From top man to bench man

[The EnForcer]

Giteau is light on his feet. Somewhere in the last few years he started running sideways and "fading". This farks the whole backline. Watching sook/AAC/KB running straight is a joy. It creates options.

Did you see the first run he had with the ball!?....ran all the way to the sideline dummying all the way until he ran out of room.....he's history!

[Sheikh]

Sharpe was fantastic again. Some of his hits on a charging Chabal was worth the price of admission or Foxtel subscription. Sharpe was magnificent in the lineout.

Our problems at scrum time start up front.

The scrum's held up fairly well against some of the best scrummagers in the world (Wales, England, Italy, France). Refs still go into matches believing the Wallaby scrum is soft, but that's something we'll have to deal with until we produce a really dominating front row; Elsom doesn't help there as he should have a quiet word with the ref.

The Wallaby front row is OK. I wouldn't say world class, and it's the area to work on for the world cup. Sharpe is an OK scrummager as long as he's at 5 (when he's at 4 his shoulder problem shows up and the locks don't lock - see the England match in Perth). Simmons did well at 4 and may have done enough to demote Chisholm and Mumm. Horwill coming back will just add to the mix.

One issue at the scrum is the flankers. Pocock and Elsom are supposed to bind and help push, but be available to disconnect once the ball is out. However, while Pocock does this (to a degree), Elsom's a liability in the scrum. His bind is laying a hand on the lock's back, and he doesn't push. I'd be interested in the stats of which prop collapses and which side Elsom's on at the time. Both flankers need to do more in the scrum against the better scrummaging nations.

[GIGS20]

A couple responses Sheikh.
Benny A doesn't help your case when he continues to pack the scrum too low. Even when his back was straight and the French one bent we got penalized. Simmons is the second best (fit) lock in oz right now. Horwill will replace mumm and vickerman will replace chisolm. That makes 4 locks, each of whom deans is confident could take leadership.
It was significant that the first time sharpie's got a rest in god knows how long, simmons is his partner.

The flankers COULD stay bound longer, but else's too slow around the park, and too weak in the ruck to be any good if he doesn't detach early. Pocock, probably doesn't need the head start, but is probably just too eager at times.

I reckon elsom wouldn't add a lot to the push, he seems to be the perfect brumby in a lot of ways