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Wallaby coach Robbie Deans doesn’t need a weakened Quade Cooper tonight for the Tri-Nations opener against the Boks at the ANZ Stadium. After last Saturday’s wake-up call from Samoa in the Islander’s 32-24 dismantling of the Wallabies, Deans needs a full-strength lineup on duty.
But Cooper missed yesterday’s final training session with a stomach bug, the versatile James O’Connor slotting into number 10.
Make no mistake, O’Connor would make a huge fist of the job if Cooper can’t front tonight.
But such a late, and dramatic, change can destabilise the Wallabies. And they are wobbly enough without an extra negative.
So the positives need revisiting.
* Seven front-line selections missed either most, or all, of the Samoan debacle, but will be on deck tonight: David Pocock, James Horwill, Rob Simmons, Will Genia, Cooper (hopefully), O’Connor, and Kurtley Beale.
* Deans will have one of the world’s best scavengers, and possession-pinchers, in flanker Pocock.
* The world’s best half-back – Genia.
* Three goal-kickers – O’Connor, Beale, and Cooper.
* The Reds’ proven locks and line-out jumpers – Horwill, and Simmons.
* And the pure magic generated by Genia, Beale, and O’Connor – with Cooper the bonus if he plays and is strong enough.
The extra bonus will be the centre pairing of Pat McCabe and Adam Ashley-Cooper – both Brumbies.
McCabe is the new boy on the block for his third cap, thanks to the vision of stop-gap Brumbies coach Tony Rea who saw in the fullback a future mid-field.
And it worked a treat in the latter part of the Super 15 in a side having the worst season in its 15 year history.
The vastly experienced Ashley-Cooper was caught up in that mess, close to suffering from pneumonia on the wing. So nobody would have given a thought to McCabe and Ashley-Cooper being the Wallaby centre pairing a couple of months ago.
Tonight is litmus test time, but all the signs are positive. It’s now up to them to cement their spots.
If Boks coach Peter de Villiers is toying with the idea of running at the new combination to rattle their cage, think again. Both are very solid defenders.
de Villiers has enough problems of his own, with 23 of his players still at home injured, or “injured”.
More than half his run-on side tonight are still wet behind the ears.
Props Werner Kruger and Dean Greyling are making their debuts, as is No 8 Ashley Johnson.
Centre Juan de Jongh (6 caps), wing Bjorn Basson (4), flanker Deon Stegmann (4), wing Lwazi Mvovo (2), and lock Alistair Hargreaves (2) gives de Villiers just 18 caps between eight of his side.
His saving grace will be world rugby’s most capped captain, John Smit (102), flanker Danie Rossouw (54), half-back Ruan Pienaar (32), and one of rugby’s all-time great goal-kickers in Morne Steyn (25), along with the exciting pocket-rocket full-back Gio Aplon, with his 13 caps.
Steyn can really hurt the Wallabies if they are ill-disciplined. The No 10 could conceivably pinch the result on his own.
But on paper, the Wallabies should return to their winning ways, especially against such an inexperienced side.
Anything less, and last week’s humiliation will seem like a drop in the ocean.