Wycliff Palu is out of the Rugby World Cup and Robbie Deans has said he may not decide who to call up until Sunday, after the Wallabies match against Russia. When I first heard that Deans was thinking of delaying his selection I thought it smacked of weakness.
My gut reaction was that he should have corrected his original World Cup selection blunder, bringing in Ben McCalman as cover for David Pocock.
Then I started looking at who are confirmed injuries and who was not available last week.
From what I have read and heard the infirmary in rough order of seriousness looks like:
Palu – cup finished
Rob Horne – may be back for semi finals
Digby Ioane – may be back for semi finals
Pat McCabe – may be back for quarter finals
Anthony Faingaa – may be back for quarter finals
Kurtly Beale – being rested until quarter finals
James Horwill – may be back this weekend
Scott Higginbotham – may be back this weekend
Saia Faingaa – may be back this weekend
Dan Vickerman – had scan and should be ok to play
So who is actually available and fit enough to play?
Props – all four available
Hookers – all three if Saia is back
Second Row – all four as Horwill and Vickerman should be available
No 7 – Pocock is back, hooray!
No 6/No 8 – four available if Higginbotham is recovered
Halves – all three available
10 – Quade Cooper
Centres, Wingers and FB – Berrick Barnes, Adam Ashley Cooper, James O’Connor, Drew Mitchell
There are six players out of the thirty man squad who have already been declared unavailable for this weekend.
Most telling is that five of those players wear jumpers 11-15.
Looking from the centres out and needing to name a reserve there are only four names to fill six positions.
A halfback will be playing wider and a forward will play in the backs this week unless McCabe pulls off an amazing recovery.
The backline looks like:
9. Genia
10. Cooper
11. Mitchell
12. Barnes
13. Ashley-Cooper
14. Samo
15. O’Connor
This leaves Burgess and Phipps as the backline reserves on the bench.
Australia should still be too strong for Russia, as long as they can get enough bodies on the park.
The thinking from Deans must be looking towards the quarter finals.
Is Deans assuming the worst? Could there be more injuries and so he is not replacing anyone until he has a better understanding of who will be available for the match after this one? Seems clear that he isn’t taking this one game at a time.
Is he correct to delay his decisions though? I’d argue no.
He should be biting the bullet and sending a number of players home: Palu, Horne and whoever has less chance of recovery from Faingaa and McCabe, dare I say it possibly even Ioane. Then he can bring in three or more replacements, at least two backs and an openside.
The selection decisions are just going to get tougher unless the Wallabies are foxing about who is available.
He needs to act now to bring new players in and give them a chance to build some kind of combination in the last game before the quarter finals.
I accept the blows in the backs are tough but what is Deans thinking? Why is he hanging on to so many guys who may not make it back from injury?
If the injured players make great recoveries and play starring roles in the tournament from here I’ll be pleasantly surprised.
I feel that Turner, Tapuai and Robinson should be in NZ suiting up this weekend for Palu, Horne and one of Faingaa, McCabe or Ioane.
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.
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