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We at The Roar are loved by fans (and generally hated by clubs and organisations) because we let people say what they really think about things. In this case, we’re going to let everyone raise any question they like about the Wallabies’ Rugby World Cup squad.
So fire away, but to get you going, I’ve included a few curly questions of my own.
It’s worth flagging that a couple of questions about the squad don’t make it a bad squad. I think it’s a pretty good squad! Go Wallabies and all that.
WALLABIES RUGBY WORLD CUP SQUAD
Where’s the third hooker?
As Red Kev rightly pointed out more or less straight after the squad was announced, if you don’t have a player who can play hooker named in your 23-man squad on match day, you could risk copping a penalty from World Rugby. Is it a forfeit? Loss of points? A fine?
The laws read as follows:
If there are 23 players in a squad, you must name “Six players who can play in the front row”.
Now that introduces a little bit of vagary. The law goes on to say.
(b) Prior to the match teams must advise the referee of their front row players and replacements [six in total in international matches]. Each player in the front row and any potential replacements must be suitably trained and experienced.
(c) The replacement of a front row player must come from the suitably trained and experienced players who started the match or from nominated replacements. A player other than a nominated front row player is permitted to play in the front row only when uncontested scrums are being played and there are no available front row replacements.
(d) A suitably trained and experienced front row forward may start the match in another position.
That makes it much clearer.
There’s no third suitably trained hooker to our knowledge in that squad, so what happens if Steven Moore or Tatafu Polota-Nau get injured? Is Toby Smith in super secret hooker training?
If that’s not the case, then why are the Wallabies taking a huge gamble and picking only two? That means that if one goes down, we’re done. Could it be game over before it began (unless we replace one of the hookers in the squad, in which case there’s no swapsies back allowed).
This is what Wikipedia (not that it’s uncited) says about this issue:
Only players in these squads will be eligible to take part; a player can be replaced for medical or compassionate reasons, but would not be allowed to return to the squad. There is also a stand-down period of 72 hours before the new player is allowed to take the field.
That would be a terrible thing to happen at a Rugby World Cup.
UPDATE: The laws here are long and complex, but the gist of it is that you can name a 22-man team if you don’t have a suitable replacement hooker. There is no mention of the sanctions, and the full laws are published in a comment below.
Where do you get the extra spot from if you can only name 31 players (which, after all, equates to two players in every position, pretty much).
Well, we’ve named four flankers and two number 8s, including Sean McMahon for some reason. There’s also no Scott Higginbotham, who handily can play both 6 and 8. He’s also from the Rebels, so could fill any imaginary Rebels quota.
Then we’ve named Wycliff Palu, who played as poorly against New Zealand at Eden Park as Higginbotham did against South Africa. These are the questions, people, to which there are no answers.
We also named five wingers. Everyone knows you need more wingers.
Which leads us to…
Why have we named five wingers?
This question pretty well asks itself.
They’re all good players, but do you really want five basically wingers instead of, say, another outside centre or fullback? Is Rob Horne REALLY that different to Henry Speight, to Ashley-Cooper, to Joe Tomane? Are they all going to get game time? Like, actually?
Or we could have named another halfback you know. Which brings us to…
Why is Nic White not there?
Oh, hey Nic White, thanks for winning us that game against New Zealand that time recently.
You’ve got great finishing skills, and can kick goals from 50 metres. That’s why it was so hard to cut you.
Kane Douglas is there? Am I missing something?
I’m sure Kane Douglas is a ripper bloke, and I have nothing against him or the way he plays the game. But what happened to James Horwill and all those good performances in the Rugby Championship? It looks to me, through my squad-specific magnifying glass, to be another case of the Nic Whites and the fast-vanishing cred for playing well.
It will go down as one of life’s great mysteries, like why cigar nubs get so unspeakably gross, or what happened to your golf ball when you hit it dead straight down the fairway, and suddenly it’s gone.
Nothing a press release apology from Michael Cheika can’t fix, I suppose.
Alright Roarers, those are my curly questions for Cheika. What are yours?
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.