S5, P3: Australia vs. BaaBaas - Complete

Australia

Benny Read
Tom Delonge
Wes Welker
Morgan Burridge
Donald Boland
Ben Manera
League Lover
Brett Gemmell
Rob Cribb
Aaron Hunt
Daniel Speirs
Dion Alessi
Ben Jacobs
Ben Herd
Alistair Son

16. Dave Eggman
17. Aaron O'Neill
18. Herr Burger
19. Choco Man
20. Luke Tyson
21. Kelvin Fung
22. Hache Emm

BaaBaas

Os du Toit
Jonty Rhodes
Samuel Vimes
James McDougal
Double Dong
Callum Laing
Michael Chung
Jono Chewie
Cobra Classified
Chad Dyer
Truman Lee
Chuck Faldo
Paddy Orr
Chris Raftery
Ginger Furball

Substitutes

Ishang Narang
Hal Teja
Siege Morgan
Simon Laing
Leumas Himann
Zohaib Ikram
Girve Swervington

 

Excellent

 

Come on Baabaas!

 

Carn Aussies!

 

Preview

Judging by the odds, this should be the match of the round with the home town Aussies smarting after last weeks defeat by default after their coach, Benny Read forgot there was a match on and the team were found to be down the pub rather than at the stadium for the match. Still, a few tasty jars were quaffed to dampen the disappointment.

Much relies on Jonty Rhodes here for my money. Both teams have solid front rows, with Benny Read probably being the form forward of the season. However, Rhodes has been in excellent form for the Hurricanes but has thus far failed abysmally to replicate that form for the BaaBaas. If he can't get his act together here, then Tom Delonge will eat him for breakfast and the Australians will dominate the front row exchanges. T

The rest of the pack is an area of comparative strength for the BaaBaas with seasoned campaigners such as James McDougal, Callum Laing and Michael Chung. McDougal in particular should enjoy an easy day at the office against the improving but inferior Morgan Burridge.

An interesting battle is in the offing at number 8 as Jono Chewie looks to stake his claim for more game time at the Spartans by potentially out-performing veteran opponent Brett Gemmell. Gemmell's battles with England #8 Marcuss Deane are the stuff of SRC legend, but Jono Chewie will be hoping to break into this exalted company, but he'll need to put in a good performance here to show he can go toe-to-toe with the big names.

Both back lines just scream "mediocrity" in the absence of line-break machine Andrew James and his Vikings team mate Steve Cambridge. Ben Herd needs to start showing why he earns the big bucks whilst much of the BaaBaas' verve will rely on Ginger Furball, who the fans hope will have brought his kicking boots today.

Prediction: This could easily go either way, but I think Rob Cribb will win this one for Australia. 25 - 18 to the home team.

Key Player: Jonty Rhodes. The BaaBaas hopes will rise or fall on whether he can compete against the astonishing strength of the Australian front-row.

 

Emm is playing for Australia?

Who let that happen?

 

Can only hold class down for so long Howe

 

Might watch this in between the curling

 

But seriously, livesim needs a pause button, or perhaps even 5min ad breaks

 

carn

 

Starts at 9pm NZT/7pm AEST/8am GMT

 

Yeah. Good open play on both sides