Last week we looked at the forwards who should be Wallabies World Cup Squad. Should, not are. All 18 of them.
The big news was the omission of Scott Higginbotham (too inconsistent), Sam Carter (too little mongrel), James Horwill (too much of a liability), Benn Robinson (too ugh), and probably Benn Alexander (ditto). Plus I put my neck right on the chopping block by calling for David Pocock to be made team captain.
But what about the 13/14 backs who will be called upon? Like last week, the foundation of the thinking is that Australia has nothing to lose: we need to pick the guys who just might get us there in November, not the same old crew that we know full well what to expect from.
Scrum-halves
Nick Phipps, Will Genia, Nic White
Straightforward.
Luke Burgess’ absence is all but a given by now. Having gone to Toulouse, he’s come back and played well enough down at the Rebels, but been dislodged by Nic Stirzaker. The reality is that George Smith and Jerome Kaino aside, no Southern hemisphere player has ever gone up north to play the slower, more stodgy European rugby, and come back as a better player. Food for thought for the sabbatical crowd, but that’s for another day.
For all his slowly declining talents, I can’t help feeling that when we all sit down to watch Australia play against a resurgent England at Twickenham in October, it’ll be Will Genia starting in the 9 jersey. Form aside, the guy has what so few of this squad have: real, undisputed class.
Will has repeatedly made big things happen in the big games. Think of his match-winning solo try in the 2011 Super Rugby Final that Greg Martin is still coming down from. Or him scoring once and setting up the winner against the All Blacks in the Tri-Nations final the same year. Or that amazing tap and go followed by a grubber to Israel Folau in the 2013 Lions series.
Cheika needs to get Will on his wavelength, adding a faster, flatter passing pattern to his natural running game. For years now, when Will Genia has played well, the Wallabies have looked like a top-tier international team. When he hasn’t, they haven’t.
Fact.
Fly-Halves
Bernard Foley, Quade Cooper
Long-gone are the days when Australian rugby was so threadbare at 10 that when Stephen Larkham got injured, Tim Horan, Julian Huxley, and Matt Rogers suddenly found themselves as makeshift international fly-halves. Far from ideal.
Now, we have real quality and depth. The difference that Quade Cooper made to the Reds in his limited time this season was palpable. Has there ever been a better passer of the ball? Textbook. Plus, he was just born to play 10 – his positioning in attack is almost always faultless.
The problem is temperament. There were plenty of signs in those two games of Quade getting all niggly, making poor tackles, half-hitting rucks – just the things he does when low on confidence. If he can get some consistent games under his belt, if he can get his goal-kicking back, and if he can get mentally in the zone, the 2013 Spring Tour showed that he can take this team to a level where it is much more than the sum of its parts.
Centres
Matt Toomua, Matt Giteau/ Kyle Godwin, Tevita Kuridrani
With his goal-kicking, his experience, his defence, his knowledge of playing against European teams (which, as noted last week, we’ll be doing a lot of this World Cup), and his passing game, Matt Giteau should unquestionably be at the World Cup. The ARU has made him “ineligible”. It can make him eligible again. It should make an exception, noting his years of long service. England will almost surely break their own policy for this World Cup; it serves nobody’s interests in Australian rugby to be stubborn on this one.
We all hope Matt Toomua’s injury from Friday isn’t too serious; it certainly didn’t look good in real time. He offers a raking kick and some real physicality in defence. He needs a haircut though; fan and detractor alike can agree on that. You’re not Steven Seagal.
The squad needs a second guy who can cover 12. Step up Kyle Godwin. The Force look as though they have no idea what the role of a back-line is. It has been hard for Godwin to shine, especially out of position at 13. But those who watch Force matches can see the quality in every little detail; his chase to pull down the lightning fast Cornal Hendricks just last week was brilliant. His background at 10 gives him a real ball playing ability. His defence is great. And he is left-footed, which gives the Wallabies the opportunity to play a windscreen-wiper kicking system to get out of their half (see also Giteau, Matt).
That said, I wouldn’t be too averse if they picked Christian Lealiifano instead. I don’t know what’s happened to his previously laser-like goal kicking. But if Lealiifano starts slotting them like he did in 2013, he’ll be able to borrow against that ticket to the World Cup and buy another vowel.
Back Three
Israel Folau, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Henry Speight, James O’Connor, Rob Horne and/or Nick Cummins
Folau, Speight, and AAC are locks, with the latter providing the cover at 13. Somewhat bizarrely, Speight has looked much more comfortable defending at 13 in recent weeks than he has in all his time on the wing. This might really open up some different defensive patterns for Cheika.
The competition for the other spots here is wide open.
Let’s start with who misses out. If we pick Joe Tomane, we are just begging the European teams to pepper him with high balls. He can’t go. Tom English, Chris Feauai-Sautia, Peter Betham, and others who have been in consideration over the last few years just haven’t done anything this year. And Kurtley Beale shouldn’t be there either.
The problem with Beale isn’t so much his off-field behaviour. Or the gross way in which his “team” manipulated the media into creating a situation where Ewen McKenzie’s position as coach was no longer tenable. Can you imagine an All Black coach being forced off into the sunset because one of his players acted like a twat? Hardly. KB could have fessed up to the whole thing and taken his lashes, like Aaron Cruden did. But he didn’t.
The whole episode really damaged Australian rugby’s fan base; we’re supposed to be the code of rugby where players don’t behave like common louts. There’s a great George Clooney line about celebrities being forever frozen at the age they became famous. Something for KB (and JOC) to think about. Either way, I’d have loved to have seen the reaction of captain David Pocock (or Stephen Moore, for that matter) to such behaviour.
All of that aside, KB has become jack of all trades, master of none. He would be a viable back-up 15, had he played there at all recently and spent a lot of time under the high ball; he and Israel are really very alike as players. He shouldn’t be considered at 10, where Foley and Cooper (and Toomua) are ahead of him. And he isn’t an international level 12. He has bulked up and he is much better in contact than he was. But he just isn’t a 12. I think he’s all but a certainty to be on the plane as a utility, but he wouldn’t be on mine.
Instead, I think Rob Horne and/or Nick Cummins should provide the wing coverage. And James O’Connor should go as the second fullback option (with plenty to offer on the wing too).
Frankly, I’d love to leave JOC at home. Is it the drinking in Perth airport? Or the constant smirk? Or just the cornrows – possibly the worst fashion decision in the history of Australian rugby? But his natural ability to break tackles, his gas, his nous for the tryline, and his experience in European rugby all make him a decent bet to cover both wing and fullback (and not 10). He is a natural “footballer”, in the old-school sense of the word.
Importantly, O’Connor offers a similar type of 15 to Israel; independent, license to step, targeting the wide channels, able to pass and off-load – everything but what Adam Ashley-Cooper would offer in that role, in other words. The dark horse for this slot is Dane Haylett-Petty, who has looked really classy out west with his great work under the high ball and clever kicking game, but this would be a really left-field choice.
So there we have it; have your say. Haters gonna hate.
