Is Gateau a problem

[The Lone Hydrangea]

I agree that Ocean Blue would suit him well.

Better than powder blue by christ!

[blindsid3]

I had a conversation with Brendan Cannon after the Ireland test regarding Matt Henjak and his disappointing year. He reminded me that until he joined the Force, Henjak was no 2 halfback to Gregan at both the Brumbies and Wallabies.

That meant that he would play between 20 and 40 minutes of rugby (max) per week, week in week out for years...he could come on, turn it on and be an impact player for a short time and he excelled at it. But he didn't play a full game of Rugby at the top level for that whole time.

When he arrived at the Force, he was asked to play 80 minutes of Rugby every week - and that took some getting used to. He wasn't Super 14 match fit for a whole game.

Henjak's performance at the APC suggests that he has started to get used to playing for the whole match and that form we were hoping for has come back.

And before you all start hitting the quote botton and countering that "Henjak is a professional sportsman so he should be able to handle 80 minutes" consider that the other thing Maximus said was that when he moved from QLD to NSW and became the Tah's starting hooker, the same thing happened to him...he went from playing 20 minutes a game to 60-80 mins and he had a poor first season at NSW as well.

So, moral of the story is we now have three halfbacks at the Force and Gits is one of them. Michael O'connor (wallabies selector) has today stated that Gregan is unlikely to be recalled to the Wallabies next year, based on Gits form on Saturday.

The best thing Henjak can do is come out in February with his game face on and prove once and for all that he has (or has not) got what it takes to be the starting wallabies No 9. That will make everybody's decision easy really... or a whole lot more difficult!

But I'm sure that right now Gregan is regretting his decision to sit out this tour!

[Darren]

I'm with you on this Blindside - thanks for the insights ...

[The Lone Hydrangea]

Blindsid3 your on the money. Lets play Gits at no 8. He is an exceptional talent, and leave Mitch alone you eastern states know it alls,.he can basically play where he wants.Its Knuckles problem, not the Forces. Someone has turned the light on and realized that George may not the answer, so lets clutch at straws and put our new talented playmaker at 9. Bullshit, the man doesnt want to play there, neither does Rogers @ 10 or Larkham @12 or Tuquiri @13. Stanners at 13. Shep and Lote wingers, Gits inside then Bernie at 10, i like Valentine as the scrummie(at the moment)
Bring back Smith, shoot big gay Al and Hoiles.Shite!
Sharpie needs a rocket, Vickerman a big loss(line out doing well(, Scrum still a worry. Wtf, forwards win games, except when awesome backs do the work,
i dip my lid to Latham and Shep. Rest of them were crap.

God that feels better

[Burgs]

Must have been the change back to theme with the avatar mate, great rant!!!

[blindsid3]

From Foxsports:

MATT Giteau will stay at halfback for the rest of the tour of Europe, Australia coach John Connolly revealed last night.

As one prominent member of the Australia team management observed: "You could say on that effort he's almost the best halfback in the world right now, and that game was his first there for four years."

[Burgs]

One dance doesn't make a ball, I think the "prominent member" may be a little caught up in the moment with that comment.
Not saying he can't be with time but there are many more facets to a great Scrumhalf's game than the few flashy plays we saw in this first match.
If he does indeed stay there for the remaining matches, then I hope Knuckles is prepared to sub him early to allow the other #9's on Tour to have some exposure off the bench.
What happens if Gits goes down? Suddenly we are worse off than when we went away.

[Happy]

Better than powder blue by christ!

lets not say anything regretable!!!

[Sagerian]

Like we'd want his greedy arse here anyway. People here play for love of the jersey, not money...

....sorry, even I couldn't keep a straight face through that.



I still say give Gits the chance at 9 for the Force. Come on Mitchell, you are no stranger to playing people out of position, in the RWC semi you played Leon MacDonald at 13 and left a fit Tana Umaga out of the squad, and that worked out really well... oh wait.

[James]

Forget those guys, I would say replace John Mitchell (No offense Mitch) with me. Then I can play Henjak at loosehead and Giteau at tight-head and Matt Dunning will be the new fly-half!

[Rodent]

I have to say that I was horrified with the way we played against wales.
Our defence, normally where we are so strong, was absolutely garbage. The welsh walked through our line time and again.
On attack we looked extremely shaky as soon as our planned move broke down. Panic seemed to set in and we started throwing silly passes.
I thought Gits looked ok at 9, but lets not forget as soon as he moved to 12 he made a line break and set up a try, I still think 12 is his best position. Valentine did a good job when he came on, Lote doesn't work at 13 (Stirlo will be back there anyway) Shep looked great on the wing, Larkham was awesome playing more like a 10 than a 12. Rogers didn't impress. Latham... Unbelievable!
Palu was non-existant, give Lyons a crack there...
Forward pack was alright, how they welsh got away with driving into that side of the scrum is beyond me. 2 scrums in a row that big shaggy haired freak dropped his inside shoulder and drove sideways into the scrum and didn't get called! And everyone is surprised that the australian pack splintered. I think stick with Tai to start and being Cannon on early. Get his match fitness back before starting him.
Extremely dissappointed that Hugh hurt himself as I was looking forward to seeing gim in the green and gold.

[GIGS20]

Forget those guys, I would say replace John Mitchell (No offense Mitch) with me. Then I can play Henjak at loosehead and Giteau at tight-head and Matt Dunning will be the new fly-half!

Why not when piggy can kick a field goal like that!!

I like Gits at centre, because he is more unpredictable, he just needs to be given the ball more.

The first ten minutes of the game were cool when the Wallabies had essentially two fly halves with Larko and Rogers standing at 1st receiver either side of Gits, who made a decision (apparentlyon the fly) whether to pass or run. Seemed like the taffys didn't know what to do.

[Burgs]

While experiments are all the rage, does anyone else think that at 26 David Lyons should be nominating himself for Loosehead School?
David Lyons, 192cm, 117kg
Rodney Blake, 190cm, 130kg
Al Baxter, 190cm, 116kg
Carl Hayman, 193cm, 120kg
Andy Sheridan, 195cm, 119kg
Os du Randt 190cm, 125kg