Suggestions for the team of the Rabbo 12 at the midway through the season?

We have had a great few months of competition in the Pro 12 Celtic and Latin league, great tries, fantastic skills and some sublime players.

Who are your suggestions for the best XV so far...?

The suggestions you give are just suggestions and when the thread starts to wind down we can count up the suggestions and see who we collectively think are the best XV players in the Rabbo 12 2011 part of the season. I personally wont mind if you are basing your selection of players that play for Regional/Provincial teams, but have only played in the HEC, Amlin or LV=, but as this thread has progressed views have been versed that posters would like players that have played more games in the Rabbo 12 to have preference over those that have not. Also that players should be selected in their shirt position, wingers, centers, props, locks and backrows may not be switched around willy nilly without reason...! (Obviously some players play in more positions than just one and may account for their selection by the fantastic way they play in that said position).



I also advise and I hope very much that the hard working moderators of these threads agree that it would be a gentlemanly thing to not criticise somebody else's suggestion until you have laid your cards on the table and posted your own suggestions. Once your own XV is on the thread then we can debate, accolade, lambast and argue the merits and demerits of those suggestions.

6) Ferris. Needs no explanation!

11. Tim Visser
14.Luke Fitz
8.Peter O'Mahony

15. Rob Kearney
14. Tim Visser
13. Tommaso Benvenuti
12. Ashley Beck
11. Luke Fitzgerald
10. Jonny Sexton
9. Chris Cusiter
8. Toby Faletau
7. Sean O'Brien
6. Stephen Ferris
5. Paul O'Connell
4. Adam Jones
3. Adam Jones
2. Sean Cronin
1. Heinke van der Merwe

Madigan or Weir at 10

How many games have those guys played though? Paulie has been great but has only played 3/4 Rabo games. Same with SOB,Sexton and Kearney even Ferris.

Potential Irish backrow has already been mentioned in this thread:

6) Ferris
7) SOB
8) POM

I like it a lot! However on current form for the Pro 12 team, I would stick Faletau in over SOB, for this thread.

Faletau at 8, any other players are just overkill

munkian wrote:Faletau at 8, any other players are just overkill

I thought Heaslip had been looking very useful. It was a tough choice, but Faletau gets it on skill pace and ability to make yards every game without missing a tackle in defence.

Heaslip has shown great form lately, which is good. However Faletau looked fantastic the other day. He was everywhere. I really hope he and SOB will get playing together for the Lions tour. They will destroy defences.

Faletau has been superb since coming back from the RWC but I picked o'Mahony as he has been there for the season. Players who have played a lot of the season and done well is the criteria in my view.

I would include Henry before ferris. In general I'm not sure we should be including anyone who was at the RWC at this stage.

from Ulster the only candidates would be

Henry
Cave

At the minute.

11. Cuthbert

First season and he is scoring tries for fun and has forced his way into the Welsh squad and may even be one of our starting wings in the 6Ns.

Standulstermen wrote:I would include Henry before ferris. In general I'm not sure we should be including anyone who was at the RWC at this stage.

from Ulster the only candidates would be

Henry
Cave

At the minute.

Why would you include Henry before Ferris?? Ferris has been playing unbelievably well. Henry has been doing very well too but he isn't as talented as Ferris.

Ferris played against Scarlets and Edinburgh. Did he play against Connacht? That's 3 games. I don't think he has played enough in the league to be considered in a team of said league. I'm not arguing that Henry is better than Ferris

I think any member should be immediately banned if they:

A - do not put Visser at 11 (Seriously??)
B - put BOD at 13 (he barely plays in the Rabbo/Magners yet always ends up in the team of the tournament!)

In my humble opinion that is!

Not sure about 1-15 but I thinik Weir at 10 (top points scorer still?), Ferris at 6 (so destructive) and Ross Ford at Hooker (form of his life) would be a good place to start!

There is a good case for several young scrum halves that played during and after the RWC..

Paul Marshall, Rhys Webb, Gareth Davies, Rhodri Williams

RDW_Scotland wrote:I think any member should be immediately banned if they:

A - do not put Visser at 11 (Seriously??)
B - put BOD at 13 (he barely plays in the Rabbo/Magners yet always ends up in the team of the tournament!)

In my humble opinion that is!

Not sure about 1-15 but I thinik Weir at 10 (top points scorer still?), Ferris at 6 (so destructive) and Ross Ford at Hooker (form of his life) would be a good place to start!

Does it matter if Visser is 11 or 14?

RDW_Scotland wrote:I think any member should be immediately banned if they:

A - do not put Visser at 11 (Seriously??)
B - put BOD at 13 (he barely plays in the Rabbo/Magners yet always ends up in the team of the tournament!)

In my humble opinion that is!

Not sure about 1-15 but I thinik Weir at 10 (top points scorer still?), Ferris at 6 (so destructive) and Ross Ford at Hooker (form of his life) would be a good place to start!

+1, particularly on the banning criteria

adam jones so good they put him in there twice!

bigballbag wrote:adam jones so good they put him in there twice!

Adam Jones the Ospreys prop, and Adam Jones the Dragons lock

Rory_Gallagher wrote:

Standulstermen wrote:I would include Henry before ferris. In general I'm not sure we should be including anyone who was at the RWC at this stage.

from Ulster the only candidates would be

Henry
Cave

At the minute.

Why would you include Henry before Ferris?? Ferris has been playing unbelievably well. Henry has been doing very well too but he isn't as talented as Ferris.

If we were to discard players who have not played as much Rabbo stuff as they were away in the RWC then players like Tom Smith, Lewis Evans etc deserve a mention ahead of Ferris, Lydiate etc...?

I dont mind either way...

Is that not what I said ?

bigballbag wrote:adam jones so good they put him in there twice!

REMEMBER IT IS PREFERRED THAT YOU POST YOUR OWN TEAM BEFORE CRITICISING OTHER PEOPLES WITH SILLY COMMENTS...!

Thomond wrote:Is that not what I said ?

Would you like to make that a rule then?

Ill amend the OP if you like, as I said, I dont mind either way...

Also lads and ladies, lets see some discussion suggested further a field than the back row...

Duncan Jones has been the form loose head, he is always making the hard yards and going on the charge he's been playing like the Duncan jones we knew when they were talking about him being Wales captain.

Rhys Thomas is having a good season on the Scarlets loose head also, he looks a pain in the backside for for opposition teams, you could also include Shingler to Scarlets lock.

Ryhs Webb has had a magnificent season at 9 for the Ospreys.

Aaron Shingler has been superb at 6 and at Lock. Ian Evans also been very good at Lock.

Donnacha Ryan a superb season at lock, Devin Toner too.

maestegmafia wrote:

Does it matter if Visser is 11 or 14?

I would say most definitely - I don't think he's ever played for Edinburgh on the right wing, and there is definitely a difference (I would know since I play there!)

Would anyone say Jonah lomu was a right winger? Tommy Bowe a left winger?

Doesn't seem like much of a difference but there really is!

Martyn Thomas 15.

OK I am happy with that RDW...!

maestegmafia wrote:OK I am happy with that RDW...!

Top man!

How old is Martyn Thomas? I was very impressed with him over the weekend. He has flair.

I would suggest that a player should have played in 5/6 games minimum before he is considered. otherwise it is essentially a best XV of the celtic nations with a few foreign stars.
Also despite paul marshalls recent form he was much for the first 7 games of the season (glasgow at ravenhill aside i think)

Mark me down for a ban but i think Luke Fitz should get the 11 shirt. You could argue about moving his position but i think he has played there most. (i stand to be corrected here)

Toner, Madigan, Jennings?, Nacewa, Luke Fitz should all be in the mix. If anything the team should be Leinster-centric given how them are dominating the competition.

Sorry haven't seen enough of the non Irish teams:

15. Isa Nacewa
14. Dave Kearney
13. Darren Cave
12. Lafemi Mafi
11. Luke Fitzgerald
10. Jonny Sexton
9. Paul Marshall
8. James Coughlan
7. Niall Ronan
6. Chris Henry
5. Dan Touhy
4. Devin Toner
3. BJ Botha
2. Damien Varley
1. Heinke van der Merwe

Standulstermen wrote:

Mark me down for a ban but i think Luke Fitz should get the 11 shirt. You could argue about moving his position but i think he has played there most. (i stand to be corrected here)

Visser - 10 tries
Cuthbert, Ian Madigan, Nick Williams - 5 tries
Leo Auva'a - 4 tries

http://www.rabodirectpro12.com/statzone/index.php



Seriously - how Visser wouldn't be in the dream team with 10 tries (5 more than anyone else) is ridiculous! I know tries aren't all the be all and end all for a winger but if you are comparing someone with 10 tries to someone with 3 or less there's no contest...

p.s. I am not naming my 1 to 15 as I'd be guessing half the positions, and would feel like a hypocrite making comments on other peoples choices if I know that some of mine will be just as ridiculous!

AlynDavies wrote:Duncan Jones has been the form loose head, he is always making the hard yards and going on the charge he's been playing like the Duncan jones we knew when they were talking about him being Wales captain.

Rhys Thomas is having a good season on the Scarlets loose head also, he looks a pain in the backside for for opposition teams, you could also include Shingler to Scarlets lock.

Ryhs Webb has had a magnificent season at 9 for the Ospreys.

Rhys Thomas is the tight head, Iestyn is the loose head

RDW_Scotland wrote:But seriously - how Visser wouldn't be in the dream team with 10 tries (5 more than anyone else) is ridiculous! I know tries aren't all the be all and end all for a winger but if you are comparing someone with 10 tries to someone with 3 or less there's no contest...

OK I'll take your word for it, if he still wants the 14 shirt in my side it's his

roddersm wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:But seriously - how Visser wouldn't be in the dream team with 10 tries (5 more than anyone else) is ridiculous! I know tries aren't all the be all and end all for a winger but if you are comparing someone with 10 tries to someone with 3 or less there's no contest...

OK I'll take your word for it, if he still wants the 14 shirt in my side it's his

Visser is a quality player with a impressive try count but not being called up for international duties does help.

Luke Fitz has been the form winger in europe for me. Tries are great but they arent everything as Edinburghs league position attests too. Im not denying Visser should be in the team and i have mentioned that Fitz played other positions. To prove a point i see that Nick Williams as scored more tries than any other forward. He still wouldnt make a Pro12 team of the season.

I havent seen a lot of Visser and what i have seen wasnt as good as what i have seen of Fitz. Thats why he wouldnt be at 11 in my team.

Call it a difference of opinion but Fitz would have to be adding a hell of a lot to the team if he'd warrant being selected over someone who has scored at least 7 tries more (trying to find out how many he's scored)!

And it isn't really fair to say that because Edinburgh aren't doing well in the league Visser doesn't deserve his place - think it's fair to say we haven't lost those games because of him!

And his tries haven't just been catch and fall over the line -some sensational individual efforts! Check out from 48 seconds onwards (particularly the 2nd try) for recent examples from the Glasgow game on boxing day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVytsjI8IBA

Of course its not all down to Visser.

I will put it this way. If Visser were Irish, would he be selected in the 6N over Fitz. I genuinely dont believe he would. Im not disagreeing that Visser isnt a deserving pick. Im just stating i think Fitz has been the best winger i have seen this season.

Its a very competitive position...

Visser, Fitzgerald, Halfpenny, Cuthbert and Zebo have all played very well. They have all played the same position very well at some point too.

RDW_Scotland wrote:I think any member should be immediately banned if they:

A - do not put Visser at 11 (Seriously??)

Well on Friday Trimble took him to the cleaners

geoff998rugby wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:I think any member should be immediately banned if they:

A - do not put Visser at 11 (Seriously??)

Well on Friday Trimble took him to the cleaners

Totally agree he was baws then but so was the entire team! One bad game doesn't mean he shouldn't be in the team though (and Trimble hasn't scored many either!)

Where's all the Scottish guys to back me up here against this Irish onslaught??

And I thought the Welsh were bad! he he

What concerned me about Visser on Friday was that whilst his straight line speed is exceptional he seemed to have a very slow turning circle, on the defence, with the result that when on the back foot he could be exposed - as he was on Friday.

International sides will see that and act accordingly.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:How old is Martyn Thomas? I was very impressed with him over the weekend. He has flair.

I think hes about 24/25 - missed a year or so of rugby due to injury

RDW_Scotland wrote:

geoff998rugby wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:I think any member should be immediately banned if they:

A - do not put Visser at 11 (Seriously??)

Well on Friday Trimble took him to the cleaners

Totally agree he was baws then but so was the entire team! One bad game doesn't mean he shouldn't be in the team though (and Trimble hasn't scored many either!)

Where's all the Scottish guys to back me up here against this Irish onslaught??

Well to be fair to Visser he took Bowe to the cleaners against the Ospreys last season....but then Trimble subsequently took him to the cleaners and yet Bowe is ahead of Trimble in the Irish pecking order....

I think until Visser proves himself at international level the jury will always be out but his try scoring record, and the quality of some of his tries, is hard to argue with. Don't watch him enough to be able comment on the other aspects of his game, defence, positioning, workrate, distribution etc. but if they are all in check then he is some player.

roddersm wrote:

I think until Visser proves himself at international level the jury will always be out but his try scoring record, and the quality of some of his tries, is hard to argue with. Don't watch him enough to be able comment on the other aspects of his game, defence, positioning, workrate, distribution etc. but if they are all in check then he is some player.

Totally agree - but this is a thread about form in the Rabbo and people are questioning whether he will be found out internationally!

The top try scorer by 5 tries has to be in the form team so far, no question about it!

I remember that try when he skinned Bowe very well:)

Standulstermen wrote:Of course its not all down to Visser.

I will put it this way. If Visser were Irish, would he be selected in the 6N over Fitz. I genuinely dont believe he would. Im not disagreeing that Visser isnt a deserving pick. Im just stating i think Fitz has been the best winger i have seen this season.

Has Fitz not reserved some of his best performances for the Heino rather than the Rabo? Perhaps that's where the confusion lies?