RWC: England v Australia (QF 1)
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@KiwiMurph he's not really though is he? Played so his school footie at FB and Wing. I know he played some at 13 fpr QLD pre-injury, but it's not like he has years of honing the skills for that spot. Marshalling defenses etc
Edit to add to this - its not that I don't rate him at 13, he clearly has talent. But it's game time there at this level and also outside Kerevi, especially on D, that just makes this fraught with danger IMO. It's a heck of a punt
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@KiwiMurph Fair enough.
So you wouldn't be worried? I would be. I think it's a heck of a cauldron to throw him into. 6th 9/10 partnership in 6 tests. Just the 2nd time Genia and Lilo have played together. And Tuilagi running at him.
Good luck to the kid, I truly hope he does well
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@voodoo It's definitely risky but I don't see that many great alternative options. JOC is not a 13 himself. Kerevi and TK have never worked as a combo. Petaia looks like the best back prospect that has come through the Aussie system in 10 years - he's one of their best talents they have so I think they are much better off with him out there rather than being too cautious and wondering what if. Wallabies have lost something like 6 test matches in a row against England so what they have been doing hasn't been working.
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I'll firstly point out that Christy Doran says some weird bullshit about rugby. Never had much time for his writing.
However, Cheika makes no secret about a lot of the shit he does, so this is just crazy enough to be true. And it isn't the worst 23 we can put out, so whatever.
1 Sio
2 Latu
3 Alaalatoa
4 Rodda
5 Arnold
6 Pocock
7 Hooper (c)
8 Naisarani
9 Genia
10 Lealiifano
11 Koroibete
12 Kerevi
13 Petaia
14 Hodge
15 Beale/DHP16 Uelese
17 Slipper
18 Tupou
19 Coleman
20 Salakaia-Loto
21 White
22 To'omua
23 JOCLot of young blokes there I must say. Average ages:
STARTING XV - 26.9
- Tight Five - 26.2
- Forwards -26.6
- Backs - 27.1
BENCH VIII - 26.6
- Forwards - 25.2
- Backs - 29 (all of them born before August 1990)
MATCH DAY XXIII - 26.8
Oldest: Pocock @ 31 (Slipper and Beale are 30)
Youngest: Petaia @ 19 (Uelese 22, Rodda 23) -
IF IF IF that is the team:
I think our forward pack will probably give a better account of themselves than in the last 6 drubbings by England, which isn't saying much. That is basically a forward pack that is predictable - tho the complete absence of Kepu is somewhat of a surprise.
The backs have some good combinations. It will be interesting to see Kerevi line up the hole between George Ford and Shoulders Farrell to see how hard the Pommy back row want to work. Probably more interesting will be watching them skip pass Kerevi and see how Tuilagi deals with Petaia and vice-versa.
The downfall? Our game plan - the one-out attacking will get eaten up by the Poms and they'll rely on the French ref's complete lack of desire to adjudicate the ruck as carte blanche to mess it up good.
Probably the best-ish team we could have picked but we'll still get mullered to the tune of 15 points.
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England confirmed
15 Elliot Daly (Saracens, 36 caps)
14 Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby, 39 caps)
13 Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 23 caps)
12 Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers, 37 caps)
11 Jonny May (Leicester Tigers, 49 caps)
10 Owen Farrell (Saracens, 76 caps) C
9 Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 92 caps)
1 Mako Vunipola (Saracens, 55 caps)
2 Jamie George (Saracens, 42 caps)
3 Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins, 28 caps)
4 Maro Itoje (Saracens, 31 caps)
5 Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 78 caps)
6 Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, 16 caps)
7 Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby, 12 caps)
8 Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 48 caps)
Reserves
16 Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs, 18 caps)
17 Joe Marler (Harlequins, 65 caps)
18 Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 92 caps)
19 George Kruis (Saracens, 38 caps)
20 Lewis Ludlam (Northampton Saints, 5 caps)
21 Willi Heinz (Gloucester Rugby, 7 caps)
22 George Ford (Leicester Tigers, 62 caps)
23 Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby, 44 caps)
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Two very similar teams IMHO - England have picked a big bopper at 8 and two flankers similar in size to Pooper.
Their tight 5 isn't quite as tall as ours but I'm sure they'll have their shit together.
Ages:
STARTING XV - 26.6 (Oz 26.9)
- Tight Five - 27.2 (Oz 26.2)
- Forwards - 25.8 (Oz 26.6)
- Backs - 27.6 (Oz 27.1)
BENCH VIII - 28.1 (Oz 26.6)
- Forwards - 27.8 (Oz 25.2)
- Backs - 28.7 (Oz 29)
MATCH DAY XXIII - 27.1 (Oz 26.8)
Oldest: Heinz/Cole @ 32 (Lawes/Youngs 30) v Pocock @ 31 (Slipper and Beale are 30)
Youngest: Curry @ 21 (Underhill 23, Itoje 24) v Petaia @ 19 (Uelese 22, Rodda 23) -
@KiwiMurph said in RWC: England v Australia (QF 1):
@voodoo It's definitely risky but I don't see that many great alternative options. JOC is not a 13 himself. Kerevi and TK have never worked as a combo. Petaia looks like the best back prospect that has come through the Aussie system in 10 years - he's one of their best talents they have so I think they are much better off with him out there rather than being too cautious and wondering what if. Wallabies have lost something like 6 test matches in a row against England so what they have been doing hasn't been working.
Yeah I reckon that had to look for more x Factor Petata seems to have some they can’t die wondering good selection I think.
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Forward packs:
Tight Five total weight: ENG 581kg v AUS 590kg
Forward Pack total weight: ENG 920kg v AUS 916kg (B Vunipola listed at 130kg is the main difference)
Back Five average height: ENG 191cm v AUS 194cmCan barely fit a struck match between them.
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@KiwiMurph said in RWC: England v Australia (QF 1):
@voodoo Petaia also played outside centre in the NRC last year.
It’s where he is best placed because he actually has good vision.
Wasted on the wing.
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Could be an inspired decision. Probably offers more than Kuridrani, but Kuridrani is a pretty good defender.
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As predicted from Day 1, Farrell to 10 when the real games start.
Very surprised Slade starts before Joseph. Very little game time for Slade.
Could come back to haunt Eddie.
And think Manu is more effective at 13 when put in a bit of space rather than 12 and trying to bash to make space.
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@antipodean said in RWC: England v Australia (QF 1):
Could be an inspired decision. Probably offers more than Kuridrani, but Kuridrani is a pretty good defender.
He's good in contact, but he makes bad decisions on defence and leaves holes.
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@NTA said in RWC: England v Australia (QF 1):
Interesting for me they choose to leave Ford on the bench. Bash n barge it is, then look to finish us off with pace.
Run at Farrell all day until the red card achievement is unlocked.
Maybe it'll be red for Kerevi fending him off. Who knows? #wheelofskeen
I reckon England have made a clear selection to get Kerevi running closer in towards the big boys and to protect the Ford-Farrell axis - early win for the Aussies forcing the Poms to change their team?
