Who Do You Think Will Be in the Wallabies?

[Hamster]

I'll just be happy if Dunning, Baxter or Moore are picked in the game against Ireland and even happier if they dont pick them altogether. Gotta admit there is some good depth and selecting the 30 would be a bit of a headache.

<div class='quotemain'> BTW Insane cos your from Melbourne I'm guessing you would be an AFL fan? what team do u go for? [/b]

i grew up on afl, following the demons... currently dead last

started watching rugby league in the late 80's then found union in the early 90's, haven't looked back.
[/b][/quote]

Melbourne definetly needs more rugby fans like you lol.

 

[Jang]

i reckon kurtley should go fly and giteau centre but not sure if beale is even ok to plai footy from the super 14 final from gettin injured

 

[Fushitsusha]

Beale isn't good enough to be in the Wallabies.

I think it'll be a while before he is even considered, as long as he improves and doesn't plateau.

 

[jawmalawm24]

From a kiwi's point of view I reckon after watching the final that Lachlan Turner definately deserves a good shot at it. He was all over the place chasing the ball, kicking it and scoring tries so I think he'd make a pretty good utility.

 

[BLR]

From a kiwi's point of view I reckon after watching the final that Lachlan Turner definately deserves a good shot at it. He was all over the place chasing the ball, kicking it and scoring tries so I think he'd make a pretty good utility.[/b]

The thing is he played good in the final yet didn't do a thing all season....

 

[Fa'atau82]

I have noticed this for a while now, but nearly all the top teams use the IRB 7's to test out new players and the only one that i'd say is a great underachiever is Australia. They suck most of the time and get beaten by teams who really should even test them. Why is this?

Surely in a country as large as Oz, you should have plenty of top quality props, and not using useless duffers like Dunning and Baxter. You might as well cap Barney the Dinosaur and the Michelin man.

Is there an underlining attitude about becoming involved in rugby as a forward as opposed to a back? Why does Australia seem to have this massive problem with the front row in particular?

Seems like a similar problem in England, except we have players coming through although the old farts at the RFU seem to want to stick with the Saga XV.

 

[sanzar]

We used be pretty handy with the 7s, but somewhere along the way the ARU just stopped caring and it's funding is all but non-existent now.

And in any case, we're not exactly bursting at the seems with talent. A large country though we may be, our population is incredibly small in proportion to our size (at a mere 20 million people, several major international cities eclipse us) and rugby has the lowest level of participation out of the four major football codes (RU, RL, AFL, soccer).

 

[Maccaweeny]

Not to mention the lack of an intermediate comp to bridge the divide between club and professional rugby. There are good players out there, but being 'discovered' often has a lot to do with luck. Some players need to mature, yet there aren't a lot of opportunities for them to do so.

Not everyone is at the top of their game at sixteen, look at Mortlock. He was in the Kings 3rd XV, and while he's made it big, there are a lot of other players out there who have potential yet not the opportunities to develop it.

That said though, these things have highs and lows, we've been in a low ever since 2003. Things will start looking up.

 

[Fa'atau82]

Sounds like you need to invest in infrastructure, or else you are doomed to 3rd rate vets for years to come.

 

[sanzar]

Well that's just the thing. We've never had anywhere near the player numbers of countries like England, France SA etc, but through good management and a high level of competitiveness within our own limited pool we've somehow managed to stay within the top 5 and have at times managed clear domination as well ('87 we were favourites for the RWC, 91 we earned top spot after NZ were favourites and between 99-02 we the wallbies won every trophy that was on offer).
In contrast, England has by far the largest player pool (6 times both Australia and NZ), yet is consistently one of the most disappointing international sides. So player numbers aren't everything. If we can start running the game properly again in this country, then things are destined to get better.