Waratahs v Brumbies

Stargazer

Waratahs:
 
1. Benn Robinson (147 caps) 2. Hugh Roach (11 caps) 3. Tom Robertson (3 caps) 4. Dean Mumm (91 caps) 5. Will Skelton (43 caps) 6. Jack Dempsey (8 caps) 7. Michael Hoopah (C â€“ 86 caps) 8. Jed Holloway (9 caps)
9. Nick Phipps (87 caps) 10. Bernard Foley (67 caps) 11. Matt Carraro (45 caps) 12. Kurtley Beale (119 caps) 13. Israel Folau (50 caps) 14. Reece Robinson (3 caps) 15. Andrew Kellaway (1 cap)
 
Reserves:
16. James Hilterbrand (3 caps) 17. Paddy Ryan (67 caps) 18. Angus Taâ€™avao (53 caps) 19. Sam Lousi (9 caps) 20. Wycliff Palu (125 caps) 21. David Dennis (97 caps) 22. Matt Lucas (17 caps) 23. David Horwitz (5 caps)
 
Kurtley Beale and Will Skelton returning from injury, while Zac Guildford is ruled out because of a broken foot.
 
 
Brumbies:
1. Scott Sio 2. Stephen Moore (c) 3. Ben Alexander 4. Rory Arnold 5. Sam Carter 6. Scott Fardy 7. Jarrad Butler 8. Jordan Smiler 
9. TomÃ¡s Cubelli 10. Christian Lealiifano (c) 11. Joe Tomane 12. Matt Toomua 13. Tevita Kuridrani 14. Robbie Coleman 15. Aidan Toua
 
Reserves
16. Josh Mann-Rea 17. Allan Alaalatoa 18. Leslie Leuluaâ€™ialiâ€™i-Makin 19. Tom Staniforth 20. Michael Wells 21. Joe Powell 22. James Dargaville 23. Nigel Ah Wong
 
Jarrad Butler returns from injury and takes the place left open by David Pocock (suspended), while Jordan Smiler replaces retired Ita Vaea in the starting line-up.

KiwiMurph

Tough game for Kellaway to get his first start - and at fullback too - more of a runner from what i've seen. 
Taavao pays the price for a poor season, Folau at centre to finally be tried after injury forced a backline reshuffle for Rebels game.

ACT Crusader

Many Aussie fans have been calling for the Folau at centre for some time. He's a good fullback because he's got the aerial skills and has a much improved kicking game. But some fans want to see him more involved and closer to the action. Should be a good contest with the Brumbies midfield

Crucial

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="ACT Crusader" data-cid="572166" data-time="1460603257">
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Many Aussie fans have been calling for the Folau at centre for some time. He's a good fullback because he's got the aerial skills and has a much improved kicking game. But some fans want to see him more involved and closer to the action. Should be a good contest with the Brumbies midfield
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I always read that as coming from the Sydney league press who always act astounded that league players that move to union aren't put in positions where they continually get handed the ball.
There is nothing stopping Folau from contributing more with ball in hand. Look at the amount of carries little DMac has for the Chiefs from fullback.

SammyC

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Crucial" data-cid="572173" data-time="1460603864">
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I always read that as coming from the Sydney league press who always act astounded that league players that move to union aren't put in positions where they continually get handed the ball.
There is nothing stopping Folau from contributing more with ball in hand. Look at the amount of carries little DMac has for the Chiefs from fullback.
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Folau does carry the ball a lot though. 
 
He's played 390 minutes this year and carried the ball 49 times
Dmac has played 560 minutes and carried 73 times.
 
So whilst MacKenzie does carry the ball slightly more, it's less than 1 extra carry per 80 minutes of footy.
 
 
I prefer him at fullback personally. His best traits are as mentioned above, his aerial skillz and kicking game IMO.

ACT Crusader

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Crucial" data-cid="572173" data-time="1460603864">
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I always read that as coming from the Sydney league press who always act astounded that league players that move to union aren't put in positions where they continually get handed the ball.
There is nothing stopping Folau from contributing more with ball in hand. Look at the amount of carries little DMac has for the Chiefs from fullback.
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It's not so much his workrate with ball in hand, it's more they see a guy that is 6'4-6'5, tough and quick and he should be exploiting players in the midfield to set up other players around him or get past the advantage line.

Crucial

I seem to recall similar cries of 'he doesn't get enough ball' for Tuqiri as well, along with the commentators creaming themselves when he did get the ball (and ran sideways evading tackles but making minimum metres).

Rembrandt

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="ACT Crusader" data-cid="572184" data-time="1460604804">
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It's not so much his workrate with ball in hand, it's more they see a guy that is 6'4-6'5, tough and quick and he should be exploiting players in the midfield to set up other players around him or get past the advantage line. 
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So what's the fern verdict then? 
Do I sell him from my fantasy team and maybe grab that Cheetahs winger instead, or leave him and hope he busts some tackles in order to get close to his average fullback score? 
I'm neck and neck with a mate I am yet to beat, no room for error!

No Quarter

He should get a lot more tackles made at centre. Though I haven't done fantasy in a while so unsure how many points that is worth.

Stargazer

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="KiwiMurph" data-cid="572146" data-time="1460600687">
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Tough game for Kellaway to get his first start - and at fullback too - more of a runner from what i've seen. Taavao pays the price for a poor season, Folau at centre to finally be tried after injury forced a backline reshuffle for Rebels game.
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His absence has nothing to do with his performance. Apparently, Ta'avao is not in the line-up because he's in Tonga for his grandmother's funeral.

KiwiMurph

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Stargazer" data-cid="572246" data-time="1460616670">
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His absence has nothing to do with his performance. Apparently, Ta'avao is not in the line-up because he's in Tonga for his grandmother's funeral.
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I see. In that case i'm assuming they've had a typo by naming Ta'avao on the bench?

Stargazer

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="KiwiMurph" data-cid="572249" data-time="1460617310">
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I see. In that case i'm assuming they've had a typo by naming Ta'avao on the bench?
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The reason given for that is that he is expected to return to Sydney on game day.

hydro11

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Rembrandt" data-cid="572189" data-time="1460605513">
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So what's the fern verdict then? 
Do I sell him from my fantasy team and maybe grab that Cheetahs winger instead, or leave him and hope he busts some tackles in order to get close to his average fullback score? 
I'm neck and neck with a mate I am yet to beat, no room for error!
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I'm probably on the sell. I imagine tries score heavily in your fantasy comp and he's less likely to score them at centre.

Milk

I'm sticking with him. He usually breaks the first tackle and will get more offloads in midfield, so I'm hoping that makes up for the reduction in metres gained. (Also more tackles as NQ said)
 
He's still better at centre than whatever outside back I can replace him with at this point.
 
What FR game are you playing? I'm loving <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://fantasyrugbydraft.com/'>http://fantasyrugbydraft.com/</a>

taniwharugby

as we know, the mid-field is a hugely tough place to defend, so that will be a big change for him.

antipodean

I'm torn about this. He's a big lad with skills who should get the ball more often, but his greatest strengths are his aerial ability and boot. I think he plays best with more space too.

Milk

If I was the coach I'd play him at fullback for sure, but I think he still has value in Fantasy Rugby played out of position.

Rembrandt

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Milk" data-cid="572314" data-time="1460650421">
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I'm sticking with him. He usually breaks the first tackle and will get more offloads in midfield, so I'm hoping that makes up for the reduction in metres gained. (Also more tackles as NQ said)
 
He's still better at centre than whatever outside back I can replace him with at this point.
 
What FR game are you playing? I'm loving <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://fantasyrugbydraft.com/'>http://fantasyrugbydraft.com/</a>
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www.testrugby.com 
definitely still in two minds, surely I'll get a couple of tries from that Cheetahs winger against the sunwolves, home game for the Cheetahs too

Milk

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Rembrandt" data-cid="572371" data-time="1460682210">
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www.testrugby.com 
definitely still in two minds, surely I'll get a couple of tries from that Cheetahs winger against the sunwolves, home game for the Cheetahs too
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Right. Yeah, I wouldn't have bought him if I'd known he'd be starting at centre, but now I have him I'll wait and see what happens.

hurricane

Got the Brumbies to win this.

The Silver Fern

Waratahs v Brumbies