Wallaby leak: Barnes to play flyhalf, Giteau inside centre
Wallabies coach Robbie Deans is keeping his cards characteristically close to his chest but it appears utility back Adam Ashley-Cooper has been peeking over his shoulder.
Ashley-Cooper on Monday confirmed rampant speculation that new vice-captain Berrick Barnes will be Australia’s new flyhalf on the Wallabies end-of-season tour, with incumbent playmaker Matt Giteau shifting to inside centre.
Barnes and Giteau have recently been sharing the playmaking role but Ashley-Cooper backed Barnes to run on wearing the No.10 jersey for the fourth Bledisloe Cup match against New Zealand in Tokyo.
“They’re both very good directors of the game and great callers, but I guess you’ve got to play to your strengths,” Ashley-Cooper told AAP from Wallabies camp in Coogee.
“Barnesy likes calling so maybe he’ll play 10 and Gits has always played his best football at 12 so I think that could work and we hope it works.
“The best thing about it is, it doesn’t matter who starts where … and that’s the beauty of it.
“We’ve never had a team where both 10 and 12 can play 10 dominantly and that’s going to create a lot of attacking options.
“Sharing No.10 changes up the landscape of the attack and mixing it up in the backline creates a lot of doubt when you defend against it.”
The charismatic 25-year-old admits while he expects a shift in the backline to reap rewards, he doesn’t know where exactly he’ll fit into Deans’ plans.
Veteran centre Stirling Mortlock is intent on regaining his No.13 jersey after injury and if Deans sees it the former captain’s way Ashley-Cooper will have to unseat incumbent fullback James O’Connor to stay in the starting XV.
Ashley-Cooper said he doesn’t mind what number he wears on his back during the month-long Grand Slam tour, and neither does anyone else in the squad.
“I’ve done a lot of swapping over the time and if Dingo (Deans) decides to swap me again, it wouldn’t bother me at all,” he said.
“You just don’t know do you, that’s what Robbie does, he keeps his cards very close to his chest and that’s why competition (within the squad) is so tough.
“It keeps everyone guessing and you just don’t know until team selection, until your name is on that board and it’s official, do you know what position you are playing.
“If Stirling comes back I’d assume he’d move back into the 13 role.
“All I’ve got to do now is train well and do everything I can to get a number on my back.
“I guess the unknown has allowed me to get where I am today, the unknown, a little bit of fear, you’ve just got to use it in the right way,” he said with a grin.
The Wallabies record against Cardiff
Dec 28, 1908 – Cardiff 24 Australia 8
Sept 27, 1947 – Cardiff 11 Australia 3
Dec 14, 1957 – Cardiff 14 Australia 11
Nov 5, 1966 – Cardiff 14 Australia 8
Nov 1, 1975 – Cardiff 14 Australia 9
Oct 24, 1984 – Cardiff 16 Australia 12
Wallabies 2009 Spring Tour schedule after match against Cardiff was added
Oct 31 v All Blacks in Tokyo
Nov 3 v Gloucester at Kingsholm
Nov 7 v England at Twickenham
Nov 15 v Ireland at Croke Park
Nov 21 v Scotland at Murrayfield
Nov 24 v Cardiff at Cardiff City Stadium
Nov 28 v Wales at Millennium Stadium
© AAP 2012
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Parisien said | October 20th 2009 @ 3:12am | Report comment
Hope Deans finally picks the right team! What’s taken him so long? Barnes at 10, Giteau at 12 and Mortlock back at 13 for physical presence and experience in the centres – that looks like a good backline, with Cooper, O’Connor and Ioane or AAC as the position back-ups. Now Deans needs to gets his strategies right and use his bench more wisely.
For Fullback – too bad Gerard left, we need Shepherd back fully fit next year. AAC could hold till then, he is quite safe, but he’s not really a fullback, and while he is a good runner, he sometimes holds onto the ball instead of passing, going it alone. Its all very well to make some good breaks and gain metres but not if you don’t then pass the ball to a better placed team-mate and the move fizzles out, as we saw in Wellington.
O’Connor doesn’t know how to jump and contest a high ball, and while very talented is too young and green. He needs to be groomed over time for 12. For want of better options, I would be interested in seeing Hynes get a tryout at fullback. He has a good skill set and can defend well, jump for the high balls, kick well and counter attack. My only criticism is that in the last few games he sometimes isolates himself from support players in counter attack.
Spiro Zavos said | October 20th 2009 @ 7:05am | Report comment
I’m intriqued with the way some of the players like Adam Ashley-Cooper and reporters refer to Robbie Deans by the nickname ‘Dingo.’ My understanding of Australian slang is that ‘dingo’ is not an affectionate term but a term suggesting a certain cowardice and slyness, as in ‘he was a dingo when it came to doing the right thing.’ Deans, as a player, a coach and an outstanding man, should never be put into this category, even in jest.
My questions therefore are these: who gave Deans this unfortunate nickname? And why are the players using it when they should know better?
As for the Barnes/Giteau playmaker role, it is clear that Giteau is being put into a straight jacket when he has to run the backline. He is an instinctive player and works best when allowed to play his natural, instinctive game.
Barnes on the other hand is a more conventional player with good passing and kicking skills and an assertive personality who likes the run things, the ideal playmaker in other words.
Readers of The Roar will know that I have argued for some time that Giteau should be allowed to play on the wing in the manner of Shane Williams or going back further in time, to the great David Campese.
Evan Whitton, the nonpareil of rugby writers, reckons that outside centre is the real place for Giteau.
Bay35Pablo said | October 20th 2009 @ 7:51am | Report comment
Spiro, ask your mate Growden, he seemed to be bandying it around when Deans first got the gig. He either knows where it came from, or he just made it up.
Don’t be surprised if it was given to him by the Kiwis, who wouldn’t know the connotations it has.
Beanpole said | October 20th 2009 @ 12:31pm | Report comment
Yes, Growden christened him Dingo Deans in the SMH around the time of his first press conference as Aussie coach.
Dean Pantio said | October 20th 2009 @ 8:09am | Report comment
That Shane Williams was allowed to leave the circus and play with adults is surprising. That Wales didn’t have someone else in the village who could catch and run fast is astonishing, but the most bewildering suggestion is someone without the genuine pace required would be well suited to the position.
Giteau doesn’t have the experience to run a backline defensively from centre, let alone the tackling dependability. He is, given his skill set, best suited to 2nd 5/8. I would hardly call it a Wallaby leak given they swapped positions during the “trial” and practically everyone has been calling for this positional switch.
Jason W said | October 20th 2009 @ 10:53am | Report comment
Spiro
I was just thinking that recently too. As a kiwi I didn’t realise there were negative connotations, but I was a bit sus about a kiwi getting a particularly aussie nickname and whether he actually likes it. We may think he is a turn coat bastard but one would hope he still knows where he comes from.
Justin said | October 20th 2009 @ 4:18pm | Report comment
Giteau at 15 maybe but you are having a laugh with him on a wing or 13…
Hansie said | October 20th 2009 @ 8:21pm | Report comment
Yep, it’s an SMH nickname. Spiro, isn’t your comment a little too defensive of Deans? It’s a nickname, commonly used, and with no malice. I’m more worried about Deans’ poor coaching record at test level, rather than what nickname is bestowed on him by the SMH.
Bruiser said | October 20th 2009 @ 8:30pm | Report comment
Spiro,
I think this is one of your attempts at simply trying to stir trouble. Simply put i don’t think it has any negative connotation at all. While your definition might be true to the mark, i think it is rather a play on words and an affectionate one at that. If Growden didn’t do it then someone else would have, given our liking for doing this sort of thing as Aussies.
BTW, Giteau should be 12 and needs a good kick up the ass in order to facilitate that. I just hope that with the money he’s getting paid he’s not bigger than the Team. I don’t want to read into what’s necessarily being said in the press or from looking at the photos, but i hope he can suck it up, take the money and still perform.
wannabprop said | October 20th 2009 @ 10:13pm | Report comment
I suspect it’s a generational thing – I seriously doubt this young crop of Wallabies knows of the use of ‘Dingo’ as a derogatory term, and they are indeed using it affectionately and in jovial alliteration. If they are not, then the ‘group’ is seriously dysfunctional…
TheLateJC said | October 20th 2009 @ 7:32am | Report comment
I’ve never heard ‘dingo’ used to describe behaviour at all. A greater tradition in this country is to invent terms on the fly, so it might just have been a one off Spiro
Dingo Deans sounds ok to me, except for the fact that he is a kiwi and reminds us of this from time to time… Hopefully he will resist temptation to talk up NZ prior to Tokyo.
Brett McKay said | October 20th 2009 @ 7:35am | Report comment
Spiro, I think you need to direct your ‘Dingo’ question to your sometime colleagues at the SMH, I’m sure it came from them..
Barnes to 10, Giteau to 12 is hardly a huge surprise, Deans even hinted at it himself in the last week or so. I think we all agree it’s a good move, though of course only time will tell, and that time in 31 Oct in Tokyo..
Parisien said | October 20th 2009 @ 7:49am | Report comment
I don’t like the nickname Dingo either, but first saw it used for Deans by Greg Growden not long after the coach’s appointment. I guess the irony is amusing for many who use it, the dingo being a quintessentially Australian animal and Deans a true kiwi, and there is a certain ring with the alliteration.
Interesting thoughts about Giteau but is he as fast and elusive as Williams or as clever as Campese? It would be interesting to see him one day play on the wing to see how he goes, but in the meantime I think the Wallabies need him at 12 as I don’t think there is anyone else ready to step up right now.
fox said | October 20th 2009 @ 7:59am | Report comment
“We’ve never had a team where both 10 and 12 can play 10 dominantly” – and this is still the case, at least for now.
I don’t read anything into the nickname “Dingo” other than it being a term of affection. It certainly doesn’t appear to be used disrespectfully. AAC is not stupid and would know better than the deride his national coach, particularly when there have recently been a few heads on display on top of the Fort Wallaby walls.
I’d be surprised to see Mortlock keep the 13 jersey. It is more likely that Deans will opt for AAC at 13 and retain O’Connor at fullback, although my preference would be to take a leap as soon as possible and give Ioane the 13 jersey, switch AAC back to fullback and move O’Connor to the bench (or to the wing) and let him play his way back into form from there. Fullbacks and wings will be a rotating prospect until the dust settles and with Cameron Sheperd still to return. I expect him to be pushing for a place next year, as he was brilliant early on this year prior to the injury.
Mr Mac said | October 20th 2009 @ 8:28am | Report comment
I agree with Spiro re the name Dingo.
I have always seen it a s derogitory – as in “he’s a bit of a dingo” or “he dingoed it”
I was surprised when it was firt used that no one ever commented.
Vented Relief said | October 20th 2009 @ 9:12am | Report comment
I have never heard of the phrases “he dingoed it” or “he’s a bit of a dingo”. I’ve heard of dingbat. and dingaling. Maybe I’m not old enough.
Perhaps we should refer to him as Aussie Robbie – that’s another stupid expression the media puts on our imported coaching and playing stars (Aussie Kim Clijsters, Aussie Guus Hiddink, Aussie Joe Bugner).
Stash said | October 20th 2009 @ 9:51am | Report comment
Hey – why not play two fly-halfs at the same time and increase kicking options to confuse the enemy – that’s original Deans.
It didn’t work for NZ with Carter/Donald combination. Tho I think the ABs find it hard to anticipate Donald even when he’s playing 10. Seemed to create more confusion than cohesion for the support. Saying that, NZ did abandon this after 1 game (being such a disaster as it was).
Deans does”t have too much choice here – Gits has been ineffectual at 10 this year and he needs both guys on the field.Barnes has looked sharper this year – but I thinks he needs that extra step that will not be afforded him if he stays at 10 and doesn’t interchange during the game.
Stash said | October 20th 2009 @ 9:53am | Report comment
ohh yes….better Dingo Deans than Kiwi Deans – (particularly when you guys are on tour)