Lote's wobbles may open spot

[KenyaQuin]

Lote's wobbles may open spot
Wayne Smith | June 30, 2008

WALLABIES prop Matt Dunning has been ruled out of the return Test against France in Brisbane on Saturday after undergoing surgery on an infected shin yesterday, with strike winger Lote Tuqiri in danger of joining him on the sideline.

Tuqiri, who was replaced after only 29 minutes in Saturday's 34-13 victory over France after jamming his knee, and number eight Wycliff Palu, replaced at half-time by Phil Waugh after damaging his shoulder, remained in contention for selection last night.

But where X-rays have cleared Palu of any structural damage, Tuqiri's knee has the wobbles.

"He's previously had a...Read More

[BLR]

No mention of Mitchell in there....

As for the two options in the article.

Ioane: He can't catch, he would be a huuuuuuuuuge liability until he learns basic handling skills, this is the Wallabies we are talking about here.

AAC: Haven't seen anything on the international stage from AAC besides the try on the Bledisloe, and it seems that this article suggest that is an adequate reason to add him. I don't want to replace Tuqiri with a do nothing winger just as Lote is hitting form.

Is Mitchell fit? If so I don't see why he shouldn't be included, he showed his class in the World Cup, showed he could make the hard yards in the Super 14 and showed alot of his critics he wasn't as lightweight as he used to be so he would be perfect to take Tuqiri's place as a winger making many yards yet at a much faster pace, putting aside his kicking as Tuqiri isn't exactly a super boot is he. Also the presence of a true winger and not a wannabee centre like Tuqiri will allow our current centre combination to gel better without Tuqiri sniffing around....

[Swee_82]

Seena few articles that have left Mitchell out of the mix to replace Tuquiri- I haven't seen the Aus A games, only read the reports and TWF chat about them, but I thought he'd played alright, pulled up fine from the run... surely he should be in the mix at least?

[laura]

I think Mitchell be on the bench if Lote is cleared and if he's not cleared Mitchell will be in the side.

[Moses]

AAC's the incumbent, and he hasn't done anything wrong. Additionally, Lachie Turner is in the Wallabies squad of 30 so presumably he'd be ahead of Mitchell too. Plus Lachie's got some real pace, which wouldn't go astray on the wings.

[Flamethrower]

Didn't Mitchell miss out on a spot because he was injured???

[Moses]

perhaps Flamey, though if I recall correctly the term was something like 'not available for selection due to injury'. Would need to look that up to be sure.

[Thequeerone]

Mitchell has outclassed ACC in Aus A - and yes Mitch got dropped cause of injury - don't wish anyone ill but Brownie is having a superb run in Aus A and Palu could have real trouble retaining his spot.

Brown was better than Hoiles last night - last week I reckon they were even but Hoiles got his name on the team sheet with a couple of trys

[TOCC]

deans said he would only pick a player from within the wallabies squad, which was the 30 players he chose before the Ireland game.

Probably why Mitchell isnt being considered.

[Flamethrower]

That's the end of Lathams career then.

[Burgs]

I don't see AAC as a starting 60-70 minute Test player however, he makes for an ideal #22 as he can play all outside positions and at a pinch would be able to cover the inside positions in an injury crisis to finish a match.
With Mitchell injured I would be looking to Turner before Ioane, Digby needs more Australia A time working on his skills rather than risking exposure and match losing brain explosions at Test level. I'm fairly confident that he has the ability to improve in the areas required and in the next season or so will be a fixture in the selection process, but that isn't the case yet.
Deanes' glowing praise of him would indicate to me his ISN'T considering him as yet because he is usually way more cagey than that about his potential picks.

[Moses]

Brown was better than Hoiles last night - last week I reckon they were even but Hoiles got his name on the team sheet with a couple of trys

By couple you mean 4, right?

[BLR]

AAC's the incumbent, and he hasn't done anything wrong

This is the kind of logic that has gotten the Wallabies to the point they are at now. We should pick players on their outstanding abilities, not keeping players who can keep thier spot just because they haven't screwed up majorly, despite them not really doing anything of huge value besides being 'solid'.

[Moses]

This is the kind of logic that has gotten the Wallabies to the point they are at now.

Number 3 in the world? Yep, we should fix that.

[gustafsl]

Number 3 in the world? Yep, we should fix that.

It's pretty easy to be number 3 considering the teams we've played over the past year.

Out of all the games we have played you could say that the only real challenges were:

1) South Africa in SA - we lost. They brought a 2nd rate team here for the return match, so was not much of a comparison.

2) New Zealand here - we won.

3) New Zealand in NZ - we lost. Could have won the tri-nations but blew it.

4) Wales - World Cup, we won. Come to think of it, didn't Wales rest most of their players for this match in preparation for their deciding match against Fiji??? Should this really count as a real challenge then???

5) England - World Cup, we lost.

6) Ireland here, we won. Granted it was the last game for all the Ireland players at the end of a long season. But let's give the Wallabies credit, it isn't often the current team beats a full strength top 10 team.

Who else have we played in the past year: Fiji x 2, Wales (C grade team) x 2, South Africa 2nd team, Canada, Japan, France B team, anyone else???

So it's pretty easy getting to the top of the rankings when you play 2nd grade teams all the time.