DESPITE the door yesterday being slightly opened for the return of veteran props Matt Dunning and Al Baxter to the Wallabies line-up for the first Test against England, head coach Robbie Deans is certain to firmly slam it. Wallabies assistant coach and selector Jim Williams caused a stir when he said that reinstating Dunning or Baxter to the squad to help alleviate Australia's scrum concerns before the Test at Subiaco Oval on Saturday night was a possibility.
This came after the loss of two key props, Benn Robinson and Ben Alexander, was followed by a poor scrummaging effort from the young Australian Barbarians pack against England in Perth on Tuesday night. With the powerful English pack likely to target an inexperienced Australian front row in the first Test, calls have come for Dunning or Baxter to be used as a short-term fix.
Williams helped the veterans' cause yesterday by saying that recalling Baxter or Dunning was ''something we will certainly look at''.
''No decision has been made in concrete at all yet,'' Williams said. ''We need to look closely at the game and nut out exactly where we want to go. Obviously the World Cup is in the back of our minds but there is a Test this weekend and we've got to make sure first and foremost that it's taken care of on all bases.
''With the injuries that we've got, we need to have a good look at the people available.''
Despite Williams's comments, the return of Dunning and Baxter is a remote possibility because it would involve Deans making a complete about-face. And he just doesn't do that.
Deans says he has picked the best front-rowers available in his 40-man training squad and that he is going to persevere with them. This could even mean naming Ben Daley as the Test loose-head prop when the team is announced this afternoon. This is despite Daley, who has had a slight arm complaint, not playing since the second-last round of the Super 14 and not appearing in a Test before.
Deans gave enough clues in Canberra last Sunday that Dunning and Baxter are not in his plans.
When asked in the wake of Alexander's injury if he was looking outside the squad for front-row replacements, he said: ''These guys [in the squad] have been selected on merit. So no, we don't see any need to look beyond them right now, particularly when you have Ben Daley coming back on stream. We see no need to look outside. They've earned the right through what they've done.''
Also, Deans wants to improve the depth of Australia's front-rowers, knowing that by the end of the year Robinson and Alexander will be back to bolster the team. In the meantime, he is hoping to cultivate some alternatives, even if it involves some initial pain.
Although Pek Cowan was expected to move into the Test front row, he might have played himself out of the team with a less-than-impressive performance for the Barbarians. This could easily convince Deans to try Daley.
). Come the disaster at Murrayfield and the draw with Wales and the multiple losses to the ABs, things looked very different, as they do today based upon the hard facts of RD's not-great W-L ratio after 2 full seasons. So, IMO, we will have a clear assessment of RD's value and genius level in or by December.
