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2015 Rugby World Cup preview - Australia (Part 1)

Roar Guru
22nd December, 2014
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Israel Folau is the best played in the Wallabies side after Dave Pocock - time to make him captain? (AAP Image/Tony McDonough)
Roar Guru
22nd December, 2014
54
2065 Reads

The Rugby World Cup is now just nine months away. With the Southern Hemisphere’s nations having now completed their Spring tours, now is the perfect time to preview where each of the Wallabies stand heading into the tournament.

Australia are one of the best teams in the world at playing attacking, try-scoring rugby. In the past, they have shown their ability to beat teams of the highest calibre by scoring with limited possession.

Their back line is one of, if not the best attacking back-lines in international rugby, with an abundance of gifted players such as Adam Ashley-Cooper, Henry Speight and Israel Folau. Australia specialises in playmaking five-eighths and inside centres, as these types of players facilitate the attacking axis at first and second receiver. This style of play is hugely popular in the Southern Hemisphere as it gets the most out of hard running outside backs.

Bernard Foley is an excellent playmaking five-eighth, as is Quade Cooper, who can be just as effective at 12. Matt Toomua is a creative playmaker who normally plays at 10 at club level, but has played at 12 in most of his international games. Kurtley Beale, too, is a creative genius who is best suited to 12 although he has previously started at 10 against New Zealand and played fairly well in that position. He has also played a lot of international rugby at fullback.

The problem with these types of players, however, is that although their creativity is valuable, it is counter-productive to have too many of them on the pitch at one time. This was demonstrated in Australia’s most recent game against Ireland, where in the second half Beale was brought on at 13 for the injured Tevita Kuridrani, Cooper was brought on at 10 for Foley and Toomua remained at inside centre.

Although the three in tandem were quite threatening, there were several instances where they had opened up the Irish defence only to butcher the chance by attempting to run different angles off of one another, each trying to create something brilliant.

There is no need to have any more than two of these creative playmakers on the pitch at any one time, as there has to be a balance between the creative genius of Foley and co. and the direct running and finishing ability of players like Ashley-Cooper, Speight and Folau.

Despite their abundance of quality out wide, Australia’s forward play, especially their set-pieces, remains the Wallabies’ biggest weakness. Without Stephen Moore Australia’s set-pieces usually disintegrate, as, apart from Tatafu Polota-Nau, Australia’s hookers are not up to international standard.

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Compounding this, the Australian props have traditionally been poor scrummagers compared to their international counterparts. They have shown before, though, their ability to be tactically astute, play the game in the areas which best suit them and to minimise the number of set-pieces per game.

Apart from their front-row problems, Australia have been hit badly by injuries in the back row in recent months. They have not had a world-class blindside flanker since Rocky Elsom’s injury problems began in 2010, although in recent times Ben Mowen and Scott Fardy have proven to be more than competent at Test level.

They have a number of quality players at number eight in Wycliff Palu, Scott Higginbotham and Ben McCalman, but are rarely able to have the three to choose from at any one time due to injury. However, Michael Hooper at openside flanker is one of the most talented, in-form openside flankers in world rugby.

Although they have a much weaker scrum than Wales and England, Australia should qualify from their pool. They have a significant psychological edge over Wales, having won their last ten games against the Welsh.

As for their pool game against England, if they can find a solution to their scrum woes and front up physically, then they have the talent out wide to win that game as well, giving them a great chance of topping their pool.

As for how far they progress beyond the pool stages, a significant factor which will come into play for Australia is weather conditions. As mentioned earlier, they are intelligent enough to play the game in the right areas, but a rainy October day against a team like South Africa or England could very well be their undoing.

Tomorrow I will discuss the coaching dramas that have surrounded the Wallabies over the past three years, you don’t want to miss it.

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