Five Kiwis, three Irishmen, three South africans, two Welshmen, a Samoan and an Anglo-Samoan. No, it’s not the England team, but RugbyHeaven’s (AUS) best XV for the pool stages as selected by Paul Cully.
We always love to pick our own teams, chop and change.
What do you think of this team?
Who would you pick? Go ahead , have your say in the comments.
15. Israel Dagg (New Zealand): Has barely put a foot wrong, opening up defences with his brilliant running and showing a security under the high ball that will only get more important as the tournament progresses. Next best: Kurtley Beale
14. George North (Wales): Massive unit with the balanced running style of somebody 20kg lighter. Epitomises everything good about modern back play – big and strong but has a lovely rugby brain. Next best: Chris Ashton (England).
13. Manu Tuilagi (England): We knew he was a juggernaut with ball in hand, but Scotland game revealed a great appetite – and nous – for the defensive side of things. What a discovery. Next best: Conrad Smith (New Zealand).
12. Frans Steyn (South Africa): The man around whom South Africa had been building so much of their attacking play. Guaranteed to get over the gain line, and can kick penalties from 55-60m. A big loss. Next best: Jamie Roberts (Wales) .
11. Richard Kahui (New Zealand): Has excelled on both flanks with his clever running, offloads and nose for the try line. Next best: Adam-Ashley Cooper (Australia).
10. Dan Carter (New Zealand): Of all the positions, this was is the easiest to pick. Head and shoulders above not only his NZ understudies, but the rest of the world. Next best: Morne Steyn (South Africa).
9. Mike Phillips (Wales): Plays like a fourth loose forward when required and has nursed along his young No.10 Rhys Priestland superbly. Next best: Will Genia (Australia)
8. George Stowers (Samoa). Ploughed through the Springboks’ defence for a classic No.8 try and ran over defenders all tournament. Next best: Toby Faletau (Wales) .
7. Sean O’Brien (Ireland): Probably the best ball-carrying back-rower in the world right now. Creates havoc in attack and destroys on defence. Next best: Sam Warburton (Wales)
6. Jerome Kaino (New Zealand): The hard man of the All Blacks pack is in the form of his life and leaves a huge gap when he is not there. Next best: Stephen Ferris (Ireland)
5. Paul O’Connell (Ireland): A go-to man at lineout time, the engine in the scrum, and with a soft pair of hands to boot. Inspirational. Next best: Patricio Albacete (Argentina)
4. Danie Rossouw (South Africa): Magnificently athletic display against Fiji showed that he is not all about raw aggression in the tight stuff. Next best: Alan Wyn-Jones (Wales).
3. Owen Franks (New Zealand): The rock in an increasingly aggressive All Blacks scrum that has improved with every outing. Next best: Martin Castrogiovanni (Italy)
2. Bismarck du Plessis (South Africa): Limited game time so far, but when he is on it’s like watching a force of nature. Tremendous breakdown presence. Next best: Rory Best (Ireland).
1. Cian Healy (Ireland). Took the Wallabies apart and then saw off Martin Castrogiovanni with a wink and a smile. Technique plus power equals problems for tight-heads. Next best: Tony Woodcock (New Zealand).
@ Puma:fing = fine
@ Puma:30 another typo – worsed = worse
@ Puma:
Yes, but there is no official suspicion about concussion. that’s my point. Concussion results within 48 hours. We are already 4 days after the match.
@ The_Young_Turk:
Speaking of which (concussion) how do these ‘cannon-balls’ always manage to get their knee to your face in contact situations? Look at the replay of Hougaard’s injury, and how the Samoan prepares himself for the impact….
They have developed this type of ‘defensive body position’ into some art form during attacks.
@ The_Young_Turk:33 – Well I truely hope he is not carrying concussion. Cause no game is worth further injury especially to the brain. Not worth it. If he is not then I will be very happy to see him start. More than happy actually. He has been in sublime form coming on later. Needs to start imo if he is not concussed.
@ Pietman:34 – Piet, I watched that game again on Sunday then again last night, because of a big discussion about the Samoans dirty play with the kiwis on keo.
When looking at Hougaard coming into the tackle there, the Samoan player has his foot to the ground as soon as Hougaard gets in to tackle his knee comes up swiftly to Hougaards face. Looks deliberat to me. I replayed it over a few times.
Also like YoungTurk and myself said had Hougaard not gone off at that stage JdV was warming up to come on for Fransie. So we would still have had Fransie had Hougaard not got injured. Makes me really very angry at the thuggery of the Samoans.
@ Pietman:
Yip, there is no disagreement on my side about the Samoan thuggery. The unfortunate thing is that because the Boks are regarded as a very physical side, teams like Samoa think that they just have to “out-thug” us to beat us. This encourages them to go to the extreme. It’s like a red flag to a bull. So the Boks have had to break this stereotype by not playing into their hands. So we end up having to bear the brunt of this thuggery while the media whips the Samoans on.
@ Puma:typo – meant – deliberate
Ok RT’s, I should be off, thx for the interesting chatting….and letting my blow off steam, I feel much better now 🙂 Cheers Puma/Turk.
@ The_Young_Turk:
Good analysis TYT, makes sense.
@ The_Young_Turk:37 – I know the Samoan game was a must win. But even if we lost by less than 8 we would have gone through. We should have taken off the players very quick when we saw which players were consistently being targeted. Fransie, Schalk and Brussow were targeted all game long. 3 key players we could not afford to lose.
Or we should have played the replacements instead. Flo, JdV and Alberts. We would still have won with those players on against Samoa.
Easy to say now I know, but think we should have protected our targeted players more by taking them off early. Or better playing the above players I mentioned.
@ Pietman:39 – Cheers Piet, Good to catch up as always.
@ Puma:
But you know that was the intention Puma. Then Hougie got injured right away and the plans went out the window.
@ Pietman:
Cheers Peterman.
@ The_Young_Turk:43 – I know. But it came about 55min into the game. After 35min of seeing it happening we should have protected our top players that could win this tourney for us. Or thought about it before the game and selected the replacements.
Also Fransie carried on playing when he knew was injured cause there was no replacements on the bench to cover for him. Brave I know but also foolish. He may have aggravated that injury the the extent it is now. Had he come off straight away it could (who knows) been okay. Still not sure how bad that shoulder is. Does he need a op?
Spies could have gone to wing and JdV could have moved into 12. If Fransie came off. It could have worked. Should never keep on playing with a injury.
Ag, so damn mad about losing Fransie. He was absolute key for us to go through. Now keeping my fingers crossed for Hougaard. We will miss JPP huge too. His defence is vital to us.
Okay off to lunch buddy. Catch up a bit later. Been up since 5am this morning.
@ Puma:
Ok enjoy, chat to u again soon.
Puma wrote:
After reading your tirade and blinded LOVE for Frans Steyn i presume you wont be watching the Boks on Sunday, you have clearly given up.
Hell mate if i tried to be so loyal to a Blue Bull player the whole world would have come down on me, this is blind faith in a player you still regard as Natalian. Good grieve i sommer lose respect for this player again.
Just think nice and calm about the game.
Any Rugby team consist of 15 rugby players, and if the team can not get over the loss of ONE player you have a bunch of individuals playing.
Please get over FS. He was playing himself into the team because the Number 1 South African 12 was injured. He took his chance, great on him. But rejoice our number one is fit again and he can take up his partnership with his longtime mate Jaque Fourie to more record breaking heights.
Whenever Naas was out in the old days he walked back straight into the team whenever he recovered, so i feel JdeV must do, he was rated as our number 1, thanks FS you did great and sorry mate , but the king is back.
If you still feel we have no hope without FS then i suggest you start shouting for your Welsh friends, i still believe we have brilliant players there who could be game breakers any day. I can in fact name 10 world class Springboks who are right there at the top or at least 3rd best in their positions.
I afford myself this tirade because i had to read through all the FS posts, one could swear the world ended when he was injured.
About the Samoans i think all are over reacting, they tackle the way we did many years back hard and head on. What do most teams do now pull the player down, mostly with his head into the ground( yes have a look)
.
Roll on the weekend. Super I agree with you on JDV, he is the incumbent and one of the best centres in the world….nothing wrong. We have enough depth to see this through. NZ on the other hand with the loss of Carter have a major problem. McCaw is also not at his best, Heindrich must target him and get under his skin. Butch and Ruan are more than adequate replacements for the backline….Hougie is our ace in the hole.
@ superBul:
Have to agree with you Super. Puma is a very nice guy but goes a bit over the top with the “loyalty to a player” thing. The biggest difficulty that fransie’s loss gives the Boks is the bench. It makes it more difficult to play a 5-2 split but doesn’t affect the first 15 much.
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