How do the 2009 Wallabies look without Lote Tuqiri?

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By Spiro Zavos, 3 Jul 2009 Spiro Zavos is a Roar Expert

Tagged:: ARU, John Connolly, John ONeill, Josh Holmes, Lote Tuqiri, Mark O'Brien, NSW Waratahs, Phil Waugh, robbie deans, Rugby Union, wallabies

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Lachie Turner of Australia scores a try during the Australia v Italy Rugby Union game at the Ethiad Stadium in Melbourne, Saturday, June 20th, 2009. Australia won the game 34-12. (AAP Image/Martin Philbey)

This is what we know, or think we know, about Lote Tuqiri’s sacking by the ARU. He was sacked on Wednesday. The police are not involved in investigating any matter regarding the sacking. The ARU denies emphatically that the sacking is part of a witch-hunt to get rid of Tuqiri.

The winger’s $1 million a year salary was not a consideration. The ARU consulted Tuqiri’s provincial side, the NSW Waratahs, on the matter, and they agreed with the decision.

Tuqiri, for his part, has started legal proceedings and has hired a hot-shot solicitor, Mark O’Brien, to take charge of his case.

One of the intriguing aspects of the matter is that both sides have refused to divulge what drove the sacking. The ARU argues that, as the matter is pending action in the courts, it cannot divulge any details.

John O’Neill at a feisty media conference challenged Tuqiri to tell the media what the reasons were for his sacking, as it was up to the player and not the ARU to discuss the issues publicly if he wanted to.

Tuqiri, so far, has resisted telling his side of the story.

So we have the unusual case of everyone pulling down a cone of silence on the matter. It is, for want of a better phrase, a case of a mutual cover-up.

Trolling around the usual traps on Thursday, I found out that some insiders believed that what Tuqiri did to bring the wrath of the ARU down on his neck was “major.” Other insiders say that it was “not a major” offence.

Presumably, it depends on what a person considers to be major or non-major.

You would think that with the ARU going into this with, in O’Neill’s phrase (and he is lawyer) “our eyes wide open,” they have an iron-clad case against Tuqiri.

Whatever the outcome of this unfortunate matter, it is clear that Lote Tuqiri will never play for the Wallabies again.

So Stirling Mortlock and George Smith remain the last survivors of the splendid Wallaby side that almost won the 2003 World Cup.

Six years on, with the announcement of the squad to contest the 2009 Tri-Nations tournament, Australian rugby has what amounts to the first edition (discounting last year’s side of John Connolly left-overs) of Robbie Deans’ Wallabies.

The shape of the side is interesting.

Deans has opted for nine players in his seventeen forwards who can play in the loose forward position. This reflects his Crusader days when he played a fast, efficient, ball-winning pack to get turnover for clever backs to exploit by moving the ball away from the contact areas.

This abundance of a versatile loose forwards will enable him to play a bench that includes David Pocock and Phil Waugh, which in turn offers Deans the chance to play these two and George Smith at the end of Tests.

There is an emphasis on pace and skill in the backs.

The selection of Will Genia, far and away the best of the Australian halfbacks before his injuries in the Super 14, is a fantastic choice. Genia has gone past Josh Holmes, particularly, and is now looking like the next long-term Wallaby halfback.

There are three players in their 30s: Al Baxter, the old man at 32, and Stirling Mortlock and Nathan Sharpe both 31.

There are thirteen players aged 24 and under. Most of these players will be frontline Wallabies in 2011, in time for the Rugby World Cup tournament.

Now this team has to grow into greatness, a task that starts on July 18 at Eden Park, Auckland, against the All Blacks, a venue where the Wallabies last won in 1986.

That 1986 side, coached by Alan Jones, won the Bledisloe Cup for only the second time in New Zealand.

Is this an omen, 23 years on?

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The Crowd Says (53) | Page 1 of Comments

jools-usa said | July 3rd 2009 @ 2:55am | Report comment

Spiro,
Glad you’re moving on from Lote & talking the new Wallaby squad.
Let those who live & breath celebrities dwell on the ‘he said, she said’ stuff & the rest of
us (say 90% of fans), look to the W’s future..
Not for many years (pre Eddie Jones), has the outlook looked so positive for them.
Bring it on.
Jools-USA

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fox said | July 3rd 2009 @ 7:05am | Report comment

Admit it Jools, you’d like to know too……

Looking forward though, I am looking forward to us getting our hands back on the bledisloe this year! The AB’s are looking underwhelming and even if they get a few key players back, which they will, I don;t think they’re anywhere near the Wallabies right now. That may change, but on current form we’re looking good. The Boks should be well-hardened after the Lions and snaffle the tri-nation trophy, but this year it’s all about the Bledisloe!

As you allude to Spiro, right now, the Wallabies are looking very well prepared for the journey to 2011. The combinations look amazing and the mix of youth and experience tipped well in favour of youth, who will have earned a few caps and been given many essential international rugby batterings to place them well in their “Quest for Bill”. At the risk of sounding like a gushing teenager, but right now I believe the Wallabies are arguably the best placed team in world rugby for 2011. The Boks will have a squad that will look like our 2007 squad in comparison: old aged. Sounds premature, but the AB’s have some points to prove (and may well do – counting them out, even for this tri-nations, would be a mistake!) and the French, the English, the Welsh and the Irish will struggle down here in 2011 unless they can build much better squads. Like the Boks those northern hemisphere squads look a little over the hill right now.

Anyway, to the Dark Shark I bid you my fondest farewell. It’s been real!

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Brett McKay said | July 3rd 2009 @ 8:16am | Report comment

How do the Wallabies look without Tuqiri?? Pretty bloody good at the moment!! The backline seem to be clicking and the back three are noticeably working as a unit, very much employing the (not so) old Crusaders counter-attack plans. And barring injury, you’d have to say Turner, Mitchell and Ashley-Cooper deserve an extended run together becuase they’re all in top form at the moment. And it may even be a case that now they don’t so much have to worry about looking over their shoulder at the big bloke, that their confidence will grow in the knowledge the spots are theirs for the taking..

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jools-usa said | July 3rd 2009 @ 8:43am | Report comment

Brett,
Maybe I’m reading it wrong but seems to me that all W’s have spring in their step
& their energy is paramount.
Jools-USA

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Jameswm said | July 3rd 2009 @ 8:51am | Report comment

Brett – Don’t forget Peter Hynes. He’s a valuable 4th member who cake the place of either winger in that back 3.

And the Waratahs are benefiting from it, with two of those back 3 playing for us next year.

Now with Berrick Barnes at 5/8, we’ll be looking a lot stronger…

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Brett McKay said | July 3rd 2009 @ 9:02am | Report comment

Jools, I’d say you’re spot on, there’s a sense that they know there onto something. I just focussed on the the back three, because I think they’ll be the key benefactors.

And Jameswm, I certainly haven’t forgotten about Hynes, or Ioane either, but at this point in time neither deserve to slot straight back into the XV. That’s not a slight on either Hynes or Ioane, more a tip of the hat to the form of Turner, Mitchell and Ashley-Cooper.

Likewise, there’s a similar spark developing between Giteau, Barnes and Mortlock, and while Giteau and Barnes will quite likely alternate between 10 and 12 during games (I like the assurance of Barnes at 12, btw), Mortlock is gaining in confidence knowing that his ball-players are pointing him toward half-gaps, rather than him trying to make them himself.

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bennalong said | July 3rd 2009 @ 9:08am | Report comment

The Wallabies looked soon after Robbie Deans started laying out cones at Manly oval that first training day.

He hasn’t had much time and the results have been mixed, but from that early start the impression of a rejuvenated side has been strengthened.Certainly they have run smoothly off the blocks this season and the coincidence of a bad start by the AB’s inclines you to optimism

But the depth of NZ rugby suggests that if expectations for this year are too high then positivity may turn if there are more disappointing results. The advantage of having old heads in the side is their ability to shut out the bull, good or bad, and go out to do the job

Reports have always suggested that in both the Tahs and the Wallabies, Tuquiri has played a good mentors role. Having the bureaucrats acting in a peremptory way against a valued member of the team (which despite the anti-league/ big money groups pleasure I believe he is) could have negative effects.

Under Deans, and given Lote’s absence from the playing side, I am hopeful this will not be the case. But to ignore the threat to a team’s pride of being treated with disdain by the Mullahs, would be a grave mistake.

In McQueen’s time the ARU was quiet. JON is a money man, not a RUGBY man

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johnny-boy said | July 3rd 2009 @ 9:13am | Report comment

Lote won’t own up because he’s too embarassed. Doesnt say much about his Manager (guess who
Genia is a great choice – he may force Burgess to stop resting on his laurels and finally learn to
pull his finger out and learn to pass off the floor sharp and to play smart rather than smarty pants.
Genia will be 1st choice before too long and can look to a great career if he stays cool.
When you think about it, Deans did an amazing job getting a hopeless post Jones and Connolly rabble Wallabies outfit only a few points away from taking out the Tri-Nations and Bledisloe last year after only after a few weeks. This year will be fun.
Love John O’Neill or hate him, he delivers.

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johnny-boy said | July 3rd 2009 @ 9:17am | Report comment

The best nickname I can think of for John O’Neill is ‘The Gynaecologist’. You may not like where his hands have been but …..

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Nird99 said | July 3rd 2009 @ 9:56am | Report comment

I think my big improver this year is Ashley Cooper. He is a very solid runner of the ball, his kicking game has improved dramatically and he is starting to look at his options a bit better. I think it helps that there seems to be more support from his wingers, and that there is more of a game plan than kick and hope.

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