Andrew's Team: Round Three

THE ORCADIANS - Facebook S14

*New buys in italics

FR Keven Mealamu (NZL) $1,177,500

FR Sakaria Taulafo (SAM) $512,500

LK Danie Rossouw (SAF) $1,140,000

LK Leone Nakarawa (FIJ) $587,500

LF Schalk Burger (SAF) $1,167,500

LF Toby Faletau (WAL) $585,000

HV Morne Steyn (SAF) $1,210,000

HV Quade Cooper (AUS) $1,225,000

CT Ma'a Nonu (NZL) $1,225,000

CT Richard Kahui (NZL) $1,162,500

OB Kurtley Beale (AUS) $1,200,000

OB George North (WAL) $880,000

Team Value: $12,072,500

Cash in Bank: $259,595

If it weren't for my poor decision to load my team with Australians last week, I'd be sitting in a much better place right now. Horwill, Cooper, Moore and O'Connor gave me a combined total of less than 400! And three of those four aren't on the field this week either. That, and a couple of other forced replacements, led to me using another seven precious trades.

A new front row. Mealamu, who is always a favourite, and Samoan prop Taulafo, whose point scoring thus far belies his cheap price.

Rossouw replaces Horwill in the locks, and I'll be hoping he gives another powerful performance against Namibia. I think he'll be a good bet to start against Samoa next round too.

With the money I saved in the front row, I traded O'Brien for Burger. I'm already thinking this was probably a mistake. Schalk Burger's one of those notorious hot and cold TR point scoring players. He's had a great couple of opening games, which probably means he's due for a dip. Hopefully not.

Anticipating a Bok landslide, I picked Morne Steyn - though livewire Hougaard might have been a more unconventional and, potentially, more profitable choice. I'll stick with Cooper and hope to see the Wallabies deliver a high scoring victory over what looks like a second string USA.

I couldn't break up my All Blacks centre partnership of Nonu and Kahui, though I can't see them getting as many tries this week, but you never know.

All new backs. With Clerc unlikely to be as dominant against the All Blacks, I reluctantly swapped him for Beale, and traded the injured O'Connor for the underpriced George North, who'll hopefully get a try or two against poor Namibia.

Well played to SCM, who put in one of the best round scores of the whole competition to take first place in the league. I'm still hanging on in second but the way my trades are going I'm feeling less confident about the business end of the competition. I think the fourth round is going to be crucial as it'll see the last mismatched games before the minnows bow out, but will any of us have the trades left to exploit it?

Good luck everyone!

Best Players After Round Two

Based on each player's average score.

TOP 5 FRONT ROWERS

Mahonri Schwalger (SAM) - 310

Sakaria Taulafo (SAM) - 302

Huw Bennet (WAL) - 300

Shota Horie (JAP) - 298

Rory Best (IRE) - 275

TOP 5 LOCKS

Danie Rossouw (SAF) - 445

Luke Charteris (WAL) - 330

Leone Nakarawa (FIJ) - 320

Alun Wyn Jones (WAL) - 242

Daniel Leo (SAM) - 230

TOP 5 LOOSIES

Louis Picamoles (FRA) - 470

Adam Thomson (NZL) - 420

Sergio Parisse (ITA) - 405

Toby Faletau (WAL) - 390

Schalk Burger (SAF) - 360

TOP 5 HALVES

Morne Steyn (SAF) - 400

James Arlidge (JAP) - 300

Mike Phillips (WAL) - 282

Quade Cooper (AUS) - 260

Morgan Parra (FRA) - 248

TOP 5 CENTRES

Richard Kahui (NZL) - 610

Ma'a Nonu (NZL) - 450

Conrad Smith (NZL) - 430

Shontayne Hape (ENG) - 410

Sonny Bill Williams (NZL) / Daniel van Wyk (NAM) - 360

TOP 5 OUTSIDE BACKS

Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino (ARG) - 540

Giulio Toniolatti (ITA) - 480

Digby Ioane (AUS) - 470

Vincent Clerc (FRA) - 460

Simon Danielli (SCO) - 410

Dream Team: Round Two

FR Mahonri Schwalger (SAM) - 430
FR Sakaria Taulafo (SAM) - 375
LK Danie Rossouw (SAF) - 610
LK Luke Charterls (WAL) - 370
LF Louis Picamoles (FRA ) - 470
LF Sergio Parisse (ITA) - 450
HV Morne Steyn (SAF) - 480
HV Colin Slade (NZL) - 360
CT Richard Kahui (NZL) - 610
CT Ma'a Nonu (NZL) - 450
OB Vincent Clerc (FRA) - 540
OB Delon Armitage (ENG) - 540

5 Try Bonus - 200

TOTAL - 5885

ROUND THREE: Teams

Thursday, September 22

South Africa v Namibia

South Africa 15 Pat Lambie, 14 Gio Aplon, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Willem Alberts, 5 Danie Rossouw, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 John Smit (c), 1 Gurthrö Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Tendai Mtawarira, 18 François Louw, 19 Heinrich Brüssow, 20 Fourie du Preez, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Juan de Jongh.

Namibia: 15 Chrysander Botha, 14 Danie Dames, 13 Danie van Wyk, 12 Piet van Zyl, 11 Heine Bock, 10 Theuns Kotze, 9 Eugene Jantjies, 8 Jacques Nieuwenhuis, 7 Jacques Burger (c), 6 Tinus Du Plessis, 5 Nico Esterhuyse, 4 Heinz Koll, 3 Marius Visser, 2 Bertus O’Callaghan, 1 Johnnie Redelinghuys.

Replacements: 16 Hugo Horn, 17 Jane du Toit, 18 Pieter Jan van Lill, 19 Rohan Kitshoff, 20 Ryan de la Harpe, 21 Darryl de la Harpe, 22 Conrad Marais.

Friday, September 23

Australia v United States

Australia: 15 Kurtley Beale, 14 Adam Ashley Cooper, 13 Anthony Faingaa, 12 Robert Horne, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Quade Cooper 9 Will Genia (c), 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 Ben McCalman 6 Scott Higginbotham, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Tatafu Polota Nau, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements: 16 Stephen Moore, 17 Sekope Kepu, 18 Dan Vickerman, 19 Radike Samo, 20 Luke Burgess, 21 Berrick Barnes, 22 Pat McCabe.

Saturday, September 24

England v Romania

Romania: 15 Florin Adrian Vlaicu, 14 Stefan Eugen Ciuntu, 13 Ionel Cazan, 12 Iulian Dumitras, 11 Adrian Marian Apostol, 10 Marin Danut Dumbrava, 9 Lucian Mihai Sirbu, 8 Ovidiu Tonita, 7 Cosmin Aurel Ratiu, 6 Sandu Stelian Burcea, 5 Cristian Constantin Petre (capt), 4 Valentin Poparlan, 3 Silviu Florea, 2 Bogdan Zebega Suman, 1 Nicolae Nere.
Replacements: 16 Marius Tincu, 17 Paulica Ion, 18 Mihai Macovei, 19 Daniel Gabriel Ianus, 20 Valentin Nicolae Calafeteanu, 21 Csaba Minya Gal, 22 Catalin Marius Nicolae.

New Zealand v France

New Zealand: 15 Israel Dagg, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Richard Kahui, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Piri Weepu, 8 Adam Thomson, 7 Richie McCaw (capt), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements: 16 Andrew Hore, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Ali Williams, 19 Anthony Boric, 20 Andy Ellis, 21 Colin Slade, 22 Sonny Bill Williams.

France 15 Damien Traille, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Aurélien Rougerie, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Maxime Médard, 10 Morgan Parra, 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Pascale Papé, 4 Lionel Nallet, 3 Luc Ducalcon, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Jean-Baptiste Poux.

Replacements: 16 William Servat, 17 Fabien Barcella, 18 Julien Pierre, 19 Imanol Harinordoquy, 20 Francois Trinh-Duc, 21 Fabrice Estebanez, 22 Cédric Heymans.

Sunday, September 25

Fiji v Samoa

Ireland v Russia

Argentina v Scotland

Scotland: 15 Chris Paterson, 14 Max Evans, 13 Nick De Luca, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Ruaridh Jackson, 9 Rory Lawson (capt), 8 Kelly Brown, 7 John Barclay, 6 Al Strokosch, 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Geoff Cross, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements: 16 Dougie Hall, 17 Alasdair Dickinson, 18 Nathan Hines, 19 Richie Vernon, 20 Mike Blair, 21 Dan Parks, 22 Simon Danielli.

RWC thoughts - Week Two

Oh Aussie, what have you done? You've ruined the tournament for everyone, making a likely Northern Hemisphere bracket and a Southern Hemisphere bracket. Actually, that's probably just what the IRB ordered; keeping viewership numbers high in the NH is probably key to their masterplan.

The road to the final is now paved with disaster for South Africa... or is it? Has anything really changed? By all standard logic, South Africa were always going to have to beat Australia and New Zealand to win this world cup, just not in that order or so soon in the competition. Their final, unfortunately, comes two weeks early - but on the bright side, if they can beat the SH teams, the final should be a doddle. Wales again? Bring it on.

MOST INFLUENTIAL PLAYERS - thus far

After two weeks, some unlikely heroes have stepped to the fore - new superstars to take the place of the aging McCaw's, Carters, Habanas, Giteau's ,etc.

SONNY BILL WILLIAMS

The All Blacks have to find a place for this man. Yes, his opposition have been lousy, but he has been magnificent nevertheless. They have shunted him around, from inside center to wing, but he has looked a player in a different class to everyone else on the field- immensely destructive and pure joy to watch. He has lived up to the hype, and I understand why he was such a draw in the NRL. Like Lomu before him, he makes people want to watch rugby, and young boys want to play it. Pay the man whatever he wants - he needs to stay in Rugby Union.







FRANCOIS STEYN

He showed immense promise in 2007 as a 20 yr-old RWC winner, and now that promise is finally being fulfilled. Steyn has created a selection poser for South Africa, because he is now both their best fullback and best center. At fullback, he was massive in defense and his kicks sent a rampant Wales way back into their own half almost every time they searched for territory. His try was pretty awesome too - with just a few inches of touchline to work with, he knocked two defenders aside like bowling pins, undeviated from his path.  I believe he was the chief reason SA won that game. And then, true to his Springbok experience, he was shunted into a new position for his next game and excelled at inside center. He made JdV look like a chump, as the SA backline finally got moving through his rampaging runs and beautiful long passes. It takes a monster of a man to drag three Fijian defenders around the field, but that was par for the course for a Steyn run. He is SA's secret sauce and is key to their retaining their title. Where to play him? He gets more ball at center and creates tries. That's probably more valuable than kicking SA out of trouble.

SAM WARBURTON

I'd never heard of this guy, but apparently he is the captain of Wales. And rightly so. He was immense against the Boks - destroying them in the tackle and robbing them at the breakdown. He's pretty big and strong for an opensider, and his link play around the park reminds me of Ritchie McCaw - only better. (Well, thus far...) McCaw has been pretty special for many years now, and it is probably too soon to judge Warburton against him, but my initial reaction is total respect. I think he's the best player the NH has produced in years - a flanker with the mongrel and skill to mix it with the Boks and Samoans... pretty impressive. He was a little quieter against Samoa, but still popped up with some really important turnovers and tackles. If Wales go anywhere in this tournament, it will be on the back of Warburton.


SEAN O'BRIEN

He won European Player of the Year, and there's no doubting why. In an aging team, this guy is a revelation for Ireland. Sure, Pocock wasn't around to keep him in check, but he was everywhere against the struggling Aussies, and they'll be cursing his name for years to come if they are knocked out early from this RWC. Like Warburton, he is the complete package: he tackles, he steals, he makes rampaging runs - he's what Pierre Spies would be if he could actually play rugby. I'm looking forward to watching his progress through the tournament, and again, like Warburton, if Ireland have a hope, it rests with him.


Final thoughts: open-side flankers are like rugby gold. Without a great one, your team just can't compete. Look at the difference Brussow makes to SA (compare 2009 season to 2010 - champions in one, chumps in the next). Likewise, Aussies lost because they missed Pocock, NZ look weak with McCaw, Namibia look dangerous with Jacques Burger, Warburton, O'Brien, etc. I used to think flyhalves were critical. No, it's the opensiders.