Australia-France series

First topic message reminder :

Right since Mckenzie announced his team for the first test, let's start a thread i say!


1. James Slipper (Reds)
2. Stephen Moore (c) (Brumbies)
3. Sekope Kepu (Waratahs)
4. Rob Simmons (Reds)
5. Sam Carter (Brumbies
6. Scott Fardy (Brumbies)
7. Michael Hooper (Waratahs)
8. Wycliff Palu (Waratahs)
9. Nic White (Brumbies)
10. Bernard Foley (Waratahs)
11. Nick Cummins (Force)
12. Matt Toomua (Brumbies)
13. Tevita Kuridrani (Brumbies)
14. Adam Ashley-Cooper (Waratahs)
15. Israel Folau (Waratahs)

16. Tatafu Polota-Nau (Waratahs)
17. Pek Cowan (Force)
18. Paddy Ryan (Waratahs)
19. James Horwill (Reds)
20. Ben McCalman (Force)
21. Nick Phipps (Waratahs)
22. Kurtley Beale (Waratahs)
23. Pat McCabe (Brumbies)

Core of the team built around tahs and brumbies players (being the form aussie teams). Horwill on the bench with a rookie instead. No genia or higginbotham. Still looks like a strong team and looking forward to see Foley at test level. Isnt also AAC normally playing at centre?

As for France we dont even know who we will be starting with a 10... Gonna be between Knackered Tales, Michalak (who only played one game in 6 weeks) and Parra (a SH...).
Will France achieve their 1st win away to Australia in 24 games? Would think one win out of 3 games is possible.

once again I did well to have other plans this weekend (including but not limited to drinking beer in belgium). took me 3 minutes to watch the "highlights" later on

2 points/pints a minute? Good work whocares

The highlights were in real time then whocares?   

whocares wrote:once again I did well to have other plans this weekend (including but not limited to drinking beer in belgium). took me 3 minutes to watch the "highlights" later on

A whole case of Verboden Vrucht, Delerium Tremens washed down by a Rochfort 12 or two wouldnt ease the pain of watching that game...(even though you would probably be dead)

no BBQ or trip to Belgiuml planned this weekend so no excuse not to watch France getting trampled by Australia .

here are the teams :

Australia - 2 big changes with Skelton and Palu meaning they will be able to carry the ball and get front foot ball this time

15 Israel Folau
14 Adam Ashley-Cooper
13 Tevita Kuridrani
12 Matt Toomua
11 Nick Cummins
10 Bernard Foley
9 Nic White

1 James Slipper
2 Tatafu Polota-Nau
3 Sekope Kepu
4 Rob Simmons
5 Will Skelton
6 Scott Fardy
7 Michael Hooper
8 Wycliff Palu


Replacements : 16 Nathan Charles 17 Scott Sio 18 Laurie Weeks 19 James Horwill 20 Ben McCalman 21 Nick Phipps 22 Kurtley Beale 23 Rob Horne

France also 2 changes , one makes some sense and can be seen as slight improvement (Bonneval instead of Medart) while the other (Ouedraogo instead of Nyanga) is pointless and dangerous.


15 Brice Dulin
14 Yoann Huget
13 Mathieu Bastareaud
12 Wesley Fofana
11 Hugo Bonneval
10 Remi Tales
9 Morgan Parra

1 Alexander Menini
2 Guilhem Guirado
3 Rabah Slimani
4 Alexandre Flanquart
5 Yoann Maestri
6 Thierry Dusautoir
7 Fulgence Ouedraogo
8 Damien Chouly

Replacements : Christopher Tolofua, Vincent Debaty, Noclas Mas, Bernard le Roux, Louis Picamoles, Yannick Nyanga , Maxime Machenaud, Remy Lamerat

Australia by 15-20 this time.

oh FFS, what's the point of having three BRs on the bench?? again???

I can only hope that it's a better game to watch than the last one, which was honestly just about the worst rugby match I've ever seen.

more bad news for France : Maestri, Bastareaud, Parra and Mas might miss the game. Specially if Maestri is out : that would mean PSA will have no choice but to select Vahaamahina who was frankly rubbish during the 1st game.

Bastareaud I wouldn't mind too much: Fickou's a good alternative, though his partnership with Fofana didn't work at all in the first Test. Maestri as you said would be a disaster (again though, why only have such limited SR ressources on a long-ish tour?!?!). Parra would obviously be similarly disastrous, as that would mean Machenaud to start (who's not that good), and the return of Michalak to the bench. Who's the alternative to Mas? might not be such a bad thing to get a little more experience there...

Still never quite understood what Trinh-Duc did to upset PSA so much. Best French FH by miles. Also, what happened to Camille Lopez? He looked a very accomplished player at Bordeaux, IIRC toured last year before a club switch to I think Perpignan? Haven't really followed the Top 14 this year that much...

Lopez got a nasty injury before xmas in the Munster-perpignan game I think...never came back. he will be at Clermont next year which is good for his development - a bit too late for the RWC though.
Mas is toasted, should not even be touring - should be Slimani with Debaty on the bench if he's not fit.

I'm a rugby learner but it suprises me Nyanga has been dropped.  I thought he was big last week.  

A good bit about this June series as a Wallaby fan is we've had a reasonable run with injuries.  We knew the players we wouldn't have for this period but, other than Moore, most of the possibles have been available.  Link has had the chance to try a few people within what is mostly a full strength team and a few pass marks to go with a few not quite readies is not a bad result. Good luck to Big Will this week.  I think he's a bit raw but he's been good enough for the Waratahs this season to give him a look.

It doesn't matter who France pick now... Will is gonna show the world what he can do.

I just hope he goes alright fly. His massiveness draws attention to him that others young dudes probably don't have to deal with, and he still seem like your typical young Samoan kid. He's no extrovert.

whocares wrote:Lopez got a nasty injury before xmas in the Munster-perpignan game I think...never came back. he will be at Clermont next year which is good for his development - a bit too late for the RWC though.

you never know though, if he can work on his association with Parra (still at Clermont next year?) that could/should work in his favour. FH is not exactly a position France are heavily laden with talent in right now...

Much better start to this match compared to last week.

Little Willy over for his maiden Test try. Hard to stop 145 kgs that close to the line (I added another 5kg on for good measure)

Congrats whocares on the great win over Switzerland earlier today. Brilliant stuff! 

yeah that was amazing LB. Facing him in another 2 months will be interesting. What a bulldozer try...

France looks clueless with ball in hand, it doesn't seem that they have any ability to put a few passes together

Heard some screaming when I was packing stuff up in the kitchen - arse end of the house gets demolished on Monday.

I wish Izzy wouldn't do that waving thing but it was a gem of a pass from Skelton.

Some scrappy or over-ambitious passes from the Wallabies.

Didnt realise this game was way earlier than the other 2. Missed the first 50 mins of this embarassing display. French players should stop touring in june if they rather be on holidays.

Well aussie look ready for the RC. Is that 6 straight now?

The Wallabies have improved so much over the last 12 months, good on them for winning the series 3-0, and scoring some brilliant tries along the way.

Aussies are looking good regardless of how poor France has been.

McKenzie has beefed up the pack, Skelton had a good debut and lasted 56 minutes which is more than I gave him credit for, Palu was strong in conact and so was Polotu Nau, Fardy has been consistent.

I question Kepu, he continues to scrum in, did the same last week.

Backline looks good, except for Kurindrani, I think AAC should be moved to 13

PSA is once again blaming the Top14 for France's ineptness. There's a lot to be said in support of that and one can only speculate how French depth is being affected by so much foreign talent in the club sides and how susceptible to injury many test players are and how fatigued they are but it seems reasonable to suppose there is a huge influence.

That said PSA has impressed so little, it's difficult to pick out highlights. He is inconsistent in his selections and not all is due to injury and poor form. His tactics are questionable and his motivational abilities seem very limited. France are deserving of their current ranking and even that could well be lower. It's very sad to see such a potentially great team in such disarray. PSA can blame the excess of club rugby but he is making people nostalgic for Lievremont and that says it all, even though it's not really the case!

I'd agree with that Kia (only a blind man wont ). Would also add that the T14 is played at such a slow tempo that players are not ready for the type of Rugby that the Aussies can offer (as yannick Bru, france forward coach, said during a post game interview). doesnt help that most players are a bit knackered as well. but that does not explain all, players are unable to excute more than 2 passes without knockin-on when they have no issues with such drills when training. I can only presume that the level of confindence is quite low and for that the coach(es) have their responsability.

I really cannot find anything positive from the PSA years while Lievremeont had the merit of finding the likes of Picamoles and TrinhDuc.
however, I also realise that even with the best coach around, France would still be far from the SANZAR nations and possibly England even if on a one-off game, pumped up at 110% and with a bit of luck they might get close.
The gap between those nations and France is already there at U20 level.

kiakahaaotearoa wrote:PSA is once again blaming the Top14 for France's ineptness. There's a lot to be said in support of that and one can only speculate how French depth is being affected by so much foreign talent in the club sides and how susceptible to injury many test players are and how fatigued they are but it seems reasonable to suppose there is a huge influence.

That said PSA has impressed so little, it's difficult to pick out highlights. He is inconsistent in his selections and not all is due to injury and poor form. His tactics are questionable and his motivational abilities seem very limited. France are deserving of their current ranking and even that could well be lower. It's very sad to see such a potentially great team in such disarray. PSA can blame the excess of club rugby but he is making people nostalgic for Lievremont and that says it all, even though it's not really the case!

Saint-Andre is making a dreadful mess of the France job. They have no coherent selection policy, tactics or style of play. The motivation of the players is also highly questionnable, and the performances go from poor to dreadful. France were extremely fortunate to win at Murrayfield last year - a 14 point interception try was the only reason they won. To be dominated by a side coached by Scott Johnson is the ultimate low in world rugby.

Whilst there are systemic issues in French rugby, his performance as head coach has still been extremely poor. It's not like France improve during tournaments with increased exposure to his coaching - quite the opposite. They now depend almost entirely on individual performances for their best attacking moment, and the remarkable defensive consistency of Thierry Dusatoir.

They should start scoping out his replacement immediately. He isn't up to the job.