Australian team of the week

[travelling_gerry]

Each week, Greg Growden and Rupert Guinness pick Australia's form players of the round. Have your say and who should be in and who was lucky to make it.



15 Julian Huxley (ACT) (1)
14 Mark Gerrard (ACT) (1)
13 Tyrone Smith (ACT) (1)
12 Scott Daruda (Force) (1)
11 Ryan Cross (Force) (1)
10 Matt Giteau (Force) (1)
9 James Stannard (Force) (1)
8 Stephen Hoiles (ACT) (1)
7 George Smith (ACT) (1)
6 Rocky Elsom (NSW) (2)
5 Nathan Sharpe (Force) (1)
4 Dean Mumm (NSW) (2)
3 Guy Shepherdson (ACT) (1)
2 Tai McIsaac (Force) (1)
1 Nic Henderson (ACT) (1)
(Number of times selected in brackets).

Player of the round: STEPHEN HOILES. In a lacklustre round, there weren't many contenders, but the Brumbies No 8 shone when required.

Try of the round: STEPHEN HOILES. He bustled through and carried numerous Highlanders defenders over the line for the try which guaranteed the Brumbies victory.

[travelling_gerry]

Tack Offload Kicks Try Assist Line Brk Ruck/Maul Mtrs Runs T/Over Missed Tack
Guy Shepherdson 0 0 0 0 0 8 20m 8 0 0
Troy Takiari 0 0 0 0 0 3 10m 3 1 0
Rodney Blake 0 0 0 0 0 0 4m 1 0 0
Alastair Baxter 7 0 0 0 0 1 4m 1 1 1
Adam Freier 3 0 0 0 0 6 16m 7 1 1
Tai McIsaac 0 0 0 0 0 5 10m 4 0 0
Huia Edmonds 0 0 0 0 0 1 19m 3 4 0
Stephen Moore 0 0 0 0 0 1 9m 2 0 0
Nic Henderson 0 0 0 0 0 4 4m 4 0 0
Matt Dunning 7 0 0 0 0 3 4m 3 0 1
Greg Holmes 0 0 0 0 0 1 6m 2 1 0
Pekahou Cowan 0 0 0 0 0 1 4m 1 1 0
Alister Campbell 0 0 0 0 0 6 22m 7 1 0
Dean Mumm 8 1 0 0 0 4 9m 4 2 2
Van Humphries 0 1 0 0 1 1 20m 4 0 0
Tom Hockings 0 0 0 0 0 2 6m 1 0 0
Nathan Sharpe 0 0 0 0 0 13 67m 11 1 0
Daniel Vickerman 17 0 0 0 0 9 47m 8 2 0
Mark Chisholm 1 0 0 0 0 7 23m 7 3 0
James Horwill 0 0 0 0 0 2 14m 4 2 0
Sam Wykes 0 1 0 0 0 5 65m 6 1 0
Mitchell Chapman 0 1 0 0 0 4 11m 4 0 0
Rocky Elsom 6 0 0 0 0 2 9m 2 0 2
Hugh McMeniman 0 0 0 0 0 2 13m 2 0 0
David Croft 0 0 0 0 0 1 27m 5 0 0
George Smith 1 0 0 0 0 5 19m 5 0 0
David Pocock 1 1 0 0 0 4 8m 3 1 0
Phil Waugh 18 0 0 0 0 3 10m 3 2 2
Richard Brown 0 0 0 0 0 10 32m 10 0 0
Wycliff Palu 16 6 0 0 0 4 55m 9 0 6
Stephen Hoiles 0 0 0 0 1 9 49m 9 3 0
John Roe 0 1 1 0 1 7 32m 8 2 0
Brett Sheehan 4 2 5 0 1 4 63m 8 0 2
James Stannard 1 0 2 0 0 2 13m 2 0 0
Sam Cordingley 0 0 4 0 0 0 4m 1 1 0
Josh Holmes 0 1 1 0 0 2 1m 1 2 0
Kurtley Beale 12 2 9 1 0 6 43m 8 0 7
Matt Giteau 0 1 7 0 1 3 48m 5 0 0
Christian Lealiifano 0 0 1 1 0 1 4m 1 0 0
Berrick Barnes 0 2 8 0 0 1 3m 1 1 0
Nick Cummins 0 0 0 0 0 5 85m 5 1 0
Lote Tuqiri 6 0 1 0 0 4 44m 4 1 1
Clinton Schifcofske 1 0 3 0 0 1 27m 4 0 0
Francis Fainifo 0 1 0 0 0 1 14m 1 0 0
Tom Carter 8 1 0 0 0 3 31m 4 0 5
Chris Siale 0 0 0 0 0 0 28m 4 0 0
Anthony Faingaa 1 0 0 0 1 4 22m 4 1 0
Scott Daruda 0 1 8 0 0 3 18m 4 0 0
Scott Staniforth 0 2 1 0 0 9 57m 9 0 0
Tyrone Smith 0 0 0 0 1 7 60m 7 1 0
Ben Jacobs 9 0 1 0 1 7 30m 7 2 1
Morgan Turinui 0 0 0 0 0 0 9m 2 2 0
Ryan Cross 1 0 2 0 0 8 65m 8 1 0
Mark Gerrard 0 0 3 0 0 8 53m 8 0 0
Digby Ioane 1 1 1 0 0 4 38m 6 2 0
Timana Tahu 4 1 0 0 1 3 33m 4 2 2
Drew Mitchell 0 5 2 0 3 9 210m 15 2 0
Chris Latham 2 0 14 0 0 2 41m 8 0 0
Julian Huxley 0 1 12 0 0 7 55m 7 0 0
Lachlan Turner 3 0 7 0 0 3 9m 4 2 1
Luke Holmes 0 1 0 0 1 0 62m 1 0 0
Sean Hardman 0 0 0 0 0 0 0m 0 1 0
Tatafu Polota-Nau 3 0 0 0 0 1 0m 0 2 1
Saia Faingaa 0 0 0 0 0 0 0m 0 2 0
Leroy Houston 1 2 0 0 0 1 19m 2 2 0
Tamaiti Horua 0 1 0 0 0 1 10m 2 0 0
Beau Robinson 6 0 0 0 0 2 3m 1 1 2
Julian Salvi 0 0 0 0 0 1 2m 1 0 0
Peter Kimlin 0 1 0 0 0 2 22m 3 1 0
David Pusey 0 0 0 0 0 2 8m 2 0 0
Ed O'Donoghue 0 0 0 0 0 0 4m 1 0 0
Will Caldwell 1 0 0 0 0 0 0m 0 0 0
Peter Hynes 0 0 0 0 0 1 8m 3 0 0
Sam Harris 2 0 0 0 0 0 22m 1 0 0
Peter Playford 0 0 0 0 0 1 22m 1 0 0
Lachlan MacKay 0 0 0 0 0 0 0m 0 0 0
Scott Fava 0 3 0 0 0 4 34m 7 2 0
Patrick Phibbs 1 2 2 0 0 5 26m 5 1 0
Will Genia 0 1 0 0 0 0 7m 1 0 0
Quade Cooper 0 1 2 0 0 0 12m 1 0 0
Josh Tatupu 0 0 0 0 0 0 0m 0 0 0
Alfi Mafi 2 0 0 0 0 0 0m 0 0 0
Afusipa Taumoepeau 0 0 0 0 0 0 0m 0 0 0
Luke Burgess 0 0 1 0 0 0 0m 0 1 0
AJ Whalley 0 0 0 0 0 6 14m 5 0 0
Dayna Edwards 0 0 0 0 0 0 0m 0 0 0
Benn Robinson 1 0 0 1 0 0 0m 0 0 1
Salesi Ma'afu 0 0 0 0 0 0 0m 0 0 0

[BLR]

This once again is just a team of the winners plus some token Tah players to appease the masses...no bloody clue...

[travelling_gerry]

Above are the collated stats from The Score - Rugby Home

of just the Australian players......

hope they make some sense....

[jargan83]

Drew Mitchell not in the side? I thought he played well. But for arguements sake i didn't see any of the Brumbies game so i won't have much of
idea how Huxley went??

Great to see Stannard in that line up though, great debut game from Chucky

[BLR]

Drew Mitchell not in the side? I thought he played well. But for arguements sake i didn't see any of the Brumbies game so i won't have much of
idea how Huxley went??

After all the shit Grumbles and crew were spinning over the last month or so about the Force crumbling on the pitch after the Henners incident I think the amount of Force players is a concession...I don't rate Huxley in any case, personally I don't think he should be in the Wallaby team at all but obviously over east this is not the case...hence why they can get away with overlooking Mitchell....

[GIGS20]

I didn't think Huxley did anything special! He kicked the cover off the ball, but that was about it.....Of course Grumbles, probably thinks that's good rugby!

[James]

Huxley was ok (I think he might have scored a try). I think the main reason he is in the side is for keeping the Brumbies remotely settled. Both them and the Highlanders were making sickening mistakes and when Hux got the ball he kept them from completely blowing their own heads off.

[jargan83]

And Ryan Cross? As much as I like the bloke i thought that he had an ordinary game on the wing.

Or is it just me??

[allsaints]

And Ryan Cross? As much as I like the bloke i thought that he had an ordinary game on the wing.

Or is it just me??

I would be 100% with you there. He is better suited at 13 and staniforth at 12.
Anyone see the "A" side play? If so, who played well?

[inactive]

As much as i like cross he is not a winger and again same with daruda i didnt think he did anything that special but hey we get force players in there this week cant complain too much even if there are a few odd selections

[GIGS20]

I gotta disagree with ya there MG, I thought Daruda played a very good 'second five' sort of game, Kicked the ball well, took lots of pressure off Gits, ran some awesome lines to open up holes for other players. He prob didn't carry the ball much, but he certainly made the guys around him look good. I'd call it his best performance yet in blue!

We certainly have an embarrassment of riches in the centres don't we?

[inactive]

hey thats a good thing not a bad thing!! WE have alot of depth in the backs which is what we need to get us through the season!!

Hopefully we can have a blinder this sat and have a try scoring bonanza would like to see a few more tries this week but a wins a win!!

[shasta]

I thought Daruda played a very good 'second five' sort of game,



We certainly have an embarrassment of riches in the centres don't we?

Yeah he did. Didn't he throw a flick pass to put Gits into the gap for the try? ( 5 days off now so I'm gonna watch the tape today.)

I dunno if Spanna's "hit-ups" are the go at 13. Better suited at 12. Looks like the coach is creating a couple of different structures. Horses for courses depending on the oppo. I'd probably go for Cross at 13 and Spanna at 15 if Daruda is at 12. But the way things are developing who'd argue with the coach?

Whatever, the options he has in the backline make for some mouthwatering possibilities this year. We got some pretty good glimpses of those developing combinations last week. Roll on, roll on!!

[zimeric]

Mitchell has the best stats of all the aussies by FAR!! wowzers i dint realise how many metres he gains when he gets the ball.
top 5 are all force!

Metres gained:
Mitchell
Cummins
Sharpe
Wykes
Cross
& Holmes at no6

TOP 4 in runs made:
Mitchell
Sharpe
Brown
Staniforth

TOP 4 ruck/mauls
Sharpe
Brown
Mitchell
Staniforth

only 2 force players in top 10 turn overs
Mitchell & Fava


NICE WORK BOYS!!! only a matter of time before they start turning into Tries!