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After a June International series in which more positives were found in supporter rants than anything occurring on an Australian rugby field, our attention now has to turn to what’s left of the Super Rugby season.
Even though we have this strange rugby-free weekend ahead of us in Australia this week, the fact remains that the search for form, fitness, and confidence must happen over two or three weeks in July.
Criticisms thrown the Wallabies’ way over the last month have, mostly, been well directed. They have lacked consistency. They don’t look fit enough. The skill execution and decision-making hasn’t been good enough.
How that can be, after off-seasons and 15 weeks of Super Rugby, beggars belief. If anything, it only further underlines the need for a centralised and closely coordinated strength and conditioning and skills programs. And it’s notable that the Waratahs coach doesn’t disagree with the idea.
So how do we move on? What can the Wallabies get out of these last couple of weeks individually? More importantly, what do they need to get out of these last couple of weeks?
Well, starting up front, the props certainly need to re-find some scrummaging form. That probably applies to the looseheads more than the tightheads, to be fair. Tom Robertson, Scott Sio, and Toby Smith all hit trouble against international opposition of decent quality, but still less than anyone they’ll face during the Rugby Championship. All three battled at different points during the series.
All of them can look to improve their involvements, though, and this certainly includes Allan Alaalatoa and Sekope Kepu. Overall, the number of carries and tackles attempted by the props across the series looks on the low side, and given they’re all generally in that centre corridor of the field, they definitely need to hit more attacking rucks.
Mobility around the ground and scrummaging technique improvements would be the major takeaways for the big blokes, and we can add the hookers into this mix, too.
We only saw Stephen Moore and Tatafu Polota-Nau during the series, and both need to ensure they finish the Super Rugby season on a high note personally. Polota-Nau’s lineout throwing remains a concern, while Moore will probably never get away from the ‘has he still got it?’ question at this point in his career. Moore still remains an on-field leader of immense experience, though, and that will be important during the Rugby Championship.
For the likes of Tolu Latu, along with James Hanson and even Andrew Ready, they need to finish the Super season well too, as all three could be one injury away from a call-up. Respectively, they need to stay out of trouble, stay fit, and find the form to restore a battered 2017 reputation.
Of the locks, it’s become very clear over these Tests that Adam Coleman is the leader of the pack, and almost certainly one of the first players picked. He’s had a quality series, and would be one of the few Wallabies we can genuinely say that about.
Rory Arnold was having a really good Super Rugby, but I’m not sure that carried through to the three Tests. He didn’t seem to carry as strongly as he had been, though it does at least feel like his involvements were on par.
Sam Carter is in the same boat. His tackling rate was about the same when he started the first two Tests, though it’s clear to me that he’s not really bench material. He plays the game at a pretty consistent rate, and there’s not an ability there to knock it up a cog off the bench. He’s a starter or nothing.
Of the backrowers, Michael Hooper was incredible. For all the criticisms of his game, and what he supposedly doesn’t do as a No.7, it was worryingly noticeable how many times he was a lone hand attacking the ball in a ruck situation. So, the rest of them have this to work on over the remaining games: get aggressive over the ball.
I know he came in for criticism, but there’s a huge upside to Ned Hanigan. He’s good in the lineout, he wants to play at levels of physicality that his body isn’t quite ready for, and I especially loved how he worked in tandem with Coleman at the attacking breakdown, particularly in the first two Tests.
Lopeti Timani showed a lot more in his one start than I expected fitness-wise, Scott Higginbotham certainly did drag his Super Rugby form into the Test arena, and Richard Hardwick can now include international footy in his two-game handover with the great Matt Hodgson.
Of the backs, I just hope that this attacking intent that was clearly front and centre follows the players back to Super Rugby. After 15 weeks of pretty lacklustre Super Rugby attack at times, it was wonderful to see Australian players wanting to throw the ball around.
Bernard Foley can always work on his kicking length and accuracy, and so can Dane Haylett-Petty and Karmichael Hunt, just to remind the national coaches that they have the No.10 covered and ignoring them makes no sense.
Henry Speight and ‘Super’ Sefa Naivalu showed some wonderful finishing that we definitely want to see more of – if injuries will allow that. Tevita Kuridrani had a good combination with Hunt, and it’s important that he and Kyle Godwin now work the same way back in a Brumbies jersey.
I’ll facetiously say Rob Horne doesn’t need to do anything in the last two games. Not doing a lot was enough to earn a Test recall, and it’s hard to imagine he won’t be in the frame again for the Rugby Championship. And on the point of not doing much, what does Will Genia do now? Is there any way he plays Super Rugby anywhere in July? And if not, what’s the plan for him?
Finally, if Israel Folau has his mojo back, then that’s great, but I want to see more involvement in the remaining Waratahs games. The smile is back, so is the confidence, and there can be no more excuse for not demanding more of the ball.
He won two Player of the Match watches, but I’ll be honest, at least one of them should have gone to Coleman. And I don’t think his numbers were anywhere near as good as the headlines suggest: he averaged less than 10 carries a game, and made just over 72 metres a game, and certainly wasn’t the dominant metre-maker of the backs. But again, if the confidence is back, that’s half the battle there.
After all was said and done in June, most of it is now best left behind us. The results won’t change, nor will the performances already in the can, so now is the time to chart the course forward and move on.
The Wallabies have a huge task ahead of them for the Rugby Championship, and the hard work has to start now in Super Rugby jerseys.