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Much of the debate about Michael Cheika’s management of the Wallabies squad in the lead-up to the Rugby World Cup next week has centered on the revolving door of the scrumhalf and fly-half combinations.
Cheika has been seemingly trialling Phipps, White and Genia at 9, and Foley, Cooper and Toomua at 10. There is even a suggestion that the selection door might continue to spin during the tournament, in defiance of the sporting truism that a settled team is a potent team.
The other big debating point has been the set piece: the focus, in fact, of the entire Super rugby season.
The assumption in the professional and demi-professional punditry has been that Cheika has in contrast got the outside backs, particularly the left and right wing positions, pretty well sorted. I don’t think this is the case.
In his squad of 31, Cheika has five wing options in Drew Mitchell, Rob Horne, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Joe Tomane and Henry Speight.
The coach has a bunch of robust and capable finishers here, with two of the group – both Mitchell and Adam Ashley-Cooper are 31 years of age – particularly seasoned.
But really the only one of the five capable of keeping an anxious opponent awake at night in anticipation of game day is Speight, and he appears – unless his training load post SANZAR suspension got the better of him in the Eagles fixture – to be badly down on form and confidence.
Fear, or at least uncertainty, is one of the key weapons of the coaching armory. At the moment Cheika doesn’t have that fear factor in his options at 11 and 14.
I suspect the Wallabies will remain a respected rather than a feared team. Ireland bullied them in the pool stage of the previous World Cup; our opponents this year will be looking to do the same.
Bizarrely the most exciting wing option, NSW Waratah’s Fijian-born wing Taqele Naiyaravoro, has returned home from the US Eagles game, where he scored a corner try with his one touch. He will now sort through his visa papers before heading off to play with Glasgow Warriors.
Naiyaravoro bears comparison with Jonah Lomu by reason of his height (1.94cms), weight (125 kg), speed, and power. He also has good hands, and can hurt in defence; his crunching tackle on Blues winger Frank Halai in this year’s Super rugby tournament was both clinical and emphatic.
Purists will say that he has some things to learn about positional play, is slow to turn, and needs to extend his repertoire of evasive skills. But he’s been playing rugby half his life, and is no newbie Sam Burgess.
There’s been a lot of talk about the Wallabies being outmuscled in the tight five. But if Naiyarovolo isn’t picked on the wing, opponents will be quietly planning to outmuscle the Wallabies out wide, too.
Earlier this year I interviewed Michael Cheika, and in the course of our chat asked him about Naiyaravoro’s fate.
“He’s not going anywhere,” Cheika said.
“I know how to keep him. I’ll make you a small wager that he will be playing his rugby in Australia next year.”
Well it will be a tragedy if he’s not!
It’s not only a question of how to keep him in Australian rugby; it’s how to utilise him in the World Cup. And here I remember a conversation with Robbie Deans, also in the course of a journalistic interview.
I asked Deans if Australian backline play had become too dependent on ball movement and footwork, when sometimes you just need a bloke who can run over the top of another few blokes.
Deans agreed, saying it was important to have line breakers and line benders in the backline, and he was moving in that direction. He used the example of Tevita Kuridrani at outside centre.
Naiyaravoro wasn’t on the scene then. He’s new to it even now. But the thought of him running off Kuridrani would make a dramatic impact to the look, feel and psychology of the Wallabies, even before the first blow of the whistle.
It would make for a more balanced side. With genuine threats out wide, whoever plays fly-half will also find space opening up, as defences spread, for the short pass and the inside pass to straight runners and loose forwards.
Naiyaravoro is young, just 23, and a work in progress.
But remember that Lomu was just 20, with only two All Black caps to his name when he tore through the 1995 World Cup like a cannonball.
Cheika clearly appreciates the importance of height, heft and physical dominance, for Will Skelton possesses these attributes, together with a decent pass for a big man: although his effectiveness is limited by his inability to get a good pass away in contact.
Cheika needs a monster running at speed down the sideline, as well as one powering away in the engine-room; and Naiyaravoro is the real deal just waiting for the ARU to make him a good deal.
Speight is the other. He doesn’t quite have his fellow Fijian’s physical presence, but he makes up for it with athleticism and vibrancy.
David Campese said in a column last weekend for the London Daily Telegraph: “I think Australia have a decent chance but I would say we are about a year off being a really good team.”
He’s right. In a year’s time Naiyaravoro, if handled cleverly, will be playing on one Wallaby wing and Henry Speight on the other; and that’s the year we’ll reel in the Bledisloe.
For a number of reasons Cheika may be thinking that they are not quite ready yet. They need to be made ready.
Luke Slattery is a freelance writer, editor and journalist. He has written for The Australian, the Sydney Morning Herald and The Monthly, among many others.
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.