It was the best I'd seen of Rougerie at 13. Defended well, always dangerous in attack. Set up Heymans' try beautifully. The French squad seems to be the least controversial of Lièvremont's selections in a long time.
The ABs have two young back-ups to Carter at 10. Aaron Cruden, who's about 22, who has just moved from the Hurricanes to the Chiefs, yet another departure from the Hurricanes' sinking ship. Cruden has some wonderful skills but (a) he's erratic verging on flaky; and (b) his defence is poor. The other is Colin Slade. He's not much older than Cruden, not as flashy, but has very good all-round skills. What he lacks, obviously, is experience at the higher level, and the fault lies with Graham Henry & Co. Either of Cruden or Slade should have gone on the last AB autumn tour for the experience. Henry & Co, for whatever reason, persisted with Stephen Donald, proven time and again not to have it at the highest level. Now, Donald has signed with Bath after not even making the ABs first cut WC squad, and Henry & Co are left with inexperienced back-ups at 10. It's their own fault.
The ABs have two young back-ups to Carter at 10. Aaron Cruden, who's about 22, who has just moved from the Hurricanes to the Chiefs, yet another departure from the Hurricanes' sinking ship. Cruden has some wonderful skills but (a) he's erratic verging on flaky; and (b) his defence is poor. The other is Colin Slade. He's not much older than Cruden, not as flashy, but has very good all-round skills. What he lacks, obviously, is experience at the higher level, and the fault lies with Graham Henry & Co. Either of Cruden or Slade should have gone on the last AB autumn tour for the experience. Henry & Co, for whatever reason, persisted with Stephen Donald, proven time and again not to have it at the highest level. Now, Donald has signed with Bath after not even making the ABs first cut WC squad, and Henry & Co are left with inexperienced back-ups at 10. It's their own fault.
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