Barnes blow puts team in disarray

[Thequeerone]

TOKYO: The Wallabies were in disarray last night after vice-captain Berrick Barnes was forced out of tomorrow night's Bledisloe Cup Test after rolling his left ankle at training, with concerns he might also miss the grand slam leg of the tour.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/spor...1030-ho4s.html

Mortlock cannot immediately be looked upon as a future replacement for Barnes because he is not expected to overcome his leg problems until at least the Ireland Test in Dublin on November 15. With Barnes in the line-up, the back line looked formidable. Now it appears out of whack. Ashley-Cooper has been outstanding at outside-centre, fullback and on the wing for the Wallabies this season, to vie with prop Benn Robinson as Australia's most consistent performer. But at inside-centre, he does not appear so assured.

[TOCC]

bring in cooper at 5/8, maybe not for the Bledisloe, but for one of the next matches, he already has a good bond with genia

[GIGS20]

Giteau 5/8 cooper inside centre for me.

Cooper is still a little flighty for mine. He's showed some excellent promise, but can get flustered easily at the top level. Once he's had a full year as the #1 choice for Qld he'll be a lot more composed and would take the pressure, but for now, even Giteau's a better option, with Cooper popping into the role regularly.

On second thoughts, how's Quade's tactical kicking game, if he has a good, accurate boot on him, I'd be prepared to reverse those comments!

[TOCC]

Giteau 5/8 cooper inside centre for me.

Cooper is still a little flighty for mine. He's showed some excellent promise, but can get flustered easily at the top level. Once he's had a full year as the #1 choice for Qld he'll be a lot more composed and would take the pressure, but for now, even Giteau's a better option, with Cooper popping into the role regularly.

On second thoughts, how's Quade's tactical kicking game, if he has a good, accurate boot on him, I'd be prepared to reverse those comments!

his tactical kicking game is a bit hot/cold, generally that was left up to Berrick

[The InnFORCEr]

Gits has been given the Vice Captain's armband!

[Burgs]

Mortlock shouldn't ever be looked at as a replacement for a #12, he is very ordinary there IMHO.

[James]

bring in cooper at 5/8, maybe not for the Bledisloe, but for one of the next matches, he already has a good bond with genia

Hopefully Deans will play him there for the midweek matches and if all goes well against Scotland.

[GIGS20]

his tactical kicking game is a bit hot/cold, generally that was left up to Berrick

Awesome, two ordinary tactical kickers with a shot at the jersey and one good kicker who'd do nothing but reef the ball away all day......entertaining rugby it won't be!

[The EnForcer]

Hopefully Deans will play him there for the midweek matches and if all goes well against Scotland.

I see there are some nerves creeping in about the Scotland game

[James]

I see there are some nerves creeping in about the Scotland game

Without meaning to be disrespectful (Scotland would be my second favourite International team) I'm not worried about the Scotland game, not having Barnes will hurt a bit but I just don't think Scotland has the firepower in the backline to beat the Wallabies. The only way I can see us losing that one is if it falls into a slog out in the mud and the teams plays like it did in the first half against South Africa in Perth.

[tragic]

Gits has been given the Vice Captain's armband!

Surely that's enough to get the conspiracy theorists yammering away?

[mudskipper]

Hopefully Deans will play him there for the midweek matches and if all goes well against Scotland.

Deans will have to keep Quade Cooper fresh for the weekend tests. I don't expect too much of him during the mid week games. Matt Toomua will do fine at flyhalf for those matches and Tyrone Smith at 12. They both know each others game.

The Tokyo pitch sounds poor in goal, the Wallabies don't need to lose another back.

[TOCC]

Deans will have to keep Quade Cooper fresh for the weekend tests. I don't expect too much of him during the mid week games. Matt Toomua will do fine at flyhalf for those matches and Tyrone Smith at 12. They both know each others game.

The Tokyo pitch sounds poor in goal, the Wallabies don't need to lose another back.

I think Kurtley will be the go to man for the mid-week matches

[James]

I think Kurtley will be the go to man for the mid-week matches

But TOCC Kurtley isn't a Brumby!!

[mudskipper]

Perhaps the Gloucester match may line up something like this. I would have rested Digby be but there isn't a centre available.


1 Salesi Ma’afu
2 Peka Cowan
3 Sekope Kepu
4 Dean Mumm
5 Mitchell Chapman
6 Matt Hodgson
7 George Smith
8 Richard Brown
9 Richard Kingi
10 Matt Toomua
11 Drew Mitchell
12 Tyrone Smith
13 Digby Ioane
14 Lachie Turner
15 Kurtley Beale


16 Stephen Moore
17 Matt Dunning
18 Mark Chisholm
19 Dave Dennis
20 Luke Burgess
21 Quade Cooper
22 James O’Connor