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The Rugby Championship: No rest for the big questions

18th September, 2014
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What will prove to be the difference between the Wallabies and All Blacks in the Rugby World Cup final? (Photo: Paul Barkley/LookPro)
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18th September, 2014
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The Rugby Championship might be taking a week off, as the Wallabies and All Blacks ready themselves to travel to the opposite ends of the earth, but not Biltong, Digger, and I.

“No bloody way,” the evil editors said. “That forum’s waaaay too popular on a Friday for you blokes to be getting a week off.” So here we are. On the bye week.

Think of our sacrifice – forced into continuing a popular international rugby forum on a bye week – while you go through some doozy questions and responses. And please, feel free to post your own thoughts, or indeed, lodge your own big question. The guys and I will tackle them during the day as we get a chance.

Brett McKay asks: With New Zealand essentially one win away from sewing up the Rugby Championship for a third straight year, will or should the last round mark the commencement of Rugby World Cup experimentation one year out?
Obviously, it all hinges on New Zealand winning their game in La Plata, but after that it wouldn’t at all surprise me if a few combinations were tweaked.

It doesn’t have to be wholesale change, or the selection of so-called ‘B teams’, but I think the last round – plus the end of year tours – would represent a good chance to tinker ahead of a reduced number of internationals next year.

For New Zealand, it might mean giving Beauden Barrett more time at 10, or even Sam Cane more time at 7. South Africa might want to look at their lock stocks, and prepare for life without Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha. Until the next comeback, of course.

For Australia, it’s probably a little harder to pinpoint some areas of possible experimentation, though backrow would certainly be one. It might also be the time to try Kurtley Beale at fullback, and see if Israel Folau is any less effective on the wing.

Argentina probably can’t though, if I’m honest. If they lose to the All Blacks next weekend, they’ll be putting out their best team possible the following week in Mendoza to try and knock the Wallabies off and record their first ever TRC win.

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Biltong: My first response to this question is no. It is too late for experimentation. Besides that, both Australia and South Africa need a win over the All Blacks, and they will find more benefit in beating the All Blacks before the Rugby World Cup than exposing an experimental player.

But on the other side of the coin, are there any players who deserve the chance to prove their worth?

In South Africa’s case, I would love to see Nizaam Carr getting an opportunity, and the same goes for Cobus Reinach.

The problem with this interesting conundrum is that continuity of selection is now becoming an issue. There aren’t many games left, and coaches should pretty much know by now who their best 23 players are.

If they still don’t know I fear they are running out of time.

Digger: Possibly, but I am unsure whether any of the coaches have been happy with the overall performances to date in terms of their expectations from the structures and game plans put in place and how they have been executed.

I would be surprised to see any major deviation from the status quo from any of the teams regardless of the standings come the final round.

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I also feel the best time will be on the EOYT where a better idea of conditions and processes can be played around with along with introducing some fresh faces.

Biltongbek asks: It took 46 minutes before Scott Fardy, Michael Hooper and Ben McCalman hit a ruck together against the Pumas on the weekend. In the few minutes Matt Hodgson was on, he hit more rucks than Hooper and Fardy. Even though Hodgson gives away 7kg to Fardy, should he replace him in the upcoming Tests?
I understand that some may have a concern that other set pieces may be impacted on selecting Hodgson. However, McCalman did take a few lineouts on the weekend, which would suggest you are not limiting the line out options that badly, you still have Simmons, Carter, and McCalman as options.

If the Australian scrum managed to handle the ‘bajada’ with Fardy, how much does a few kilos make? Hodgson is more physical in my opinion anyway, hence until the return of David Pocock it is an absolute necessity that Ewen McKenzie improve the groundwork of the Wallabies at the breakdown.

Besides that, if Pocock were available, then Australia would still have only three options at the line out.

Digger: Yes, I do think it is worth a shot. With both remaining games away, the Wallabies will need to address their breakdown presence and Hodgson can certainly offer that.

I would be concerned that his inclusion may weaken other areas of the game, particularly set piece, but in fairness, I’m not sure Fardy has been offering a whole lot more.

I think it is time to let Hodgson have a run and see what he can offer but if the Wallabies allow themselves to get dominated as a pack like in their last away match then it’s not going to matter who the blindside is.

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Brett: This would certainly fall into the type of experiment that I could see happening, and in this specific case, I would certainly like to see Hodgson tried. It would probably be less risky to run him out alongside Hooper and McCalman, but I’d also at some point like to see the Hodgson-Hooper-Higginbotham backrow tried.

Hodgson is a proper lineout option, too. The Western Force throw to him regularly, even though he is seven centimetres shorter than McCalman. He certainly possesses the ability to ‘play bigger’, so it’s arguable as to just how much would actually be given up.

Regardless, the point is that Fardy isn’t at his 2013 level unfortunately, and while it would be rough to put all of the Wallabies’ forwards issues on one player, there are certainly a lot of similarities in what the Wallabies’ pack is missing this year, and what Fardy himself seems to be falling short of.

Hodgson is in the form of his life. It would be a shame to see that form wasted without at least giving it a run at international level.

Diggercane asks: Each Rugby Championship team has one more crack at the All Blacks at home this season. If you were coach, what area of each teams play would you focus on to try and secure an elusive win?
Australia needs to up its physicality at the breakdown and demand more from numbers 4-8 in clearing the rucks and slowing down the All Blacks ball would be my major focus in training.

I feel South Africa need to play more with ball in hand but it’s not as simple as that. My focus would be encouraging the players to identify opportunities and back themselves, placing a good deal of emphasis on support play to ensure the ball runners always have support in the tackle and options for the pass.

Argentina have the pack to draw the All Black numbers in and upset their defensive patterns so whether from set piece or general play I would look to maul as often as possible, draw in the numbers and set up more runners to play off Nicolas Sanchez and Joaquín Tucalet to vary the point of attack and create options.

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Brett: I think all three teams need to be more effective at the breakdown, at the very least, in slowing down the All Blacks’ ball. The All Blacks themselves have made an art of this, and there’s no reason why they themselves wouldn’t be similarly afflicted by slow ball.

So in this regard, of the current squads, Argentina seems most capable of doing that. One of the most improved areas of their game this season has been their attack on the ball on the ground, and their ruck defence and general presence has always been better than perhaps they get credit for.

For South Africa, the loss of Francois Louw is huge, because while there are numerous capable replacements available, none of them will really replace what Louw does. And it will be interesting to see which way Heyneke Meyer goes here too.

Does Warren Whiteley come in and play something close to the traditional South African no.6 game, or does he just let Schalk Burger loose to do what only Schalk Burger can?

For the Wallabies, I just go back to my points made immediately above. If they truly want to slow the All Blacks’ ball down, the best and only player for the job is Matt Hodgson. But he isn’t enough on his own; it would also require significant lift from his other seven pigs.

Biltong: For South Africa it is simple, move away from the kick first mentality, allow players to read the situation and exploit opportunities, let them express themselves more freely.

For Australia, I would suggest the two biggest priorities are the breakdowns, and embracing the kicking game more. Their obsession with keeping ball in hand and negating the basics of territory and forward physicality doesn’t allow them to play a complete game.

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For Argentina, I think for them it is mostly about eliminating silly errors and moments of loss of concentration. The past weekend their biggest downfall was the lapse in concentration that caused them to concede soft tries. They tend to drift in and out of games.

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