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Kurtley Beale's top five fly-halves
By Josh Raisey
Racing 92 fullback Kurtley Beale has urged British and Irish Lions coach Warren Gatland to pick teammate Finn Russell at flyhalf against South Africa, after ranking the Scot in the top five No10s he has played with.
The Australian joined Christina Mahon, Ryan Wilson and another Racing teammate Simon Zebo on RugbyPass Offload this week, and was asked where Russell ranks among the flyhalves he has played with.
In a career that has seen the 32-year-old play in Australia, England and France, as well as for the Wallabies, he has played with some of the most stylish and creative flyhalves this century, and included Russell in his top five.
“I’ve been very lucky to have played with a lot of great flyhalves,” the 92-cap Wallaby said. “I’ll rank the top five. Matt Giteau, Quade Cooper, Bernard Foley, Danny Cipriani and I’d throw in Finn there as well.
“I think if you look at those, Quade and Finn are quite similar players. Creative, X-factor, great vision, just awesome skills. So I think Finny-boy would be up there with one of the most exciting players I’ve ever played with. That’s for sure.”
Beale was then asked whether Russell should start at No10 for the Lions against the Springboks later this year. Gatland will announce his squad in three weeks and Russell faces stiff competition from Owen Farrell, Johnny Sexton and Dan Biggar.
“I’d throw him in there, absolutely,” Beale said. “Because you could go with Farrell or Sexton, which is great, but you know what you’re going to get out of those guys. It could be safe houses, for sure, but you put Finn behind a big forward pack going forward and it’s happy days for Finny boy. And with the backs outside him, Finn would just have a field day. He’s done everything he can to put himself in the best position to get selected there and we’ll wait and see.”
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Bokke bokke Bokke
Go to commentsThe main thing you need on your side to win a World Cup is luck. ABs had their fair share of it in the 2011 final. One score game in the SF vs Springboks in 2015 means there always things you can look at and say if this thing or that thing happened then SA would/should have won that game. Smith’s try being called back broke protocol, but it was the correct decision, so I don’t have a problem with that. If it was an SA try called back in the same circumstances I don’t think many ABS fans would have a problem with it. Cane’s shot was high, it was the classic thing NZ players have been doing, and getting carded for for years - Walking around bolt upright trying to put a big hit on someone. Stupid play by someone with a poor disciplinary record. The one that was a big problem for me was Etzebeth’s obstruction. The referee just choked on this occasion. Frustrating to have the TMO in his ear all night, apart from at this moment. Minimum yellow card for Etzebeth, but a very strong case for a penalty try also. Despite all that the ABs had the opportunity to be ahead with 3 minutes to play, so it’s hard to point fingers too much. Pollard makes that kick 99/100. JB and RM make it 50/100. That’s what it came down to in the end.
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