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Wallaby coach Michael Cheika has stunned the rugby world by ringing in the changes to his squad for the blockbuster Bledisloe Cup clash at Eden Park tomorrow night.
Having beaten the All Blacks 27-19 at ANZ Stadium last Saturday, and working on the age-old adage of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, Cheika has dropped the best-performed Wallaby David Pocock to the bench, and selected the most inconsistent Quade Cooper to wear the 10 jersey.
I had no doubts the Wallabies would break the Bledisloe drought since 2002, and win at Eden Park for the first time since 1986, had Cheika stuck by Pocock, and picked Matt Toomua at 10.
Now I’m not so sure with the Wallabies facing the prospect of playing catch-ups by the time Pocock comes on the scene, and Toomua moves in one.
Let’s compare the two squads, with the ANZ lineup on the left:
(1) Scott Sio – same.
(2) Stephen Moore (c) – same.
(3) Sekope Kepu – same.
(4) David Mumm – Will Skelton.
(5) James Horwill – same.
(6) Scott Fardy – same.
(7) Michael Hooper – same.
(8) David Pocock – Wycliff Palu.
(9) Nick Phipps – Nic White.
(10) Bernard Foley – Quade Cooper.
(11) Drew Mitchell – Adam Ashley-Cooper.
(12) Matt Giteau – Matt Toomua.
(13) Tevita Kuridrani – same.
(14) Adam Ashley-Cooper – Henry Speight.
(15) Israel Folau – same.
(16) Tatafu Polota-Nau – same.
(17) James Slipper – same.
(18) Greg Holmes – same.
(19) Will Skelton – Dean Mumm.
(20) Ben McCalman – Kane Douglas.
(21) Nic White – David Pocock
(22) Matt Toomua – Matt Giteau.
(23) Kurtley Beale – same.
One of the major reasons why the Wallabies won at ANZ was the vast improvement in the scrum.
Sio, Moore, and Kepu remind me of the Topo Rodriguez, Tommy Lawton, Andy McIntyre front row that captured the Wallabies’ only Grand Slam in 1984, and the 1991 Rugby World Cup winning front row of Tony Daly, Phil Kearns, and Ewen McKenzie.
There can be no higher recognition.
But dropping Pocock to the bench, selecting the injury-prone and over-rated Palu at No 8, and promoting Skelton for Mumm will severely damage the effectiveness of the scrum, and mobility, around the park.
Skelton proved to be a far better propositon off the bench at ANZ when the threw his behemoth frame at the tiring All Black forwards in the second half.
He is not an 80-minute player, nor is Palu.
But there’s one selection up front that deserves a salute – lock Kane Douglas on the bench.
Could it be Cheika has a Skelton-Douglas lock combination in mind for late in the game to create their own brand of havoc?
That’s a lot of humanity – Skelton 204cm and 148kgs – Douglas 202cm and 123kgs
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Out the back, dropping Phipps and Foley was obvious after ANZ where Phipps was more intent on barking at the referee or his supports and “forgot” to send his backline on its way.
When White came on late in the game at ANZ, he sealed the victory with a 48-metre penalty and converting his own brilliant try.
He deserves to start tomorrow night on the proviso he never box kicks and concentrates solely on delivering his supports with swift accurate service.
Foley was a tower of strength last season for the Waratahs and Wallabies when his goal-kicking was world class. This season his kicking, both at goal and in general play, has dramatically fallen away, and so too his overall performance.
But Cooper isn’t the answer at 10, that belongs to Toomua.
And Cooper’s selection creates another monster to go with his inconsistent play – his inconsistent goal-kicking,
With Foley gone, White would be the back-up goal-kicker with alternatives Giteau and Beale both on the bench..
The selection of Speight over Mitchell gives the Wallabies a bigger, faster winger, while Ashley-Cooper switches wings to make way for the flying Fijian.
I make this special plea to Ashley-Cooper.
Please, please, please look inside for Folau. He’s always there, but Ashley-Cooper is so intent on the glory plays he rarely looks for support, so rarely passes.
How about making Eden Park an exception AAC?
There’s one more Russian roulette selection with only two backs out of eight on the bench and Giteau as the reserve halfback.
Michael Cheika, your selections for Eden Park are hard to understand.
Having said that, the coach has my total support and we’ll see how his rationale delivers where it counts on the park.