Deans' last shuffle of his Wallabies cards

Since he became coach of the Wallabies, Robbie Deans has presided over a virtual clean-out of the failed 2007 Wallaby squad. He has created 27 new Wallabies, with four new players, Anthony Faingaa, Scott Higginbottom, Rob Simmons, and Ben McCalman in this latest selection for the 2010 Tri Nations tournament.

Aside from several players coming back from injury, like James Horwill and Cameron Shepherd, and the expected return of Dan Vickerman, the squad Deans selected on Thursday is the squad that the Wallabies will take to RWC 2011.

The 28 players named, with two more to come, are effectively Deans’ last shuffle of his Wallabies cards.

We can see with the newcomers where Deans is most concerned about the quality of his present Test players.

Anthony Faingaa is there to strengthen and toughen up the Wallabies mid-field by running more directly to set targets for his forwards to play off.

The implication here is that Matt Giteau’s days are numbered as the Wallabies inside centre. Although he is relatively young for a senior player, Giteau has played 81 Tests.

Many of these Tests have been played at inside centre, a crucial tackling and running position (think Tim Horan).

The small Giteau has been brave with his tackling of monsters like Ma’a Nonu and Jean de Villiers. But now his body is letting him down. He is showing his rugby age.

The spriteliness has gone. He tends to kick rather than run.

I believe that he is too valuable a player not to be in any Wallaby starting line-up, so I’m making my annual plea to Deans to give him a crack on the wing, playing the Shane Williams role.

A shift like this would enable Deans to play Will Genia, Quade Cooper and Anthony Faingaa, the inside back combination that did so well for the Queensland Reds.

The point here is that if the Wallabies are to be competitive in the Tri-Nations, it will have to be on the back of a total game as played by the Reds. The forwards, even with Rocky Elsom and Benn Robinson back, are an average pack lacking mongrel and fire-power in their running.

The backs, though, as they showed against England at Perth, are capable of ripping strong defensive sides to shreds, if they are on their game.

The key to being on their game is the inside back combination, starting at halfback with Cooper’s magic and some direct running from whoever is the inside centre.

In the Sydney Morning Herald on Wednesday, I wrote an article pointing out that the fundamental problem with the Wallabies is that the backs are too small and the forwards play small, even when they are reasonably big, like Dean Mumm.

You wouldn’t know it from the way they play that Mumm is taller and heavier than Brad Thorne. Thorne, though, plays big and Mumm plays small.

Deans clearly recognises that this gets to the heart of his problems for three of new players are big, mobile and aggressive forwards. It would not surprise me if at least two of these new forwards are in the squad to play the All Blacks at Sydney in a couple of weeks time.

Rugby is a game where tactics and strategies are forever being churned over.

There is a development, coming from South Africa, to have the roles of the second rowers becoming distinctive with a pushing/lifting/smash running second rower (Bakkies Botha and Brad Thorn) and a jumping/covering/ agile second rower (Victor Matfield, Anthony Boric).

The Wallabies lack a pushing second rower.

The player who should fill this role is Nathan Sharpe. But Sharpe, like his fellow second rowers, tends to play smaller than he is. So the Wallabies have used Mumm, who is a jumping second rower, in the shoving role.

Simmons (200 cm and 120kg), a rough and ready type of player, might be the pushing second rower Deans needs.

The backs, too, could do with some bigger players.

It struck me when I saw the Wallabies go down at Wellington to the All Blacks last year how much smaller the Wallabies were in the backs. And predictably, Nonu monstered his opponents.

I reckon that Deans will bring Cameron Shepherd (104kg and 189cm) into the squad when he gets through a club match unscathed.

In the SMH, too, I raised the possibility of Deans trying to turn Higginbottom into an outside centre. He has the pace, skills and defensive qualities needed for the position.

In the early days of rugby, players, especially in the forwards, did not have specific positions. The first players to the scrum, for instance, formed the front row, and so on.

The 1905 All Blacks created specific positions for the players in the forwards and backs. Over time, this has become the norm.

But the roles played in the various positions have changed.

I’m old enough, for instance, to have played when wingers threw the ball into the lineouts. There is nothing to stop any player from throwing the ball in, in fact.

Some French clubs have used the half back for this role.

My idea about Higginbottom is based on the notion that outside centre has become another loose forward position. Why not develop a loose forward to play there.

Players have in the past moved from the forwards to backs with success (think Jonah Lomu, Eric Rush). Why not Higginbottom?

In his term as Wallaby coach, Deans has coached 32 Tests for 18 wins at the disappointing success rate of 56 per cent.

There have been some notable victories.

Last season the Wallabies defeated the Springboks, something the All Blacks could not have achieved. There have been seven successive losses, after a first-up victory, to the All Blacks that has corrupted the record.

The bookmakers are suggesting that the Wallabies will come a long last in this year’s Tri-Nations, and their most likely victory will be against the All Blacks at Sydney.

I would think also that the Test in two weeks or so against the Springboks at Brisbane is also a strong candidate for a Wallabies victory.

You have to go back 30 years or so for the Springboks winning at Brisbane (and back to 1937 as a matter of interest for a Springboks victory against the All Blacks at Eden Park). The Reds mauled the Bulls at Brisbane this season and the perfect playing surface at Lang Park should help the high-octane game the Wallabies will want to play this season.

Right now, the prospects of other victories do not look good.

But things can turn around quickly in rugby, as the Reds showed this season. The cards have been shuffled, but they yet to be played.

And who knows what tricks Deans has in store for us to marvel at?