Wallabies squad for Spring Tour named

[James]

It probably was him. The Reds had Barnes and Cooper back then. Will Genia hadn't hit his straps and Sam Cordingley was probably either leaving or injured.

[sandgroperrugby]

Yeah I'm not sure if it was him, but a couple of years ago there was a story about a 10 who didn't fit into the organization at the time, the player decided to play 9. I assume there were a couple of good 10s on the roster and this bloke was pretty young....the timeline would fit, as he would have been under 20s or so about then........maybe it's him.

Sounds about right, they would have had Barnes and Cooper at that point. In scrum halves they had Cordingly and a very young Genia. I believe both Cordingly and Lucas got injured that year and Genia took the bull by the horns. From memory Lucas was the prefered staring half back in 2008.

Lucas seems to be a player that will do anything the coach requires him to be. I mean he isnt really suited to being a crash ball 15 yet in some instances that was what he did and did pretty well IMHO. He has all the skills required to play in 9 10 and 15. Deans selecting him to go in my opinion is a pretty good option considering the injuries we have.

[Burgs]

Working on the assumption of every player getting some match time, I'd go with the following:

v Barbarians

1 Pekahou Cowan
2 Tatafu Polota-Nau
3 Ben Alexander
4 James Horwill
5 Rob Simmons
6 Matt Hodgson
7 David Pocock
8 Scott Higginbotham

9 Will Genia
10 Ben Lucas
11 Digby Ioane
12 Berrick Barnes
13 James O’Connor
14 Rob Horne
15 Adam Ashley-Cooper

16 Stephen Moore
17 Salesi Ma’afu
18 Nathan Sharpe
19 Dave Dennis
20 Nick Phipps
21 Ben Tapuai
22 Lachie Turner

v Wales * With room for Barbarian Squad to play themselves into a spot.

1 Ben Alexander
2 Stephen Moore
3 James Slipper
4 James Horwill
5 Nathan Sharpe
6 Ben McCalman
7 David Pocock
8 Radike Samo

9 Will Genia
10 Berrick Barnes
11 Digby Ioane
12 James O’Connor
13 Anthony Faingaa
14 Adam Ashley-Cooper
15 Lachie Turner

16 Tatafu Polota-Nau
17 Salesi Ma’afu
18 Rob Simmons
19 Scott Higginbotham
20 Nick Phipps
21 Ben Tapuai
22 Ben Lucas

2 Matches:

Adam Ashley-Cooper
Ben Alexander
Ben Lucas
Ben Tapuai
Berrick Barnes
David Pocock
Digby Ioane
James Horwill
James O’Connor
Lachie Turner
Nathan Sharpe
Nick Phipps
Rob Simmons
Salesi Ma’afu
Scott Higginbotham
Stephen Moore
Tatafu Polota-Nau
Will Genia

1 Match:

Anthony Faingaa
Ben McCalman
Dave Dennis
James Slipper
Matt Hodgson
Pekahou Cowan
Radike Samo
Rob Horne
Rob Simmons
Salesi Ma’afu
Scott Higginbotham
Stephen Moore
Tatafu Polota-Nau
Will Genia

[Buddha Handy]

I don't think he would pick McCalman at 6 ahead of Higginbotham for the Wales game.

Also, not sure about Lucas but I think Taps will get a start in one of the two games, probably vs Baabaas

I think AAC will play fullback as well, he will stick Turner on the wing, would like to see this backline vs wales

9 - Genia
10 - Barnes
11 - Ioane
12 - O'connor
13 - Horne
14 - Turner
15 - AAC

[James]

This is what I'd like to see (brackets for Barbarians):

1. James Slipper (Pek Cowan)
2. Stephen Moore (TPN)
3. Ben Alexander (Salesi Ma'afu)
4. Horwill (Simmons)
5. Sharpe (Sharpe)
6. Higginbotham (Dennis)
7. Pocock (Hodgson)
8. Samo (McCalman)

9. Genia (Phipps)
10. Barnes (Barnes)
11. Ioane (Ioane)
12. Tapuai (O'Connor)
13. Horne (Faingaa)
14. Turner (Ashley Cooper)
15. O'Connor (Lucas)

Can't be bothered with the benches.

[Burgs]

Not sure Slipper is much chop at Loosie is he James?
Seems to always start or replace Tighthead in my observation (which has been limited in 2011)

[James]

It's tough to call with Slipper. Although it would be great if he made it as a top class tighthead, I think he would actually be better suited to 1.

Someone needs to make a decision with Alexander and bloody stick to it.

[theforceguy]

Its going to be tough against Wales at home without Rocky, Vickerman, Cooper, Sepu, Beale, McCabe and Mitchell... really tough... good luck to all and all courage however I thought it was pretty sad day when a coach calls in a scrum half to be back up fullback... We don't need 3 scrum halves for 2 games....

Vickerman, Cooper Rocky no big losses there I agree Beale and McCabe and Mitch will be missed though

[Burgs]

The funny thing with Alexander is that every season they report him with almost surprise as playing "out of position" but with approx 13 SR at LH a year and approx 13 Tests at TH a year I would suggest he is as much a TH as a LH.

[TOCC]

Digby defended for Quade Cooper... Lucas speciality is scrum half, and one with little tier 1 experience... he filled in while Cooper went back to fullback and then he fell into a to a wing support position... it wasn't test rugby ....
Honestly what is Deans thinking? he wont use him on the tour...

Wrong, Lucas defended in the 10 channel, Digby stayed in the wing..
Lucas is not a specialist scrum half, don't make crap up. He is a 5/8 who was asked by Phil Mooney to learn scrum half in lieu of a lack of depth in this position.

He also has 39 Super Rugby caps and a Supre Rugby championship under his belt, he is hardly lacking tier 1 experience....

[blueandblack]

Wrong, Lucas defended in the 10 channel, Digby stayed in the wing..
Lucas is not a specialist scrum half, don't make crap up. He is a 5/8 who was asked by Phil Mooney to learn scrum half in lieu of a lack of depth in this position.

He also has 39 Super Rugby caps and a Supre Rugby championship under his belt, he is hardly lacking tier 1 experience....

Supre do Rugby Championships now? Ohwai...

[Rex Messup]

Whoever agreed to this tour needs to be replaced

The players have had a looooooooong season and could have done with some R&R after the RWC

a long haul flight to play Wales and a mickey mouse game against the Baa Baas is a disgrace

Are the alldorks or bokkies touring out of interest?

[mudskipper]

Wrong, Lucas defended in the 10 channel, Digby stayed in the wing..
Lucas is not a specialist scrum half, don't make crap up. He is a 5/8 who was asked by Phil Mooney to learn scrum half in lieu of a lack of depth in this position.

He also has 39 Super Rugby caps and a Supre Rugby championship under his belt, he is hardly lacking tier 1 experience....

His not a Supre Walllaby yet, ... SUPRE did you say TOCC? ...

[YOUTUBE][ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11nTVKxfrTc"]SUPRÉ Leggings - YouTube[/ame][/YOUTUBE]

[jargan83]

Spelling nazis out in force
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[TOCC]

Poor attempt at deflecting attention away from your inaccurate statements muddy..
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