Super 14 Team of the Season- "Tahs to the power of seven equals one team to beat"

[James]

I think he only get one yellow card this season, and that was before he was captain.

i believe Horwill played 80min of most of the Reds games, as for the leadership, well he is captain of the Reds, if he is in a forward pack with either Waugh/Smith or Vickerman, the leadership skills wont be quite as essential.

From what i saw in the Force - Reds game, Horwill did a pretty decent job at matching and outplaying sharpie in many facets of the game.

Ok fairs fair I concede that I was a bit rough on him. He is just a bit unknown at Test level. Give him time off the bench and let him replace Vickerman when he goes is I suppose all I'm saying. I don't recall a game in the last few years where Sharpie hasn't put in at least a very solid performance for the Wallabies.

[gustafsl]

Clearly pushing in the scrum isn't a metric they care about. on current form would have to be Horwill and Vicks.

Not really sure how you can measure pushing. Not sure how you can take into account the scrum falling over as this would be an issue with the whole scrum. The best player in the world isn't going to keep a scrum up if the other 7 guys suck. Not saying the other 7 in the Force scrum suck, but clearly you shouldn't be measuring Sharpe's value based on the performance of the Force scrum.

Maybe they are looking for someone who isn't going to make many errors and can run the ball.

Few stats from the year:

Sharpe (122 runs, 6 errors, 120 tackles, 15 tackles missed, 10 long arm penalties)

Horwill (76 runs, 8 errors, 122 tackles, 19 tackles missed, 15 long arm penalties)

Granted Horwill did have more tackle busts and line breaks than Sharpe but there isn't much point in making a tackle bust if you then drop the ball.

[Burgs]

I think Sharpie, as the incumbent and the current John Eales medalist, would be a fairly easy pick for Aussie Robbie. I mean, even the pie man could pick him!

[greenandgoldrugby]

Sharpe can get a lot of bad press among some Wallaby supporters, I think simply because he was a favourite of Eddie Jones (not a completely crap reason...) which I reckon is unwarranted.

He's played a crucial role for The Force in taking the ball through the line in midfield and making the hardest yards. The stats don't show this, although they do show his greater number of offloads, more than any other Aussie Lock, which is a testament to his linking play.

The big question (& worry) is who takes over from Vicks as line-out king. He's streets ahead on the line-out steals; 12, vs the closest being Chisholm on 5.

Speaking of whom, Chis has looked pretty good in the loose and not too shabby in the lineout this year. May well take that reserve 2nd row / back row slot again, unfortunately.