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It’s three days after the monumental win of the Wallabies in Hong Kong, and for some Wallabies fans, the passion and excitement from that game lingers on and is morphing into eager anticipation for this weekend’s fixture against the Welsh.
This isn’t an article to focus on how great the win was (although it was), to vindicate Robbie Deans coaching (although it did) or to talk about the turning point the Wallabies may have had (although they may have).
Instead in this article, I want to canvass Roarers opinion on what the key Australian players need to do to improve. What can they gain from this NH tour, Super Rugby and next year’s Tri-Nations leading into RWC 11?
One of the best points made post-HK is the glaring difference in players “room for development” between the Wallabies and the All Blacks.
It is hard to imagine players like Muliaina, McGaw, Cowan, Smith, Nonu and even the great Carter improving as much as players like, Beale, Pocock, Genia, AAC, Barnes (if given the chance) and Cooper given an extra year of professional top flight rugby.
Quade Cooper
I think this is especially the case with Cooper. The limelight and occasion clearly got to Quade in HK. Yes, in patches his passing and running game were outstanding, however his execution in his kicking game and decision making was decidedly below par for a test 10. There was the failure to execute three corner kicks and then that grubber on the five-metre line.
It is clear to see the influence of Robbie on Cooper (especially his tactical kicking) if he can balance his natural flair and talent with this more measured “Canterbury” style, he could grow over the next year to become quite literally a hybrid between Spencer and Carter, taking the best elements of both.
He will never however be the tackler that Carter is, he is much more akin to Larkham who would sacrifice some in defence for abilities in attack, as one Roarer astutely noticed this means more cover from the back-row in defence and/or covering him in a manner that is often adopted in League, as Spiro suggested, where Cooper plays out wider and O’Connor or Mitchell plays inside in defence.
It was obvious that Nonu/Read/the whole All Blacks back row targeted this channel between 9/10 and 10/12 with Giteau giving away size as well, this area of Quade’s and the Wallabies desperately needs to be addressed.
Berrick Barnes
Barnes has been in impressive form of late, scoring a plethora of points in the Sydney Club competition along the way to helping Syd Uni to their 6th straight Shute Shield. There remains only one question mark on his graduation to the run-on team, how does he gel with Quade?
My response to this is two-fold. Firstly, in other than training situations Robbie cannot know unless he gives them ago in these NH tests. Secondly, Barnes is less of a personality than Giteau and Quade still shines so there is nothing to say that they will be incompatible together.
I still believe however that the Wallabies sacrifice a lot by not having Giteau in the team, the left foot, the scathing runs and the experience (whether you like him or not).
Berrick as a player needs to use this tour to cement his place at 12, he is obviously highly ranked by Robbie and in the press in New Zealand, the All Blacks staff rated him very highly as well. It was obvious towards the end of the HK game that he assumed a leadership role of the backline, which is not necessarily a bad thing when you have (for the time-being) a mercurial fly-half. Berrick should cement his position as Captain of the Backs and VC of the team behind Rocky Elsom once more.
Adam Ashley-Cooper (AAC)
Following a fantastic game against the All Blacks, it is pivotal that he continues his run of good form, it was beautiful to watch him finally understand the nature of playing outside Quade (always going to happen when you do not play domestically) as Rod Kaefer has pointed out time and time again, playing outside players like Cooper requires the outside centre to sit deeper and wider, because QC can throw those sort of passes, when you couple the pace that AAC can now hit the ball at and how wide the ball can get (quickly) he is a devastating player with real size (one of the few).
A few things for him to develop I would suggest, down the right side (on the outside of his man) in attack he is a bit lacklustre (I know he scored on the right side of the field) we all know about his devastating right hand fend (very similar to Corey Jane).
However we are yet to see the more nuances of a 13’s play which make Conrad Smith such a fine player, these include but are not limited to; realising there is no overlap to put your winger away and kicking down the trams for territory with a good chase.
The ability to “cut” a winger back towards play, the ability to draw two and put the winder away, the ability to draw and offload in second phase play to the winger for a break. AAC would greatly benefit from introducing more strings to his bow.
Will Genia
Another good game. People often forget that the reason Cooper looks so good is because he is getting wide flat passes from Genia.
Genia is the grease that makes the backline really function and he was superb on the weekend, one thing I have noticed which has completely gone out of his game in recent memory is his sniping around the rucks, earlier this year he was renowned for tearing teams to bits with his fast breaks (and superb upper body strength paired with his low centre of gravity makes him bloody hard to tackle).
I am not sure if this is due to the All Blacks’ targeting this area of play (as Jimmy Cowan seemed to suggest pre-HK) or whether or not coaching staff saw him as becoming a little bit predictable and told him to tone it down and use sparingly.
However he needs to rediscover this strength, as a HB snipes keep the forwards around the fringe half a step back through hesitancy.
Execution of the box-kick, used sparingly and well under the new interpretations which is good to see, he failed with his one attempt in HK but it was most definitely on. He needs to use this tactic as well to eat up inevitably easy metres as wingers creep forward in anticipation of Wallabies wide attacks under Cooper.
David Pocock
This man has players and coaches around the world sitting up and taking notice. He secured at least three crucial penalties in the game against the Wallabies, in good areas this can be the equivalent to more than a try (pending a suitable kicker), this is his value to the team currently.
He is like honey attracting All Blacks defenders (multiple) to each break down this is extremely valuable in tiring out the big locks and props (which will open up gaps for the backs).
One thing he should be looking to work on this NH along with the rest of the back row is the development of his linking play with the other two backrowers, it is high time that the Wallabies settled into some serious backrow combinations, it seems that McCalman is being used as the link which suits his ball skill ability, I would like to see Pocock used more as a ball carrier much in the same way that Richie McGaw is used.
This means off line out moves and in the tight stuff.
Kurtley Beale
What to say? Obviously before our eyes on TV, Beale is growing into one of the game’s superstars, his electrifying pace and amazing feet paired with a full package of flyhalf skills are turning him into quite an amazing commodity for the Wallabies.
He currently, unlike any other 15 in the world, can slip into second receiver from a wide pass from cooper and put players into gaps much like a second number 10. In fact when the wallabies do run this play with him taking the second man play, his pace alomst always allows him to get on the outside of 13 to create place.
I have no suggestions for Beale other than keep doing what you are doing.
I understand that this has been balanced towards the backline somewhat (probably due to my background there) I would be very interested to see what other people think of these two questions;
1. Who are truly the Wallabies key players?
2. What do they need to do to become better players and therefore make the Wallabies clear world champions?
For the first time in a long time, I think over the next year, with marked improvement in these players, the Wallabies can become the world champions.
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.