Lions tour: Australia squad

[ZeFrenchy]

In 2001, Australia was in the midst of what is arguably their golden age in rugby union. After having won the World Cup two years earlier, John Eales, Toutai Kefu, George Gregan, Stephen Larkham, Joe Roff, Matt Burke and others were joined by younger blood like George Smith, in what is now considered by some the peak of that golden era. Twelve years later, mixed results, an unwated coach and more off-field incidents than needed, some of us thought that Australians would not be as enthusiastic this time. Well, they sold out the ridiculously overpriced tickets in only a few minutes.

After a few hundred pages of Lions squad threads, I think the Australian squad deserves a thread too. I admi not having watched much Super Rugby this year, so I'll just throw in a few names from what I have seen previously or read in the press (or basically just writing the names from the Australian franchises).

Props: Benn Robinson, Ben Alexander, Pek Cowan, Sekope Kepu, Paddy Ryan, Greg Holmes, Ben Daley, James Slipper, Salesi Ma'afu.
Hookers; Stephen Moore, Tatafu Polota-Nau, James Hanson, Saia Fainga'a, Nathan Charles.
Locks: Sam Carter, Scott Fardy, Hugh Pyle, Caidern Neville, Luke Jones, Sitaleki Timani, Kane Douglas, James Horwill, Rob Simmons.
Backrowers: George Smith (yeeeaaahhhh!!!), Michael Hooper, Liam Gill, Fotu Auelua, Ben Mowen, Scott Higginbotham, Dave Dennis, Wycliff Palu, Jake Schatz.

Halfbacks: Will Genia.
Fly-halves: Berrick Barnes, Quade Cooper, Christian Lealifano.

Centres: Pat McCabe, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Rob Horne, Ben Tapuai, Mitch Inman, Ant Fainga'a.

Outside backs: Drew Mitchell, Nick Cummings, Digby Ioane, Jesse Mogg, James O'Connor.


I went for a large pool of players, but please add the ones you think stand a chance of playing. Most of the Aussies will be discussing this on a different forum, but the Australians here, Kiwis and South Africans, that watch the players more often, it would be very useful if they could give their input.

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

I think the Aussies just need to put out the team that's done the business for them in the last few seasons, Beale and all.

My top 22 for them would be:
1 Robinson
2 Polota-Nau
3 Alexander
4 Horwill
5 Simmons
6 Hooper (Dennis, is Smith is unavailable)
7 Smith (if available, otherwise Hooper)
8 Palu
9 Genia
10 Cooper
11 Mitchell
12 O'Connor
13 Ashely-Cooper
14 Ioane
15 Beale

16 Moore
17 Slipper
18 Douglas
19 Dennis/Gill
20 Phipps
21 Barnes
22 Folau (because why not?)

That's the team I would trust the most. They'll either win comfortably or fail spectacularly.

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Deans needs to bring in fresh blood. sure the argument is that it's not the right time... but when is?

Simmons, Palu, Mitchell, Dennis, Barnes, McCabe, Horne and higginbotham to an extent have all showed us their full potential. sure they are good players but they've had their chance to win us a world cup and failed.

time to bring in players like neville, godwin, jones, pyle, inman, schatz, white, mogg, lealifano. sure they are inexperienced but could develop into world class players. throw them into the deep end, we have nothing to lose.

 

[The_Wol]

1. Sekope Kepu
2. Tatafu Polota Nau\ Faingaa
3. James Slipper
4. James Horwill
5. Hugh McMenimen
6. Hooper (If smith unavailiable)
7. Gill
8. Jake Schatz/Palu

9. Will Genia
10. Quade Cooper (Simply because of the connection these two have)
11. Digby Ioane
12. Ben Tapuai
13. Ant Faingaa / fully fit and in form Rob Horne
14. Chris Feauai Sautia
15. Jesse Mogg (Hate the haircut but I guess he goes alright)

16. James Hason/Faingaa
17. Robinson
18. Timani
19. Quirk
20. Nic White
21. Lealifano
22. James O'Cockbag

 

[Aedaphon]

People are putting Smith in pretty early here. I know he is a world class player, but has he been playing well enough to jump the fresh blood in the pecking order?

(That's not rhetorical by the way, I actually want to know the answer...)

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

Yep, he's been fantastic for the Brumbies - might even have won them a game or two.

 

[InsaneAsylum]

cooper has to be 10. the only problem is he loves playing good game, bad game. he needs to add consistency to his flair.

 

[The big Kangaroo]

1: Alexander
2: Stephen more
3: James Slipper
4: Simmons
5: James Horwill
6: Dave Dennis
7: Gill
8. Smith
9: Genia
10: Cooper
11: D5ggers
12: Lealifano
13: AA Cooper
14: Mogg
15: JOC

what does everyone thing of think of cooper and Lealifano playing next to each other? could be lethal and I dont want a guy who throws punches at his own captain on the team bad for the culture KB has blew his spot.

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

Were that the team I'd swap Mogg and O'Connor around.

 

[ZeFrenchy]

[btw: there was a blog post that had the same idea as this thread, but is done well. Maybe the mods could marge this thread into that one, I leave it to their discretion.]

I think Cooper and Lealifano could work, though I don't know much about Lealifano's defence. I think O'Connor should play full back, as I trust him more than Mogg atm. Beale has a lot of work to do before regaining his spot, so right now he's not in my team.

Has anyone seen much about Paddy Ryan? The blog post says he's keeping Kepu on the bench for the Tahs, and if he's a better scrummager than the other options and has a better workrate than Palmer, he could be a good option at least for the bench. I don't think the Wallabies can do with Ben Alexander at tighthead against the Lions tbh.

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

Top backline for me would be:

9 Genia
10 Cooper
11 Ioane
12 ???
13 Ashley-Cooper
14 Speight
15 Mogg

20 White
21 Lealiifano
22 Folau

I don't think Lealiifano is quite good enough to start. The other options don't strike me as being particularly good either, to be honest... Maybe McCabe or Barnes.

 

[ZeFrenchy]

Top backline for me would be:

9 Genia
10 Cooper
11 Ioane
12 ???
13 Ashley-Cooper
14 Speight
15 Mogg

20 White
21 Lealiifano
22 Folau

I don't think Lealiifano is quite good enough to start. The other options don't strike me as being particularly good either, to be honest... Maybe McCabe or Barnes.

No JOC?

 

[Darwin]

Top backline for me would be:

9 Genia
10 Cooper
11 Ioane
12 ???
13 Ashley-Cooper
14 Speight
15 Mogg

20 White
21 Lealiifano
22 Folau

I don't think Lealiifano is quite good enough to start. The other options don't strike me as being particularly good either, to be honest... Maybe McCabe or Barnes.

I don't think Speight is available yet, as he isn't Australian enough yet...

 

[Ruckyou]

1. Kepu
2. Moore
3. Robinson
4. Horwill
5. Timani
6. Smith
7. Gill
8. Palu
9. Genia
10. Cooper
11. Ioane
12. JOC
13. ACC
14. Folau
15. Mogg

 

[ZeFrenchy]

I don't think Speight is available yet, as he isn't Australian enough yet...

According to wikipedia, he's Australian, born in Fiji... I don't think he'll play anyway, how has the Honey Badger been playing?

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

Debuted for them in 2011, is it three years for eligibility?

 

[ZeFrenchy]

Debuted for them in 2011, is it three years for eligibility?

You're right, Wikipedia is wrong: http://www.brumbies.com.au/Team/PlayerProfile/tabid/1208/playerid/25/Default.aspx

 

[Darwin]

According to wikipedia, he's Australian, born in Fiji... I don't think he'll play anyway, how has the Honey Badger been playing?

Speight is a Fijian, who played several seasons in New Zealand (Waikato in ITM) before switching to the Brumbies in 2011. It isn't really clear when he will be available for Australia under the 3-year residency rule - some sources say he is already eligible (http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,9817_8419567,00.html), while others suggest he wont be eligible till the end of the year (http://www.brumbies.com.au/Team/PlayerProfile/tabid/1208/playerid/25/Default.aspx).

Cummins has been pretty solid for the Force, but doesn't bring the same game-breaking ability as some of the others.

 

[Big Ewis]

srsly fkkkkkk the fact that Pocock of course had to get injured just recently, and of course a long term thing...fk it, fk it...
But I'll be on the Aussies' side, God speed, you boys still got some of that SH attack in ya ! Hopefully it can be an entertaining summer tour, not some shytty grindout game replicated 3 times...

and plus, it'll finally give the Welsh fellas on the team a chance to win at least one in Australia this time....

(kiddiiiiing !!!! KIDDING !!! don't eat me alive !! )

 

[madflyhalf]

I don't agree about Cooper & Lealiifano combo. I feel Lealiifano is too much in love with the ball, sometimes he looks like a blackhole (ok not as McCabe does), maybe it's only his role in Brumbies attack (which still doesn't convincing me) but he's not playing as a good distributor. The risk is that whoever would play 13 with these 2 guys, would become a nice big dust taker.

I prefer Taps there, he showed more playmaking skills in november, and can create a stronger partnership on 9-10-12 axis!

I like Drew Mitchell, he's coming back, but has to improve his error-prone performances... don't know what happened to the Honey Badger, if back on form I'd have him over Mitchell, some nasty guy can slap some british splashers...
The real problem for the Wallabies is that they doesn't have any warm-up matches, so will be difficult to inject fresh and uncapped players who hasn't been part of the group in these last 3 years.
Unfortunately, I don't think we'll see Kyle Godwin, Feauai-Sautia, and with Beale in form we probably won't see Jess Mogg neither, because at test level they can rely comfortably on AAC and JOC.
The only one that can make the final cut is Quirk, because they lack a real basher in the 6 jersey (Higgers and Dennis sometimes tend to disappear at light speed!)... but he's still inexperienced at test level, he had 3 (or maybe 4) shoulder reconstruction and he's only 22.

Maybe for the first few training sessions there could be 32-35 players (assuming Palu, TPN, Beale and Cummins back), with some new names among the props:

Props: Robinson, Slipper, Palmer, Kepu, Alexander, Ryan

Hookers: Moore, TPN, Hanson

Locks: Douglas, Horwill, Timani, Simmons, McMeniman (if available)

Flankers: Dennis, Higginbotham, Quirk, Gill, Hooper, Smith (if available)

N.8: Palu, Samo, McCalman

Scrum halves: Genia, Phipps, but I really hope Burgess will be available, this would be a massive come back for them

Inside backs: Cooper, Barnes, O'Connor, Tapuai, Ashley-Cooper, Horne/McCabe

Outside backs: Ioane, Mitchell, Cummins, Shipperley, Beale


These are my 22:

1 - Robinson
2 - TPN
3 - Kepu
4 - McMeniman (if available)/Douglas
5 - Horwill (c)
6 - Hooper
7 - Gill
8 - Palu
9 - Genia
10 - Cooper
11 - Ioane
12 - Tapuai
13 - Ashley-Cooper
14 - O'Connor
15 - Beale

I'd have Moore as impact from the bench at 50'

16 Moore, 17 Slipper, 18 Palmer, 19 Douglas/Timani, 20 Higginbotham, 21 Burgess (if available)/Phipps, 22 Barnes, 23 Honey Badger


But only form will really tell us who's gonna start, I have many doubts on O'Connor, though I was starting this post assuming to put him on 12 jersey, I think he need to regain confidence at 10, and this seems won't happen soon in Super Rugby; IMO he's playing too much away from the game up-front, in small spaces, where he shone as one of the finest player on the earth.

If Damien Hill won't play him 10 or 12, for now my Wallaby n. 12 is Taps.

But if Dingo will bring 6 forwards on the bench, probably would be 12 O'Connor, 14 Cummins; Samo on the bench for Barnes, Tapuai n. 23.


Yeah Dingo... you do your favourite 22, putting some coherence there and then you remember there's Dingo and some of his mad plans!
Well, I hope the Wallabies could find the attacking form of 2009-2010, if so, now they have worked really well on defence, they would be quite unstoppable.

But I have many, many doubts on this.