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Nicholas Bishop highlighted how great a forward David Pocock is in his analysis. While Pocock may be the best forward in Australia that is an insufficiently ambitious benchmark for any of our Wallabies.
The objective for each Wallaby should be world domination, to be compared to the likes of Richie McCaw, Duane Vermeulen or Jerome Kaino. Pocock is not the best ‘loosie’ let alone forward. He is the best at pinching the ball but that is only part of a number seven’s skill set and is not the major emphasis for a number eight.
He might have great one man cleanouts but against the All Blacks he was beaten to the breakdown by McCaw more often than not, so doesn’t have the opportunity to make the impact that he might.
His running game is ordinary for a seven let alone an eight. He made about 40-metres off about 40 runs during the Rugby World Cup. For an eight averaging only a metre every time he touches the ball is woeful.
I would put down the lack of go forward from a proper running eight as being a major reason why the Wallabies played so defensively last year, it worked against most teams but not against the best in the world.
He can’t jump in the lineout, a necessary requirement for a Wallabies eight if we don’t want a repeat of the RWC final result.
Don’t get me wrong, I think the guy is fantastic, but if he doesn’t want to be played out of a third World Cup finals series he has a lot of work to do to diversify his game – just like McCaw did over the years.
The Wallabies need to stop putting a disproportionate load on his shoulders. He probably got them as far as they did in 2015 because they had skill gaps after the coaching and discipline debacles over the last year, but going forward relying on him to undo every All Black attack isn’t going to cut it.
The Wallabies need to be adept at using the full array of skills to gain and keep possession, winning scrums, lineouts, using counter rucking, improving other player’s pilfering skills, keeping the ball out of the breakdown by employing short passing by all players the forwards, because that is what the All Blacks do and we can’t rely on one player who might get injured to get the occasional win.
Hopefully he and his coaches will work that out, but I don’t see how the constant over the top praise by all in sundry is going to achieve that.
I also think that the Wallabies need to forget about the “Pooper” approach with dual opensides. It only worked once before they worked out how to get around it and I see no future in it.
Michael Cheika needs to bite the bullet and choose one number seven to start and a proper running and jumping number eight.
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.