@Tordah for me it will come down to the fitness of Skelton and Valentini, with the admission of Schmidt he needs Salakaia-Loto on the bench.
That alone will determine if the Wallabies can compete for 80mins.
The biggest concern is if Farrell Snr is smart enough to let the better players in the squad have an opportunity. As I see it a fit Wallaby squad can take this Irish Invitational - if Farrell mistakenly selects on form, then they're destined to win 3-0.
@antipodean said in Wallabies vs Lions III:
@Tordah for me it will come down to the fitness of Skelton and Valentini, with the admission of Schmidt he needs Salakaia-Loto on the bench.
That alone will determine if the Wallabies can compete for 80mins.
The biggest concern is if Farrell Snr is smart enough to let the better players in the squad have an opportunity. As I see it a fit Wallaby squad can take this Irish Invitational - if Farrell mistakenly selects on form, then they're destined to win 3-0.
Who would you bring in on form?
Morgan, Pollock are probably the two obvious ones. Go back to Tuipulotu in the midfield maybe? Freeman wasn't great on Saturday but has been in good form, Lowe is a little bit of the reverse.
Don't think any of the above changes would make a big difference though.
@antipodean said in Wallabies vs Lions III:
@Mr-Fish I'd remove Lowe who is shithouse. JGP isn't playing as well as Mitchell has on the tour. Aki is a shadow of his former self and clearly second rate compared to Sione Tuipulotu. I think Porter and Conan are bang average.
Agree re Lowe and I'd like to see Kinghorn there. JGP was pretty damn good for 40 minutes in the first test and IMO has done enough to keep his starting spot. Aki - agree. The benching of Genge baffled me in the last test. Yes he is a good impact player but he is currently superior to Porter in most facets and you'd think you would want your best player having the most minutes in the game. Conan does the grunt work well without getting much of a highlights reel and he is the only genuine 8 in the squad, so I guess he stays and I'd be happy with that.
After two pathetically amateur and frankly boring test 23 naming pressers it would be great if Farrell did this for the 3rd Test
@brodean said in Wallabies vs Lions III:
Would have thought Porter had been penalised out of the game by now. Genge is also dodgy af at scrum time
Porter is always on the angle and i don't know how he gets away with it, feels weird him playing for my team and me having to pretend not to see it, or at least, not scream at the screen that the cheating fuck is boring in.
As for Genge, I think he's a better scrummager, and whilst I would probably have given a couple of pens against him for hinging, you could argue that the Aussie wasn't chasing his feet and was dropping it (I would only argue that because I'm a Lions fan though I suspect)
Weather looks like shit across Sydney for Saturday BTW. No club rugby for me so might head west of the mountains and go camping 
@NTA said in Wallabies vs Lions III:
Weather looks like shit across Sydney for Saturday.
Scottish, Irish, Welsh and the boys from the North of England will feel right at home then.
Difficult to see really whether that collapse was caused by hinging or the Aussie prop losing his footing.
An interesting aside, something someone posted prior to the last test was that this Italian ref likes to re-set and gives very few scrum penalties. If that is well known then of course ALL props are going to push things.
If it works out, well... why not?
Apparently these guys have the sauce
Can’t see it myself
I’m thinking
Genge, Sheehan, Furlong
Itoje, McCarthy (if fit) / Chessum
Beirne, Curry, Conan
JGP, Russell
Tuipolotu, Ringrose
Lowe, Keenan, Freeman
Replacements
LCD, Porter, Stuart
Chessum/Ryan, Morgan
Mitchell, Farrell, Kinghorn
His focus now that he’s won the series is to include as many Irish in the match day 23 and if they get the whitewash Ireland have momentum going into the Autumn tests
Tough schedule
01 Nov v NZ in Chicago
08 Nov v Japan in Dublin
15 Nov v Australia in Dublin
22 Nov v S Africa in Dublin
If Pollock isn’t in the 23 then he shouldn’t have been on the tour.
Lads made every appearance a winner
@sparky said in Wallabies vs Lions III:
@NTA said in Wallabies vs Lions III:
Weather looks like shit across Sydney for Saturday.
Scottish, Irish, Welsh and the boys from the North of England will feel right at home then.
Like... really shit....
@pakman said in Wallabies vs Lions III:
In that same thread, there’s an interesting overhead view of the first scrum penalty against the Wallabies, with a lot of people again focusing on Porter’s boring in. But when you slow it down and focus just on the actions of the Wallaby pack, then I’d argue the main issue is their faulty timing.
Alaalatoa is a split second ahead of his fellow front-rowers but this split second ripples through the entire pack. Most importantly, the second row loses their connection with the front row, Skelton falling to one knee and Frost being in a diagonal position, leaving both unable to get a decent push on. Furthermore, Wilson detaches almost immediately at the back.
As a result, the togetherness of the Wallaby pack is severely compromised, which the Lions forwards sense and exploit by attacking as a collective. And while Porter is scrumming at an angle, I’d say that, on the whole, the Lions pack shows more cohesion and power in a forward direction.
As the former Wallaby prop Topo Rodriguez writes in his book, Rugby: The Art of Scrummaging (2015, revised ed.), “The necessary timing can’t be achieved if the scrum operates in two sections [...], it has to be the whole eight thinking, acting and reacting as one (89)." Mike Cron would’ve not been pleased, I imagine.
I'd say it's more to do with the second row bind and Wilson's failure to pull them in tight.
Look at the huge gap behind the hooker - Alaatoa's early hit is a consequence, not a cause IMHO
@NTA said in Wallabies vs Lions III:
Alaatoa's early hit is a consequence, not a cause IMHO
I'd agree with that. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that the timing and togetherness of the Wallaby pack as a whole was off, rather than just pointing the finger at Porter for angling in.
I don't understand enough of the mechanics of the scrum to really pinpoint a single point of origin, so I'll leave that to the expertise of others.
@NTA said in Wallabies vs Lions III:
I'd say it's more to do with the second row bind and Wilson's failure to pull them in tight.
Look at the huge gap behind the hooker - Alaatoa's early hit is a consequence, not a cause IMHO
From the overhead it doesn't even look like Wilson has a shoulder driving through the arse of the locks.
Doesn't help that Porter still clearly drives through on the angle.
Two observations from me.
Interesting that overhead shot, whole Wallaby pack seem to be going to right trying to wheel scrum? Wilson is pushing Skelton's arse out, causing whole scrum to twist(I suspect to take Lions hooker away from ball?). And other Wallaby lock is turning hooker almost sideways, not sure why. Porter also ends up going in as well, whether to follow Aus tighthead or not is beyond me. Very interesting to see, and gives idea how scrum try and manipulate each other.
Nic White has announced he's retiring from international Rugby after Saturday. He's been around since 2013 and I guess scoring in Wallabies wins agains the All Blacks in 2015 in Sydney and in 2019 in Perth will be the standouts.
Some interesting selections and omissions
No Lowe or Tuipolotu
Hansen hasn’t made an appearance after a solid start
McCarthy must still be injured
Ryan straight in over Chessum
They’ll be looking for Earl, Genge & Mitchell to bring dynamism in the final quarter
Is Tupou the Valetini replacement? Trying to bolster their ball carrying?
Hope his form turns around.
can't say i think that is the best available XV, on reflection throughout the tests, i'm a bit disappointed by the shoe horning in of Irish players. Genge is better than Porter, not sure what Ryan's done to deserve a spot, think Conan is lucky.
Think the bench is mental, Farrell covers 10 and 12, Earl covers back row and 12 but there's a dramatic lack of cover for the other backline positions. Think Marcus should be on the bench instead of Farrell.
@Dodge said in Wallabies vs Lions III:
can't say i think that is the best available XV, on reflection throughout the tests, i'm a bit disappointed by the shoe horning in of Irish players. Genge is better than Porter, not sure what Ryan's done to deserve a spot, think Conan is lucky.
Think the bench is mental, Farrell covers 10 and 12, Earl covers back row and 12 but there's a dramatic lack of cover for the other backline positions. Think Marcus should be on the bench instead of Farrell.
Jones can cover wing, Kinghorn can cover fullback. Don't think Smith's utility value should be enough to see him getting selected over Farrell (though you could argue he's simply a better player).
@Mr-Fish said in Wallabies vs Lions III:
@Dodge said in Wallabies vs Lions III:
can't say i think that is the best available XV, on reflection throughout the tests, i'm a bit disappointed by the shoe horning in of Irish players. Genge is better than Porter, not sure what Ryan's done to deserve a spot, think Conan is lucky.
Think the bench is mental, Farrell covers 10 and 12, Earl covers back row and 12 but there's a dramatic lack of cover for the other backline positions. Think Marcus should be on the bench instead of Farrell.
Jones can cover wing, Kinghorn can cover fullback. Don't think Smith's utility value should be enough to see him getting selected over Farrell (though you could argue he's simply a better player).
I would argue that he's a better player, i would also argue he provides more utility value.
