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Despite a terrible performance from the Wallabies against the All Blacks in Auckland in their last match, Ewen McKenzie has decided to stick with the same starting forward pack this week, apart from a change forced by injury.
The changes to the team largely come in the back line with both Nic White and Kurtley Beale demoted to the bench with Nick Phipps and Bernard Foley to start this week against the Springboks.
The other change is to reinstate Tevita Kuridrani to the starting line-up at outside centre and move Adam Ashley-Cooper to the wing.
I agree that all of those changes needed to be made, even if Pat McCabe hadn’t suffered his career ending injury. I think that back line will be a vast improvement over what we’ve seen in the two matches against the All Blacks.
But what about the forward pack? What a leap of faith from McKenzie to persist with players that have shown very little in the last two matches. In my opinion Sam Carter, Scott Fardy and Wycliff Palu, in that order, can count themselves very lucky.
If the Wallabies are to be competitive against the Springboks it is the forward pack, not the back line, that must improve significantly, and I have my doubts that this will occur without adding some fresh faces into the starting team.
Carter has looked well out of form and was actually a liability in the last match with upright ball carries and poor ball control. What has probably saved him is the poor showing from Will Skelton in the limited time he got off the bench. Had Skelton performed anywhere near his destructive best he would surely have grabbed the starting spot over Carter.
Instead it’s James Horwill that has grabbed the bench lock spot over Skelton. After watching Skelton and Horwill play in the Buildcorp NRC over the weekend this was an obvious decision. Skelton made every little impact for the Sydney Stars whereas Horwill looked in good form for Brisbane City.
I’m actually surprised that Horwill isn’t starting with Carter moved to the bench.
Rob Simmons hasn’t performed well enough either in the matches against the All Blacks, but he was never under any selection pressure without a clear alternative lineout caller in the starting team.
I often see people make the suggestion that it can’t be that hard to call lineouts and therefore this shouldn’t justify any player being selected. If you believe that, you’re wrong!
Anyone can call a lineout, but calling a lineout that can secure ball at any higher level of rugby is a difficult skill that takes a lot of work to do competently. The last thing the Wallabies could afford to do is put their lineout under any more pressure than it already will be from the Springboks.
The only experienced options the Wallabies have are Horwill and Scott Higginbotham, so unless they’re in the starting team then Simmons is a certain selection.
Fardy hasn’t produced anywhere near his best for the Wallabies this year and I am surprised Higginbotham wasn’t given the start this week. He added some real energy to the team when he came off the bench against the All Blacks. But Fardy is a quality player who will be a key member of the Wallabies team if he can regain form.
Palu hasn’t played well over the last two matches but it wasn’t that long ago that he was in good form, so he was an obvious retention in the starting side. However, if he doesn’t start to show some form soon he’ll also be under pressure from Higginbotham.
Michael Hooper has been a tireless performer for the Wallabies and played as well as he was allowed to by the All Blacks. There can be no doubting his effort, speed, skills in attack and importance to the team. But his lack of physical influence against the big, physical packs of New Zealand, South Africa and England was evident in the last two matches.
Hooper’s key weapon to counter the physicality of the opposition is his speed to the contest, and he uses that asset very well. But in the last match he was having to do extra work to cover for Fardy and Palu. I thought he was actually trying too hard, but at least he was giving it his all.
In a balanced backrow with all three players functioning well, Hooper’s lack of physicality can be covered, allowing him to focus on the other areas of his game where he can make a difference. But if he’s carrying the other members of the backrow, a player like Matt Hodgson is better equipped to fill that role and that’s why I think McKenzie has included him on the bench this week.
Is this situation Hooper’s problem? No, and that’s why I’m surprised McKenzie hasn’t opted to make a change to the starting team to get some balance.
On the front row, there are no options on the bench or in the stands that will improve performance at this time and there won’t be until Scott Sio is fit again. Benn Robinson is well down the pecking order based on scrum performance alone. I don’t think his work rate (or lack of it) even comes into the equation at this time.
I’m sure there were many people who watched him scrummage against the UC Vikings last week in the NRC that would have been as surprised as I was in how ineffectual he was.
I’ve included a short clip below showing how the Wallaby coaches are trying to encourage the forwards to show some more skills in attack.
In this example Simmons is the ball player and after taking the ball he turns his back to the opposition with Palu and Sekope Kepu running close lines either side of him. Simmons can then make a choice as to which player he passes to and in this example he chooses Kepu.
It’s not a bad play but it will take a lot more than options like this to dent the Springbok defensive line this week – it will take some old fashioned physicality. Let’s hope the Wallaby forwards step up.