No Ulster players in Australia Tri Nations Squad

 Tri Nations
Jul 102011
 

The gifted James O'Connor features in Australia's Tri Nations squad.

Not that there were expected to be any but as I’ve already rolled out the “Ulster laden” New Zealand and South African squads I thought I might as well complete the picture with the Wallabies :) .

Of more interest is that this squad, shown below, will form the basis the Wallaby squad for the World Cup where Australia have been drawn in the same group as Ireland.

The 40 man selection contains 15 Queensland Reds players who featured in yesterdays Super XV Championship win in a game that showed how difficult it’s going to be for Ireland and the rest of the Northern Hemisphere teams to progress in the World Cup in New Zealand – the land of the long wide offside line. Not that Ireland will struggle particularly due to the quality of the opposition more that they will have to quickly come to terms with the refereeing standards if Bryce Lawrence’s interpretation of the laws of the game is anything to go by. The New Zealander, who will be in charge for Ireland’s world cup clash with Australia, had a huge influence on the game, ironically for doing very little!

Yesterdays match was far from a classic – sure it had an exciting finish but it served up a lot of dross in a poor first half and at times had a closer resemblance to Rugby League than it did Union with Lawrence appearing determined to give the attacking team free range to clock up at least six recycles irrespective of how many offences they committed.

Even under these “free-flowing” law interpretations both sides struggled to show much continuity thanks to bumbles, fumbles and Lawrence’s easy-going interpretation of the offside line which allowed space to be closed down in midfield more quickly than it takes to tie a Wallaby down sport!

An exquisite chip through by Dan Carter put the Crusaders in the lead but the Reds hit back with two long-range efforts from Digby Ioane and Will Genia. Moments of greatness or poor defending depends on how you look at it but the tries did brighten a dour stalemate.

It’s certainly evolving into a different game down south with tremendously athletic players and all that, but, comparing this game to the Heineken Cup final, it’s far from being a better one.

Aussie Tri Nations Squad. 

Player Position State Age Appearances
Ben Alexander Prop Brumbies 26 24
Adam Ashley-Cooper Fullback-Wing-Outside Centre Brumbies 27 51
Kurtley Beale Fullback NSW Waratahs 22 14
Luke Burgess Halfback NSW Waratahs 27 32
Quade Cooper Flyhalf Queensland Reds 23 24
Ben Daley Prop Queensland Reds 23 3
Rod Davies Winger Queensland Reds 22 Uncapped
Dave Dennis Loose forward NSW Waratahs 24 Uncapped
Rocky Elsom © Flanker Brumbies 28 64
Anthony Faingaa Inside Centre Queensland Reds 24 4
Saia Faingaa Hooker Queensland Reds 24 11
Will Genia Halfback Queensland Reds 23 22
Mark Gerrard Fullback Melbourne Rebels 28 23
Matt Giteau Inside Centre Brumbies 29 91
James Hanson Hooker Queensland Reds 22 Uncapped
Scott Higginbotham Loose forward Queensland Reds 24 1
Matt Hodgson Loose forward Western Force 30 4
James Horwill Lock Queensland Reds 26 24
Digby Ioane Wing Queensland Reds 25 11
Sekope Kepu Prop NSW Waratahs 25 3
Salesi Ma’afu Prop Brumbies 28 10
Pat McCabe Centre/Wing/Fullback Brumbies 23 1
Ben McCalman Lock/Loose Forward Western Force 23 9
Stephen Moore Hooker Brumbies 28 55
Luke Morahan Wing Queensland Reds 21 Uncapped
Dean Mumm Lock/Loose-forward NSW Waratahs 27 32
James O’Connor Fullback Western Force 21 27
Wycliff Palu No 8 NSW Waratahs 28 36
Nick Phipps Halfback Melbourne Rebels 22 Uncapped
David Pocock Flanker Western Force 23 30
Tatafu Polota Nau Hooker NSW Waratahs 25 25
Beau Robinson Flanker Queensland Reds 24 Uncapped
Benn Robinson Prop NSW Waratahs 26 42
Radike Samo Loose forward Queensland Reds 35 6
Nathan Sharpe Lock Western Force 33 93
Rob Simmons Lock Queensland Reds 22 6
James Slipper Prop Queensland Reds 22 14
Sitaleki Timani Lock NSW Waratahs 24 Uncapped
Lachie Turner Wing NSW Waratahs 24 14
Dan Vickerman Lock NSW Waratahs 32 55

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  2 Responses to “No Ulster players in Australia Tri Nations Squad”

Comments (2)
  1. junty
    July 10, 2011 at 9:33 pm
     

    watched the finaland as you say John, Lawerence was pretty poor at calling the offside. The line appeared to have moved to the front foot of the ruck, and the crusaders 9 had a free reign at every put in to the reds scrum, whereas on the crusaders put in Lawerence kept calling to Genia 1 metre 1/2. Overall i’m glad the reds won they have played the best rugby all season and scored 2 great tries yesterday, and had a 3rd try disallowed by a crap decision by Lawerence

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  2. the mote
    July 15, 2011 at 7:58 pm
     

    Super 12 is played on a loose application of the laws which basically seem to be ” don’t blow the whistle unless an excessive unfair advantage has been gained ” such as a try scoring forward pass. this form of application assumes that each side commit a similiar number of like offences.

    The down side is that by failing to apply an offside line the game gets closed out and becomes a kick fest because of the lack of space in mid-field and the recycle also becomes slower because the game is being played close to the ruck .

    thus the intended gain of a whistle free match leading to an action packed game becomes a myth as players make errors in a tight “man and ball ” situations.

    the one thing that was noticeable in the game was McGaws lack of pace in the second half which left the gaps that reds exploited.

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