A week can be a long time, especially at Rugby World Cup 2015 with the matches flowing thick and fast and players from various teams have suffered tournament ending injuries which has meant call ups for players initially not considered good enough to go to the Rugby World Cup. However, we still thought it would be interesting to share an article that was written a week ago which looks at 10 players who were possibly unlucky to miss out on being selected to represent their countries at this year’s Rugby World Cup.
1 Of the players who is discussed, James Hook, has since been called up as replacement following knee and shoulder injuries to Scot Williams and Hallam Amos which they picked up against England. But the point still stands that he was not initially considered quite good enough by the Wales coaching staff and still not even after injuries to Leigh Halfpenny and Eli Walker.
Do you agree on the players discussed and do you have any players of your own that you think were unlucky to have missed out on selection? One of course also needs to consider that the Rugby World Cup squads can only contain 31 players so someone already in the squad would need to make way for whoever is considered unlucky not to be there.
Maxime Machenaud:
France and Racing 92 scrumhalf, Maxime Machenaud has had a good season and is secure as the No 1 scrumhalf for his club, despite the presence of veteran international Mike Phillips.
Furthermore, he can kick for goal and is a dynamic leader. Machenaud misses out to the petit général Morgan Parra, South African import Rory Kockott and Toulon ace Sébastien Tillous-Borde.
Tillous-Borde is likely to be the starting scrumhalf, partnering club mate Frédéric Michalak.
Berrick Barnes:
Australian flyhalf Berrick Barnes has been harshly overlooked by coach Micheal Cheika, who has changed the eligibility rules. Now, only overseas veterans with 60 caps or more can play for Australia, aside from those that play club rugby in Australia.
However, he has already bent those rules to accommodate lock Kane Douglas, who has only 16 caps and currently plays for Leinster (he has signed for Queensland Reds after the Rugby World Cup).
Barnes is currently playing for Panasonic Wild Knights in Japan. But the 51 cap veteran could have come in to fill the gap of flyhalf and goal-kicker, a position currently being filled by Quade Cooper or Bernard Foley, both of whom are struggling with form and goal kicking.
Ryan Crotty:
New Zealand centre Ryan Crotty has been Mr Consistent for the entire Super Rugby season. However, Crotty’s position has been a competitive field for New Zealand.
Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith may well have found the fountain of youth, such has been their form and energy leading up to the Rugby World Cup.
Young gun Malaki Fekitoa has also been in sterling form. Sonny Bill Williams, however, has been in more indifferent form, not making the big breaks or creating as much as he has in previous seasons. Crotty is unfortunate to lose out to Williams.
Dave Attwood:
Dave Attwood is a big bruiser of a lock who has been in fantastic form for both Bath and England. He carried well in the Six Nations and was a defensive stalwart.
He loses out to returning veterans Courtney Lawes, Geoff Parling and Joe Launchbury, along with Lock partner George Kruis. Lauchbury has recently returned from injury and does not look fit, unlike Attwood, who has given several robust performances in the warm-up period.
Marco Bortalami:
Italian lock Marco Bortalami, an elder statesmen of the Azzurri, may well be missed for his leadership and blockbusting tackles. With 111 caps and the honour of being Italy’s youngest ever captain, Bortalami was an unexpected rejection. Problems with indiscipline and fitness may well be the reason for his oversight.
Nic White:
Australian scrumhalf Nic White was a key substitute against the All Blacks in The Rugby Championship final, scoring a try, converting it and kicking a penalty.
He brings a massive boot, goal kicking options and a swift service. Questions have been asked about his ability to handle pressure, but he was the form Australian scrumhalf coming into the Rugby World Cup.
It was a shock that he was left out following a bout of poor form from both Nick Phipps and Will Genia. Genia has also had several injury problems recently.
Israel Dagg:
All Black fullback Israel Dagg has had injury problems during the last season, with Tom Taylor filling in for several games.
He was given his chances during the warm-up period. However, Steve Hanson opted for 3 flyhalves who are versatile and the in-form Ben Smith and Nehe Milner-Skudder.
Danny Cipriani:
England flyhalf Danny Cipriani may have had a slight brush with the law that came to nothing, but in the warm-up matches he was involved in, Cipriani looked like England’s best play, even when out of position at centre or fullback.
It seems totally unfair Cipriani is not going to be involved in the Rugby World Cup, as his presence was the catalyst that got England going forward with purpose in both matches against France. To be frank, he should be starting for England.
James Hook:
Wales utility back James Hook can honestly do nothing else to get the Wales coaches to pick him, but they seem(ed) hell bent on him not playing for Wales in the Rugby World Cup.
He was given a chance in the 1st warm-up match against Ireland, but the odds were heavily stacked against him. With an inexperienced back line, a young pack going backwards and an out of form Mike Phillips at scrumhalf, who seemed determined to slow the tempo, it’s no surprise Hook didn’t make a huge impact.
It seems the man that Graham Henry called the ‘Welsh Dan Carter’, is constantly facing an uphill struggle to be selected by the management. Either by being put in a weak side or playing in a position he is unaccustomed to.
When Leigh Halfpenny was injured, he was tipped by ex-players and pundits to come back in. When Eli Walker then became injured, Wales chose to call in another No 8 eight rather than cover a shallow backline.
John Barclay:
The Scotland flanker John Barclay, in the same manner as James Hook, is an unbelievably talented and experienced player who is given the bare minimum of opportunities to prove his worth.
He was a try scorer and key player in the victory against Italy. However, Vern Cotter decided to go with New Zealand Flanker John Hardie, who is currently contracted to the Scotland Rugby Union with only 2 caps to his name.
Barclay will be well within his rights to feel bitter as he could be playing no better and yet he is still left in the international wilderness.
givemesport
I think the biggest world cup exclusion has to be Nic White.
Also Charles Piatau, Lima Sepoaga and Steff Armitage.
but how Cheika left White out I do not know, it has to be personal… Do Aus really need that many wings?
1 @ MacroPolo:
Interesting names there Macro, in the case of Piatau and Sepoaga I guess their exclusion just highlights the quality and depth of players available for New Zealand?
Armitage is certainly a player that is good enough to be there, BUT England put themselves in a corner when they decided a while ago (think in the interest of protecting their own league) to come out and say they would not pick players who were not playing in England. Having done that I agreed with Lancaster not picking Armitage as how could he face the rest of the players in the England squad who are abiding by England rugby’s wishes and playing in England, think he would have had a hard time keeping them happy and could have ended up worse with a divided squad. Whether England stance of not picking players who don’t play in England is right or wrong, can see it from both sides. You want to see the best players at the tournament and other countries are chosing players who do not play at home. However, I don’t think it is a simple case of ‘if they are so should we’ as many countries would be far less competitive if they didn’t have players playing abroad and in many cases the players would be/are playing away from home regardless of whether they are in the national squads or not, for some it is the only way of making a decent livelihood. England however can offer all their players a decent livelihood and are facing very direct competition from domestic rugby in France on many fronts and so if anything one can applaud them for at least sticking to their guns and not changing just because there happens to be 2 players at the moment who would strengthen their team but are not because they play in France – Armitage and Nick Abedannon.
Now it’s only 9 of these players left.
JAMES HOOK AND GARETH ANSCOMBE WERE BRIEFED TO PREPARE FOR UTILITY ROLES WHEN THEY WERE RUSHED INTO THE WALES SQUAD ON MONDAY.
Hook and Anscombe, both primarily flyhalves were in Wales’ wider training squad. Hook was cut when the final 31 were selected and Anscombe was not considered because of an ankle injury.
But Howley declared they were both right to join the team with Hook earmarked to cover centre, wing and fullback as well as flyhalf. Anscombe could also wear the No.10 or No.15 jersey.
1 @ MacroPolo:
Sounds like Nick White is a good player then, there have also been similar thoughts here that the omission of Kelly Brown and John Barclay (a while ago already) may be something to do something personal but this comes from before the current coach Cotter’s time. I still think both of those could be there but looking at who is there and who would have to be left out it becomes harder so I would probably say I would have taken John Barclay instead of Ryan Wilson. John Hardie who has been selected so recently has certainly justified his selection and so trust the coaches on his selection, just hope he is over his head knock and can continue to prove his worth for the rest of the tournament.
3 @ nortie:
Thanks nortie the bit about Hook was noted in my introduction :
“One of the players who is discussed, James Hook, has since been called up as replacement following knee and shoulder injuries to Scot Williams and Hallam Amos which they picked up against England. But the point still stands that he was not initially considered quite good enough by the Wales coaching staff and still not even after injuries to Leigh Halfpenny and Eli Walker.”
Have put another thread up with some of the rest of the injury news, phew it’s hard to keep up so appreciate you all mentioning the bits as they are coming on, may not get back ‘on site’ here much again today so please keep them coming there as I suspect there may be a fair bit of updates going on today e.g. which of the injured players who are still with their teams will be playing in their next games, who Scotland are calling up to replace Gilchrist etc.
@ Bullscot:
True, injuries will just start getting worse from here on in.
Michael Cheika has called up hooker James Hanson and second row Sam Carter to the Australia World Cup squad, as replacements for the injured number eight Wycliff Palu and lock Will Skelton.
@ Bullscot:
You should put up a thread about next years super rugby.
I see all the fixtures have been published
6 @ nortie:
Thanks man saw a comment about those Aus injuries, think it was by you yesterday here so went and looked for the news and have it in the collated article above this one
7 @ nortie:
Sorry man my time is up for now got to head out already been on here longer than should have, dog needs a walk and there are various chores to get to now before work tonight and I still want to go through some photos I took last night, went to the beach to catch the moon rising over the sea and was treated to a great sunset as well, although I had to clamber up and down the banks at the beach because the sunset was in the opposite direction to where I was looking for the moon. Can you do the Super rugby fixtures for us please. Cheers for now
@ Bullscot:
Scotland have called in back-row forward Blair Cowan to their Rugby World Cup squad as a replacement for injured second-row Grant Gilchrist.
They forgot about the most unlucky of them all.
Marcell Coetzee.
And we all know the reason behind that.
@ BrumbiesBoy:
Thought abt him. What is his current injury status though?
@ MacroPolo:
Was he ever injured?
It is my understanding that he was placed on the “keep your balsak packed & car idling in the driveway list” so now I’m really not sure.
Have watched very little if any of the Tjarks’ CC games so that doesn’t help either.
@ BrumbiesBoy:
Alberts played vs Argentina in our world cup warmup and injured his ankle. In that game or at the training camp, I cant remember… So there was certainly doubts at some stage he would go.
@ BrumbiesBoy:
I just do not understand why they would want to cover up an injury, by selecting him for Japan, it just does not make sense.
MacroPolo wrote:
Because “it was only Japan”
nortie wrote:
They still let him out though.
Do you suggest they selected him as injured, then left him out for 2 more weeks all in an attempt to cover up an injury?
MacroPolo wrote:
Who knows.
My opinion of the guy is that he is a walking Sicknote and any coach or team that is willing to put up with him to maybe get 5 or 6 games (usually not full games ) per year out of him must have their heads read.
He is an ok player, he is not and never will be a nominee for world player of the year, so I can’t understand why they put up with him.
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