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Cheika will surely mix up his selections against England

Roar Guru
30th May, 2016
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David Pocock is better than Mike Hooper. Simple. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
Roar Guru
30th May, 2016
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2685 Reads

With the debate around the selections for the upcoming Wallabies Test series against England, it’s a good time to review Michael Cheika’s selection strategies from 2015.

First, let’s look at the forwards.

During the first two games of the Rugby Championship against South Africa and Argentina, Cheika’s preferred approach for forward play emphasised big ball runners to make metres up the middle of the park, sucking in defenders and creating opportunities out wide.

However, when the potential of Michael Hooper and David Pocock in the “Pooper” combination became apparent, Cheika put them both on the park at ANZ stadium to play a major part in getting the Wallabies their first win against the All Blacks in four years.

Not finished with his experimentation though, he went back to the big ball-running approach for the second Bledisloe Test at Eden Park, and the Wallabies got flogged.

The Pooper combination was used against major opponents from then on until the World Cup final. In that game, the All Blacks found a way to beat them with aggression at the breakdown, smart playmaking and tactical kicking, all the while taking advantage of their taller pack in the lineout. The weaknesses of the Pooper combination were exposed, and Cheika now needs to find a solution to those if he is to use it again.

The backline selections during the Rugby Championship games were less an audition for a combination of players than it was for fly-half, with the other first-pick backs seeming to be well ahead of their nearest rivals in Cheika’s mind. Of course, we all know the results, a rusty, post-injury Quade Cooper did not impress and his outrageous skills were set aside for the more limited but more reliable Bernard Foley.

So what does this tell us about the likely selections in the upcoming England Test? Cheika won’t be adopting a “pick and stick” strategy and every player selected in the squad will get a run in Gold. Sure, the majority of the positions will stay with the incumbents, but Cheika will be making significant changes as he goes through the tournament to keep his wily old mate Eddie on his toes.

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The two big questions around the Wallabies’ approach which comes to mind are around the loose forwards and the centre pairing, with different approaches to each having flow-on effects for selections in the forwards and backs respectively. Who gets a run on the wing is also in question, though that will likely to just come down to individual form.

In the forwards, the question is whether the Pooper combination has run its course, or has Cheika come up with a way to make use of two shorter loose forwards without giving up so much in the lineout and running the ball?

Comments recently on Rugby 360 by Cheika indicated he is considering using three smaller loosies at a time – the Pooper combination plus Sean McMahon – and suggested he has a plan to compensate for the disadvantage at the lineout.

My feeling is at some time in the series we will see the “McPooper” combo on the park, but I also think Cheika will try his more traditional approach as well. He wouldn’t have Will Skelton in the training squad if he wasn’t considering using him, and Cheika can’t use him and three small loosies at once. The lineout would be a disaster.

In the centres, Cheika will switch between starting a traditional playmaking inside-centre with a ball-running 13 to ball runners at both centre positions. That, of course, will have flow-on impacts, with a playmaking fullback being required for the second option.

If Cheika wants to play the Pooper combination, he will be likely to use the all-power approach in the backs in order to compensate for the lack of a ball-running eight

So the motto of the story is, don’t get too attached to any team selection during this series, because it is likely to change. It is Cheika’s only opportunity to nail down a couple of options with which to face the All Blacks on August 20 in his Quest to bring back the Bledisloe after more than a decade of it residing on the wrong side of the Ditch. Based on what he did last year, I’ll back him to make the most of it.

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