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Michael Cheika is in Bordeaux, home of one of the most spectacularly mean front rows ever to play for France – Serge Simon, Vincent Moscato and Phillipe Gimbert. Speak their names in a whisper. Any louder, and you might find yourself as bloody pulp on the floor.
Cheika is seeking something of the same grit, the same ability to inspire apprehension in the opponent which that trio inspired.
He is reconnecting with the lost Europeans – men of proven Wallaby calibre, or those who were on their way to becoming so when they left Australian shores to become emigrés.
The exiled, the disenfranchised – Ben Mowen, who retired as captain of the Wallabies aged only 29, Peter Kimlin, the big lock/no.6 hybrid who became a mainstay of the Brumbies between 2007-2013 before leaving for Grenoble. Mark Gerrard, a Narrabeen native and Wallaby outside back who now plies his trade in Japan, for the evocatively-named Toyota Industries Shuttles.
Cheika is disappointed by the 19-11 to the French Barbarians loss suffered by his patchwork Wallaby XV. But he does not know that Christmas is just around the corner.
As the coach contemplates the last two matches of Australia’s tour (against Ireland and England) under a furrowed brow, he doesn’t hear the crunch of snow under a heavy boot, the distant jangle of sleigh-bells, the echo of a jovial belly-laugh.
Santa Claus is here, on the west coast of France, ready to grant Michael Cheika his one Christmas wish. Eyes closed and hands clasped tight in front of his chest, the Wallaby head coach prays for an answer to his petition – the return of all eligible Australians playing rugby outside their home country.
Spool a few months further on, and a draft of the returning exiles is held on the grandest of stages – the Sydney Opera House – under the auspices of the ARU, who also have a say in who goes where. They want to build all five franchises up to the point where they can genuinely challenge their counterparts from New Zealand.
Soon Bill Pulver is reading out the first pick, as the clamour of thousands of supporters in the audience and outside the building momentarily subsides.
| Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th |
| Force | Adam Ashley-Cooper |
Greg Holmes | James Horwill | Nic White | James O’Connor |
| Reds | Kurtley Beale | Will Genia | Paul Alo-Emile | Dave Dennis | Peter Betham |
| Rebels | Matt Toomua | Jesse Mogg | Hugh Pyle | Berrick Barnes | Lachie Turner |
| Waratahs | Drew Mitchell | Luke Jones | Matt Giteau (player/coach) | Mike Harris | Ben Tapuai |
| Brumbies | Ben Mowen | Joe Tomane | Liam Gill | Nathan Charles | Cameron Orr |
After the draft has ended, there remains an attractive ‘pot’ of free agents for the franchises to further bolster their squads – among whom Sitaleki Timani, John Ulugia, Curtis Browning, Julian Salvi, Mitch Lees, Salesi Ma’afu, Lachie McCaffrey and Kieran Longbottom are available in the forwards; and Zack Holmes and Brock James in the backs.
The Roar beat reporter asks representatives of all the franchises for the reasons behind their selections and a likely 23-man match-day squad for the coming season…
Western Force
“Our needs were in the front five and a player who could play in the both the back-three and at centre. Our 23-man squad will look like this”:
1. Pek Cowan, 2. Tatafu Polota-Nau, 3. Greg Holmes,
4. James Horwill, 5. Adam Coleman, 6. Peter Kimlin, 7. Matt Hodgson, 8. Ben McCalman,
9. Nic White, 10. Jono Lance, 11. James O’Connor, 12. Billy Meakes, 13. Adam Ashley-Cooper
14. Luke Morahan, 15. Dane Haylett-Petty
16. Ben Daley, 17. Harry Scoble, 18. Kieran Longbottom, 19. Ben Matwijow, 20. Richard Hardwick, 21. Ryan Louwrens, 22. Brock James, 23. Robbie Coleman.
“We’ve really boosted our tight five and our lineout in particular, while the experience of Adam Ashley-Cooper and Nic White will give us far more direction in the backs”.
Reds
“We identified improvements in the centres and back-three as our primary concern”:
1. James Slipper, 2. Stephen Moore, 3. Paul Alo-Emile,
4. Kane Douglas, 5. Rob Simmons, 6. Dave Dennis, 7. George Smith, 8. Scott Higginbotham,
9. Will Genia, 10. Quade Cooper, 11. Peter Betham, 12. Karmichael Hunt, 13. Samu Kerevi
14. Chris Feauai-Sautia, 15. Kurtley Beale
16. Sef Fa’agase, 17. Andrew Ready, 18. Taniela Tupou, 19. Caderyn Neville, 20. Leroy Houston, 21. Nick Frisby, 22. Campbell Magnay, 23. Eto Nabuli
“Will Genia was too good to pass up in the second round and we’ve added real firepower in the backs with the arrival of Kurtley and Peter Betham”.
Rebels
“Centre and fullback were critical for us going in and we’ve added some great players in those positions”:
1. Toby Smith, 2. James Hanson, 3. Laurie Weeks,
4. Dominic Day, 5. Hugh Pyle, 6. Jordy Reid, 7. Sean McMahon, 8. Lopeti Timani,
9. Nic Stirzaker, 10. Jack Debreczeni, 11. Marika Koroibete, 12. Matt Toomua, 13. Reece Hodge,
14. Sef Naivalu, 15. Jesse Mogg
16. Cruze Ah-Nau, 17. John Ulugia, 18. Salesi Ma’afu, 19. Alex Toolis, 20. Colby Fainga’a, 21. Ben Meehan, 22. Berrick Barnes, 23. Lachie Turner
“With Day and Pyle, Lopeti can drop back to number 8 and form a great back-row with Jordy and Sean. Matt Toomua will be Jack’s eyes and ears at 10”.
Waratahs
“We felt we need more depth in the back five forwards and someone who could play all across the back three”:
1. Paddy Ryan, 2. Tolu Latu, 3. Sekope Kepu,
4. Will Skelton, 5. Luke Jones, 6. Dean Mumm, 7. Michael Hooper, 8. Jed Holloway,
9. Nick Phipps, 10. Bernard Foley, 11. Drew Mitchell, 12. Rob Horne, 13. Israel Folau
14. Taqele Naiyaravoro, 15. Andrew Kellaway
16. Tom Robertson, 17. Damien Fitzpatrick. 18. Angus Ta’avao, 19. Jack Dempsey, 21. Sitaleki Timani, 21. Matt Lucas, 22. Matt Giteau*, 23. Ben Tapuai
“The arrival of Matt Giteau as player-coach will be of tremendous assistance in the backs and we like the balance of strength and mobility in our back five forwards!”
Brumbies
“We wanted to regain our traditional strength up front and really frighten teams again”:
1. Scott Sio, 2. Nathan Charles, 3. Allan Alaalatoa,
4. Rory Arnold, 5. Sam Carter, 6. Scott Fardy, 7. Liam Gill, 8. Ben Mowen,
9. Tomas Cubelli, 10. Christian Leali’ifano, 11. Joe Tomane, 12. Kyle Godwin, 13. Tevita Kuridrani
14. Henry Speight, 15. Aidan Toua
16. Cam Orr, 17. Saia Fainga’a, 18. Ben Alexander, 19. Tom Staniforth. 20. Chris Alcock, 21. Joe Powell, 22. Anthony Fainga’a and 23. Nigel Ah-Wong
“We have two very good front rows and a towering lineout, and we’ve brought back a number of players who call Canberra home.”
What are the benefits of emigrating to Europe for the Southern Hemisphere rugby professional? Is it really all about money and lifestyle?
The answer to that question is a subtle one. The game in the Northern Hemisphere is played much closer to the set-piece, and the refereeing of the game calls for more technical accuracy at both scrum and breakdown.
The single biggest colony of Australian professionals in the European game is to be found in Exeter, home of the Chiefs. The number of Aussies gravitating to this corner of the west country of England has grown to seven, with Greg Holmes, Dave Dennis and Lachie Turner all Wallabies, and Ollie Atkins, Mitch Lees, Julian Salvi and Ben White all qualified to play for more than one country. Dennis replaced Dean Mumm as the second row/number 6 ‘tweener’ when Mumm returned home last year.
The Exeter style of play probably appeals to the Australian, based largely around the ability to keep ball and play across the two 40m lines with ball in hand. At the same time, the premiership culture refines technique in contact and especially at the breakdown, an area I focused on after Australia’s match against Ireland
The recent game between Exeter and Bristol provided some illustrations of how techniques in contact are refined in this environment:
The following sequence is typical Exeter, with the ball reclaimed around halfway from a high kick and the Chiefs keeping the ball for two minutes and 16 phases before scoring a try:
The ball is initially re-gathered on the deck by #7 Salvi, and the Australian exiles have important roles to play thereafter. The two most interesting aspects are:
• Greg Holmes’ cleanout technique
• Mitch Lees’ carrying ability in the wide channels
Holmes is, of course, an established Wallaby international. He cleans out no less than six rucks in the sequence, at 15:32, 15:45, 15:56, 16:43, 17:00 and 17:15. At least three of his cleanouts can be described as dominant. He ‘pancakes’ the tackler at 15:45, drives out the potential jackal cleanly at 15:58 and 16:43, and tidies up the back of the ruck at 17:00.
As soon as Exeter regain possession, Mitch Lees (in the black hat) shifts over to the wide left channel at 15:33, and carries on three further occasions in that zone between the 5m-15m lines (15:50, 16:35 and 17:05), as well as ‘flattening the pile’ at a wide breakdown (15:37). Twice he is the last man on the very end of the attacking line, and the Chiefs come back to him every time the ball is slowed down at the previous ruck.
Lees has an interesting history. He was a cashier at a Sydney bank who could not get a Super Rugby contract because, at 6’6 and nearly 130 kgs, he was regarded as overweight. After the Chiefs picked him up, he became a member of the England Saxons squad to South Africa in June 2016 and came close to recognition in the full England squad in Eddie Jones’ first season.
So the perception of players can be very different in the two Hemispheres:
Holmes is used for the hard contact work in midfield at Exeter, rather than playing wider in the Stephen Moore pod for Australia. In this sequence he picks and jams right ‘up the guts’ at 41:25, while Lees comes in off the left touch-line to play a more central role in the red zone, delivering a dominant cleanout at 41:40 before latching on to No.8 Thomas Waldrom and firing him over the goal-line at 42:06.
The same themes are repeated in one final red zone sequence. Lees again latches on to the ball-carrier with great power at 34:40 before authoring a brutal cleanout at the very next breakdown, and providing a second ‘power latch’ which takes play all the way up to the Bristol goal-line at 35:00.
It’s not pretty, but it is mighty effective. Moreover, it is a quality Australia have not been able to reproduce consistently in 2016 – and that opened the door for a side with excellent defensive breakdown technique like Ireland.
Lees is the kind of forward who would be of measurable benefit to Australian rugby. He might not be good enough to play for the Wallabies, but the close-quarter techniques he has learned in the UK would pay off in Super Rugby. The same applies to Will Skelton (currently with Saracens), to Sitaleki Timani and Hugh Pyle in the middle row, and props like Paul Alo-Emile and Cameron Orr at scrum time.
If Michael Cheika’s Christmas wish ever does come true and fantasy does translate to reality, forwards like those will bring back a new bank of experience with them, which will benefit the game in Australia enormously.