Preview: Wallabies v. France 2nd test

The plans

Australia

In camp the Wallabies would have worked on their awkward restart receptions of last week and also schooled their reserve props.

On Saturday the forwards should run at the under-done France flankers all day until they take them off because they are too bloody good when they are fresh.

The most important plan is how to counter the brutal line charges of Bastareaud, and his deadly offloads—especially inside balls to Wesley Fofana or wingers slicing in. They should know that he’s useful as a decoy too.

Wesley Fofana – should be watched next to Bastareaud

But they should also try some short passes in the vicinity of Bastareaud. Although he can be agile with his feet on the run, he is not great at reacting to the moves of opponents.

France

With a substantially changed team they would have gone back to the drawing board on the many unsuccessful facets of their first performance.  Failure to deal with the moves that created the seven Aussie tries would have been examined.

Not contesting a lot of rucks can be a valid strategy but they over-did it in Brisbane, and the Aussies got too much quick ball. It is no use saving yourself if you are several tries down.

The Aussies also got too much space. When their first and second receivers got their flat balls they took too many steps to find a French tackler. This week France has to get shooters in their faces.

They will also implement their signature short passing moves, which were absent in Brisbane except at the end of the test match.

Also, they should put men up in the lineout against Rob Simmons on all occasions, just in case he is dumb enough to call himself every time again.

The match ups

Toomua and Kuridrani v. Fofana and Bastareaud

As hinted at: this midfield contest will be key and worth a watch. Both pairings are the combinations of opposites, and the opposing 12s and 13s are different to each other also.

Toomua has the skills of a flyhalf but the soul of a fullback and the interest of an assassin—a shooter indeed.

His opponent Fofana is the fastest of the four centres and spent his young days as a winger for Clermont, but his ability to read the game at closer quarters, and find gaps that should not be gaps, made them move him infield.

Bastareaud is as described above, a bully of a player but with gentle hands, and one wonders, looking at his swag of tricks, and that of Fofana, why the big fellow is not the France inside centre with Fofana outside him. But that’s where he plays for Toulon and it seems to work.

Kuridrani is the least talented of the four, but learning on the job a treat. Already a Wallaby last year, he is one of most improved Aussie players in Super Rugby in 2014. His recognition of what is in front of him, and his drawing of defenders and delaying the pass, is improving by the game.

Props v. Props

As mentioned, the France run-on props don’t have a starting game between them—only eight games on the bench, for one of them. The Aussies share 42 starts and 47 bench games.

It should be stat victory for the Aussies but things in rugby are not decided by stats, they are decided on the scoreboard; so let’s see.

Perhaps Saint-André has a cunning plan and is deliberately stacking his experienced props, Domingo and Mas, against the Aussie reserves to ambush them later on.

But maybe we should take the France coach at his word:

We don’t have too many props in France because they’re all foreigners so we need to [try them].  If we don’t try out some props in a tour 15 months from the World Cup, we’ll never try them.

The fullbacks

They won’t confront each other directly very often but Brice Dulin and Israel Folau are stars in their respective hemispheres and worth comparing on the night.

Brice Dulin is the ultimate broken field runner who can trace his path through opponents as though he had looked at a map before he started off.

Israel Folau is not bad at that either but his forte is deception before contact so that defenders can’t apply the shoulder. He can take the high ball in traffic better than the slighter Dulin and his passing and kicking game is coming on too.

Israel Folau – attracts defenders

So good is his ability to break the line that he attracts that extra defender to him, though it be for just a moment. That means he’s a good fellow for team mates to track.

Worth a look, these two.

Prediction

Everybody and his dog will know that France have volatile results and are just as likely to jump out of their skins from one game to the next, or the opposite—especially if two-thirds of the starting team is changed.

Had not the Aussies played so well last week and took advantage of French shortcomings imposed by their own selections I would take pause, but they did.  France will perform better but I expect this new Aussie side to be more consistent than the 2013 team albeit with many of the same players from then in it.

Wallabies by 15

Team Lists

Australia — 1 James Slipper, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 3 Sekope Kepu, 4 Rob Simmons, 5 James Horwill, 6 Scott Fardy, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 8 Ben McCalman, 9 Nic White, 10. Bernard Foley, 11 Nick Cummins, 12 Matt Toomua, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 15 Israel Folau.

Replacements: 16 Nathan Charles, 17 Pek Cowan, 18 Laurie Weeks, 19 Luke Jones, 20 Scott Higginbotham, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Kurtley Beale, 23 Pat McCabe.

France — 1 Alexandre Menini, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 3 Rabah Slimani, 4 Alexandre Flanquart, 5 Yoann Maestri, 6 Yannick Nyanga, 7 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 8 Damien Chouly, 9 Morgan Parra, 10 Rémi Talès, 11 Maxime Médard, 12 Wesley Fofana, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 14 Yoann Huget, 15 Brice Dulin.

Replacements: 16 Brice Mach, 17 Thomas Domingo, 18 Nicolas Mas, 19 Bernard le Roux, 20 Louis Picamoles, 21 Antoine Burban, 22 Frédéric Michalak, 23 Remi Lamerat.

Match details

Venue: Etihad Stadium, Melbourne
Date/Time: Saturday, June 14 8pm (local time)
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant Referees: Craig Joubert (South Africa), Chris Pollock (New Zealand)
TMO: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)

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