How the Wallabies' World Cup squad is shaping

[mudskipper]

JETLAG couldn't have come at a better time for Robbie Deans. After crossing half the globe from New Zealand to South Africa this week, the Wallabies coach has been waking up at 3am and churning through DVDs of Sydney and Brisbane club rugby.
He's had a phone in his hand as well, checking in with medical staff, injured players and the strength and conditioning coaches back in Australia trying to get key players back on the field.

Somehow, amid all that, Deans has to prepare the Wallabies squad to meet the Springboks on Sunday morning (AEST) in Durban.

In fact, scratch the jetlag. That would require sleep.

Forget the countdown to the World Cup kickoff, the faster-approaching deadline to finalise the Wallabies' 30-man squad is behind Deans' "sleepless nights".

Due to IRB regulations, all competing nations have to provide a squad by August 18. It can then only be altered by a serious, tournament-ending injury. That's next Thursday, six days and counting.

Many of Deans' spots are filled, but many are not.

The pressing concern for him is decisions he must make on injured stars who would normally be automatic choices but will only make their returns after the squad is announced.Winger Drew Mitchell (ankle), No.8 Wycliff Palu (shoulder), prop James Slipper (ankle) and Tatafu Polota-Nau (hooker) are all on track to be fit when the tournament kicks off. But they are not slated to play a game until the Australian Barbarians meet Canada on August 26.

Leaps of faith have happened before - Stephen Larkham carried a broken thumb into 1999 - but the trust has never had to stretch so far.

Given they are potential starters, it is expected all will be picked based on reputation and the advice of medical staff.

Deans and staff have been tracking the players' fitness programs via GPS monitoring.

Though Mitchell won't play until Saturday week at the earliest, he will be the last piece in the puzzle after a tailormade rehab process on his broken ankle.

"I have been getting through a Test-intensity week of training this week," Mitchell said yesterday.

"I've got one more day to go. Getting up off the ground, the sprints, shuttles, that sort of thing. Just putting volume in the leg and pushing through the fatigue.

"It'd obviously be good to have played a game but it is just a matter of doing what we've been asked."

The injured troops are not the only ones keeping fingers crossed. With few spots left, several Wallabies not on tour in South Africa are hoping their club form can impress. Matt Giteau and Berrick Barnes remain right in the hunt, as do centre Rob Horne and halfback Nick Phipps.

The hopes of others in the 40-man squad are fading.

Here is how the squad is shaping up.

Fullback

ONE spot, and only one man possible. There's plenty of back-up in the wing stocks.



In: Beale

Gone: Gerrard

Wingers

BARRING hiccups, Mitchell will return. Turner's hopes may rest on whether Deans takes three or four wingers.

In: O'Connor, Ioane

Probable: Mitchell

Possible: Turner

Gone: Davies, Morahan

Centres

THE Test pairing are secure but the two back-up spots are hotly fought. Anthony Faingaa is battling late charges from Rob Horne and Berrick Barnes, and Matt Giteau is included here as well. Deans likes Horne but Barnes and Giteau provide playmaker cover.

In: Ashley-Cooper, McCabe

Possibles: Faingaa, Barnes, Horne, Giteau

Five-eighths

COOPER is a certainty but the big question is whether Deans takes Giteau as cover or relies on Beale and O'Connor.

In: Cooper

Possible: Giteau

Halfbacks

DEANS is weighing up whether to take two or three halfbacks, and Nick Phipps is the man who'll win or lose.

In: Genia, Burgess

Possible: Phipps

Back-row

HOW many are taken depends on whether Deans takes a 17-13 split.

David Pocock, Rocky Elsom and Scott Higginbotham are certainties. Wycliff Palu is another who'll go if fit, leaving Ben McCalman and Matt Hodgson to fight over a spot. The latter may win the fight due to his No.7 experience.

In: Pocock, Elsom, Higginbotham.

Probable: Palu

Possibles: McCalman, Hodgson

Gone: Beau Robinson, Dennis

Locks

HORWILL and Simmons are safe. Nathan Sharpe and Dan Vickerman's experience counts, but will Deans risk the rawness of Sitaleki Timani for his power? Will Radike Samo sweep in as back-row/lock cover? Dean Mumm's rib injury has likely cost him.

In: Horwill, Simmons

Probables: Sharpe, Vickerman

Possibles: Timani, Samo.

Gone: Mumm

Front-row

LOCK in Stephen Moore, Tatafu Polota-Nau and Saia Faingaa as hookers. Ben Alexander, Sekope Kepu, James Slipper are likely, with Salesi Ma'afu in the mix and Ben Daley still hopeful. Benn Robinson's hopes are fading.

In: Moore, Polota-Nau, Faingaa, Alexander, Kepu

Probable: Slipper, Ma'afu

Possible: Daley, Robinson, Cowan

Gone: Baxter, Hanson


http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/spo...-1226113483981

[WF2006]

Winger Drew Mitchell (ankle), No.8 Wycliff Palu (shoulder), prop James Slipper (ankle) and Tatafu Polota-Nau (hooker) are all on track to be fit

That made me chuckle, apparently TPN has injured his Hooker!

[sandgroperrugby]

Locks

HORWILL and Simmons are safe. Nathan Sharpe and Dan Vickerman's experience counts, but will Deans risk the rawness of Sitaleki Timani for his power? Will Radike Samo sweep in as back-row/lock cover? Dean Mumm's rib injury has likely cost him.

Dont think that has much to do with it!

[mudskipper]

That made me chuckle, apparently TPN has injured his Hooker!

editor at the tele had a poor day...

[Hansie]

Did she fall off the chandelier???

[shasta]

Did she fall off the chandelier???

Nope. Crash tackled by a flying pig while he was dangling.

[travelling_gerry]

Benn Robinson officially out.

Surgery tomorrow.

[SinBin]

Wallabies joke scrum now a weapon Darren Walton August 15, 2011 - 5:44PM AAP

Intense competition for Rugby World Cup spots is helping transform Australia's once-maligned scrum into a key attacking weapon.

For years Australia's eight were a laughing stock at the set piece but the burgeoning front row of Ben Alexander, Sekope Kepu and hooker Stephen Moore humiliated Springboks captain John Smit in his Durban swansong at the weekend.

Clinging to a two-point lead as the clock wound down, the Wallabies targeted Smit when he moved from hooker to tighthead and shoved the Boks scrum sideways, earning a crucial penalty that allowed James O'Connor to kick Australia five points clear.

"That was a massive mental edge for us," Kepu said. "That forced them to actually try and score a try."

The Wallabies held firm in the tense closing stages for a 14-9 victory, marking the first time in almost half a century Australia had won successive Test in South Africa.

Wallabies forwards rarely get the plaudits, but Alexander said drawing a scrum penalty was as satisfying for a frontrower as any fancy backline try.

"We felt it was coming and we were slowly getting the ascendancy and just kept working and kept working and finally we started to feel a few cracks (in the Boks scrum)," he said.

"A lot of that was the result we'd done earlier as an eight and eventually we got some pay for it."

While Moore and Tatafu Polota-Nau have been alternating as starting hooker for the past few seasons, Alexander and Kepu began 2011 down Australia's pecking order.

But injuries to Benn Robinson, James Slipper and Ben Daley opened the door and the incumbent trio have gone from strength to strength while starting in all four Tests so far this year.

They credit scrum coach Patricia Noriega and a huge workload at a Gold Coast training camp last month for the big strides made against the All Blacks and Springboks in the past two Tests.

Full article here

[Rex Messup]

Benn Robinson officially out.

Surgery tomorrow.

No surprise

If he didn't need his ACL, it wouldn't have torn

Dead set

Big loss though

[shasta]

They credit scrum coach Patricia Noriega

Wonder if she's a good sort.

http://geekswithblogs.net/images/gee...gly_girl_2.jpg

[Buddha Handy]

Lets see if we can predict the squad 100%

1,2,3,4 - Kepu, Alexander, Slipper, Maafu
5,6,7 - Moore, TPN, S Faingaa
8,9,10,11 - Horwill, Sharpe, Vickerman, Simmons
12,13,14,15 - Pocock, Elsom, Higgers, Hodgson
16,17 - Samo, McCalman (or Palu)
18,19 - Genia, Burgess
20,21 - Cooper, Barnes
22,23,24 - AAC, McCabe, Faingaa
25,26,27,28 - Digby, O'Connor, Turner, Mitchell
29 - Beale
30 - ???? Gits, Horne or Phipps?

I think the only uncertainties are over the very last position and also a toss up between Palu and McCalman. I think Horne may get the nod because Deans seems to like him and not Gits and I don't think Palu should be selected at all.

Any disagreements?

[jargan83]

Courtesy of a ABC Grandstand Facebook update:

The Wallabies will name their 30-man World Cup squad, and Matt Giteau is set to miss out after he this afternoon Tweeted...... Thank u ballboys, thank u linesman! That's it...