Aussie latest – Chapman boost for Brumbies
10 Mar 2011
Keo.co.za brings you news from Australia’s Super Rugby franchises.
Chapman boost for Brumbies – Mitch Chapman is back from suspension and will start against the Crusaders this Friday. Colby Faingaa moves to openside to accommodate Chapman in the back row, while Julian Salvi drops to the bench.
Brumbies – 15 Pat McCabe, 14 Henry Speight, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Robbie Coleman, 11 Francis Fainifo, 10 Matt Giteau (c),9 Josh Valentine, 8 Ita Vaea, 7 Colby Faingaa, 6 Mitch Chapman, 5 Mark Chisholm, 4 Ben Hand, 3 Dan Palmer, 2 Steve Moore, 1 Ben Alexander.
Subs: 16 Huia Edmonds, 17 Salesi Ma’afu, 18 Peter Kimlin, 19 Julian Salvi, 20 Patrick Phibbs, 21 Matt Toomua, 22 Christian Lealiifano.
Force reshuffle back row – Matt Hogson takes over from David Pocock at openside flank for the Force’s match against the Blues in Perth.
Pocock is likely to miss six weeks with a knee injury sustained against the Sharks last weekend. Richard Brown lines up at blindside flanker and Ben McCalman moves from the second-row to No.8. Sam Wykes takes McCalman’s spot at lock.
In the backline, Nick Cummins starts at outside centre in place of Mitch Inman (elbow injury) while Alfie Mafi will start on the wing.
Force - 15 Cameron Shepherd, 14 Alfie Mafi, 13 Nick Cummins, 12 Gene Fairbanks, 11 David Smith, 10 James O’Connor, 9 Brett Sheehan, 8 Ben McCalman, 7 Matt Hodgson, 6 Richard Brown, 5 Nathan Sharpe (c), 4 Sam Wykes, 3 Tim Fairbrother, 2 Ben Whittaker, 1 Pek Cowan.
Subs: 16 Nathan Charles, 17 Matt Dunning, 18 Tevita Metuisela, 19 Jono Jenkins, 20 James Stannard, 21 Matt Brandon, 22 Pat Dellit.
Bernie backs Gits - Stephen Larkham says Matt Giteau is still the right man to play flyhalf for the Brumbies.
Giteau has failed to ignite the Brumbies’ backline thus far and is under pressure to keep his place ahead of Matt Toomua and Christian Lealiifano. However, the former Brumbies and Wallabies iconic flyhalf Larkham believes Giteau should continue in the position.
‘I think [Giteau] is going well there, the team certainly responds well to him when he’s at flyhalf,’ Larkham said. ‘He gets a lot of touches on the ball which is what we want and one of our priorities is to get the ball into our playmaker’s hands as much as possible.’
2 Comments
10 Mar 2011, 11:39 am
Despite finishing as Best Forward for Bath, Salvi has looked considerably off pace the first few rounds. In fact, so has pretty much every player returning from a stint in the NH in the last couple years – Salvi, Elsom, Matfield, Chris Jack, Carter, McCallister…
And as much respect as I have for Larkham, I strongly disagree. Giteau has been putting his backline under pressure all season, running across field and cutting down the time and space of his outside runners. The rookie Robbie Coleman has been forced to do a lot of the first receiver work to cover.
Dump him to the bench and bring in the straight-running Toomua. The worst that can happen is it bursts Gits’ bubble a little, and the best is that they’ll have a goalkicker who doesn’t choke on shots from right in front.
10 Mar 2011, 14:06 pm
@DonutDunning(DonutDunning)-1: Got to agree with you DD – i still think Gits should play 12 , more damaging with a bit of space
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