Deans and Cooper

I doubt that I alone in questioning what could have been had Deans not left Cooper out of the BIL squad. The thinking before the series was that O'Connor was a good enough 10 to make Coopers emission a non event. Looking back at the fact that O'Connor could not even hold onto his place as the Starting 10, makes me wonder just what the real cost of leaving Cooper out actually was? I think Deans has got to account for the stupid decision, and now that the series has been lost, his chickens may well come home to roost.

 Bluebok the Ozzies were outmuscled in that final test. The scrum was going backwards at a rate of nots and they were badly outmuscled in the backs. 

Amazing the size of the lions backs. Wingers 112 and 108 kg. Davies at 105 , Jamie Robers well over 100 kg I would guess and only the brilliant halfpenny small. 

Quade Cooper would not have mattered on the day.

You are probably right Beans, but it may well have made a difference in that first test.

Beeno I saw some serious problems for the Wallabies in the coming Championships. That would mainly have to do with their forward combinations. If you look at the available forwards - only two really stands out. Those are Moore at hooker and Hooper at loosie. They also have Pocock - but heaven knows when he will be back. For the rest their props showed up badly against the Lions and their locks are bog ordinary - even with Horwill around. Their forwards may stand up well against the All Blacks - but against the Springboks they do not have much of a chance. As to the backs - they have Genia. Mogg and Folau who stand out. They have a problem at fyhalf - with four potential competitors - namely Cooper, O'Connor, Beale and Barnes. Cooper has messed up at times in test matches, O'Connor was not really tops when he played for the Rebels and for the Wallabies at 10. I would think Barnes is their best bet - but he is injury prone. Both Beale and O'Connor have off-field issues as well - which could easily affect the team. Their centers and wings are average other than the players mentioned above. I would say that it may be wise to play Mogg at full back and Folau on the wing - with O'Connor on the other wing. Maybe Beale a flyhalf - with Barnes at 13 and Ashley-Cooper at 14. A good backline - but the problems really remains with the forwards.