Some finish: George Pisi
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Now that the dust has settled in the northern hemisphere, Planet Rugby looks at the guys who stole the show in week two of the November Tests.
Victories were picked up by Samoa, Australia, France, New Zealand, South Africa, Tonga and Canada in an entertaining round of action.
So without further ado, here comes our offering - be sure to send in your own 15-1 team line-ups.
15 Berrick Barnes (Australia) - Barnes spotted space in behind England's defence and made the hosts pay on more than one occasion. England were hoping Toby Flood and Alex Goode would outthink the Wallabies but in fact it was the Kurtley Beale/Barnes combination that stole the show.
14 Nick Cummins (Australia) - Cory Jane's Rome cameo was something out of the top drawer but for his all-action display at Twickenham, it had to be Cummins. Known as the 'Honey Badger', the Force man was a running machine on Saturday and fully deserves his selection here.
13 George Pisi (Samoa) - What about that finish in the corner? The Northampton Saint has been in top form in England and continued that in international colours with a top showing. He caused Wales all kinds of problems and is picked ahead of All Black Conrad Smith.
12 Ben Tapaui (Australia) - Not bad for his first go at inside centre in the absence of Pat McCabe. Tapuai was a cool customer for the Wallabies and easily gets in ahead of closest challenger Marcelo Bosch, who was slick for Argentina during the early exchanges in Lille.
11 Vincent Clerc (France) - Due to the Ireland XV playing a non-cap international, Craig Gilroy has been left in the cold. It's tough on the Ulsterman but rules are rules and we have instead gone for Clerc, whose brace saw him overtake Philippe Saint-Andre in the try charts.
10 Tusi Pisi (Samoa) - It was harsh to leave out Frederic Michalak and Kurtley Beale but the performance of Pisi couldn't be ignored. The Hurricanes man calmly put the Samoans in the right areas, kicked his goals and was exceptional outside of the man named below.
9 Kahn Fotuali'i (Samoa) - Ospreys training will be interesting in December. Fotuali'i was a leader for Samoa at the Millennium Stadium and played a crucial role in setting up George Pisi while his general play overshadowed Mike Phillips. Nick Phipps was busy for Australia.
8 Kieran Read (New Zealand) - The All Blacks stand-in skipper opened the scoring in Rome finishing a wonderful pass from Conrad Smith, as New Zealand toiled and then rampaged to another convincing victory. No other All Black player made more metres.
7 Michael Hooper (Australia) - Robbie Deans will have some serious thinking to do when David Pocock returns to full fitness. Hooper was everywhere at Twickenham, a nuisance at the breakdown and the Wallabies leading tackler, along with finding holes in the defence.
6 Yannick Nyanga (France) - Brilliant on both sides of the ball. France's top tackler with 14, the flanker capped his return to Test rugby with a well-taken try. Mention for Francois Louw.
5 Nathan Sharpe (Australia) - The Australia captain tweeted on game-day how excited he was ahead of facing England at Twickenham and he delivered. A brutal force going forward and in defence, the cut under his eye told you everything you needed to know about his day.
4 Pascal Pape (France) - France's new leader shone for the second week in a row after the demolition of Australia, piling on the tackles and carrying effectively to get his team moving.
3 Ben Alexander (Australia) - So much for the scrum being weak. As the game progressed, Alexander kept improving, giving first Joe Marler and then Mako Vunipola serious problems.
2 Adriaan Strauss (South Africa) - Two tries including a brilliant interception score made Strauss a certainty for the hooker spot. A powerful, industrious afternoon for the Cheetahs star proved that South Africa can live without the presence of Bismarck du Plessis.
1 Sakaria Taulafo (Samoa) - On another famous night for Samoa in Cardiff their pack were outstanding, and no one more so than Wasps prop Taulafo. He gave Wales newbie Aaron Jarvis was given a torrid time at the scrum, winning Samoa some valuable possession.
By Ben Coles and Adam Kyriacou
@bencoles_ and @PlanetRugbyAK
Comments
Spartacus says...
As part of team of the week, can we have commentator of the week as Brian Moore, who gave a long lecture on how the players should not be yapping at the ref. Very amusing coming from him and sure his tongue was firmly in cheek.
Posted 22:49 19th November 2012
sonsofsamoa says...
But on another note PR in regards to selections.. definitely agree with George Pisi who lead the backs very well in the midfield (special mention to Johnny Leota as well from the bench, I think he should be the starting 12 for Samoa) and Sakaria Taulafo gave an awesome 80 minute performance combining both with the Johnston brothers (especially James) to destroy the Welsh scrum.. Love the honeybadger and I was rooting for Australia to win!! And Michael Hooper? Is he human??.. What will they do when Pocock comes back? What a selection dilemma that is!! Any thoughts anyone?
Posted 22:00 19th November 2012
sonsofsamoa says...
I think everyone here underrates Tusi Pisi's importance to the Manu Samoa team.. I can tell you right now that without Tusi PIsi Manu Samoa would have lost on the weekend.. (Exactly why we lost against Wales in RWC 2011, Tasesa Lavea was awful) Samoa may have the flashy backs and the powerful forwards.. But if the halves do not combine these two departments Samoa would be like the Samoa of old. Big hits, great tries but no results. I'm a very devout Manu Samoa supporter but I believe the late emergence of Samoan rugby has definitely been because of Kahn Fotuali'i and Tusi Pisi.
Posted 21:53 19th November 2012
NHsaints says...
@Armchairgeneral usually I'd agree but I think the balance of the team was all wrong, we all know that Waldrom is useless at test level, he was always going to be, you can't run straight at the top international defences head on and hope to come off on top, Morgan or Robshaw or even Armitage would be better at 8 with more ball skills on offer to compliment Wood's gritty, industrious playing style and Croft's blistering pace or Armitage's carrying skill. Sharples has had his chance and is yet to make any worthwhile impression, Ashton is now clearly a much better rounded off player, we need Wade or someone else special on the other wing, someone who can unlock any defence in the prem, if not europe and I reckon our answer is Foden. Put Brown back at fullback (he's loads better than Goode). Youngs needs time to adapt to playing in the England front row before he'll be anywhere near on par with Hartley. Lastly the biggest problem was at loosehead...Marler just isn't cut out for scrummaging...he's just tony buckley all over again but english. Get Corbs back into the 1 jersey with Mako on the bench.
Posted 21:51 19th November 2012
hayj05 says...
I would have Conrad & Freddie in there,
Haha love the Honey Badger Cummings. Cult figure in the making?
Posted 21:31 19th November 2012
Trinats2 says...
Too many Kiwis !!!
jmanngod:
If sropped taking all the good players from Samoa they mighht have more on this list !!!
Posted 21:22 19th November 2012
Frontrower says...
Are you serious! Sakaria Taulafo? I hardly think he was the hero for the Samoan demolition of the Welsh Front Row. Which game were you watching!?
If anything the Johnston brothers should've got a mention and were the main reasons behind the Samoan Scrum.
Posted 20:33 19th November 2012
Trader2 says...
Interesting, only one AB when the the Italian's at home, suffered their largest margin defeat in 4 years or so, must the AB's win by 50 points everytime. Having said that Conrad Smith and Tony Woodcock were the only ones who should have been along with Read.
Posted 20:30 19th November 2012
kybone says...
What is it with Tusi Pisi? 'Kicked his goals' My arse! His useless kicking display was the only reason wales were still in touch with 5 mins to go.
Posted 18:18 19th November 2012
nzmaoriboy says...
Pretty good team! would probably have found room for Michalak & Ezbeth! And I reckon I would have had Woodcock at loosehead..fella had the Yeti "POPPED" in a few scrums.
This is the team from Rugby-heaven(Aussie site)
15.Barnes 14.Cummins 13.Smith 12.Tapuai 11.Savea 10.Michalak 9.Kahn 8.Tuifua 7.hooper 6.Nyanga 5.sharpe 4.leo 3.alexander 2.Struass 1.woodcock.
Posted 18:04 19th November 2012
kennyisgay says...
Jane's cameo was at fullback so poor once again by PR. No way Tusi Pisi should've been here as he did his best to gift Wales the match.
Posted 18:03 19th November 2012
jmanngod says...
Conrad Smith (without a shadow of a doubt), and Cory Jane, Woodcock and Savea ... but good to see all those Kiwis who play for Samoa there anyway.
Posted 17:59 19th November 2012
jonesy2 says...
surely phipps should be included that brilliant break and pass to set the try up was straight out of the will genia handbook. and conrad was immense as usual but against italy he was something else. i cant explain how awesome it is to see the honeybadger doing his thing at international level after seeing it week in week out for the force, runnings through and over defenders jonah-style and tackling like a demon not to mention his awesome post match press conferences. and even though he has one every week sharpies cut above the eye was something else. but to be fair you could put both sharpe and conrad in the team of the weeks every week in every competition, read too for that matter.
Posted 16:51 19th November 2012
APV1 says...
@ Kiwikev - 2nd XV, eh? I've seen the line-up and disagree entirely. I could list the 20+ players who would also disagree, but you were just being facetious.
Posted 16:33 19th November 2012
bloemboy says...
You have to feel for Bizmark. For so long he had to wait for John Smit to retire, and now Strauss is grabbing his opportunity like an octopus. Whats more, he must be a very strong candidate for captaincy once de Villiers finally gets dropped. Louw and Etzbeth are also unlucky to miss the team, while I thought that there were a few Scots that could have cracked a mention as well.
Posted 16:03 19th November 2012
BokAvenger says...
Old-man Sharpe ahead of Etzebeth. PR's infatuation with all things Antipodean continues.
Posted 16:02 19th November 2012
MDCU2584 says...
Thanks all for the replies.
ArmchairGeneral - How's Owen Farrell for worst bench impact?1 Not exactly who you want to see coming on to give the a team a lift. Use Goode as fly half cover and have someone like Christian Wade on to run at tired oppo.
Posted 15:53 19th November 2012
papachinzo says...
@Ramage The IRFU signed a deal with Aviva which stated that all Irish tests must be played in the Aviva Stadium. So in order for them to play Fiji in Limerick, they had to have it uncapped... (They didn't play it in the Aviva because it would not have sold out).
Also, I think it would have been unfair for Fiji as they were missing almost all of their players.
Posted 15:15 19th November 2012
froggy73 says...
I won't comment on the Samoans selection as I did not watch Samoa's game. However, 6 Aussies !?!? They were barely superior to the English (who were quite bad). I guess PR wanted to please the muppet jonesy2.
Posted 14:59 19th November 2012
Spartacus says...
Actually Etzebeth should be in this team as well. He was flinging Scots around like rag dolls.
Posted 14:58 19th November 2012