Written Sunday 18/02/2007

My Wallaby Side From Week Three of Super 14.

1.Loosehead Prop *,  Benn Robinson,  NSW Waratahs,  He was the best performed of our Aussie looseheads by far.  The Brumbies front row got shown up easily this week in the scrums,  despite what Phil Kearns said in commentary.

 2. Hooker,  Brendan Cannon,   Western force,  The best of our hookers for the week,  but none of them were good.

3. Tighthead Prop*,  Rodney Blake,  Qld,  Rodney stays,  but no one else stood up either.

4. Left Lock,  Mark Chisholm,  ACT Brumbies,  Demonstrated some nice touches in a match that offered little and was quite stagnant.

5. Right Lock*,  Nathan Sharp,  Western Force.  Lead and played well in a Force side that is now standing up and being counted.

6. Blind Flanker,  Mitchell Chapman,  Qld.  Big and tough,  adds some starch to a pack and some height to a lineout.

7. Open Side Flanker,  George Smith gets the gong this week,  with some deft touches and an all over the park display.

8.Number 8,  Stephen Hoiles,  ACT Brumbies.  Hoiles showed some good poise at the back of a destroyed scrum,  and some deft touches in defence.

9. HalfBack,  Mat Henjak,  Western Force.  Finally starting to show what I saw he had way back in his Viking days when he was paired with Giteau at 9 and 10.

10. Flyhalf,  Stephen Larkham, ACT Brumbies gets it again,  played a very niggly,  in your face defensive game against the Reds this week,  so much so that as a Reds supporter you just wanted to reach through the screen and whack him around the head.

11. Left Winger*,  Cameron Shepherd,  Western Force,  Had a great game,  positionally and demonstrated that he has an all round game and is coming of age.

12. Inside Centre*,  Mat Giteau,  Western force.  He was really good at 10 this week but a bit wider is probably even more dangerous and without the heavier decision making role at 10.

13.Outside Centre,  Clyde Rathbone,  ACT Brumbies,  this was a tough one,  with all of the 13's not really standing up this week,  Rathbone made some good charges off the wing,  and he has played a lot of footy at 13 over the years.

14.Right Wing, Mark Gerrard,  ACT Brumbies.  Showed some nice touches in a stagnant game.

15. Fullback,  Julian Huxley,  ACT Brumbies.  Played OK again in week 3 against the Reds.

16. Reserve Hooker,  Adam Freier,  NSW Waratahs,  needs to fix his lineout throwing,  as they all do,  but his was not good.

17. Reserve Prop,  Gareth Hardy,  Western Force,  had a strong game,  and of course scored a try after some deft work from the Force.

18. Reserve Lock*,  James Horwill,  Qld Reds.  I am going to leave Jimmy there,  a bit quieter this week,  but still showed the latent class he holds.

19. Reserve Back Rower,  John Roe,  QR Queensland Reds, Waugh didn't play enough before being injured,  and not too many stuck their hands up.

20. Reserve Halfback,  George Gregan,  ACT Brumbies,  Nick Berry had a shocker this week directionally,  really only leavesGeorge.

21. Reserve Flyhalf,  Berrick Barnes,  Qld Reds,  Just keeps it,  not alot of opposition,  pulled off some nice filed position kicks but was off his best.

22. Reserve Outside Back,  Drew Mitchell,  Western Force,  started to show us what he has and why Mitchell (John) rates him.  Still a long way to go though.

A hard one to pick this week,  alot of guys off their best,  in teams that were off their best.

I do stress these are my opinions only,  and will never be tested in the light of day.

Have a great week.

The Man at the Top of the Mountain Didn't Fall There!