KiwiRooster says...

Still no Marvin O'Connor WTF.

Philippe Saint-André what is that you are doing? Making your best Bernard Laporte impression (picking Chabal at 7 and Traille at 10 or 15), mate?

Planté a 27 yo winger to replace Fickou at centre (...) really? Hardly a sound choice for any coach keeping RWC 2015 in mind.

Hugo Bonneval a gifted winger+fullback no more no less but who is not a regular first choice for Stade Français and is nowhere as fit as O'Connor who happens to be a regular for his struggling club. To this day O'Connor is the most gifted going forward winger I have been given to witness in the Top 14. He was in the pre-list 3 months ago, so what happened ever since then?

I am afraid I can tell why Bonneval was picked ahead. Bonneval is a "utility player" à la Française. Meaning he can play at winging fullback, for what his club knows he could even play banjo while playing if you ask him to. But is he really World-Class at both positions? For God sake, he is not even a regular choice at his favourite position at Stade Français, so the hell with that utility player BS...

Team with players out of position never won the World Cup. Bernard Laporte had an excuse for making his squad a big utility joke: he had no other choice because we di not have descent props or centers or fullbacks, etc.

This time, Philippe Saint-André has a tremendous crop of specialist players for a very long time in the history of French rugby. Why not make the best of it? It is just beyond me. You cannot win with half-arsed utility tactics, you have to take the "risk" of playing specialists, simply because they are better at it.

Posted 19:42 26th January 2013

paddy91317 says...

delighted Clerc is out he has been a torn in Irelands side for nearly a decade.

Posted 16:07 26th January 2013