Can anyone tell me what’s the point in going on a Spring Tour to the Northern Hemisphere directly after a RWC?
Is anyone else doing it? Nup. Why not? Because the players are either injured or generally rooted after continuous rugby since February or so.
You mean it’s one for the money, two for the show? It’s recovery time, as in recovering potential lost earnings for the ARU during a RWC year.
The players need recovery too. I’m not imagining they’ll be too chuffed about this tour. You’d think the motivation levels might be situated a shade north of Noosa?
Oh well, go through the motions and give it one last lash. I think they could be on a hiding to nothing this time around. A giggle against a strong Baa Baas selection and another test against Wales — who in my opinion will be well ‘up’ for this one.
I think a short tour like this would be an ideal time to throw in a few development players e.g. Daley, Tapuai, Gill, Wykes or Charles etc. They’re naming the team on Monday but I don’t think they’ll be doing that and wouldn’t expect too many surprises.
When I last looked there were about eight players injured from the RWC squad and unlikely to tour: Kepu, Vickerman, Elsom, Palu, Cooper, McCabe, Mitchell and Beale, and of course Benn Robinson still hasn’t recovered from his knee injury. Burgess has also departed to Toulouse.
Do the sums and that’s 21 + 2 (Hodgson and Turner) = 23. They’re taking a 26 man squad so they’ll need at least three more and you’d probably rule out a third scrumhalf. I think it’s unlikely they’ll actually drop too many from the original squad although you never know what Deans is going to do with Sharpie, and Saia Faingaa (as the third hooker) may be a casualty.
You can put a line through Gits even though he’d be handy if any of the halfbacks were injured and offers some midfield experience but I’ll eat my hat if it ever came to pass.
It’s dependent upon team configuration but there’s probably a spot for another centre, a winger/fullback and either a prop or lock/flanker. The back candidates would be Gerrardo, Rocket Rod, Luke Morahan and maybe Ben Tapuai (who’s been touted in the ‘mail’).
JO’C would remain on the wing but be the backup five eighth, AAC stays at fullback and Barnes at five eighth. Horne and Ant Faingaa in the centres — I’m thinking out loud here folks….
I see JO’C is eager to win a midfield position on tour. This would be an interesting selection, maybe for the Baa Baas match, but the coach is fairly conservative and JO’C is the form outside back so I’m not confident it’ll come to pass.
As for the extra forward(s), I think the candidates are likely to be Daley, Cowan and Dennis. With TPN’s record you’d maybe want to continue with that extra hooker coverage? There are five loose forwards in the RWC squad with Samo (and at a pinch McCalman) being able to play lock. That could preclude Dennis.
There’d be a temptation to include Cowan, not only as a prop but for his modest hooking abilities too (any port in a storm) if you weren’t bringing Saia Faingaa — or even if you were.
Tactically, you’d want the Wallabies to enjoy themselves against the Baa Baas and play an entertaining brand of Aussie football after not firing too many shots in the RWC.
Barnes is a five eighth who can really manage a game and I’d like to see him run an all out attack in that first match. Players like Diggers, AAC and JO’C must have been frustrated during the RWC campaign so this should provide them more opportunities with ball in hand.
Smug Ted and Fat Boy Hansen have a wealth of talent to mould into a playing unit: Habana, Matfield, SBW, Mealamu, Kaino, Weepu, Thomson, Mortlock, Giteau, Roberts, Halfpenny, Cipriani, Jason White and the Jones boys (Ryan, Adam and Stephen).
As for the Welsh, I think this will be a really dangerous match for us if we’re not fully focussed. We deserved the RWC bronze play-off win but this time with personnel changes and home advantage to Wales, anything could happen. This is the last match for Shane Williams so there’ll be plenty of Welsh emotion on display.
I want to see traditional Australian rugby played on this tour — that’s offense and defence, not just the latter. It’s time to deliver on that Dingo!
Likely team:
Slipper, Cowan, Moore, Polota-Nau, S. Faingaa, Alexander, Ma’afu, Horwill, Sharpe, Simmons, Higginbotham, McCalman, Samo, Pocock, Hodgson, Genia, Phipps, Barnes, Tapuai, A. Faingaa, Horne, O’Connor, Ioane, Turner, Davies, Ashley-Cooper.
