Conundrum! What to do with the Forces Back Row?
Well ladies and gents the Forces development of back rowers for the Walabies continues to shine brightly with a solid performance form the newest player to be introduced to the international arena. Ben McCalman over the last 2 games has shown that he is more than capable in all facets of number 8 play. He tackles hard, ran good straight lines whilst making the gain line and his decision to run off the back of the scrum to offload to JOC was not something I was looking for in a first year test rookie. I can only think that he will improve immensely on the spring tour and throughout the super tournament next year.
So where to from here, we now have 4 Wallabies back rowers at the Force. Who gets a starting jersey, which gets played out of position? Obviously Pocock is an automatic selection at 7 for the Force as he is for the Wallabies. Matt Hodgeson is a 7 playing out of position at 6/8, as most people agree he is a tad small to play these positions but at Super level gets away with it due to his other more than adequate abilities. Richard Brown is a good destructive ball runner and a hard man in defence for the Force, his form for the Wallabies has left a bit to be desired but he is fighting above his weight division in the international arena. Ben McCalman has proven himself as an 8, towards the end of the Forces year he play in the second row to accommodate the return of the injured players but is this the best move for the Force and potentially for the Wallabies next year?
Does the Richard Graham potentially put a one of them on the bench?