Anyone rate McCabe?

[Rex Messup]

Some of his D is solid.

Do we want someone trucking it up or slicing up?

I hate seeing bash and barge with the slipstream out wide. I'd prefer to see Cooper hitting our backrow for go forward than a midfield trucker that dies with the ball.

Thoughts?

[travelling_gerry]

He's pretty easy to read.

[James]

I reckon he's alright. You need a guy who can put in big tackles in a backline with Cooper, Beale and O'Connor.

[Rex Messup]

He's pretty easy to read.

I agree. He is a bit limited and dies with the ball too often for mine

[sandgroperrugby]

His real test will be against the AB's (but then that will be a test for the whole team). But at the moment i think he is going well, his defence is solid and his combo in defence with AAC is building. Once him and QC get used to one another i think his attacking lines will improve and QC will put him through holes. Since Stirlo's departure we have really missed a crash ball over the gain line centre.

[palitu]

yeah, i like the idea of have a fairly solid centre pairing, and let the flair have their go a little wider. He laid some good hits on which was nice to see and didn't make to many mistakes.

I'd leave him there. Hopefully we can nail down a team for the Cup.

[Hoolly Doolly]

His real test will be against the AB's (but then that will be a test for the whole team). But at the moment i think he is going well, his defence is solid and his combo in defence with AAC is building. Once him and QC get used to one another i think his attacking lines will improve and QC will put him through holes. Since Stirlo's departure we have really missed a crash ball over the gain line centre.

McCabe is a human crash test dummy. Never seen him bust a line once.just hit walls and go backwards or stopped dead
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[shasta]

yeah, i like the idea of have a fairly solid centre pairing, and let the flair have their go a little wider.

I like the idea of two big centres who both bend the line regularly. The linking between QC and the back three looked pretty good again on Saturday and will likely be where most of our linebreaks come from. AAC has size speed and can put on some heavy hits when on song. He's slightly off the pace this year but hopefully he'll run into the kind of form he showed last season, when I thought he was probably our best outside back.

I'd persevere with McCabe. He showed he's a fair hole runner in an unimpressive Brumbies outfit this year so I'd expect to see him running some good lines off QC as they get used to each other.

Having said all that; I think Anthony F would do a great job too, Rex.

[zed]

He's a good solid 12. But to put it into perspective, would he make an All Blacks B team? Nope. We need someone with a bit more creativity and guile. The centre pairing of Mcabe & AAC is not going to win us the WC.

[zimeric]

i think you give the AB's a little too much credit.
Most of the x-factor players in the AB's play pivotal positions such as wing/FB or 5/8th... their centres have always been solid journeymen.. with the exception of SBW and maybe Nonu (but Nonu has had some major weaknesses exposed over the years) the Wallabies are not that different as are the Boks...

[Buddha Handy]

Initially I wanted to see Faingaa get first crack at #12 but I think McCabe is going ok. I would prefer to see him there than Gits or O'Connor.

[mudskipper]

Check out the stats, McCabe after Digby most tackles for backs. Digby defended at 10. McCabe still got a solid 62 metres and didn't hold back those wide of who all got good metres. Notably Digby 146 metres.
What is working with McCabe and AAC in the centres is it solid defence with straight + running contrast to the stepping playmakers around them such as JOC, Digby, Copper and Beale. McCabe has more tackles than most forwards and has 2 less tackles than Simmons who had a good game in the second row. But its what he does off the ball that makes him work in the current line up.


[B]PLAYER STAT[/B]S
Australia Pos Mins Runs (m) Tack Offl. Kick T.Ass. L.Brk Ruck T/Ov. Miss

Sekope Kepu LHP 80 0 (0m) 8 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
Stephen Moore HOOK 60 6 (43m) 8 0 0 0 1 4 1 1
Ben Alexander THP 80 3 (23m) 9 0 0 0 1 1 1 1
Rob Simmons LCK1 80 2 (4m) 13 0 0 0 0 2 1 3
James Horwill LCK2 56 5 (16m) 8 1 0 0 0 7 2 0
Rocky Elsom BSFL 56 4 (45m) 9 1 0 1 1 2 0 2
David Pocock OSFL 65 4 (15m) 14 1 0 0 0 4 0 0
Ben McCalman NUM8 80 4 (18m) 12 0 0 0 0 4 1 0
Will Genia HB 65 9 (86m) 2 1 6 2 2 6 2 0
Quade Cooper FIV8 80 8 (105m) 3 1 9 2 2 1 5 3
Digby Ioane LWNG 80 12 (146m) 15 2 0 0 1 10 3 3
Pat McCabe ICEN 80 6 (62m) 11 1 0 0 0 5 0 1
Adam Ashley-Cooper OCEN 63 4 (54m) 6 2 1 0 1 2 0 0
James O'Connor RWNG 80 6 (84m) 11 2 0 0 2 4 2 0
Kurtley Beale FBCK 71 9 (123m) 6 3 3 0 2 3 1 3
Saia Fainga'a RHKR 20 1 (4m) 4 0 0 0 0 1 2 0
Pek Cowan RPRP 9 1 (2m) 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Nathan Sharpe RLCK 24 0 (0m) 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Scott Higginbotham RFL 24 2 (11m) 3 0 1 0 0 2 0 1
Matthew Hodgson RHB 16 0 (0m) 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Nick Phipps RBCK 16 0 (0m) 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Anthony Faingaa RES1 17 0 (0m) 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0

South Africa Pos Mins Runs (m) Tack Offl. Kick T.Ass. L.Brk Ruck T/Ov. Miss
Dean Greyling LHP 39 4 (21m) 5 0 0 0 0 4 1 0
John Smit HOOK 80 7 (21m) 2 0 0 0 1 6 3 4
Werner Kruger THP 80 0 (0m) 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
Flip van der Merwe LCK1 34 6 (33m) 10 0 0 0 0 6 1 2
Alistair Hargreaves LCK2 80 2 (6m) 6 0 0 0 0 2 1 1
Deon Stegmann BSFL 80 5 (18m) 11 0 0 0 0 5 0 2
Danie Rossouw OSFL 80 8 (37m) 4 1 0 0 0 9 1 1
Ashley Johnson NUM8 52 7 (23m) 9 0 0 0 0 7 0 4
Ruan Pienaar HB 80 5 (39m) 11 0 4 0 0 4 2 1
Morne Steyn FIV8 57 0 (0m) 5 0 5 0 1 0 0 1
Lwazi Mvovo LWNG 80 9 (111m) 4 0 0 0 1 9 0 3
Wynand Olivier ICEN 66 6 (33m) 3 0 0 0 0 6 0 3
Juan de Jongh OCEN 80 8 (70m) 2 0 0 0 0 8 2 1
Bjorn Basson RWNG 80 5 (54m) 6 0 1 0 2 4 3 5
Gio Aplon FBCK 80 9 (117m) 3 1 4 0 3 7 0 2
Chilliboy Ralapelle RHKR 24 5 (22m) 2 0 0 0 1 4 2 0
CJ van der Linde RPRP 20 3 (13m) 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 1
Ryan Kankowski RLCK 48 3 (15m) 3 0 0 0 0 3 1 1
Jean Deysel RFL 28 9 (46m) 2 0 0 0 0 8 1 1
Charl McLeod RHB 0 0 (0m) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Adrian Jacobs RBCK 14 3 (19m) 0 0 1 0 0 2 1 0
Patrick Lambie RES1 24 4 (22m) 1 0 1 0 0 3 2 1



So I rate him and want to see more...

[mudskipper]

McCabe is a human crash test dummy. Never seen him bust a line once.just hit walls and go backwards or stopped dead
Posted via Mobile Device

You need pay more attention... he marks metres

[mudskipper]

I agree. He is a bit limited and dies with the ball too often for mine

What he is doing is replacing a lossie or second row player hanging the backline... This leaves them open to clean out the ruck... it gives them another player in the forwards at this time. This allows them to set for the next phase and add pressure faster...

[James]

Can't argue with him.

Flowers for Mudskipper?