of the 30 scheduled names have been released, with the coaching panel of Robbie Deans, Jim Williams and Richard Graham, and selector David Nucifora, opting to play a waiting game on the final two spots before confirming the final playing roster.

"We still have some decisions to make, and would like to see a little bit more club rugby before settling on the final two positions," Wallabies head coach Deans said on the ARU site.

"Given the difficulties that we have experienced this year, in terms of our injury circumstance, we feel that it is prudent to allow ourselves a little bit more time in this instance to cover off any other requirements we feel that we will need."

Injury has played a part in today's selection, with prop Ben Alexander (knee) and No 8 Stephen Hoiles (Achilles) both added to the unavailable list from the original squad of 30 for the June Tests due to recent operations.

Australia squad:

Adam Ashley-Cooper, Berrick Barnes, Kurtley Beale, Richard Brown, Luke Burgess, Mark Chisholm, Quade Cooper, Ben Daley, Rocky Elsom (capt), Anthony Faingaa, Saia Faingaa, Will Genia, Matt Giteau, Scott Higginbotham, Matt Hodgson, Rob Horne, Peter Hynes, Digby Ioane, Ben McCalman, Salesi Ma'afu, Stephen Moore, Dean Mumm, Jame O'Connor, David Pocock, Benn Robinson, Nathan Sharpe, Rob Simmons, James Slipper

http://www.rugbyweek.com/news/article.asp?id=26408
 
Dropping Drew Mitchell - It is clear that Robbie Deans does not want to win. I have nothing but good things to say about Drew Mitchell and I think it is shocking that he is dropped. He was one of the best wings in the S14. I also love Mitchell because he was in my fantasy team when he scored 4 tries :)
 
Wow that's a shock of some sort!Mitchell & Turner are probably the Wallabies best wingers imo and they get left out:huh::mellow::eek:
Only Deans and co will know why they did that:rolleyes:Guess this means that AAC and Ioane will be the 1st choice wingers then?
 
Drew Mitchell was one of the best Aussie players in the June tests imo, i thought he was fantastic, very very surprised to see him dropped.
If they couldn't fit both him and AAC in the squad then i'd have dropped JO'C and put AAC back at Fullback
 
Drew Mitchell was one of the best Aussie players in the June tests imo, i thought he was fantastic, very very surprised to see him dropped.
If they couldn't fit both him and AAC in the squad then i'd have dropped JO'C and put AAC back at Fullback

Agree 100%
 
As I mentioned on another thread, Mitchell was dropped as he is very weak defensively. Turners omission was confirmed a week or so ago when he was included the Australian sevens training squad.
 
Mitchell does have a weak defense, and that is a fair enough reason to drop him. I would expect the two Australian wingers to be Ioane and Ashley-Cooper with either James O'Connor or Beale at full-back.
 
Very disappointing to see Drew left out, as has been said before. Looks like he made room for A Faingaa, who looks like a good up and comer, but no Drew Mitchell. Nice to see Scott Higginbotham in there, he had a great S14 too. Hopefully we'll see Kurtley Beale step up and make the most of his selection. After several years of waiting, we finally saw what the hype was all about at the end of the S14, with him producing some of the best individual displays of the tournament. He backed that up with an indifferent test series, so we'll see how he goes. Benn Robinson back is the key though. Without him the 'Bies had no chance in the 3N. He's one of if not the best all-around prop in the world atm. Excellent in the scrum, solid defender, effective attacker, and an uncannily good distributor. GD I can't wait for Sat.
 
Wow that's a shock of some sort!Mitchell & Turner are probably the Wallabies best wingers imo and they get left out:huh::mellow::eek:
Only Deans and co will know why they did that:rolleyes:Guess this means that AAC and Ioane will be the 1st choice wingers then?

Maybe because Mitchell has only scored 5 tries out of his past 24 tests? I'm sure his poor defence against England also did not help his cause
 
Looks like Hynes has been ruled out for the tri-nations with a knee injury (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/07/12/2950982.htm?site=sport&section=rugbyunion), while Ioane has been ruled out of at least the first tri-nations match due to injury. Mitchell, Shepherd and Cummins are now training with the squad - I assume Turner wasn't considered as he is training with the sevens squad. I would expect both Mitchell and Shepherd to be officially added to the squad at some stage soon.
 
Man I feel sad for the Wallabies, we used to worry about playing them all the time,... but this year, they look quite pathetic... i'm not even worried about them. They'll finish third on the table
 
What the hell, Drew Mitchell was joint top Try Scorer with Joe Rokocoko on 9 tries. Deans is an idiot, thank god he isn't coaching NZ!
 
What the hell, Drew Mitchell was joint top Try Scorer with Joe Rokocoko on 9 tries. Deans is an idiot, thank god he isn't coaching NZ!

When Robbie Deans signed on to coach the Wallabies all my mates were spelling the end of the AB and SA era. Well almost four years have passed and Dingo Deans still hasn't won any major trophies and the Australian playing stock has since soured. Robbie Deans is a great coach, the Crusaders legacy confirms that, but without the tools to back up his vision he's trying to make a Michaelangelo out of play-doh!
 

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